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LEGENDS RENO-TAHOE OPENAugust 5, 2009Parker McLachlinRENO, NEVADA THE MODERATOR: I'd like to welcome Parker McLachlin into the media center, the defending champion of the Legends Reno/Tahoe Open. It's not always something we get to have the defending champion back. So I'm guessing you have good memories coming back here and soaking in Montreux and what was a good experience last year. PARKER McLACHLIN: Yeah, obviously just coming back and reliving a few of the good memories that came with the many birdies and eagles that happened last year, it was sure fun. And it's nice to come back to a place that gives you those good vibes. And it's an enjoyable place. I've always liked Reno and the Tahoe area. So nice to be back. THE MODERATOR: These last couple days you've been here, I'm guessing you've seen a lot of well-wishers and fans who remember you. What's that been like being a defending champion for the first time? PARKER McLACHLIN: It's really cool. I've never experienced anything like that. It's been fun, even just the players, too. Everybody just saying, hey, defending champ, you know, take it easy on us this year. So it's just kind of a fun -- it's a fun atmosphere to come to and it's nice that a lot of the volunteers and the staff have been great and welcoming me back. THE MODERATOR: Questions? Q. I'm sort of curious, it's been talked about here this is an opportunity for guys to get a lot of first wins on TOUR and all. And, of course, when you're doing well you try not to look ahead. But can you think back at all, did you try to keep yourself in a place, you know, going into Saturday, going into Sunday, what was that like mentally to think about: This is within reach, how am I going to pull this off? Or did you try not to think about it? PARKER McLACHLIN: I think coming in last year, you know, I played pretty well. And I pretty much locked up my card and so I came here with the sole intention of coming out and trying to get my first win. I wasn't looking to just go out and make another cut and make another check or wasn't looking to just have another top 10. It was coming here. My sole intention was to come out and get a win. And so nothing else really mattered to me. So it was almost one of those mindsets that, hey, it's kind of like -- it's kind of that Vegas mentality, Reno mentality, go for broke. Just roll the dice and push it as hard as you can until she bucks you. So it definitely helps when you -- I think when guys are coming here, they've maybe played well all year and they're coming here thinking, okay, maybe this is my golden opportunity to get that first win, a top 10 doesn't really mean that much difference in my year, but a win would sure make a huge difference. And so I think that might be a similar mentality from previous winners that have come here. Q. Compare that to now, is it very different for you? PARKER McLACHLIN: For me now? Q. Yes. PARKER McLACHLIN: Yeah. You know, I think last year I was very much in a playing mode and in a scoring type of a mentality. This year I've been changing my golf swing, done a pretty major overhaul. And so I'm a little bit more in the process of just trying to take one good shot at a time, try to just continue to build confidence in my golf swing. So it's a little bit more process oriented rather than result oriented. So I have a little bit of a different mindset coming in this year than I did last year. But I've had success going into tournaments with both types of mentalities. I think sometimes you can do well if you're in that process mentality. Thinking, okay, let's just stay in our little bubble and let's just focus on what we have to do rather than focus on each shot as an individual shot rather than thinking about the result and what's at the end and what comes with it, and all that stuff can sometimes not work in your favor. Q. Can you just talk about how, from this tournament last year to now, what you thought about your game? You said you made a swing change, was that because maybe some of the struggles after this tournament? PARKER McLACHLIN: No, it was actually much you can relate it to the struggles I had on Sunday with my golf swing last year here. That was to me the third time I had been in the lead or contending. Basically in the lead in a PGA or a Nationwide event that I did not feel like my swing held up under the pressure. And, fortunately, I had a six-shot lead. And my short game was pretty good, or else I may have lost the lead last year as well. But with the performance that I had with my swing on Sunday last year, it just spoke to me. It said: You've got to make the change. I want to be in contention six, seven, eight times a year and having a chance to win. And if my swing's going to hold up like this when I'm in contention that many times, it's not fun that way. And so I knew there had to be a better way, a more efficient way to swing the golf club. And so basically the day after this tournament ended was when I started looking for someone who could build a golf swing for me that would help get me in the top 50 in the world. That's where I feel like I've got the potential to be. And so it's been a bit of a struggle this year. But this is the year that's going to set me up for the next ten years. Q. Who is working with your swing, or who did work with your swing? PARKER McLACHLIN: A guy named Sean Foley. And he works with Steven Ames and Sean O'Hair and Hunter Mahan, and I think just picked up Trevor Immelman a couple weeks ago. I saw him at the PGA championship last year. I was practicing a bit with Sean O'Hair, and we started talking and so then Sean Foley and I started working together at the end of last year. We talked on the phone quite a bit. And I had done my research on him and he did his research on me. And we both liked -- we were kind of very like-minded and so we started working together at the end of last year. It's been a really long process, but it's been -- I've just learned so much. It's like he's such a smart guy, I get up in the morning and I'm just fired up to go to the golf course and learn and continue to get better. But that's also come with I'm playing on the biggest stage of competitive golf that there is. And to overhaul a golf swing and still have to go out and compete week in and week out, sometimes it makes you a little foolish, you know. And I've had those rounds where you don't know where the ball's going and it's just part of it. You can't really stay at home for three or four months and just work on it on the driving range because that doesn't really -- that's not going to hold up under pressure. So there's been some frustrating moments. But he's been extremely encouraging and he's just kept me on the right path. And I think I've just recently started to take ownership of this new swing, and it's really started to feel like it's mine and that I own it and it's not really something that I'm borrowing from the pro shop week in and week out. So, yeah, I feel like I'm turning a corner. I feel like I'm looking forward to the last, the ending part of this year and hoping that that will be a good kickstart for next year. Q. Tell me, in your opinion what it takes to win here. What is the most important thing? Obviously low score and getting the ball in the hole at the back end. But what is the most important part of the game to score well here? PARKER McLACHLIN: There's so many variables at this golf course. You've got the altitude. You've got no shot is actually level out here. There's either uphill or downhill. I think for me it really starts off the tee. If you can put the ball in position off the tee, that gives you control of the spin with your iron shots, because if you get a jumper out here, out of the rough, you're looking at the ball possibly going 20, 30 yards further than you're anticipating. And it's one of those things where you really have to be dialed in to your yardages and it helps hitting fairways, because you can really get zoned in with spinning the ball off the fairway rather than not knowing how it's going to react out of the rough. So it starts with hitting fairways and then these greens can be a little bit tricky. And if you can figure out the breaks on them and if you can make a few putts, that's when you see guys really going low. So I think it starts with the driving but it's a combination of driving the ball in play and then putting the lights out. Q. Is this course too easy to drive the ball on? Is it too wide for you guys? Because it seems like everybody's hitting 8, 9-wedge into almost every par-4 for sure. PARKER McLACHLIN: I don't know if it's too wide. I don't think it's too wide. You get the wind blowing and then I am I think it has to be that wide because the wind can blow pretty hard. So I think you sort of have to have it that wide, because if it's not that wide then you're going to have serious issues with if the wind is blowing 30 miles an hour, balls are going to go all over the place. So I think it's fine, but I think that the reason guys are hitting 8, 9 and wedges in are just because the ball goes so far up here. And the fairways get pretty firm towards the end of the week and the ball just seems like it goes 320 if you just breathe on it. Q. I wanted to ask you about Michelle Wie. Went to the same school, same state, and she played here last year. What are your thoughts on her being selected for the Solheim Cup, and have you contacted her and congratulated her? PARKER McLACHLIN: I had no idea. I had no idea she got selected. That's awesome. That is the first time I've heard of it. I'll probably send her a text and say congratulations. You get someone like that on a team that's got so much fire power, long off the tee, and just really explosive player, I think that's great. I don't know -- I know she's now had a full year out there, and I'm sure she's made some friends and I'm sure the girls out there are starting to welcome her as one of their own on TOUR. So I would think that some of the past issues that she may have had with other players has probably dissolved and as far as team chemistry-wise, I think that would probably not be too much of an issue. But I think that's extremely exciting for her and for the team to have such an explosive power like her. Q. On a different subject. We know you went to the Renowned Children's Hospital yesterday what was the biggest eye-opening thing for you there? D.J. Gregory went with you. PARKER McLACHLIN: It's just such a humbling experience to go there. And this really makes you just realize how fortunate we are to have our health. And you see the different ailments that the kids are having there. And just makes you appreciate how well we have it that we do have our health and to really appreciate that and to be grateful for it. Q. As you talked about that, it dawns on me that if you had not won, that's a risk. You can't go messing -- was that what made it possible, then, for you to go back and tinker. You couldn't have done that otherwise, could you? PARKER McLACHLIN: Precisely. I think a lot of people say: Hey, your swing can't be that bad you just won by seven shots. Well, I would have won by 10 or 11 if I would have actually swung the golf club where I could hit more than four greens on 18 holes on Sunday, right? So to me it was from the outside looking in people could say, well, you just won, why would you change? Well, because I've been in contention three times in two years on TOUR and to me that's just not enough. And I feel like I can do better than that. And with that win gives me the two-year exemption. So it gives me this year to be able to make that big overhaul. I mean, it's a massive overhaul. Everything that I've done in my golf swing we're pretty much doing the opposite. So everything that I've always -- 20 years of motor patterns that I've done my entire life I'm now doing nearly the exact opposite. So this year gives me that opportunity to be able to make those enormous swing changes and still be able to come out and compete. I've had a lot more two-round events this year than I would have liked. But it gives me the opportunity to go out and try this stuff under pressure, because that's where I'm going to need it in the future. And it's one of those things where I'm trying to take advantage of this opportunity I've got of a two-year exemption and really make the most of, okay, let's see if we can really rebuild this thing in a year, get some confidence going with it. And by 2010, you know, start having a standout year. Q. Who do we watch for this week as you've been on TOUR the last couple of weeks, who is playing well, who do we need to take a look at this week? PARKER McLACHLIN: I was thinking about that the other day. One of my friends was asking me. I think Kevin Na is one of those guys that has played really well this year. And he's one of those guys where he would be in that same sort of situation I was in last year. Played real nicely. He's locked up his card. He's had quite a few top 10s. And coming here, looking for that first win, I don't think Kevin has won on TOUR. But looking for that first win and he's one of those guys that he really controls his ball well. He putts it really well. So I would look for him to play really well. Charlie Hoffman, I think, has played extremely well this year. Charlie hasn't won this year, right? So I think Charlie would be another guy to look at. And then I think someone like John Mallinger who has played, had some streaky weeks. He's also another one ever those guys, a younger guy, coming in here looking just strictly for that first win. I don't think a top 10 here doesn't really do him much one way or the other. But a win would really vault his career. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. End of FastScripts |
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