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SENIOR BRITISH OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 21, 2005

Frank Conner

ABERDEEN, SCOTLAND

PHIL STAMBAUGH: Okay, Frank, you get in at plus 2, which is a really good score, given the conditions. A couple thoughts about your round and then we'll go through it. But just a couple general thoughts about your play.

FRANK CONNER: Well, will this tent stay up with this wind?

PHIL STAMBAUGH: It will.

FRANK CONNER: Okay. I played nicely today. I made some great up and downs to kind of keep my round going. And I putted very well. I made three or four birdies out there which is probably going to be pretty unusual if someone makes four birdies. But I just putted extremely well today. Like I said, when I did get in trouble, I was able to get out and make at least a bogey. So the golf course is just wonderful. It's a wonderful golf course. The condition of it, it's the best conditioned golf course I've ever played over here. It's well manicured, greens were perfect. Probably maybe a little bit too fast for the conditions today. But they're just in absolutely superb condition and around the greens it's very well manicured. So if you do miss the green you have a pretty good chance of hitting some kind of a pitch shot.

PHIL STAMBAUGH: Was there any point in the round, any key shot or any key putt that sort of kept your round going today?

FRANK CONNER: Well, not really. I made some up and downs, like I said. But this is a 18 hole golf course. There's no let up holes, there's nothing if you miss a shot I mean, I missed I made two bogeys today. One was with a sand wedge and the other with a pitching wedge. And that's the kind of golf course it is. If you just get the ball not in the right spot, you're going to make bogey. And that's kind of what happened to me.

On No. 1, I hit my gap wedge and I hit it in the right bunker, I thought it might sneak on the green, but it didn't, it got in the right bunker and made bogey. So it was a bad shot, but that's how demanding this golf course is. If I hit it a little bit harder, it hits the middle of the green, most likely it's going to go over and I'm going to have just as difficult a shot as I did from the bunker.

PHIL STAMBAUGH: Your par putt at one was how long?

FRANK CONNER: Oh, I had about a 15 footer. It's kind of, for me it's kind of difficult to remember the holes where I made birdies or what. I just remember No. 1.

And I birdied No. 2 two, the par 5. But I only got a chance to play one practice round because of the qualifying. We qualified on Tuesday, so I really, it's hard to remember. If I really think about it I can remember all the holes, but right off the top of my head it's hard to go through the 18 holes and pick out the holes that I bogeyed or birdied.

PHIL STAMBAUGH: Let's give it a try. You said that you birdied the second hole.

FRANK CONNER: I birdied the second hole. I hit it in there about 12 feet and made it. I made a nice putt there.

PHIL STAMBAUGH: Do you remember what club?

FRANK CONNER: I think I hit 7 iron. I hit my tee shot in the right rough, so I had to lay um. And then I had like 155 yards and I hit a 7 iron about pretty close for birdie.

PHIL STAMBAUGH: Then you birdied number six, the other par 5.

FRANK CONNER: Yes. Well, basically I hit it real close to the green and so it was just a very easy up and down. As a matter of fact, Carbonetti, he knocked it on that green in two. So it's a very reachable par 5 today.

PHIL STAMBAUGH: And you chipped about, what, a foot?

FRANK CONNER: About three feet.

PHIL STAMBAUGH: And then bogeys at 8 and 9.

FRANK CONNER: Yeah, the bogey at 8 was just pitiful. Because I just had a little wedge. But it's kind of downhill and it's kind of down wind. And if I hit it a little too good it's in the back of the green, so I kind of came off it and put it in the bunker and didn't get it up and down.

And 9 I 3 putted. 9 I hit a really nice drive and I had around 200 yards and I hit a 3 iron that kind of ran to the back of the green. And I ended up with a very difficult putt. Wind is blowing down, downwind, downhill, and actually misread the putt a little bit because we thought it was going to go a little right and with the wind and everything, it made it go about four feet left. And I ended up three putting it.

PHIL STAMBAUGH: First putt was how far?

FRANK CONNER: 35 feet. I was towards the back of the green.

PHIL STAMBAUGH: Then on the back nine, birdie at 10.

FRANK CONNER: Yeah, 10, I made a nice putt there. I made about a I hit it in the left rough and I played a little punch shot just left of the hole and I ran in about a 20 footer there.

PHIL STAMBAUGH: Second shot, how long was that?

FRANK CONNER: A little pitching wedge. It was actually a sand wedge shot, but I didn't want to get it up in the wind. So I played a little pitch and run with my pitching wedge and got it about 20 feet up from the hole.

PHIL STAMBAUGH: Then bogeys at 13.

FRANK CONNER: 13? That's another

PHIL STAMBAUGH: Fairly long size par 4.

FRANK CONNER: I can't remember that one. I probably drove it in the rough.

PHIL STAMBAUGH: That's the one with the gully. That's the par 4 with the gully.

FRANK CONNER: Yeah, okay. I actually hit a good second shot and I ran it through the green. It hit on the green, out of the rough, and it ran through the green and I didn't get it up and down. I had a fairly difficult up and down because of the slope.

Then on 16, 16 I made again, I had about 150 yards, I hit a wedge, right side of the green, and made about a 20 footer there for birdie.

Then hit it over the green on 17. I had it on some hard pan, so I had a very hard shot there.

Then 18, I kind of got unlucky a little bit. I hit a good drive, but I ended up just in the left rough with an up slope and the wind is blowing right to left and I just tried to hit the ball down and it kind of I pulled it. I was still in the rough actually and made a nice five there.

PHIL STAMBAUGH: What did you hit at 17?

FRANK CONNER: 17, I hit an 8 iron. It was kind of a funny shot. I hit an 8 iron, hit kind of towards the probably the middle of the green, and then ran over. The other guys, Carbonetti hit a 9 iron and he hit a really good 9 iron and it caught the top lip of the bunker short and went back in the bunker. So it's kind of a fine line there because it's downhill, down wind. You need to pick the right club for the right shot so you get the ball to stay on the green.

PHIL STAMBAUGH: We'll go to questions.

Q. What were you thinking when you got up this morning and saw this?

FRANK CONNER: Get some warm clothes on. No, I mean, for me, I kind of enjoy it. I play golf in Texas. We don't quite get wind like this, but you're over here in Scotland, you know, if you, if it's no wind and it's 80 degrees it's kind of like playing at home. So I kind of enjoy it. It's obviously very difficult. I wouldn't want to play in these conditions every day, but as far as playing this week, it's definitely challenging.

Q. How were you playing coming in?

FRANK CONNER: This is the first time I played all year. I haven't really tried to qualify for the Champions Tour this year. I probably will once about, oh, probably at Pebble Beach, probably about four or five, four of the other tournaments. I'll try to qualify. I'm not exempt any more. So basically for a few spots, it's pretty tough.

Q. But you've been playing, obviously.

FRANK CONNER: Been practicing a little bit at home. Playing with the guys at home. I'm 59 years old, so I'm not that anxious to chase it around any more. But it's always fun, I tried to qualify and lost in a playoff for the U. S. Open. So I tried to qualify for that. And then I always enjoy coming over here and trying to qualify for this.

Q. Are you surprised at how well you coped with the wind out there?

FRANK CONNER: Well, I've always been a fairly good wind player. So wind, I mean, it doesn't maybe bother me as much as some people. But it was hard. The wind was hard. I'm going out playing left to right and coming in you're playing right to left. So it's two completely opposite winds. But you just got to play it. I think that's the charm of a British Open is to deal with the elements. It's kind of like going out to Pebble Beach and having a perfectly clear day, well that's not really Pebble Beach. It doesn't always play like that. So you got the wind, a little mist, and then you're playing Pebble Beach. So it's kind of, I look forward to it.

Q. How often have you come over here to play in this?

FRANK CONNER: I've played over here five times. As far as I played a couple British Opens, Regular TOUR, and then I've been over here three years.

Q. What possessed you to try to qualify for this this year?

FRANK CONNER: I just enjoy it. I've always enjoyed coming here. Last couple years I didn't qualify and last year I kind of got actually last two years that I come over I kind of gotten unlucky in my draw for the qualifying. Last year I got in the afternoon and the wind came up and the rain came up and the qualifying was like they had 26 spots, 25 made it in the morning and one made it in the afternoon. So the conditions were obviously not good. But again, that's also part of the charm of coming over here.

Q. So have you tried to qualify consecutively for last five or six years?

FRANK CONNER: No, I played last three years I've been over here trying to qualify for this. Then I played, I was over a couple times when I was on, actually before I got on the Regular TOUR, I qualified for the British Open.

Q. The scores are a wee bit embarrassing for the Champions Tour. Would you be in favor if they moved the tees forward a bit if the wind is going to be this high?

FRANK CONNER: Not really. It's a Major championship. If it's going to be a Major championship, play it like a Major championship. 10 over wins, 10 over wins. The only thing you know for sure is the best player's going to win at the end of the week. The guy who played the best and coped with the conditions is going to win. I'm not a big believer of tricking a golf course up to make the scores even par or to make them, you know, to do anything to it. You play the golf course the way it's there and if 10 over wins, so be it. You know. The golf course won. If 10 under wins, congratulations.

Q. Did you have any kind of odd distances where you might hit a drive a long way or you had a driver or 3 iron that you could only hit 150 yards.

FRANK CONNER: There were lots of that. Lots of those. As a matter of fact, one hole I had about 110 yards and I hit my pitching wedge, which I normally hit 125, 130 yards. And I was about, I was buried in a bunker ten yards short of the green. So, but that's just, if you don't control the trajectory of the shot, I was in the rough and I was kind of sitting down, and my ball ballooned up, and it just instead of going what? 115, 115 yards, it went 105 yards. I did get that up and down so that kind of kept my round going. But, you know, it's tough. It happens. Some places you'll hit a 5 wood downwind 300 yards, other places you might hit a driver into the wind 240. But that's the way it is.

PHIL STAMBAUGH: Okay. Frank, thanks.

FRANK CONNER: Okay. Thank you.

End of FastScripts.

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