CANON GREATER HARTFORD OPEN

July 2, 1998

Kevin Sutherland

KEVIN SUTHERLAND: I hit -- I hit the ball pretty well. I was happy the way I hit the ball, good a few good breaks, especially on nine. My drive skipped through the bunker and ended up in the rough. It was better than being in the bunker on my T shot. I hit it about 50 feet from the hole and I played the putt. I guess you need good breaks every once in a while to shoot some good scores. Sometimes you don't need them. Today, I got a few. I hit the ball really well today. I made some good par putts on the backside, which I kind of kept the round going.

KEVIN SUTHERLAND: My T shot I skipped through the bunker.

KEVIN SUTHERLAND: Yeah, on the right. I hit a sand wedge up there about 50 feet from the hole and it happened to go in.

KEVIN SUTHERLAND: I started on 10. I birdied that hole. I had a six iron to about 20 feet, I made that putt. Obviously, I birdied 12. And I hit a nine iron there to about five feet, and I birdied 13 and I hit. I went for the green in two. I hit it right to the green, didn't hit a good three wood. I hit it right on the spot and I chipped it about four feet and I made that. So I got off to a good start. I bogied 15. Short par four. I three-putted it.

KEVIN SUTHERLAND: About 40 feet. I went for the green with a driver, hit it right. I chipped it on the middle of the green. I didn't really have a shot at that front left pin. I probably should have laid up. That was probably a mistake. And I three putted it, kind of compounded it a little bit. I birdied 17, hit a six iron there to about two feet. And then I parred everything else and birdied nine. I made two big putts. I made about a six-footer for par on three, and I made about a 15-footer for par on four, which both those putts kind of kept the round going. You need -- sometimes those putts can be as momentum driving as a birdie.

KEVIN SUTHERLAND: I guess I play well in the northeast, I don't know. I played well at Westchester and similar to here I've played well there in the past, too. Not as well as I have here. But for some reason I've had good rounds here. And I guess, I don't know, I'm not really sure why. Just seems to happen.

KEVIN SUTHERLAND: Here two years ago?

KEVIN SUTHERLAND: That was the first time I ever really was in the last group and have a chance to win sudden day. And I learned a lot from that day. ** I got to a pretty good start, if I remember right, and I was leading the tournament in the front, some reason started running 100 miles an hour in my mind and my swing, obviously, kind of followed along, and I just -- I didn't play well. And I think I learned a lot about being patient, not actually trying to force the issue sometimes when you don't necessarily have to win a tournament. They have to hit every shot perfect, I think I was trying to. I think you need to play the same kind of golf you're playing the first three days; become aggressive when you want to be, and also playing the percentages. I didn't do that that day. As a result, I think I shot four or five over. I don't remember exactly. That was a real learning experience for me, no question about it.

KEVIN SUTHERLAND: I learned, too, you know, just kind of stay patient, and just kind of play the same game you were playing the first three days. For some reason the first three days I, obviously, played well to get in the position I was in. But I wasn't using the same mentality. I was also trying to go at every pinch regardless of the club I had, trying to hit everything about a foot when, you know, maybe 25 feet left of the green, middle of the green would be a pretty good shot. And as a result, I made quite a few. I made some bogies when they were probably unforced a little bit. *** That experience helped me a lot in Houston the next time I was in the last group. I played well that day. I lost in the playoff to Bill Blackman.

KEVIN SUTHERLAND: That was last year, last May, I think it was. So that -- and that experience helped me a lot there trying to stay patient and not try to make everything happen in one shot, not try to win a golf tournament on the fourth hole, basically.

KEVIN SUTHERLAND: No, well, not really. I played really well that day and I think sometimes you learn more from when you play bad, than when you played well. I was very pleased with how I played there. Phil just played a lot. Phil just played better than I did that day. He had a great shot in the playoff and I hit a good shot, and that was the difference. I don't think I learned as much that day as I did from two years ago here.

KEVIN SUTHERLAND: I wouldn't think it's -- I would think it's going to play pretty good. It's turning into a beautiful day. The wind has really settled down and sun shining. It's getting perfect temperature. I think there will be some good scores in the afternoon. I would really be surprised if someone didn't shoot about a four under par, because the greens are still soft, but the weather is perfect. I think someone will shoot a good score. That's just my opinion.

KEVIN SUTHERLAND: I birdied, I started on 10, birdied 10 with a six iron to about 20 feet, and I made that. 12, I birdied 12 with a nine iron from about five feet. 13 I hit it at about -- I was -- I hit one for the green and to the right of it. Right of the green, chipped it up, made about four feet. I hit that. I bogied 15 and three-putted there, hit a six iron to about two feet on the 17 and birdied nine on my last hole. Hit a sand wedge to about 50 feet.

KEVIN SUTHERLAND: It's only the first round, absolutely. And, you know, it's nice to play well the first day, but I'm not sure what the correlation is between that and the playing well for the whole tournament. You know there's still three more days, a lot of golf left. I'm happy I played well. I hit the ball well. I'm very pleased with my score.

KEVIN SUTHERLAND: Well, it's different. You're kind of more relaxed the first day, kind of just playing, you know, like you would play any day. And so the pressure of the last day, if you're playing the last nine holes of the tournament, it's different. I mean, I don't -- I'm not sure how to describe it. It's more fun in some ways because you're so in tune with what's going on. First day you can kind of just, hopefully not, but your mind can kind of wander a little bit. Today it didn't happen to do that, but it can do that sometimes.

KEVIN SUTHERLAND: Yeah. I started when I was about eight. I think he started when he was about seven. I started about a year before he did, but about the same time.

KEVIN SUTHERLAND: Yeah, we did. I think we both -- you know, we don't really come from a golfing family, per se. I mean, my mom doesn't play golf. My dad plays once every, maybe once a weekend at the most, maybe three times a month. And we just played public golf course. The reason we got so involved in golf, because we had a lot of friends involved in golf. My dad and mom would drop us off at the nearest public course, go out and play with our buddies, and kind of screw around. I think that's how we got started playing. I think we just enjoyed it so much; didn't play a lot of junior golf until maybe I was 16 or 17 years old.

KEVIN SUTHERLAND: Same thing, yeah. We played basketball, soccer, a lot of the things, but then we went to college, we got a little more serious about playing golf.

KEVIN SUTHERLAND: Probably not until -- I don't know. I wasn't -- I turned pro out of college. I think maybe probably my senior year I thought I'll give this a try. It took me a while to get out here though. I was a pro, I turned pro in '87, late '87. Basically almost '88 and I didn't get on the tour until '96. This is my third year, so '96. So eight or nine years --

KEVIN SUTHERLAND: I played a lot of money tour golf, a Nike tour for two, three years. And kind of placed wherever I could. So it took a little while for me to get out here. I wasn't really sure I was ever going to get out here, to be honest with you.

KEVIN SUTHERLAND: I never -- no, I always played. I never stopped playing. But there's a certain point to where you go off and you start thinking, hey, I got to do something else. It's not working out. I hadn't reached that point. I was probably getting kind of close. But I hadn't reached that yet. That's -- every individual deals with that in a different way. It's hard to, it's hard to really say when that is. It kind of depends on your own situation.