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TRANSITIONS CHAMPIONSHIP

March 19, 2011

Scott Stallings

PALM HARBOR, FLORIDA

COLIN MURRAY: Scott, thanks for joining us here in the interview room at the Transitions Championship. Playing this week on a sponsor's exemption and definitely taking advantage of it, 11-under par for the week, 66 today, with a hole-in-one, also. So if you could just give us some thoughts on today and the week overall that, would be great.
SCOTT STALLINGS: First off, just thanks to Transitions. I wouldn't be here otherwise and they were the ones who gave me an opportunity to be here. I'm very grateful and obviously to take advantage and play well is a big bonus.
COLIN MURRAY: I know you got off to a slow start this year, five missed cuts to start the year and then made the cut last week in Puerto Rico. What's clicked the last two weeks?
SCOTT STALLINGS: Just kind of learning to deal with all the logistics. The West Coast is pretty brutal for a rookie, multiple courses, a lot of travel in places that I've never seen before. So getting used to all that.
But going back, playing the Nationwide event kind of get some confidence in some places that I really like, BogotÃ¡, playing well, Puerto Rico, headed onto this week. I played a practice rounds with Kenny Perry on Tuesday and he was nothing but encouraging, took me under his wing a little bit and showed me around. Grateful to have a guy like that that's been around here as long as I've been alive. He's helped me out a bunch.
COLIN MURRAY: If you can take us through your birdies and bogeys and obviously that hole-in-one.
SCOTT STALLINGS: Got off to kind of a slow start. Hit it just in the left rough on 1. Had a bad lie. Laid up and hit a pretty good pitch to about eight feet and kind of a bad putt.
2, hit it right in the middle of the fairway, and that was kind of the point where I had to fight the negative thoughts. I striped it and got right in the middle of a fat divot. So I made a bogey there. Hit it in the bunker and didn't get it up-and-down.
Hung in there at 3, 4, 5. Hit a good sand wedge to four feet and made it for birdie.
Then hole-in-one on 8, I think we had 215 and it was downwind and hit a 6-iron. We didn't see it go in but we heard the crowd. It was awesome.
Then had to kind of settle down a little bit on 9. Hit it in the right rough and was just kind of, you know, still feeling a little bit from No. 8 and hacked it up there and made a bogey and then settled down with birdies on 10 and 11.
Thought I hit a great shot on 12. Hit it right of the flag and hit it short of the fringe in some heavy rough and didn't get it up-and-down.
Then to birdie 13, 15 and 16 was pretty special. Especially 16 being in the military, something that's important to me and supporting them as much as possible and to birdie that the last couple of days has been pretty nice.
Great up-and-down on 17, the right bunker, kind of hit -- wasn't sure what the wind was doing, hung it up there and to get it up-and-down, with a tight pin over that little hill was really nice.
Great 2-putt, really, really fast putt from the left of the green to the right pin on 18 was probably the fastest putt I had all day, and to 2-putt that was nice.

Q. The two par 3s on the back, what club did you hit and how long were those putts would you say?
SCOTT STALLINGS: The one on 13, I hit 7-iron. It was 207. Same yardage on 13 and 15. I hit 7-iron on both. They were both about 8- to ten feet.

Q. How many holes in one have you had before?
SCOTT STALLINGS: This is my sixth but first in competition.

Q. Where were the other ones?
SCOTT STALLINGS: My first one was when I was 13.

Q. Where, at home?
SCOTT STALLINGS: No, actually my dad was in the seminary and I went to visit him on spring break and I went and played the golf course at seminary, actually the old Wake Forest course where Arnold Palmer played and made a hole-in-one there.

Q. What hole was it?
SCOTT STALLINGS: No. 8. Downhill hole.

Q. When did you find out you were going to get the sponsor's invite and how long have you known?
SCOTT STALLINGS: About two weeks. And it was actually the week of BogotÃ¡ I found out. I got an e-mail from a lady at Transitions saying it was looking like I was going to get one, and the day before I played the first round, I found out I got it. Because looking at the reshuffle, I got reshuffled way out after missing my first five cuts; and knowing I was going to be in a field like this with a lot of great players and on a great course was a huge shot in the arm to get the opportunity and to take advantage of it was awesome.

Q. How did you think it came about?
SCOTT STALLINGS: Kenny and I have the same agent, Alan Bullington, and he's been great as far as Transitions as far as the liaison between the players and Transitions. So obviously being a good friend of Kenny didn't hurt, but getting to meet all those guys this week has been great. Like I said, I wouldn't be here unless it was for them.

Q. Can you take us through the month of March with the reshuffle and then your decision to play BogotÃ¡.
SCOTT STALLINGS: I write a blog for a company called BNET.com, they are owned by CBS, and just do the little insight to the world of professional golf from the golfer's point of view rather than the media.
And I wrote an article regarding the reshuffle, and that was probably the most brutal thing I've ever written because it was about myself and about how I had a great opportunity; I got five of the first seven and I just played terrible. I missed like three or four cuts by a shot, and just kind of miserable beginning for your rookie year on the PGA TOUR.
But I kind of circled some Nationwide events at the beginning of the year saying if I didn't play well or if I knew there were tournaments I wasn't getting in, I would play those, because I liked the course and had played well there.
BogotÃ¡ was probably my favorite tournament on the Nationwide Tour, the golf course and people were great, and it worked out well as far as scheduling-wise to go down there; and to go down there, we only got to play two days because of weather but when they cancelled, I had about a seven-footer to get within one of the lead before they stopped play.

Q. Being in the situation you're in now, do you think about winning the golf tournament or staying in the Top-10 tomorrow?
SCOTT STALLINGS: You don't really think about anything; you think about hitting your shots. I'm not a leaderboard guy or anything like that. I'm pretty simple and to the point of where my caddie, just the whole entire round he would say good shot, if I hit it to a foot or out-of-bounds, it's like, all right, let's hit the next shot.
So that's kind of the attitude we are taking every single day, and nothing is going to change.

Q. How hard were you on yourself is in this blog item about the reshuffle?
SCOTT STALLINGS: It was brutal.

Q. Can you give us an example?
SCOTT STALLINGS: I mean, it just points it out, plain and simple, this is where I was. This is the situation I was in, and knowing the reshuffle is every six or seven events and I got shuffled out. I was like 23rd, in great position, through Q-School, and I went to like 51st, and that's back of the pack not making any money. I think I was head of one or two guys. And if I didn't get in this event, would have I been -- Puerto Rico would have been the only tournament in the shuffle that I had gotten in before the Masters. So obviously getting in a tournament like this is huge.

Q. Fair to say that by the end you were looking forward to getting away from the West Coast?
SCOTT STALLINGS: Just the same after every single tournament, I'd have done that way different and this different. Obviously you have the multiple courses and a different environment from logistics to all new faces and everything. You can go through it every step of the wide from mini-tours to Nationwide Tour to PGA TOUR. I did the same thing last year but it's just a bigger, grander scale and a lot more people involved and getting to know all of that takes a little betting used to.

Q. Is it tougher with the logistics at this level compared to the Nationwide Tour?
SCOTT STALLINGS: The best way I would describe it is when you're playing a mini-tour, Nationwide event, when you get there, you are trying to find something to do. When you get to a place like this, you are that event; driving the courtesy car, everywhere you go, people know you're playing in a tournament. I went to get haircut the other day, the guy cutting my hair was what do you think about this, what do you think about that; that's never happened (laughter).
Getting used to stuff like that. For instance, like last year, I'm sponsored by the Titleist, I had three guys to deal with and this year there's almost 15. Just dealing with who does what -- it's all good. They are all good problems. But it's just something that takes a little getting used to.

Q. When is the last time you were in a Sunday afternoon group and do you have any idea what your emotions will be like?
SCOTT STALLINGS: I'm excited. The more people, the better. I like people excited about what I love to do. I love to play. Been very blessed to have the opportunity to be on the PGA TOUR, that's something I've dreamed about since I was a little kid and to walk up 18 today and see the people in the grandstands and everything, that's exciting. That's what you dream about when you're a little kid, and good or bad, it's all been a great experience.
I feel like I'm playing well, I've been working really hard and it's nice to see. And like I said in my interviews out there, there's a lot of people behind the scenes don't get any credit. It's nice to see, they will get some satisfaction from seeing me play well as well.

Q. Any messages from Kenny Perry?
SCOTT STALLINGS: I haven't even checked my phone but I'm sure there will be something, some -- we play against each other on Words with Friends all the time and that's our form of communication. I'm sure there will be something on there.

Q. Can you describe your emotions coming into the week, were you anxious? Were you feeling maybe not desperate, but definitely overly eager to play?
SCOTT STALLINGS: There's kind of all sorts of -- I was surprisingly relaxed. I knew that I had nothing to lose. It was basically play well this week, and take advantage of the opportunity or if I didn't play well, I was going to sit back and wait until I got in towards after the U.S. Open because that's when the tournaments would start opening up and the fields would get a little bigger.
Playing with Kenny on Tuesday was huge. Played a lot of practice rounds with him this year but this was a little different, he just chatted with me, kind of had one of those old guy/young guy moments where he sits there and said, man, what it takes, just pumped me up a little bit and kind of carried that with me. Not that I need somebody to pat me on the shoulder all the time but having somebody with a career like that is a huge shot in the arm.

Q. When is the next reshuffle?
SCOTT STALLINGS: After the Masters.

Q. So if you're not getting into any between now and then that puts extra pressure on tomorrow, doesn't it?
SCOTT STALLINGS: Well I made money last week, which is nice. So obviously I'll make something this week, which anything will be better than where I was. (Laughter).
COLIN MURRAY: Scott, thanks for your time and play well tomorrow.

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