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SHELL HOUSTON OPENApril 3, 2011Scott VerplankHUMBLE, TEXAS DOUG MILNE: Scott Verplank, 4-under 68 today. Obviously not the outcome you wanted, but overall a great week. You've got to be feeling good about how you played. Just a few comments on the week and kind of how you're feeling this week and move forward after the Shell Houston Open here. SCOTT VERPLANK: Well, I'm disappointed that I didn't give it a little bit better shot the last four, five holes, but, I mean, honestly, I mean I'm not much of a complainer anyway. Honestly, I was hoping to get to play and hoping to build off getting to play last week. I actually played pretty well last week. I finished thirty-something because I had so many mess-ups. But I was encouraged. The three tournaments I've been to play this year, I've been very even encouraged with my game. It's just the fact that I haven't been able to play very often. Yeah. You know, I guess, you know, other than if you don't win, second I guess is the next best deal. It's nice that I hadn't forgotten how to play. I didn't have a whole lot of confidence. If you're hurt, you don't have a whole ton of confidence in your body, it's hard to have confidence in anything. So, you know, I was a little -- I was less than 80 percent today. I wasn't quite as -- not -- no excuse. I didn't have the same kind of strength in my grip, and I just didn't have as good a control over the club face. But, for 13 holes I hung in there pretty tough, you know, and Phil obviously played great. I mean, I was I birdieing every other hole, and I couldn't pull away from the guy. He was birdieing every hole. It was good. We had a good time playing together. I enjoyed playing with him. I'm happy the see him win since I didn't. DOUG MILNE: Speaking of the hurt, how is the wrist? Is that what -- is that the 80 percent you mentioned? SCOTT VERPLANK: 80 percent was good. It's okay. I'll be fine, you know. I'm going to have to rest it and hopefully play in another week or two. DOUG MILNE: We'll take some questions. Q. Scott, when you're playing with Phil and you're out there and you see a guy roll up five straight birdies or whatever he had during that one stretch, does the pressure shift at all or do you have to concentrate on your own game and not worry about what the or guy is doing? SCOTT VERPLANK: I made four out of six holes, so I don't care. I birdied 8 and 10 and 12 and 13. So obviously I was doing good stuff, but he just got on a little roll there, on a really good roll and made a ton of birdies. It's why he's won like 40 times, I guess. Q. Scott, is there any time during the round where the wrist just -- the pains, the feeling of it takes over -- SCOTT VERPLANK: No. I have no pain. I can just tell by kind of the more of the mechanics of it. I just didn't have -- it wasn't holding steady like I needed to do. The last five, six holes was more like I'd been trying to get ready to play a tournament. It will be alright. Give it a week off, hopefully I'll get back -- at least get back to where I was at the start of this week. Q. Is it more on putts or is it hitting it or combination of both? SCOTT VERPLANK: It's both. You know, as wimpy as putting is, you know, I can't grip the club like I want to to hold the face the way I want to. I mean, it's not far off, but I can't quite, you know, get it the way I want it to give me my best stroke or whatever. And then, yeah, I could just tell today -- even though when I was playing good, I still wasn't hitting the ball as consistent as I did last couple of days. I could tell I didn't have the same kind of solidness through impact. You know, when you can feel the club wiggling a little bit, that's not a great feeling. Q. So when you're 2 up, 8 holes into the round, your mind isn't racing because you know your game isn't quite -- SCOTT VERPLANK: Well, I'm 2 up through 8 holes but I'm 3-under. I mean, that's pretty good. I mean, at the end of the day, you try to get the ball in the hole. I hit enough good shots to, you know, get that far. So hit a couple of sloppy ones coming in and, you know, I'll try to work on that. Q. Tough TOUR when 68 in the last group doesn't get it done. SCOTT VERPLANK: Everybody knows that coming in. The weather was fantastic here. Couldn't have been any better. The wind of the wind was supposed to blow 15 to 25 today and it blew some but not a lot. Great conditions. Q. You've been to the Masters awhile, you know it's great. You've done all that. Chris never has, not in competition. Did that lessen any kind of sting of not going to the Masters, or were you not thinking about that at all? SCOTT VERPLANK: No, I'm not going to the Masters. Q. Missing out a chance or anything? SCOTT VERPLANK: I finished double bogey, bogey last year at the Masters to miss being back by a shot. That was a lot harder to take. The last round of the Masters last year I was 7-under with two to play on Sunday, and I ended up messing it up and I ended up -- I don't even know what place it is to get back in but -- Q. It changes. SCOTT VERPLANK: I missed it by a shot. I was a little disappointed with that. Maybe I can get back there one or two more times before I'm done. Q. What do you think your schedule is going to be at this point? SCOTT VERPLANK: I hope I can play. Really, I'd like to play at San Antonio and Hilton Head. That would be ideal, but, I mean, this is the first time I've played two weeks in a row. I hope that I can be ready to play another week. I probably wouldn't have been all that great last week, but I still would like to be there. Q. That would made the Nelson your third week in a row. SCOTT VERPLANK: I got a tough deal coming up right there. Got the Players and then -- Colonial is first, the Players and then Colonial and then the Nelson. So I'm going to have to take that into consideration and evaluate how many tournaments I'm going to play before that because I'd like -- I'd love the -- I love the Players, I love Colonial, and I love Dallas. Those are three tournaments I really want to play. Q. Scott, speaking of Chris Kirk, you know, here's a guy that comes off the Nationwide graduate last year, hadn't done a whole lot this year. He had a good finish at Bob Hope. You look back obviously this young wave of players, pretty darn talented. He came off obviously delighted, high five, the group ahead of you, throwing balls in the crowd. Do you remember being that age when you just were poised to break through or had your breakthrough and what it meant to you at that time, or can you appreciate what he's feeling? SCOTT VERPLANK: Yeah. It's tough on young guys coming out here, you know, the access is limited. Not limited. It's just tough. It's tough to find your way out here early. If you're an American young kid, it's tougher to get out here. So, good for him. You know what? I think back when I was that age and might have finished second, I might have been worth about 40,000 bucks (laughter). You know, it probably -- it was probably nice, but, I mean, I don't even know what the money was today, but I'm sure it was a nice big check for him. He should be happy. He keeps playing like that, good things will keep happening. Q. Is it about the money when you're like at that -- SCOTT VERPLANK: Everybody is different. No, I would think would be about the confidence. He proved he can play out here. That's good for him. I know he was -- I just met him this morning, but I know he was staying with Davis and Lucas. They were supposed to have dinner, I don't know, last night, those guys hightailed it out of here. He's a good young kid that plays -- lives at Sea Island. So he's got a lot of good people round him. DOUG MILNE: Okay. Alright. Scott, we appreciate you coming. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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