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CONSTELLATION SENIOR PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

July 13, 2018

Scott McCarron

Highland Park, Illinois

Q. Sorry to see you end on that note, but you had a great round despite that.
SCOTT McCARRON: You know, I played pretty well. I made too many mistakes today. It was unfortunate. I made just too many bogeys. I made a lot of birdies, played well, hit a lot of good shots, but then you make a bogey on the last hole with a sand wedge, really disappointing. But I'm kind of in the mix, so it's all right.

Q. You're atop the leaderboard of a tournament you're trying to defend; that feels good, right?
SCOTT McCARRON: Yeah, it does. I'll go settle down after this bogey and have a little lunch and go practice a little bit and be ready to go tomorrow.

Q. Physically are you feeling okay, any ailments?
SCOTT McCARRON: My foot. I've had a problem with my ankle here for about a year and a half, and it's just the same. It's not getting any better, and I'm going to have to have surgery at the end of the season, so I'm just trying to get through it.

Q. Which ankle is it?
SCOTT McCARRON: Right ankle.

Q. What happened?
SCOTT McCARRON: I tore the peroneus longus, which is the muscle that goes all the way down here, right through the ankle and attaches at the bottom of the foot, which doesn't bother me playing golf, just bothers me walking. But now it's starting to bother me under the ball of the foot, so pushing off is difficult. I'm limping around. That's the way it goes.

Q. So the surgery, will it actually be on the ankle?
SCOTT McCARRON: Yes, it'll be on the ligament that goes right through the ankle, the peroneus longus. They'll reattach it.

Q. You mentioned that your 8:00 a.m. tee time was a little brutal.
SCOTT McCARRON: Yeah, we're not used to having 8:00 a.m. tee times out here on the Champions Tour. That's early. We're up at 5:15. That's early for us. But we played well enough, at least we'll get to sleep in a little bit tomorrow.

Q. How did the ankle injury happen?
SCOTT McCARRON: It just happened.

Q. Wear and tear thing?
SCOTT McCARRON: It's wear and tear. Just the way my feet are, sprained my ankles as a kid, and Hualalai last year it started bothering me, and I've won five tournaments since then, so it's not like it's bothered my golf, it just bothers me walking. That's the way it goes. But this course isn't that bad, but if you watch me walk, I'm just limping, get there slowly. But it'll be all right.

Q. Is it affecting you at all with your shot?
SCOTT McCARRON: Like I said, it doesn't affect me at all golfing, just walking.

Q. How is the title defense going?
SCOTT McCARRON: Well, I'll let you know late Sunday. I'm playing decent. Just made a few too many mistakes today, especially the last hole. But I'm hitting a lot of good shots, and I'm putting pretty well. I like this golf course, so I'm certainly in the mix going into the weekend, which is where you've got to be. I mean, you can't go out and win the tournament the first two days, but I've certainly put myself in a good position.

Q. Does the role of defending champion make this a lot different to play?
SCOTT McCARRON: Defending champion really doesn't mean much unless you're coming back to the same golf course you won at, then you have some good positive vibes and you like the course, stuff like that. Coming into Exmoor was a completely new golf course to me and to a lot of guys, so being defending champion doesn't really mean much at all, but having said that, I want to win again to get in THE PLAYERS Championship. That was really a cool experience to be able to do that, and I'd like to get another shot at it, and to do that, I'm going to have to win this week.

Q. Your thoughts on the golf course, and do you like these older classic ones?
SCOTT McCARRON: I love the older style golf courses, absolutely. We've played some beautiful golf courses over the years during this tournament. Philly Cricket Club was awesome, and obviously I really enjoyed Caves Valley, even though it's not really an old-style golf course, and then we get to go play Firestone for the next few years, which is going to be great. I like that type of golf and always have, and I'm looking forward to having a great weekend.

Q. How was your game maybe compared to where you'd like it to be coming into this week?
SCOTT McCARRON: Well, I won the week before the Senior Open in Wisconsin not too far from here, played really nicely there. There were 20 guys within three shots going into the last round, and I played a really good solid last round and just made one more birdie than the rest of the guys, so that was great. Didn't play really well at the Senior Open, but the course didn't set up well for me at all. It was a course that had 12 holes that went right to left, I'm a cutter, and a lot of the wind was left to right, so I was having a tough time hitting fairways, so I really don't put much onus on that tournament, even though I finished 52nd or whatever. But I'm still playing good.

Q. The majors falling where they do, it's unlike any other tour, but what do you think of that? Would you rather have it another way?
SCOTT McCARRON: No, I think it's great. I love playing four-day events. I love playing where they really get the golf courses tough. These majors for us mean a little bit more than regular events. So I think it's great to play three in six weeks basically. It's a lot of fun for us.

Q. It's kind of an interesting thing to think about with the other tours if they did the same thing like a playoff season almost.
SCOTT McCARRON: You know, that would be interesting because that would be kind of a playoff if you had all the majors there, but again, the majors aren't owned by the PGA TOUR, so that's a little different story there.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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