An interview with:
DON POOLEY

RAND JERRIS: It's a pleasure to be joined by our defending champion Don Pooley. Don, a very memorable victory last year at Caves Valley. I'm wondering what a year's perspective has brought; what do you remember when you look back to that historic layoff with Tom last year at Caves.

DON POOLEY: What do I remember? I remember every single shot. It's something that I'll never forget. It's certainly a huge thing in my golf life. It's probably the greatest win I ever had. I haven't had that many, but it certainly is the most memorable. I certainly think it is the one that I enjoyed the most. The other victories were more of a relief. This one I just enjoyed from the start to the finish, through the playoff and win or lose I was having a good time during this one. And since that time it's just a deep satisfaction, I guess, from winning a USGA championship. Nothing like it.

RAND JERRIS: Could you talk about the golf course at Inverness compared to Caves Valley; how does it fit your game.

DON POOLEY: It's a little more demanding off the tee I think than Caves Valley. It's probably a little shorter. But the greens are much more severe here. The rough is comparable or maybe not quite as difficult as Caves, but the greens are definitely more difficult, they are smaller. They are more undulating and they are at least as fast, if not faster. They're kind of like Augusta National greens but only much smaller. You actually have to pinpoint the iron shots the greens. You get downhill putts and basically you are trying to figure out how to 2-putt them. So it's very, very important to place your ball and control your golf ball out there.

RAND JERRIS: We will take some questions.

Q. How has your game come along since the injury?

DON POOLEY: Nowhere near where I would like to be; I can tell that you. I have been playing for about a month and I was hoping to come back in full gear playing well but it didn't happen. And it's going to take some time. Hopefully by Thursday it will be okay but there is a few holes to fill in my game that aren't there yet.

Q. What exactly did you have done, was it your labrum torn?

DON POOLEY: Labrum, my ligament in the left shoulder torn off the bone. It's called a "slap lesion" is what the doctor's called it. It's an anterior part of the ligament was off the bone completely and they had to nail a couple of plays back on there and then sew it up. It was not as bad as back surgery but it was pretty bad. I have had them all.

Q. As a follow-up to that, how does it impact your game the most, I mean is it a stamina thing; do you feel it if you play too much? You can't really kind of open up on the swing. How does the surgery and recovery impact your game the most?

DON POOLEY: So far I haven't been able to practice very much. I had to limit the number of balls that I hit each day. When I started in Colonial, my first tournament back a few weeks ago, that was my first 18 holes, I hadn't been able to play 18 holes. Basically I was hitting 30 balls and playing 18 holes; that's all I would do. I haven't been able to practice. As far as full speed I think I'm finally swinging full speed at it. Sometimes I wonder. I feel like I'm swinging pretty slow at it. That will pick up with play, I haven't played that much.

Q. One other thing: Is it difficult to come in as the defending champion and wanting to defend your title? You want to do that at 100%; where do you feel like you are, how close to 100%?

DON POOLEY: My shoulder is probably 90 percent but unfortunately my lower back gave me problems this morning and I wasn't able to play today. So I guess I'm an old man, I don't know. I'm falling apart. But the big thing is I haven't been able to practice and get back.

As far as my defending here, it was a very big disappointment for me to not be able to start the year. After having the year I had last year I was looking forward to hit the ground running, that didn't happen. I had to readjust my goals all year long. I had some goals to play the majors this year. In my mind I was playing well and wanted to play well in these majors. That didn't happen so now I'm readjusting those goals again. I'm pretty much on the bottom mentally right now as far as my expectations for this week. Golf can change overnight. I am still hopeful that things can happen this week.

Q. (Inaudible) Did you feel like your game was coming along?

DON POOLEY: I felt like my game was coming along, I felt the previous three or four weeks before The Open. Last year my game was starting to gel.

The first two days at Caves last year I did a lot of things well but the score didn't reflect it. I had a 1-under par, was in 10th place. I was playing good but things just didn't quite fall together but the very next day, obviously everything fell together with the 63. But I kind of felt that that was coming up. I didn't have any indication it was going to happen on Saturday.

I feel like I was starting to play well and it could happen any week. I'm not sure. I'm in that same frame of mind this time. But I'm optimistic. You got to be optimistic. You got to be positive.

You know, I could find a niche, you know, come Thursday and things could fall into place again. So that's what I'm hoping for.

Q. Did you have a chance to play the course this week?

DON POOLEY: I played it Monday. I played 18 on Monday.

Q. How well did you do and what do you expect the score to be to win this, 8-under, 4-under; what do you think it's going to take to win?

DON POOLEY: Well, I was erratic on Monday in my play. I found a couple of keys late in the round that seemed to help. I was looking forward to try them out today and I wasn't able to play today unfortunately. I'm still hopeful those keys will work when I do get a chance to play.

As far as score, par is an excellent score on this golf course I think, if the conditions stay the same. The conditions are everything as far as scoring goes. If we continue to have hot days and the greens stay firm and fast par will be a wonderful score on this golf course. If we get rain and everything softens up and you can hold the ball and place it on the greens, it's going to go under par.

RAND JERRIS: Don, thanks very much for your time and we wish you luck this week.

DON POOLEY: Thanks very much.

Fastscripts by ASAP Sports....