WGC ACCENTURE MATCH PLAY CHAMPIONSHIP

February 24, 2002

Scott McCarron

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: I'd like to welcome Scott McCarron, runner-up at the Accenture Match-Play Championship.

Thanks for coming in. Appreciate it. Not the way you wanted it to end, but it was a great week for you. It seemed like you had a lot of fans out there.

SCOTT McCARRON: It was a great week. You know, I'm really disappointed right now. I felt I played a lot better today than my opponent and I should have won, I felt. But he was just a buzz-saw out there. He just didn't make a bogey. I don't think he made one bogey all day long and really didn't hit it very well the first 18 holes but started hitting better the second 18. Fantastic short game, great out of the rough and I knew I had to make birdies coming in to beat him. I hit some great shots on 16 and on 18, and hit two perfect putts that didn't go in. That's the way it goes.

Q. You thought the one at 18 was in?

SCOTT McCARRON: I had almost a similar putt in the morning and hit it absolutely perfect, I thought, and it just stayed up. I mean, the hole is on a pretty good slope there and so I said, "Well, I've had this 2349 morning and it didn't break that much so I'm going to play the left edge and hit it firm. I hit it and it went by eight inches and still didn't break. Now when I putted the second time it did break. That's the rub of the greens. These greens were tough to putt all week. And the poa annua -- I'm surprised they did not mow them between the morning and afternoon, so they got bumpy in the afternoon.

Q. What was your yardage on 18?

SCOTT McCARRON: I had 153 on 18 and hit 7-iron and just flushed it perfect. The wind was in my face. The one on 16 I had 151 and again absolutely flushed it, it landed a foot from the hole. So, I had a perfect yardage for that breeze there and I was hoping that he might make a bogey one of these days, and being rough back there and then hitting in the bunker and then knocked it out.

He hit the shots he had to hit when it was crunch time. Great bunker shot on 16 and great bunker shot on 18 and great putt on 15.

Q. Last week you led until the last three holes, and today, you never trailed until 33?

SCOTT McCARRON: I lead until the last hole, didn't I?

Q. You were tied going in.

SCOTT McCARRON: I said until 18.

Q. Does that hurt anymore -- and today you lead most of the way, or you never trailed?

SCOTT McCARRON: It hurts. Yeah, it sure does hurt, losing a golf tournament two weeks in a row.

I can't explain it, to lose one week, and then to do it again the second week. It's brutal. But, I'm playing better than anybody in the world right now and I really feel that. So, I can take that home with me and come out strong at Bay Hill. I really feel I'm playing better than anybody right now.

Q. Do you feel any differently now about yourself and your career, the direction of your career than you did two or three weeks ago? In other words --?

SCOTT McCARRON: No. I knew this was going to happen. I've been playing so good for so long and I knew I was going to start competing and winning golf tournaments.

Now I've played well enough to win both of these weeks and I didn't. So, not at all. I felt I was here a year and a half, a year ago. You guys just didn't know it yet.

Q. You guys looked over the first 18 that you were really enjoying each other's company. Did it quiet down?

SCOTT McCARRON: We talked the whole time, told a few jokes, talked about some old times and how great this was. I stepped onto 18 and turned to Kevin and said, "Are you having any fun yet?" This is what it is all about. It might have gotten a little quiet, but we were still having a good time. Kevin, his short game was phenomenal and putting was great.

He's got a great short game, but the first 18 holes, he hit it all over the place. He had a stretch of holes, about 12 holes where I don't think he hit a fairway. Every time he missed a fairway, he was able to somehow knock it on the green or out of the rough or knock it up there and get up-and-down.

He's a great player out of the rough; everybody knows that is on TOUR. He proved it this morning. The afternoon, he started to hit a little bit better, but then started missing some shots. I kept thinking, "He's got to maybe miss one up-and-down."

16, I thought I had him there. I really did. I thought I was going to birdie that hole and then he made a great up-and-down there. And 18, again, I thought I was going to make birdie. I didn't expect him to knock it out to six inches. But that's a great up-and-down.

Q. What makes him a great player out of the rough? Is it the slow tempo?

SCOTT McCARRON: You know, I don't know. He plays those Ping Zing irons and they have got the big grooves. He's able to hit really great shots out of the rough. Maybe it's a lot of practice, I don't know. (Laughter.)

Q. Talk about 9, that was a turning point there?

SCOTT McCARRON: That was the turning point of the whole match. He hit it in the right rough, again. He hit his shot and they are telling me over the bridge, they are going, that it's in the water. I'm standing and I had 250 in the front into the wind with driver and I'm thinking, I'm going to bust this driver up there and my caddie goes, "he hit it in the water, do you want to lay up?" I said, "no, I'm still going to hit driver."

With that thought, I thought, well you've got to at least hit driver decent and get it over the creek. I didn't quite hit the shot I wanted to hit and it ended up in that little inlet area of the bunker. I go up and his ball is not in the water. Then he got no shot hardly at all and he knocks it up there five feet. I'm sitting in that inlet of the bunker when I hit into what looks like it had been a sodded area, the whole grass came with it, there was nothing underneath it and I came up short and he makes birdie. I'm thinking I'm going to go 3-up at that point and really have command of the match and Kevin pulled out a miracle shot there.

Q. The guys who come out of bunkers and come out of rough, in match-play, sometimes it frustrates their opponent because they are playing better and they can see it. Over the years, have you dealt with this before, and did you ever do this to people?

SCOTT McCARRON: Oh, yeah I've done it to people and Kevin has done it to people. I definitely played better golf today, but he won. He got it up-and-down when he needed to, he made the putts when he needed to. My hat is off to him. He was an absolute rock out there making pars.

When I stood on the -- with the 1-up lead going into 14, you know, I knew that I was going to have to play well coming in because he was not going to make any mistakes, even though he made mistakes, he made par. He can make mistakes all day, but he still was making par. He was a buzz saw. Absolute buzz saw.

Q. Is your back okay today?

SCOTT McCARRON: Back is perfect.

Q. On 14, he ran his putt by, was that another example?

SCOTT McCARRON: Another example, I left mine short and that putt was really slow. My chip did not get anywhere near where I thought it would and he jacked it by there pretty good and I thought, well, maybe he's due to miss one. And he didn't. He poured it right in the hole again. Just tough.

It's tough, playing a guy match-play like that where he's not giving it his best stuff but getting up-and-down from everywhere and making pars every whole and when he has an opportunity to make birdie, he does it's very difficult.

Q. Do you feel like you lost or he won?

SCOTT McCARRON: I felt I played better golf today. Anybody watching it on TV, anybody watching out there, I played better, there's no question about it. But, Kevin won the golf tournament. I don't feel I lost. I hit good putts on 18, I hit a good shot on 18. I would like to have those up-and-downs over again on 14 and 15. You know, 15 I hit it just in the right rough right there and it should have been nine but unfortunately hit a spectator and kicked way back in there in the trees and had just a terrible lie. That ball stays right there and it's no problem on the green and now we are all square going into extra holes.

So, just bad break. He got the good breaks and I did not get any really good breaks today and that's the way it goes.

Q. How long were your putts on 16 and 18?

SCOTT McCARRON: The one on 16 was 12 feet. The one on 18 was like eight feet, nine feet.

Q. Is the outcome easy or more difficult because of your relationship?

SCOTT McCARRON: Right now? (Laughs).

You know, right now losing, it doesn't matter who I lost to. I'm pretty disappointed right now. But, I'm very happy for Kevin Sutherland. He just put himself on the map. We all know on TOUR that he was a great player for the last couple of years, but the world didn't know it yet. Now they do.

Q. The missed putts in the 12-foot range, is that frustrating?

SCOTT McCARRON: I thought I hit a lot of good putts and left a lot of putts low, just lack of speed or whatever. And then the greens were a lot slower this afternoon than they were this morning, and I think that had a lot to do with it. I think that had a lot to do with it. If the greens were the same speed as this morning, I think I would make half those putts.

Q. Would you like to see the course set up a little tougher so that inaccurate driving is penalized?

SCOTT McCARRON: Well, I used to think not. Now that I'm hitting it straighter, I think so.

It's just spotty rough out there. I think you should definitely -- we should definitely have a little more rough here. At a World Golf Championship event like that, to be able to hit it off-line as many times as my opponent did today and be able to make pars, I think there should be deeper rough, definitely.

Q. What do you think about match-play now?

SCOTT McCARRON: I hate it -- no. (Laughter.)

It's great. I tell you, the feelings that I get in match-play every single match coming down the end are the same feelings I get when I'm right in the hunt trying to win a golf tournament, and that doesn't happen all the time.

So every time you step on the tee in match-play, you are getting the butterflies, you're getting nervous, you try to be aggressive, try to hold on. It's just amazing, all of those emotions come over you, just like you do trying to win a golf tournament. Trying to handle those emotions, I felt I did a great job today handling myself. I felt very calm all day long. And I still felt on 18 I was going to birdie and push it to overtime, and I did everything I needed to do to do that, just my putt did not go in.

Q. So you would welcome coming back?

SCOTT McCARRON: I would love to come back, are you kidding me? This has been an incredible week, even though I lost today. But I'm runner-up in the World Match-play and that's something special, I think. (Laughter.) I will tomorrow.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Thank you, Scott.

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