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CANADIAN OPEN


September 8, 2006


Richard Scott


ANCASTER, ONTARIO

Q. How does it feel knowing you're going to be playing the weekend?

RICHARD SCOTT: I think it's going to be a lot of fun. Going to have fun with it. I've obviously never made the cut. This is my fourth Open. It feels really good.

Just going to have a lot of fun out there. I'm sure me and Andrew will enjoy it. Hopefully I'll get paired with some good guys.

Q. Unless Victor goes lower than you, you're going to be sitting as low amateur in the tournament. Is that a point of pride for you?

RICHARD SCOTT: Well, yeah, that would be a great thing. But you never know, Victor is a great player. I'm wishing the best for him. Hopefully he plays well today and makes the cut as well.

Q. What kind of support are you feeling out there on the course? Hearing a lot of love?

RICHARD SCOTT: For sure. Not only like my friends from home. I had a lot of friends from home out today and people I know. That was really nice. You know, obviously they're going to give you a lot of support. But not only them, but other people just from the area. I'm not really from right around here. But when you're Canadian in the Canadian Open, you get a lot of cheers out there, a lot of claps and a lot of yells, so it feels really good.

Q. Would this be the biggest crowd over the weekend? With Mike out, the focus might shift to you. How do you think you'll deal with that?

RICHARD SCOTT: Yeah, I don't know, probably the biggest crowd I played against or in front of. But it should be fun. I enjoyed the first two rounds a lot. That was a little different from years past. I'm just going to keep enjoying it and take it one shot at a time.

Q. As a Canadian amateur, you didn't make a secret of the fact you really wanted to make the cut here. Was that something that started creeping into your mind the last few holes when you were losing a few shots?

RICHARD SCOTT: Yeah, it's definitely going to creep in your mind. I got a little quick on 17. 16 just had a really hard putt. Almost made it. It just kind of trickled 10 feet by or so. Hit a good second putt, but missed that. Yeah, you know, it creeped into my mind.

Andrew kept me calm. I tried do keep myself calm and breathe and kind of relax. Luckily I wish I would have made that putt or at least left myself a tap in instead of a three footer. It went through, so it's good.

Q. It seemed you were giving yourself some opportunities. Do you think this round could have been even better if your putter were a little hotter?

RICHARD SCOTT: Yeah, I'm definitely going to work on that. It was a little better than it was yesterday. I made a couple. But I did have better opportunities today, too. Definitely need to work on my putter a little bit. If I get it really rolling, I could shoot a low number out there 'cause I'm hitting it well enough. That's a good opportunity to have.

Q. You mentioned more fun this year. Why? Why not so much at the other three?

RICHARD SCOTT: You know, I did have fun at the other three. I learned a lot of things. I think my game's improved a little bit over the years. Just kind of took it in stride a little more. Maybe just a little more used to it, was able to have more fun because of that. Just the whole atmosphere is a lot different.

But I think I was a little more used to it and had a lot more fun.

Q. People recognize you as a three time Canadian amateur champion. Do you think people see you and attach that to your name? Do you have any sense of that?

RICHARD SCOTT: Maybe a little bit. I've had some people bring my picture up to me from, you know, whatever it was, had me sign it. That's pretty cool to know they actually know who I am. In years past, I think in Hamilton in '03 somebody came up and asked me and told me the caddie center was over there. I was a little younger. Looked a little younger back then, too. Yeah, it's nice to get recognized.

Q. Mike doesn't make the cut. Here you are playing on the weekend. Must be kind of interesting.

RICHARD SCOTT: That is. Obviously I was cheering for Mike. I was looking over. He was on 17 when I was coming up I think 13. I was trying to see what he was at.

Yeah, it's too bad he missed the cut because, you know, he's definitely a national hero around here. If I probably would have missed and he made it, I would have been watching him on the weekend. That's how much I idolized him.

It's too bad. But, you know, it should be fun for me on the weekend. And hopefully I'll have some good rounds.

Q. A couple of times over the last few weeks, you talked about making 'the' decision after the worlds. Are you talking about the decision when to turn pro or if to turn pro?

RICHARD SCOTT: Probably more of a 'when,' I guess. You never know, though. Golf is a funny game. You never know what's going to happen.

But right now I'm just working on my degree and taking it one step at a time, focusing on this weekend and then the World Amateur Team Championship.

Q. I notice a few of the guys are drinking beer in your crowd, got a bit wild at some holes. Do you like when it's rowdy? Does that factor in at all?

RICHARD SCOTT: Yeah, you notice it. Those guys make me laugh a little bit out there. I've known a lot of those guys for a long time, ever since I grew up. It was fun having them out there watching me and giving a few yells and cheers because it loosens me up a little bit. So it was a lot of fun.

Q. Mike was saying this week that he wanted to play more of an ambassador role to some of the young guys. Have you spoken with him in the past or this week about some advice getting out here?

RICHARD SCOTT: I haven't really spoken to him about advice too much. It's tough when the only time I run into him is this tournament every year. I've been lucky enough to play in it the last four years. That's really the only time I get to run into him.

You don't want to take his time up this week, of course, because he's like a rock star around here. He's got the galleries. He's got a lot of strain on his time. That's tough.

But, no, I'd love to chat with Mike because he's had a long road and a tough road. He obviously has learned some things from that.

Q. When it comes time, making that decision, it's possible you might seek out his advice?

RICHARD SCOTT: Definitely, yeah, I would definitely like to seek out his advice. He's a great player. He's obviously done a lot of great things to get where he is. To learn from that would be great.

Q. How tough was it playing here again? How much did the experience help, being familiar with the course?

RICHARD SCOTT: The course played a little different than '03 obviously. It was a little softer. That's probably why you're seeing a lot lower scores.

Yeah, definitely, the greens knowing the greens a little better, having Andrew on the bag was huge 'cause he knew the greens so well. That helped me, you know, on every putt. We were just talking about which way it went. He pretty much read every putt right. I either pushed it or pulled it when it missed one. That was good to have.

Yeah, just being familiar with all the tee shots, knowing where to hit it, knowing what club to hit off of every tee, it was good.

Q. Because the wind picked up a bit today, was this 69 better than yesterday's 69?

RICHARD SCOTT: I think I played a little better today. Put a few shots closer to the hole today and gave myself some more opportunities. I think with the wind, it was playing a little harder, but not too, too much harder. So it was maybe a little bit better.

End of FastScripts.

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