May 22, 2009
QUICK QUOTES FROM:
VINCENT TORTORICI
SCOTT DAVIS
CHRIS STARKJOHANN
TRACI STARKJOHANN
AN INTERVIEW WITH:
VINCENT TORTORICI
Q. Better day on the course today.
VINCENT TORTORICI: Better day.
Q. Did the course play different than it
did in the afternoon yesterday?
VINCENT TORTORICI: Yeah, the greens
were definitely a little more receptive. It was a little
less calmer, the greens were holding a little better,
so, yeah, it definitely was a little easier today.
Q.
Your debut at the Senior PGA
Championship. How did it feel?
VINCENT TORTORICI: It was great. It
was a really great experience. I certainly wish I
had played a little better, but it was a great
experience and I look forward to coming back
again.
Q. What did the -- did you hear the
crowd for you out there?
VINCENT TORTORICI: Oh, absolutely.
We had people, people followed us, you know,
which was, we had two club pros in our group and
people were following us and cheering and it was
great. It was really great.
FastScripts by ASAP Sports.
AN INTERVIEW WITH:
SCOTT DAVIS
Q. Can you describe some of the
emotions you have the last couple days for
your debut?
SCOTT DAVIS: Yeah, well starting off the
Tournament I was nervous. I was nervous mostly
because the golf course is very difficult. And I
didn't really have my swing this week, so without
having a swing and a tough golf course, that will
make you nervous.
Q. Did you feel like the conditions were
a bit easier today compared to yesterday
afternoon?
SCOTT DAVIS: Absolutely. The morning
conditions were definitely easier than yesterday.
We played the last group off and this morning the
greens were softer and a little bit slower.
Q. Did you have a certain mindset or
maybe a swing thought you were thinking
about today?
SCOTT DAVIS: I was just trying to drive
the ball in the fairway. You got to shape your
drives. And I was trying to hit the fairways. It's a
tough driving golf course.
Q. Did you have a certain club that
maybe you felt most comfortable with?
SCOTT DAVIS: I putted pretty well. I
wanted to just try and get on the greens, which
was difficult to do.
Q. Well, if you're putting good, that's
the most important part, so, yeah. Thank you
very much.
SCOTT DAVIS: Thank you.
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FastScripts by ASAP Sports.
AN INTERVIEW WITH:
CHRIS STARKJOHANN
Q. You were second to last in the field,
and here you are doing a great job. Talk about
that.
CHRIS STARKJOHANN: Well, it's good to
be here, that's for sure. And I played well today, I
just made a few putting mistake, but otherwise I hit
the ball good.
Q. You had some birdies on the back
side. Could you go through them a little bit?
CHRIS STARKJOHANN:
Let's see, I
started on 13, the par-3, I hit 4-iron about 25 feet
right of the hole and made a good putt there.
14, I hit driver, 8-iron about 15 feet below
the hole and made that putt.
15, I hit driver, 3-wood over the back edge
and chipped a little lob wedge down there to about
two feet and made that.
Then 16, I hit driver, 3-wood, right in the
front bank, hit a little lob wedge out there about
four and a half feet and made that one. So it was
actually a pretty good roll there.
I was trying to make it on 17, I hit it right
above the hole down there on the fringe and I ran it
by about three feet and missed it coming back.
Q. When did you find out that were you
definitely in?
CHRIS STARKJOHANN:
3:30 on
Tuesday, I think it was.
Q. Were you able to get a practice
round in?
CHRIS STARKJOHANN: I didn't play a
practice round until she through in Wednesday,
she got here at noon, and that's the first time I hit a
shot on the golf course was about 12:30 on the
back nine. I didn't even play 7, 8 and 9, I just
played 15 holes. So I didn't play those at all.
I actually play better when I don't have
any, yeah, because I didn't have any knowledge, I
guess. So it's more or less just pick a number and
fire it.
And actually, I birdied 7 and miss a
4-footer on 8 yesterday for birdie and then I
actually could have birdied all three of those holes.
Q. When you come to an event like
this, do you bring with you your own set of
expectations in terms of either placing on the
leaderboard or a number or what?
CHRIS STARKJOHANN: You know, the
first goal for us club pros is to make the cut. I look
at it, you know, we play one hole at a time and
trying to make pars. And I know pars are good out
here.
And that was my whole goal today it was
just making the cut. Because I hit it in the rough
again on 6 today and I had to lay up two days, I
miss that had fairway first and she wants me to be
a little more bold and I said, we're just going to
make the cut, I just need to hang in there. So I
chipped out and made bogey there.
I birdied 5 and 6 and then I just turned to
the back side and I birdied 11 and I birdied 13
through 16. So it was a wise decision.
Q. Did you have two pars on the back?
CHRIS STARKJOHANN: I don't even
know.
Q. It was all birdies and bogeys.
CHRIS STARKJOHANN:
Don't even
know. I don't count, I just try to go to the next hole
and make a birdie on the next hole. What's behind
me is not important any more.
Q. Now that you've made the cut, do
you think beyond that? Do you think, hey, why
not me?
CHRIS STARKJOHANN: Well, you know,
it's a possibility, but still going to just trust in the
lord and where the ball goes, it goes. Just have
fun. The hard part's over right now. Really. It's all
gravy.
Q. You got a chance now after two
days to see the complexities of these greens,
what's your observations now after two days?
CHRIS STARKJOHANN:
Well, the
morning was a lot softer. We played yesterday in
the afternoon and you could kind of rely on about
10 to 15 feet of bounce. And I hit some shots
today where I'm only getting four or five feet of roll
on the green. So it's hard to pick your clubs.
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So I think I enjoyed the afternoons better,
even though I scored better today, I have a little
more feel for the ones that bounce. So the harder
greens, the better.
Q. Are you a long hitter?
CHRIS STARKJOHANN: Well, you know
what, I hit it 354 on 4 yesterday and I only had a
sand wedge. I hit a 52 in there about six feet and
made birdie. So Jay Don Blake beat me by one
yard. I hit it 315 on 4.
Q. Nonetheless, you're hitting it long,
but you're obviously keeping it in play and
close to the fairway when not in the fairway?
CHRIS STARKJOHANN: I hit it better in
the fairway today. I think I only hit five fairways
yesterday.
TRACI STARKJOHANN: No, you had five
in the first cut too, that's as good as hitting it in the
fairway.
CHRIS STARKJOHANN: It is. I'm not
complaining, I've only had two bad lies and they
were both on 6. I just got to hit that fairway
tomorrow. Maybe I'll play it with an 8-iron. I
haven't hit 18 fairway either. My wife is on my bag
right now. She's a great caddie. Chris.
TRACI STARKJOHANN: He played really,
really well. You made it look easy. I thought the
numbers were going to be a lot lower yesterday. I
was talking with Jim Remy and -CHRIS STARKJOHANN: She talks more
than I do. I just hit the ball.
TRACI STARKJOHANN: -- and I thought,
well, what's the numbers? And he goes, oh,
they're really high. And I'm like, are you kidding
me? He's making it look easy.
CHRIS STARKJOHANN: That's my wife
Traci.
TRACI STARKJOHANN: Reigning club
champion at Torrey Pines. I had to stay there and
win.
CHRIS STARKJOHANN:
She's been
winning for like 12 years now.
Q. Traci with an I?
TRACI STARKJOHANN: Yeah.
CHRIS STARKJOHANN: She was my
caddie, I didn't even take a caddie before I got
here. So she was obviously on the bag, so.
Q. It's good to have one like that.
CHRIS STARKJOHANN: It is.
TRACI STARKJOHANN: Yeah, it was
great. He did, he got me to the Mid-Amateur last
year.
Q. When is the most recent time you've
been working and giving a lesson before you
got out here?
CHRIS STARKJOHANN: I gave a lesson,
oh, couple weeks ago I was home before I went to
-- I had the whole month of April off. We didn't
have anything on the schedule, so I stayed home
there and I gave a few lessons there. I don't have
to teach that much.
Q. Is Cardiff by the Sea as pretty as it
sounds?
CHRIS STARKJOHANN:
It is.
It's
between Encinitas and Solana Beach.
TRACI STARKJOHANN: It's a sleepy surf
town, but it's just marvelous. He gives me phone
lessons. I got to call him up and say, why am I
going low and left, and he'll give me lessons over
the phone.
Q. This has got to be a big thrill, I'm
sure, for anybody that's come up through the
PGA of America ranks.
CHRIS STARKJOHANN: It is. I'm getting
to know the officers better through the PGA Cup,
so it's actually really almost like a home coming,
because with Brian and Allen and Jim, I got to
know them better. So it's more, I don't feel out of
place.
Before I didn't really know the officers and
it was like, yeah, I'm kind of out of place, but I've
got to know more of the guys on the Champions
Tour, so I actually have a little more comfort out
here than I did in 2006. So I think that helps. You
know, instead of having to introduce myself and
having to always say, hey, good round today. So,
it's nice.
Q. So it makes it a little better fit for
you when you come in here?
CHRIS STARKJOHANN:
And this is
actually my third. I played Kiawah, I played Oak
Hill, and I played this one. So I made all three,
which is good. I knew I had -- the reason I had to
play the Champions Tour this year more is
because I didn't play well in the club pro last year, I
missed the cut. So I had no way of getting in here
unless I made some money on the Champions
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Tour early. So that was one of my goals to be out
and at least make a check. Because usually that
gets in.
And I played well in Naples and made 57,
so I was actually the last one on the Champions
Tour on the Money List to get in. Which there's
another thanks be to God for that. If I didn't make
that money there, I would have been out.
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