KEVIN SUTHERLAND - 2/9/07 NELSON SILVERIO: Welcome, Kevin. Thanks for coming in for a couple minutes. 63 today. Matches your career low round on the PGA TOUR. Guess the rain didn't bother you much today. KEVIN SUTHERLAND: I don't... no, I guess not. I had a lot of good shots and obviously putted very well. NELSON SILVERIO: Questions, guys? QUESTIONER: Were you thinking 62? That's course record over there so... KEVIN SUTHERLAND: I thought... I wasn't sure. No, I mean I was just trying to keep making birdies. I wasn't necessarily thinking a particular number, you know, when I was on 7 and I hit a good drive in the middle of the fairway and then I was just trying to hit like a little 3 wood and I tend to hit those a little bit right. So I was kind of protecting that way when I lost it, actually hooked it, lost my ball, kind of thinking maybe 62 would be a possibility. So took a... I took a provisional for a lost ball knocked it on the green. Ended up 2 putting for a bogey. Besides that I really played tremendous golf QUESTIONER: Spyglass typically being really, really tough though, that's a heck of a number. KEVIN SUTHERLAND: Yeah, I'm not... I'm not diminishing the round at all. Spyglass is one of my favorite courses in the world that I've played and I think I'd rather play there every day than Pebble. I just love the place. But 63 was not a score I was thinking about when I teed off. It's a tough golf course and I know I happened to birdie some really tough holes. I birdied 16 and 5. Some of the holes I can tell you I had some problems I made some birdies on. If there's some holes you can make a birdie on and I happened to do that today. So everything just seemed to go right today. QUESTIONER: Made a birdie on 5. KEVIN SUTHERLAND: Yeah, hit like three feet with a 4 iron. QUESTIONER: How tough were the conditions? It didn't bother you obviously but... KEVIN SUTHERLAND: It wasn't... Pebble is probably blowing, I don't know. Was it? I don't know. It didn't seem that bad. It seemed a lot better than yesterday. Compared to yesterday it seemed like it was nothing, you know. There's a little bit of wind when we played 2 and 3, but then it seemed to lie down again when we played 4 and 5. It just seemed like a pretty good day to play golf. It didn't seem like it was that windy. It was a little rainy but when you get a chance to drive the ball, instead of hitting a 7 you're hitting a 5 iron, you're hitting the ball good, you're going to get some birdie chances QUESTIONER: Not to put the kaibosh on you or anything, do you feel pretty good having gotten Pebble and Spy out of the way? KEVIN SUTHERLAND: I guess so. I haven't necessarily seemed like I play any better or worse on any of the three courses. So I really don't care. QUESTIONER: Give you the first tee (inaudible)on time? KEVIN SUTHERLAND: No, is Poppy the easier course? I don't know that. I guess I am, then. QUESTIONER: Kevin, around here, you know, the reputation Spyglass, you grew up Northern California, I assume you've played in some of the NCGA events. In other words, I think it was an intimidating course, particularly in the winter. Did you ever find it that? Did you like it the first time you played it? KEVIN SUTHERLAND: I loved it. QUESTIONER: And were you amazed like today's round? KEVIN SUTHERLAND: I was fortunate like a lot of Northern California amateur KEVIN SUTHERLANDs got a chance to play Spyglass a lot. The Nor Cal Match Play, Nor Cal Public Links. There's endless tournaments at Spyglass. It was tough. I remember if you shot 75 in those tournaments you were playing some really good golf. Some of that is I'm a better player than I was. Also some of it is the equipment, too. The course doesn't seem as long as it used to be. It used to wear out 3 irons and 4 irons. QUESTIONER: 16th hole potentially... KEVIN SUTHERLAND: Yeah, 16th hole would be a driver of wood potentially. Today I hit a... it's the golf course. I don't think it's any less great. I loved the place from the first day I played it. QUESTIONER: Also, I know you've been asked this. You win the world match play. Million dollars puts you in prominence. That's basically five years ago. Next month... this month. I just wonder what has happened since then and... KEVIN SUTHERLAND: You know, I haven't played as well. I played really well in 2001 and 2002 maybe and 2002 I played well, but I haven't played as well since then. It's just been that simple. I can't really put a finger on why. It just hasn't worked out that way. It's not that I've necessarily played bad golf, but I haven't played to that level of where I was in 2001 and 2002. QUESTIONER: The game is so frustrating people are always searching. Did you ever figure out why? Was it your swing or... KEVIN SUTHERLAND: I wasn't hitting the ball as well as I did. I feel like I'm hitting the ball pretty well right now. But I wasn't hitting the ball as well in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and after a while starts to become to become more than just a trend, you know. And, you know, last year I felt like the second half of last year I was hitting the ball pretty well and I feel like it's kind of worked into this season a little bit and I think just really wasn't hitting the ball... I've never been a guy who's going to just roll the ball all day long and make a bunch of putts. I need to hit the ball well if I'm going to make it. Hitting good iron shots is my game. So for those years I just wasn't hitting my irons as well as I could have. QUESTIONER: Maybe a good comfort level on the upswing of your game and then come back to a comfort place and play here, that's got to be a good feeling. KEVIN SUTHERLAND: I think there's something to that, yeah. I feel good about the place I'm playing. I'm at a place I've had success maybe not on the PGA TOUR but at events that make me feel good about being here. QUESTIONER: Was there anything you tried to do when you're not playing at the same level? Did you try anything different as far as clubs or coaches? KEVIN SUTHERLAND: No, no. Same everything. Don Bock (phonetic) has been my coach for 20 years. Didn't make any changes. Just got to keep getting better. Sometimes it seems a... QUESTIONER: Did you find yourself in contention like this in the midway point of any tournaments last year? How does it feel to be right in the mix of this thing here? KEVIN SUTHERLAND: Boy, I can't remember. QUESTIONER: What are you looking at me for? KEVIN SUTHERLAND: Yeah, you seem to know everything. QUESTIONER: Don't you wonder how it feels to be in the spot right now? QUESTIONER: Let us introduce you to Art Ferguson. KEVIN SUTHERLAND: It feels good. I'm just trying to play good golf. It's only the second round on the tournament. I'm not getting too caught up on where I'm at, but if I feel like I play good golf, I'll be there at the end, but I need to take care of that stuff before I start worrying about how I feel. QUESTIONER: 63 at Spy, though, must make you feel you can play golf. KEVIN SUTHERLAND: Oh yeah. And I felt like I played pretty well yesterday. It was a tough day at Pebble and at the end I kind of lost my rhythm a little bit. I felt like I played pretty good, 72. I wasn't all that discouraged by it. Someone asked me what to think about today, I don't know what to think about today. I didn't think I played that bad, I shot 72, that's the way it goes. I felt like I had a chance at playing good golf today. QUESTIONER: You're not getting caught up with who's up there, Mickelson and Furyk, the fact that if you want to have a chance to win the tournament, you're going to have to probably throw another good score up there. KEVIN SUTHERLAND: I'm very much aware of that. I'm pretty much aware I'm going to need to make a lot more birdies before this tournament is over. I have no vision of 72, 72 is going to get it done. QUESTIONER: There was a rookie, you may have heard this, he was asked if he knew anything about Kevin Sutherland and he mentioned the west coast player. Why is that? KEVIN SUTHERLAND: I think it's just a familiarity being home. I'm comfortable on the poa anna greens. I'm not comfortable on the Bermuda greens. I wish I was comfortable on the Bermuda greens. I'm just comfortable on these greens. I grew up putting greens similar to this in Sacramento and like I said earlier, I've played a lot of golf in this area when I was an amateur. Some when I'm in a pro I play a Cally Invitational, which is in November. I played a lot of golf here as an amateur. I played some as a pro. QUESTIONER: I'm going to assume 63, you never came close to that. KEVIN SUTHERLAND: I think I shot 65s there in one of those Callaway events a couple years ago. Maybe a 66, I don't remember. No, it's nothing close to that. I think I made 10 birdies today there. That's not what I was expecting, no. That was a career round for me. NELSON SILVERIO: Thanks, Kevin.