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DEUTSCHE BANK CHAMPIONSHIP

September 7, 2009

Scott Verplank

NORTON, MASSACHUSETTS

JOHN BUSH: We'd like to welcome Scott Verplank into the interview room. Scott, that was quite a finish you had there, four birdies, just came up one short. Just get your comments on an excellent week.
SCOTT VERPLANK: Well, thank you. It was a fun week. You know, I kind of sputtered around today for the first 10 or 12 holes, and you know, I don't know exactly what happened, but I kind of said, I've kind of wasted most of the day, so let's try to make some good swings, and then I made a couple putts, and all of a sudden I was right there.
I played well this week, I was just a little bit off this morning. I was a little too quick and missed a couple of short putts early. I was probably a little bit nervous I would assume. That would be the easiest way to explain it. But that's what you play for, to get in those situations.

Q. Even you get nervous, a veteran player?
SCOTT VERPLANK: I wouldn't say nervous, I was probably a little tighter than I wanted to be starting out today. Obviously I overcame it at the end, but I needed to overcome it a little bit earlier it sounds like.

Q. Do you feel that it's more than just a regular tournament out there in terms of like the FedExCup Playoffs? Is there a little bit more of a buzz there?
SCOTT VERPLANK: Well, you know what, there is, because obviously -- two things; one, the field is really good for a late season event. Obviously when you have Tiger and Phil and Retief and Sergio and all the guys at the top, Padraig, who I played with today, it makes it -- you like to play against those guys.
And then the crowd here was really impressive, really loud. My caddie said that the New York fans have nothing over these fans here. (Laughter.)

Q. Did you give yourself any kind of a pep talk on the 15th tee? I think you birdied your last four. Was there a number that you had in mind that you thought you needed to get to?
SCOTT VERPLANK: Yeah, you know what, originally starting the day, I thought I probably needed to get to 18 since there was no wind blowing. But the golf course was still playing pretty tough with the greens being so firm. I hit a really nice shot on 13, about three feet, made birdie, and I said, all right, let's get going, and I hit a really nice shot on 14, hit like on concrete, went over the green into kind of a bad lie and I didn't get up-and-down.
Then I would kind of -- I wouldn't say I thought I was done, but I was definitely behind the 8-ball.
Then I hit it to like a foot on 15. The putt on 16 was a little bit of a surprise, but when that went in, obviously it gave me a little bit of a push.
The one on 17 was pretty cool, but I -- I kind of knew I was going to make the putt. Sometimes you stand over those, and I was just a little disappointed that my wedge shot wasn't a little bit closer because I felt pretty certain I was going to birdie that hole. I birdied it every day this week.
And then 18 I hit a beautiful second shot, just rolled right up against the fringe, which I wish I would have made that putt, but that made it a little bit more difficult than it would have been if it had stayed on the edge of the green or something. But I gave it a pretty good run, but my buddy Stricker, he's just a little bit too good in the fall, I guess.

Q. Did make any difference that Tiger wasn't out there pushing anybody?
SCOTT VERPLANK: I don't know. You'd have to answer that. No, not really. You know what, he is who he is, and he can really -- obviously he can really play. But you know, I knew that Strick would be tough to catch today. With him leading, I mean, he's not Tiger, but you know what, he may be the second best player at least on this TOUR. The guy is really playing good. So I knew he was going to be tough to catch. And it turns out he was.

Q. I know you and Strick went out to dinner on Thursday night and it didn't sit real well with you. Did you have any other dinners together?
SCOTT VERPLANK: Oh, yeah, well, only on Saturday night. I don't know, what day is it? After the third round we finished late, and I think we both ate room service. But yeah, we ate last night, and the night I didn't get my food down very good, and then the next night.
Yeah, we had a good dinner last night and didn't talk about golf. We don't ever talk about that. We talk about football and all the other stuff.
You know, it would have been cool if we would have been in a playoff together. It would have been really cool for me. (Laughter.)
JOHN BUSH: Scott, great playing, and good luck next week in Chicago.

End of FastScripts

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