12 QUESTIONS WITH: U.S. OPEN PARTICIPANT KEVIN SILVA

eGolf Professional Tour chief operating officer Stewart Moore caught up with tour member and U.S. Open qualifier Kevin Silva earlier this week as he was en route to the Long Island ferry for a second consecutive start in the nation's championship. Silva, who has played the tour full time for the past four years after a standout career at UNC, was very candid on a multitude of topics ranging from the Red Sox to Phil Mickelson to fashion and beyond. The Massachusetts native is never at a loss for words.

Q: Kevin, thanks for joining us today. This will be your second straight start in a U.S. Open – would you consider yourself more or less excited than you were last year?

KEVIN SILVA: I'm more excited because I feel like I'm a 200 percent better player. It's a great feeling. The feeling at sectionals, playing the way I did in the fashion that I did. I can't help but to think about everything that has happened to me and the successes I've had in the past month – I feel like my play has really gotten better. A lot of things have been attributed to the experience I had last year at Torrey Pines. Gosh, I can't help but to think a lot of that experience is going to be cashed in this week. I'm real excited for the experience.

Q: You mention the experience last year. What exactly was it last year – outside of the fact that it dawned on you that you can play with these guys – that you took away from it?

SILVA: Just the confidence to know that, hitting next to the guys on the range and playing practice rounds, you kind of idolize them and put them up on a pedestal when you see them on TV, but they're players just like we are. My game physically can stack up to just about anybody on the PGA TOUR. The one thing I did learn is that you can never have a good enough wedge game or short game and you can never be a good enough putter. You always have to keep getting better at those, at the small things. I went to work and developed a few shots and gotten better at the little things. My mental state is a lot better. I feel like I've grown maturity wise, just learning how to play golf just that little bit better. The short game, the confidence, just learning everything about how to be on the PGA TOUR. The arrangements, learning how to deal with the practice rounds, not to over do it and over bear yourself in the practice rounds and to take your time. Treat it naturally. Go about it naturally. Don't over practice – go about it as you would in an eGolf Tour event.

Q: Speaking of practice rounds, are you the kind of guy in this scenario who shows up at 6:00 AM to try to play with Tiger? Do you seek out some of the better players? Or do you just go to the first tee and see what happens?

SILVA: You have to have tee times on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. When you register, you sign up for the tee times. His (Tiger's) tee time was actually blocked off. You weren't allowed to sign up for his tee time, unfortunately I don't think that's going to be available. I know Martin (Ureta – former UNC teammate) played a practice round with him when he played at Oakmont, he got to play with Tiger. But you know what, Tiger is a great player and I appreciate everything he has done for golf, but I don't know that I would even really want to be in that group. There are going to be friends of mine out at the tournament. I'm going to be playing practice rounds with one of my good buddies Michael Welch, with Josh McCumber – guys that I'm familiar with. I would love to take an unfamiliar situation, a new golf course, new conditions, conditions that are very difficult to practice for, and make it very natural and comfortable with the people around me. I think that will help out a ton.

Q: While plenty of guys might not opt to play a practice round with a PGA TOUR star, plenty of guys try to slide next to a Phil Mickelson on the range. Do you envision that?

SILVA: Yeah, oh yeah. It's always cool to take a peek at different guys that you're playing against. But ultimately, when you're there, you start to realize that they are your competitor and you want to take them down off that pedestal and put them on the same level as you. We're trying to beat each other. He's trying to beat me just as I'm trying to beat him. If I get an opportunity in the locker room or on the driving range or the putting green to throw a couple of words back and forth with these guys, and talk about anything, sure. I've actually met Phil Mickelson. A good buddy of mine in Rancho Santa Fe is a member at The Bridges where Mickelson is a member at, so we have a little bit in common there. So if we strike up a conversation about something maybe other than golf, whatever, then that would be cool. I think the biggest thing is for players to understand, at least this is the attitude I have, you need to take them off that pedestal and understand that ‘I'm here for a reason.' I said this last year, but I still believe it, that I'm a professional golfer and just getting into the U.S. Open is a great feat in itself, but I'm going out there as my profession. I'm trying to further my career – make some money. Maybe it's a bit of an aggressive approach to it, but I feel like it's necessary to not get caught up in the hoopla of who your sitting next to and all that stuff that gets you out of your game. It takes away your edge that you need to take to the tee and to the golf course. It's pretty clear that any USGA or U.S. Open conditions, if you're thinking about some other stuff, if your thinking about the moment and not enough about your golf game, that thing is going to come and nip you in the bud. Once you're treading water out at those courses, it's tough to recover.

Q: Going back to this year. You and I spoke at Cowans Ford and it was your second missed cut in a row and you weren't sure if you wanted to play at Walnut Creek – you were obviously frustrated. But since then you finished T57, T30 and T11 and got progressively better. What changed in the last month and a half?

SILVA: I talked with a lot of close friends of mine and I was battling the idea of ‘Do I play through it?' or ‘Do I take a month off?'. People close to me, my father and people I look up to as influential figures in my life said, you know what, play through it. Even (tour president) David Siegel said to me in the tent when I signed my scorecard at Cowans Ford, he said, "Good players play through it." I took that to heart and I did play through it. I feel like I've owned up to my golf swing and I've owned up to my game. It has been nothing but success. I had two rough rounds, the last two rounds at Walnut Creek, but I fed off the positive energy I got from the first two rounds and just tried to keep being positive and ride that wave and I think I've really benefited from that little slump I was in because it got me into a different mental state.

Q: People in general don't realize what rough is like at a U.S. Open. You hear about it and you see it on TV. Explain to the laymen, or someone that's never been to a U.S. Open, what it's like. When you see your tee shot go in the rough at the U.S. Open and you say, "Oh no." What is that like?

SILVA:Basically, what you think is, "What club can I hit to get this out?" Sometimes, when you're in the second cut of rough you can maybe get an 8-iron on it, but believe me, when you get in there, there is not a chance of thinking about hitting anything more than an 8- or 7-iron. You just muster up, grip the club real tight, swing and hope you can advance it enough to put you in the position to where you can make a quality next shot. It's not all wedges. When you get it in there, it's not necessarily like ‘Let's just get the sand wedge out and dig it out.' The USGA has done a great job of penalizing you if you hit it 25 feet off the fairway as opposed to five feet off the fairway. It all depends on which level of rough you hit it in. Believe me, if you start hitting it 20 to 25 feet off the fairway, you might as well take your wedge out of your bag, on the tee box and start walking with it down the fairway, because that is what you're going to be hitting.

Q: Last year you make the U.S. Open across the country in San Diego. This year you're near home in the Northeast. Is there more of a comfort level being on Long Island?

SILVA: Absolutely. For one, the type of grass is one thing that I'm very comfortable with. I'm very comfortable with the bent grass rough, everything. Also, being only four hours from New Bedford (Massachusetts) where I grew up, where my family is, there is going to be a lot of family and friends from my home course. People are going to be coming down throughout the week and it's going to be, not home field advantage, but having all of those people around is going to make for a much more fun atmosphere than it was last year. All I had (in San Diego) was my immediate family – my father, my mother, my brother, my sister and some friends that I met out in California. But this year is going to be great. I'm looking forward to having a lot of support out there.

Q: Do you think there is any chance – and if so are you prepared for it – when they say, "Please welcome from New Bedford, Massachusetts, Kevin Silva," that Yankees fans in attendance will actually boo you?

SILVA: (laughter) You know what, I thought about that. I would hope not, I would hope not. Just for the honor of the game of golf, I would think that golf fans wouldn't take it to that level, but you never know. But I'm pretty well prepared for that. I do realize that the Red Sox are 7-0 against the Yankees this year, so they might be a little more bitter than if we were 0-7 against the Yankees. I would hate to think that that would even happen.

Q: You mentioned playing some practice rounds with Josh McCumber, and I believe you're paired with him in the actual tournament. How great is that when you look on the pairings sheet and see a guy you know?

SILVA: It's going to be phenomenal. We had a great time, a great conversation, a ton of fun talking about the NBA playoffs – we had a good time playing Salisbury and Sapona together, the first two rounds of the Bolle Classic. I can't help but to think we're both going to be very comfortable out there with each other. Other than the golf shots we have to hit at certain times, we're going to be talking about sports and college athletics. It will make for a very comfortable feel out there.

Q: You've now played in two U.S. Opens – why have you not won on the eGolf Professional Tour?

SILVA: I think that, as weird as this might sound, the eGolf Tour is stout with players. I give all the credit in the world to the players that are winning on the eGolf Tour. I feel that winners on the eGolf Tour can win on the Nationwide Tour and could go on to win on the PGA TOUR. Maybe it's just that I need to be in a little better mental state. I need to carry on this positive energy I've kind of got going on after the U.S. Open. I think a win can be in the very near future, if not contention for the win here soon. Very, very soon.

Q: You're kind of a fashion-conscious player with Sligo and all of the latest trends. True or False: You already know exactly what you're wearing each day at the U.S. Open?

SILVA: False. False. I have some stuff picked out. Sligo has been gracious enough to send me a few outfits that I can mix and match with anything I've got. John Coleman put together a few pieces for me from FairwayStyles that look great. I don't know what I'm going to wear on what days, I'll just kind of feel it out, but I can promise you I'm going to look sharp out there.

Q: Fill in the blanks: If Kevin Silva _____________, he will make the cut at the U.S. Open. If Kevin Silva ____________, he will win the U.S. Open.

SILVA: If my wedge play around the greens is up to my expectations and/or standards, then I will make the cut in the U.S. Open. If my wedge play around the greens is up to my standards and my wedge play inside 100 yards is up to my standards, then I will win the U.S. Open.

STEWART MOORE: Kevin, thanks so much for your time and best of luck at Bethpage.

SILVA: Thank you.