CANON GREATER HARTFORD OPEN

July 2, 1998

Pete Morgan

PETE MORGAN: Okay, started on 10, and hit drive a three iron to about a foot and a half, and I made it to get the things going. And on the next hole I -- 11, I chipped in from the left fringe and that was kind of a lucky break there, because the ball was moving pretty quick and it hit dead center of the pin and went down.

PETE MORGAN: How far, somebody ask?

PETE MORGAN: 30 feet, chip shot. And next hole I hit two good shots, 12th hole about 12 feet right behind the hole and I made the putt and then I scrambled for a while. Actually, the rest of the front nine was a struggle just to make pars, lot of up and downs, started the same way on the back nine ten, eleven, two good pars; one and two, two good pars, and then I birdied the -- two great shots on four. My six iron, second shot right behind the pin, about eight feet, made that. And six, the par five, made a birdie there; eight feet, ten feet.

PETE MORGAN: Laid it up. Sand lob wedge in there, 18 or 9. My last hole, three wood nine iron, 15 feet behind the hole. Somehow poured it in there. That was it. Six birdies, no bogies.

PETE MORGAN: Yeah, I knew where I stood. I knew when I got at the five I was tied. I don't have very many opportunities like this, so I said, let's get it to six and see how it feels.

PETE MORGAN: It feels good.

PETE MORGAN: Not a lot out there in the media guide about me. I'm kind of a local guy. I grew up on Cape Cod, went to Harwich High School, and from there I went to Jacksonville University. And at that time the family relocated to Miami, so we lived down there for a while and I pretty much have been in Florida ever since. But during the summers I've come up and I played in New England once I turned professional. Actually, I skipped all that. I turned professional in '89, I think was my first year, and I've always come up to New England to play for at least a month or two, because there are a lot of good tournaments up here. I played the Massachusetts State Open, which is probably one of my favorite events, you know, as far as many tours go. And that's pretty much how I ended up here. I just planned it around my scheduled that I knew I'd be here, so I planned on doing the four spotter, and as far as major victories or anything like that, I won the Massachusetts Open, the Maine Open, Cape Cod Open three times and, you know, a lot of little mini-tour events that you guys never heard of.

PETE MORGAN: Is my fourth event. My third event this year, all through Monday qualifying. I'm not a TOUR member.

PETE MORGAN: Not today. I think they're coming in tomorrow.

PETE MORGAN: I played the Honda Classic and the Bell South in Atlanta. I missed both cuts, Honda by one and Bell South by four.

PETE MORGAN: CVS back in '94 on a sponsor's exemption.

PETE MORGAN: Yeah.

PETE MORGAN: Last year. I can't remember. I know last year I was a leading money winner and player of the year, all that stuff on the North Atlantic Tour.

PETE MORGAN: 35.

PETE MORGAN: I would have been there today if I hadn't four spotted on Monday, we'll see how it goes. I'm going to leave my schedule open for next week right now and see how the rest of this week goes.

PETE MORGAN: Damn, that was a good putt.

PETE MORGAN: I don't know, probably somewhere around 20,000. Not on the PGA TOUR, but just on the mini-tours and --

PETE MORGAN: Yeah. Yeah. Probably for the whole year, probably about 20,000.

PETE MORGAN: I played a lot of little mini-tour stuff in central Florida, you know. I kind of stayed close to home. And I've been here in New England for almost a month now, and I've played actually one North Atlantic Tour event, Cape Cod Open, and then the Massachusetts Open.

PETE MORGAN: The chip-in?

PETE MORGAN: My eight iron T-shot is the par three, 11. It went left fringe. I had about 30 feet and, you know, I'm a little excited out there in the second hole still trying to get the jitters out of my system. I hit it solid, but I just hit it too hard, and what I felt was too hard, but it just -- it had such good line right in the center, hit the pin and went straight down, probably about 30 feet.

PETE MORGAN: Once.

PETE MORGAN: Yesterday. Actually, I only got nine holes in yesterday, before the Pro-Am, and I played 14 holes on Monday after all the rain, and that's it.

PETE MORGAN: Valrico, Florida, just outside of Tampa, about eight miles east.

PETE MORGAN: Yeah, I think I'm getting more comfortable in the bigger events. I mean, throughout my career I haven't played a lot of TOUR events, and I think my concentration is just getting better on the golf course where I can block out things where in my first couple events I notice everything what was happening around me. Now I just try and concentrate on the golf course and stay focused on that.

PETE MORGAN: I tried to go through my normal stuff. I said it's just a nine iron, hit it like a normal nine iron. Nothing different than any other nine iron you ever hit, just hit it naturally, normal.

PETE MORGAN: I've done the TOUR school eight straight years. I made it through first stage every year. And I've only made it through second stage once, and that was '94 for the '95 year, and then I missed the cut in the the final stage and ended up a conditional NIKE TOUR player.

PETE MORGAN: And missed it at the Hombre in Panama City in the second stage.

PETE MORGAN: My wife is a big inspiration to me, she keeps me going. She keeps telling me it's going to happen.

PETE MORGAN: Yeah, she's outside guarding my daughter who's going to be two in August, so she's a handful.

PETE MORGAN: Way to go.

PETE MORGAN: Karen.

PETE MORGAN: Yeah.

PETE MORGAN: Kristin with a K.

PETE MORGAN: I-N.

PETE MORGAN: I'm staying at the Radisson. Actually, I stayed with my brother in Amherst, Mass which is only about an hour away Monday night.

PETE MORGAN: Yeah. I was trying to get to six, I really was. Just -- and trying not to make a bogey at the same time, but I really wanted to get the six, really wanted to be in the lead, just to see what it felt like. Like I said before.

PETE MORGAN: I don't want to think about that yet.

PETE MORGAN: 69, three under.

PETE MORGAN: Ah, just, um, a little relieved, actually to accomplish something I've always wanted to accomplish.