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RBC CANADIAN OPEN

July 22, 2010

Vance Veazey

TORONTO, ONTARIO

NELSON SILVERIO: We welcome Vance Veazey to the interview room here at RBC Canadian Open. Thanks for joining us. Just start us off with some thoughts on your round. You matched the course record that's been around for a while. Just give us some thoughts on maybe what clicked out there today.
VANCE VEAZEY: Well, today the putter was -- you know, that was the key ingredient to the score. I hit more fairways on my last nine holes.
This golf course seems to be about putting it in the fairway, and the greens. You have to hit good shots into the greens because they have slope. And I had a lot of good looks today with the putter. So I think that's the key to playing well here is obviously putting it in the fairway, and then gotta make putts. So that was the -- hence the good score today. Pretty good.
NELSON SILVERIO: All right. Questions.

Q. Because of the slope of the greens, they're rolling a little slower than you guys might face in a normal event?
VANCE VEAZEY: They're perfect speed for the slope and the greens.

Q. (Indiscernible). (Question about 11).
VANCE VEAZEY: Well, the greens are rolling so well that you can kind of be aggressive with your putting. You don't really have the feeling over the putts that you might run it five or six feet past the hole, so you can go ahead and have an aggressive putt. And I think that's the key to making putts where you can stand over it and be aggressive with the putts.

Q. Can you do that from both sides of the hole, though?
VANCE VEAZEY: It's definitely better to be below the hole. But you know, they're really not running out. So the key is -- and my caddie and I talked about it a good bit today, just to stay below the hole as much as you could.
I mean you can do that out of the fairway, but out of the rough it's just -- you're playing for pars out of the rough and birdies out of the fairway. The guys that are going to do well here this week is going to hit fairways, and greens, and make putts. (Laughs).

Q. Does it make a difference to you, I mean to the players whether -- because there's a lot of low scores out there. There was the initial discussion heading into this that the golf course would be very hard, rough was long. There's your 64, a bunch of 65s. Does it surprise you coming into it probably never having experienced the golf course before?
VANCE VEAZEY: Big surprise for me shooting 64 today. No, guys out here are so good; every day they shoot low. Like I said, the putts, the greens you can be aggressive with the putts, and they're somewhat soft, so you can kind of play at the pins.
But you know, it's a heck of a golf course. If you get it going a little bit sideways off the tee, and if you miss a fairway, real good chance you're going to make bogey; so I think the key to my last 10 or 11 holes I hit fairways. And even today when I hit it in the rough, I got it up-and-down for par. So that was kind of the key to the round.

Q. There's a lot made of golf courses, of the difficulty of golf courses being tied into somehow the quality of the golf course. It doesn't sound like -- you shot a 64, but it doesn't sound like you think any less of the golf course because you shot a 64.
VANCE VEAZEY: This is pretty interesting. My practice round we played 1 through 9 on Tuesday, skipped over and played 11 and 18. So I haven't played the full golf course until today, and my caddie said, I think you need to get there Thursday, next week. Let's just not play a practice round. Forget the practice round.
And that's one of the things I've tried to do the last couple weeks. I've struggled a good bit this year, you know, haven't played that well, and the last couple of weeks I've tried to just practice less and not do so much before the tournament starts. And you know, hopefully that's maybe -- I think Dave said a while ago a little more Bruce Lietzke and less Ben Hogan. So that may be my new approach.

Q. Stick a banana in the bag?
VANCE VEAZEY: Exactly. That's right.

Q. Following up on that line of questioning, is the course more receptive than maybe you expected?
VANCE VEAZEY: I think so, and if we get some rain in the morning or tonight, the greens are going to be softer. But the rough is going to be thicker and harder to play out of. So it's kind of going to balance out.
You know, if you're in that rough it's just -- it's impossible almost. But the greens are rolling great. They're going to be a little bit softer.

Q. Talk about that a little bit, but who is Vance Veazey? Is this your biggest moment so far?
VANCE VEAZEY: Well, no. You know, I've played -- I've won four times on the Nationwide Tour, but that's -- you know, I've been doing this a long time, and it's been a grind. I'm a journeyman, so to speak. I've struggled and had some success, and you know, just keep plugging and just keep believing that eventually something good is going to happen.
And I've played either out here or the Nationwide Tour the last 15 years, so played a lot of golf. Just need to kind of get over the hump, and you know, you just keep plugging along is all you can do.

Q. How do you approach the next round?
VANCE VEAZEY: Just go out and play. I mean this is one round of four rounds. Just go out and get over your shot.
Today I hit the irons well, and the putter was good. My key is if I can drive the ball in the fairway, everything should be okay. Like I said about this golf course, my stats this year are probably close to 60 percent fairways, and you can't do that on this golf course. So I've gotta hit fairways the next three days to play well.

Q. Starting out on No. 9 today did you have to stop yourself from writing that score in the under 10?
VANCE VEAZEY: I was so confused, I told my caddie, I was like, we started -- we've played way too many holes just to make the turn, right?
But no, it's a great way to start there on the par-5. But I drove it in the right bunker and had to hack it out of there and made a 20-footer for birdie, so it was a good way to get going. And made, I don't know how many putts I had today, but probably 26 or so. So it was just nice to have a hot putter.

Q. When is the last -- how many course records do you have and when is the last time you set one?
VANCE VEAZEY: Interesting. The first round of the Western Open, I'm not sure what year, I shot 64 and tied the tournament history course record. The same day Tiger shot 63, so I never got to have my name on the deal.

Q. (Indiscernible) Cog Hill?
VANCE VEAZEY: That's Cog Hill. Yes. Cog Hill. And I believe he beat me about 18 shots the rest of the week.

Q. At home is there like four golf courses at home?
VANCE VEAZEY: My home course, I believe that's probably the only other one, the course I grew up on.

Q. Which one is that?
VANCE VEAZEY: Back Acres Country Club in Senatobia, Mississippi.

Q. I haven't played that.
VANCE VEAZEY: No. Not many have, but it's a really challenging 6300-yard golf course. But anyway, I had no idea the course record was 64. Somebody might beat that today. Who knows, but certainly nice to share that company with -- who?

Q. What's your course record at Back Acres.
VANCE VEAZEY: 61, and it's a much more difficult golf course than here. (Laughs).

Q. Do they have a plaque for you?
VANCE VEAZEY: I don't think so. No. Maybe an old scorecard.

Q. Do you still play on it there at all?
VANCE VEAZEY: Some.

Q. You still from Mississippi then?
VANCE VEAZEY: I live in Memphis. So almost. Yeah.
NELSON SILVERIO: Any more questions? Trying to get a scorecard, but do you mind taking us through your birdies and bogeys.
VANCE VEAZEY: I have no idea, to be honest with you.
NELSON SILVERIO: That's what I'm waiting for. There we go right there. Thank you, Doug. Perfect timing.
VANCE VEAZEY: Like I said, this is the first time I played the course. No. 1. Let's start on -- where did we start? 9, I guess?
Yeah, 9 was a 20-footer, starting the round. So it's always good to make a 20-footer right out of the gate. 10 was a good two-putt. I hit it in the right rough, and the pin was on the right. So I had to play way left. Probably two-putted from 65 feet. So yeah, it was nice to make a five-footer for par.
11, couple birdies, I birdied 11 and 12. I actually don't even know what I shot today. 11, par-5, 15-footer. 12, par-3 -- no. Par-4, excuse me. Not sure how long that putt was.
Got up-and-down on 18 for par, which kind of keeps the round going. No. 1 was an eight-footer for birdie. 2 was 15-footer for birdie. The bogey on 3 was kind of the only putt that I missed today that I feel like I should have made. It was a five-footer for par.
20-footer on 6 for birdie. 8 was about another 15 or 18-footer. Then 9 was about four and a half feet. So definitely the putter today was the key to the score.
NELSON SILVERIO: Perfect. Any more questions? No? All right. Thanks, Vance.
VANCE VEAZEY: Thank you.

End of FastScripts

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