Kevin Sutherland - 2/11/07 Nelson Silverio: All right, Kevin, thanks for joining us for a couple minutes. 71 today to finish in solo second. Some initial thoughts on the day? Kevin Sutherland: I felt like, you know, early on I was a little tight and... but I felt like kind of early about the 4th hole I kind of loosened up and felt like I could start playing pretty good. I felt I hit the ball pretty good, I wasn't taking advantage of them. Had a good birdie putt on 4, 7, 8. I didn't convert them. And then obviously a double on 9 hurt. I hit a 7 out of the rough and I talked myself into having to maybe swing a little harder than I needed to probably normally to maybe little one, and I kind of swung one, I kind of made it jump a little bit. Caught a fly on the rough and it flew over the green. I still had a chance of making bogey there, but I missed a five-footer. To be honest with you, I was not all that disappointed with how I played. I felt if I had putted a little better I could have shot a 69 or 68, but Phil shot 66? I don't know if I had that in me today. He played tremendous golf. Nelson Silverio: Questions? Questioner: What were you thinking on 5? Phil obviously started out on 5 and played spectacularly after that. That put you and Kevin and John right back in it. Kevin Sutherland: Right back in it. It was a bizarre thing, Phil and I talked about it after the round, about how short that shot played. The group ahead of us, I know Davis hit a 6 iron and for some reason I don't know if the wind picked up a little bit while we were standing there or whatever, but I completely missed my 6 iron. I was very lucky and my ball was over the green. Just happened to be in a spot where I could hit it, you know. And Phil hit his just perfect it and flew, who knows, no one knows. But it was a bizarre moment. It kind of... you know, he got just such a fast start it kind of let me back into the game. We were tied, we both birdied 6 and then I missed about a four-, five-footer on 7, but you know, we were tied going to 8. Then he just started playing some tremendous golf, he played 8, 9, 10 like he knew what he was doing. Questioner: When he clicks into a gear like that, when a top ten player clicks into gear like that it's more than just distance, I imagine. As a fellow golfer, what stands out to you about that round, I guess? Kevin Sutherland: When Phil drives a ball like he did today, I mean, he drove it for the most part on the string right down the middle of the fairway. He is pretty tough to beat. He is such a good wedge player, iron player, and obviously he is a very good putter. If he is driving the ball like that right down the middle of the fairway, there is not a player in the world that is not going to have a hard time beating him. Questioner: At what point did you figure it was a race for second place? Kevin Sutherland: I kind of felt like that after 11, you know. I felt like I was kind of... what was I after 10? We both birdied 10. How far back was I, three, four? Questioner: Three at that point. Kevin Sutherland: I still felt like I was still in the game at that point. But when he birdied 11 and I three putted 11 I kind of felt like, you know, where is second place at right now? And fortunately I was still kind of in touch with that, you know. I think that was the point where I kind of like Phil is on his way, let's see what we can do to get second. Questioner: Kevin, you said you were tied until about the 4th hole, but on No. 2 tee you and Phil and Bones were laughing it up pretty good. Kevin Sutherland: Oh, yeah. We were having a good time. We were telling some stories. But you know, we had a good time. I mean, I've always gotten along well with Phil. And I've known Phil a long time and I know Bones very well. And so we had a lot... we did a lot of talking and it was a very light atmosphere. And I think some of that is inspired by the nature of this tournament. You know, you have two amateurs playing with you, you know, it's always going to be a little bit more banter and a little bit more talk as opposed to if this was the U.S. Open it wouldn't have been quite like that. Questioner: You mean the Open or just a regular 72 hole stroke play? Kevin Sutherland: Well, even -- well, regular 72 stroke play would be kind of in the middle. Obviously if it's a major it's going to be a little more serious. But if it was regular stroke play it probably would have been a little more serious. This tournament kind of inspires that. That's the way it is. When you come here you know you are going to be playing with two amateurs, as a result you have to realize this is going to be a little bit more laid back tournament. Questioner: Not to jump at it too much, you talked about Phil's driving, he talked about that was the one thing he really worked at on the off season. If he continues and drives like that can you see him challenging Tiger again as he has? Kevin Sutherland: Yes, absolutely. Did he win two or one major? Questioner: One, the Masters. Kevin Sutherland: You know, his game hasn't gone anywhere. When he drives the ball like that right down the middle of the fairway he is very tough. Because it seems to me that the strength of his game is his iron play and his putting. Obviously everybody knows he has great imagination around the green. So when he is driving the ball as well as he did today, he is obviously, you know, it's Phil Mickelson, he is a great player. I mean, how many things can you say? Questioner: As far as you, you were not in the top one hundred in 2005 or 2006 and you had no top tens last year. How big is this for you? Kevin Sutherland: It was a big day for me. I haven't had a top ten in two years. I've had a lot of good tournaments and I have not, you know, played as well as I know I can. But I kind of felt like about July of last year I really started hitting the ball a lot more like I used to back in 2001, 2002, 2000, that area. And I started feeling like my game is starting to come back a little bit. And it's kind of moved into this year, you know. So I feel pretty good about where my game is right now. I was back, you know, last couple years, I don't want to say I was struggling, I was making a lot of cuts, finishing 20th, but not really getting anything going. So this is a definite confidence boost for me. Questioner: Also that putt on No. 18, you knew that was for sole second place? Kevin Sutherland: Oh, yeah. I was very much aware of that. I didn't know that when I was... I knew that John was at 14 going into the 18th hole and I didn't know what he had made until I got near the green and could see the score board. At that point I knew if I could make this putt I finished sole second. That was a big putt for me, it kind of made some of the things that happened out there on the golf course, you know, kind of made up for them, I guess is what I'm trying to say. Questioner: You mentioned last July. Anything in particular happen that triggered that revival? Kevin Sutherland: No, nothing substantial. It was, you know, I've been working with my teacher Don Baucom and we were just trying to keep getting better. We hit on some things, I have a problem with getting the club stuck behind me, I've been struggling with that a couple years, in the last six, seven, eight months the club has been getting a little more in front of me, especially my irons. I get more control of my irons, it doesn't curve, it's going straight, I've been doing that for the last six months. Questioner: Did you see anything odd in Phil's swing on his tee shot on 3? Kevin Sutherland: I don't know. He was just trying to hit a cut around the corner and he just came out of, I mean nothing, he was just trying to hit a cut and didn't stay in the shot. Nothing dramatic. I mean, the way he drove the ball, it was the only drive that was not really right in the midst of dead center in the fairway. I think that the way he drove the ball today, he -- if he can drive the ball like that he is going to be a force this year. Questioner: Are you impressed by that low one he hit on No. 11? Kevin Sutherland: Yeah, I mean he hit a lot of shots like that today. I mean, he drove the ball on a string. You know. That was a very good shot. The tee shot he hit on 13, the tee shot he hit on 14, he hit a lot of tremendous tee shots. When he is doing that, it just fits his game. When he is doing that, when he can allow himself to hit iron shots in the middle of the fairway the way he hits his irons and putts the ball, if he feels good about the way he is driving the ball he should, he is going to have a tremendous year. Questioner: Why would you choose to hit that low a drive on 11, do you think, down breeze? Kevin Sutherland: Well, I don't know. I'm not sure if he hit it all that much lower than he hit the other tee shots. The tee shot is really up hill, so it gives the illusion of being a lot lower. His tee shots weren't, all his tee shots weren't exactly high soaring shots today, they were pretty much on a line. And they were hit tremendously well. I don't know if that tee shot is rated any different than any of the other tee shoots here today, it's up hill. You have to ask him that question. Questioner: How long was your putt on 18, what did you have for approach yardage and were you aware of Mallinger at that point when you hit your approach shot? Kevin Sutherland: I was not aware until I got up near the green. I thought it said 14 next to his name, but I wasn't positive till I got by the green. It was a five-footer, roughly, and I had, I think it was 65 yards, I hit a 56 degree wedge. Questioner: Kevin, isn't this kind of classic Phil, you know, he kind of gets off to a slow start to the season, which wasn't the usual Phil, boom. Find another gear in a relatively short period of time, it didn't take him till July. Is this kind of what a lot of us have to come to expect from him? The unexpected in a sense? Kevin Sutherland: I don't know the answer to that question. What was the question? I'm not sure. Questioner: Is this kind of classic Phil to win after really not... us not knowing where his game was? Kevin Sutherland: He is a great player. And when... and great players, you know, they... something can click. And off they go. And it doesn't take much. I haven't seen him play at all this year until today, so I can't really answer to what he has done before today. But the way he played today, you know. Questioner: Looked like he won all four times. Kevin Sutherland: With the exception of the shot he had on 5, and really he didn't hit that bad of a shot, he hit it right off the pin, it was obviously just a wrong club. He played flawless golf. Questioner: Kevin, do you want to go... Questioner: I just wanted to know what was kind of the difference for you today versus a couple weeks ago when you were in a similar position going into the final round? Kevin Sutherland: I don't know. You know, the funny thing about it, I thought I was a little more tight today earlier in the round even than I was in San Diego. I won't say I was disappointed in that, but I just was. By the 4th tee I relaxed and was playing golf. I played better today than I did at San Diego. My score may be, relative to everything else, maybe not necessarily any better, but I didn't really... I kind of let the birdie putts get away from me early today, and obviously the double bogey on 9 really set me back. I felt for the most part, especially from 12 through 18, I really feel like I played some really good golf. Questioner: I was going to ask you about that. I don't know how much you talked about it already, just 7 and 8 seemed like two opportunities that... there have been some other ones, I wonder if that was starting to grind on you. If you could talk about that and what exactly on 9 did you hit. Kevin Sutherland: You know, I hate to say this, it did grind on me a little bit. You know, I didn't hit a very good putt on 7, but I let a golden opportunity get away there. And then I really, I felt like I hit a pretty good putt on 8, but obviously I didn't convert it. And so I did let it kind of grind on me a little bit. Because I had already missed a pretty good opportunity on 4. I was a little, I don't want to say disappointed, you need to start making some of these putts. Because you always knew that Phil, on a day like today with the weather as nice as it was, you have to shoot a pretty good score. And so... and then on 9 I hit a 7 iron from about, I think it was 169, if I remember right. And I probably talked myself into swinging a little harder at it than I needed to. And it was probably just a little 7, just a normal 7, I swung pretty hard at it and the ball jumped a little bit, I kind of made it do that by spinning so hard out of rough. It was a totally preventable shot. It wasn't a flier lie, I made it into a flier lie. And it ended up in a double bogey. Questioner: Where did it go? I didn't see it. Kevin Sutherland: It went over the green. It was about three inches in the hazard. But it was kind of buried in the rough and right behind the ball was a huge clump of grass. And I was thinking of maybe taking a swing at it. I actually didn't think... wasn't sure my club would get to the ball. It was so thick. So I said, you know what, I can drop it on the edge of the green, basically. Get it up and down and you can make a bogey here. I hit a decent chip five feet and missed the putt. And at that point I was obviously, you know, 7, 8, 9, really kind of sealed my doom a little bit. Questioner: And 11, was that a 3 putt from as short... Kevin Sutherland: It was pretty short. What did he say? 20 feet. Questioner: You don't want to know. Kevin Sutherland: 18 feet. Questioner: Seriously, he said something about 6 and a half feet. Kevin Sutherland: What does it say? It says 12 feet, one inch. That was about it right. No, it's about 12 feet. I got a little aggressive on the first one, ran it by four feet, missed it coming back. I didn't putt the ball nearly as well today as I did the last two days. And that's a little disappointing. I had a number of opportunities out there today that I just didn't take advantage of. Questioner: Kevin, you know how we tend to dwell on hyperbole, after Phil lost, you know, lost the Open, we were all writing this is universal, something is wrong, he is going to lose his game, then he basically plays badly in the Ryder Cup and then he doesn't play for four months. Did you think all this stuff was a lot of beans? Kevin Sutherland: It was a lot of whatever that word. I was going to say something else. Questioner: You guys on tour... Kevin Sutherland: I don't know how public this intercom is. Questioner: He can still play. Kevin Sutherland: He can still play. A lot of the questions I've gotten today I felt like there has been code of U.S. Open code and... Questioner: There was no code. That was direct. Kevin Sutherland: There has been some U.S. Open code in the question. So I'm trying to avoid U.S. Open code. Phil's game hasn't gone anywhere. Phil is going to be right where he wants to be. He played tremendous today. And I think he is going to be a force the rest of this year. I don't think... I don't think anything can happen at the U.S. Open that can be a nonfactor. Questioner: What was your best previous finish here, do you remember? Kevin Sutherland: In the teens somewhere. I don't know. I don't think I've had a top ten here before. I've had a couple, two or three probably top 20s. Questioner: Easily your best. Kevin Sutherland: This is my best. Questioner: When you talked in San Diego about the importance of getting a stroke play win, that you really wanted to do that -- Kevin Sutherland: Yes. Questioner: -- how much do you feel like you need that to, I don't know if validate is the right word, complete, add to your career, I guess? Kevin Sutherland: It would add to my career. I don't think it's going to validate my career if I don't win a tournament, a stroke play tournament. Yeah. You know, the thing about it is the more that you try to win a tournament, the less likely you are going to win a tournament. You have to go out and play golf. And the harder you try to do something, you know, probably the more you are going to go backwards. I'm not going to focus and dwell on it too much. But I would love to have some more opportunities. I felt like I gave myself this week and I felt like I had an opportunity at San Diego, and it would be nice to take advantage of those opportunities a little bit more. I finished second this week I'm very pleased with that. It would have been nice to make a few more putts and give myself an opportunity down the stretch. Questioner: Do you feel like this might set you up for a pretty good year? Kevin Sutherland: I feel like I'm playing good. I felt like I hit the ball good at the Hope, I felt like the hit the ball good at San Diego, and I hit the ball good this week. Hitting good iron shots is key to my game. When I'm doing that, you know, I give myself a lot of good birdie opportunities. I feel like I'm playing well right now. I don't think there is any reason not to think that way. Nelson Silverio: We covered 9 and 11, would you mind going through the birdies? Kevin Sutherland: I birdied 6, hit the left bunker with a hybrid, got up and down left bunker, made a ten-footer. Nelson Silverio: Birdie on 10. Kevin Sutherland: I chipped in from left of the green, with a 56 degree sand wedge. Then another at 15. I hit a 9 iron for like 125 yards or something like that. And I made about a 20-footer, 25-footer. Nelson Silverio: Obviously the one on 18. Kevin Sutherland: 18 hit a sand wedge from I think it was 65 yards and made about a five-footer. Nelson Silverio: More questions? Thanks, Kevin.