By: Doug Milne | ASAPSports.com
DOUG MILNE: We welcome Scott Piercy after a very successful, to say the least, 7 & 6 win today in the second match of the Accenture Match Play Championship. I will turn it over to you for some comments on that match and we’ll take some questions.
SCOTT PIERCY: I played really solid today. I think I hit every green in regulation. I got up early and tried to lean on once I got up, and it was just a solid day all around. I think he was off a little bit. From the first tee shot it didn’t look like Luke. Just tried to make some birdies and stay out ahead of him.
DOUG MILNE: This is your first start in this event. Did you come in with any expectations?
SCOTT PIERCY: Well, you come to win, right? You know, I hadn’t played match play for a long time, and I didn’t know what to expect. I had to kind of think of what I wanted to do. But you’re only playing one guy, so it changes so much, and just play solid golf and try to win.
Q. When was the last time you played match play, and what was your kind of philosophy coming in and what you wanted to‑‑
SCOTT PIERCY: The last time I played was in 2007 when I won the Ultimate Game, it was that Vegas tournament where I won the $2 million. So it worked out good for me there.
Q. Compare the pressure of playing for $2 million compared to playing a No.1 seed.
SCOTT PIERCY: You know what, I actually feel really relaxed out there. Me and Luke’s game are a lot different, and I feel like if I get things going, I’ve got a good chance of beating him. I played well, and he was off a little bit. You know, that’s why it looked so one‑sided.
Q. Can you describe the hole‑out, just the club and the kind of shot you were trying to hit?
SCOTT PIERCY: That was pretty, man. I had 221 into the wind, and Luke had hit his second shot 50, 60 yards short of the green in the bunker. Really I was just trying to hit like a little cut 4‑iron, roll it up on the green, kind of put the pressure back on him to hit a good bunker shot to try and get up‑and‑down. I flushed it, and it started‑‑ you never imagine that you’re trying to make it. It’s just‑‑ that’s luck. But it’s perfectly executed, just a low cut and hit right into the slope and disappeared.
Q. For being a very confident golfer, and you’ve improved gradually each year, and now that you’re in this format of World Golf Championships, a lot of the majors and winning Canada, what is the next step as far as your expectations and goals as a golfer? Do you want to be elite? How do you see yourself moving forward?
SCOTT PIERCY: Yeah, definitely. My career has kind of been building blocks, steps. I won in Reno first, which is sort of a smaller event, and then Canada is bigger. I’ve gotten into the WGC events, now the majors, and I’ve got to feel comfortable playing in these. I played well in China at the WGC event, finished second there. Just knowing‑‑ I feel like I can compete, but just being comfortable in the situation, and definitely winning WGC events, majors. One of my goals is to win a couple times in a year. Winning takes care of a lot. So if you win, then hopefully that elite will come.
Q. A lot of people that know you from winning this $2 million prize in Vegas, not having any status and now being in this position, how do you explain this happening in this short period of time?
SCOTT PIERCY: I’ve gotten a little better. You know, a couple years ago I started working with Jim Hardy and Chris O’Connell on my golf swing, and I’ve always been able to hit the ball a long ways, but I didn’t necessarily know where it was going. They kind of enabled me to know where my ball was going, and along with the distance and being able to hit it where I’m looking, that allowed me to take some pressure off my golf swing and to start playing golf rather than play golf swing because I didn’t know where it was going. Then I could start focusing on my putting and chipping. When you hit it a long ways, you have to chip a lot, so my chipping got good, and once I started hitting the ball better, that’s where you’ve seen kind of the big rise.
Q. How much have you enjoyed over the years you against somebody else like this with a lot on the line? How much have you thrived on that? Does it fit your personality and your game?
SCOTT PIERCY: You know, I think it fits my golf game. My personality, I want to beat you anyway. I think I’m better than you. To be out here, you’ve got to think you’re good. And even if you’re playing Luke, who’s a great player, you’ve got to think you’re better than them, because if you don’t think it, you’re not going to do it. Like I said, if my game gets going, hitting it long and somewhere where I’m looking, then we can do pretty well.
Q. You took out the third No.1 in two days. Do you have any explanation why everything is just so even?
SCOTT PIERCY: You know, Tiger raised the bar a lot, and everybody is better. It’s not 10 guys are the best anymore. There’s 50, 60 guys every week, and there’s 60 guys here. When somebody is on, they’re on. There’s not as big of a spread between who the best players are and sort of the next tier.
Q. Was this the hottest start of any round in your career, best nine‑hole start in your career?
SCOTT PIERCY: No. I think last year at Transitions I shot either 28 or 29 on Sunday when I shot 62 or 61 on Sunday to finish one off the lead or something.
DOUG MILNE: Scott, congratulations.