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BUICK CHAMPIONSHIP


July 1, 2006


Harrison Frazar


CROMWELL, CONNECTICUT

TODD BUDNICK: We thank Harrison Frazar for coming in. He sits at 9 under, 201 through three rounds of the 2006 Buick Championship. A ho hum first there, a little up and down, and you made the turn and six straight birdies in a row, so that's a nice little run there.

HARRISON FRAZAR: Yeah, like you said, I ho hum start. I didn't feel that great. You know, starting out, but I hit a couple of shots that ended up in some bad places and had to make some bogeys. But I felt good with the putter and felt like if I just got it anywhere near the hole, you know, that I could make some. You never expect yourself to make six birdies in a row. You never expect yourself to make that many 15 , 20 footers, but you've got to have a few lucky breaks to go along with it. But it was just one of hose things that happens every once in awhile and just be thankful that it does.

TODD BUDNICK: Your first week back after a few weeks off and you're in the hunt, which is where you want to be; you have to be happy.

HARRISON FRAZAR: I'm very pleased. I don't want to keep doing this if you ever have to lose that feeling of being in the hunt, being in the thick of things. If somebody were to tell me that you were going to play for another ten years but you'll never compete again, whether you win or not, you just want to feel that adrenaline. You want to feel like the shots that you're hitting matter. If somebody were to tell me that, that you're going to be a guy that's never going to compete again, I probably wouldn't want to do it.

Yeah, it's nice. It's above my expectations for this week. I didn't know when to expect. I could very easily have shot 160 and missed the cut and moved on. But, you know, we're here. I'll try to make the most of it.

Q. What's the most birdies that you've posted in a row, is this it?

HARRISON FRAZAR: I have no idea to be honest with you. I think I might have done I think I might have done six in a row once. I don't think I've ever done more than at least not in a Tour event. Isn't the record seven?

TODD BUDNICK: I think it's eight overall.

HARRISON FRAZAR: But no, I don't really know what the most is I've ever done.

Q. I was watching you, your par on 18, I was very impressed with your bunker shot. Can you take us through each shot of the 18th? That was a great par.

HARRISON FRAZAR: Well, 18, I just hit a horrible tee shot. I struggle with any time I ever feel like the wind is left to right, and there's a little tree that hangs over there. I cut the ball anyways. And I don't know if it was fear or panic or what, but I just got a little bit quick with the swing and blocked it out to the right. It was a nasty lie but at least it was flat instead of having to stand there with it chest high. But it was really a nasty lie, kind of craggly grass. I was just trying to hit something up left short of the green and turned it over in that bunker, and to be honest with you I never even noticed that bunker was there. It was about a 45 , maybe 50 yard bunker shot that for someone that hasn't played that many competitive rounds and hasn't hardly played at all in five weeks, a 50 yard bunker shot like that, that was kind of scary, really.

But at the same time, you know, I knew I might feel foolish or if I hit a bad shot, but I really didn't know what to expect. So I tried to take myself through the fundamentals of how to hit it. Sometimes you have to go right back to basics, barely open the club face, fall a little bit back, just hit down on it remind yourself of those things. I happened to hit a really good shot that I surprised myself by. Mitch, my caddie, gave me a perfect read and somehow I managed to make a par out of all that.

Q. Inaudible required you to refocus?

HARRISON FRAZAR: No, we had a baby at home and my wife was real I'm not going to say sick, but she was just very uncomfortable. So I spent a lot of time being mom, dad, husband, cook, chauffeur, chef, anything you can think of. Two of those weeks were because of injury, I had my finger, and the other three were because I felt like I needed to be at home and be a dad and be a husband for a while. I wasn't resting and I wasn't working on my game.

It was really about four and a half weeks, but that four and a half weeks I probably only played five rounds at home. I wouldn't even say I hit a bucket of balls at a single time.

Q. How would you describe the conditions out there this afternoon?

HARRISON FRAZAR: The golf course is finally starting to firm up, which is good. The balls are starting to run a little bit into the greens, which is nice. It makes you just a little bit more of a premium on what kind of shots you hit.

But the wind is just blustery, it's just kind of gusting, moving around a lot. It feels like it's out of the southwest one hole and the next hole it feels like it's out of the north. You know, just kind of swirling around. You have to be a little bit careful.

Q. Do you consider yourself a good wind player?

HARRISON FRAZAR: Not really. I grew up in west Texas where the wind blows a lot, but, you know, that was not to say back in the day, but that was back when we played with blades and balata balls and you moved the ball and shaped it and do all kind of things. Now everything is done so much up in the air.

I wouldn't say I'm a great wind player. I consider myself to be a good short iron player in the wind, a good wedge player in the wind if I need to be because I can control the heights. But I wouldn't necessarily consider myself a good wind player.

Q. The chance of being in the last group most likely tomorrow, how well do you know J.J., and how often have you played with him?

HARRISON FRAZAR: I know J.J. very well. He lives in Fort Worth. We played some round together during the off season and at home, our wives are friends. In fact, J.J. and I had dinner together Tuesday I guess no, no, Thursday. Thursday night we grabbed some pizza together. Yeah, we're friends and have been friends for a long time. It will be very relaxing if that's who I happen to be playing with. I know he's playing well, what is he, 10, 11? It would be a fantastic thing for him to win being from here or from around the area. You know, I wish him nothing but the best.

It's not going to come down to a match between he and I, and there's going to be somebody else that could come up and have a great round just like he did today. So we've got to go play the golf course and see what happens. But I'd sure like to see one of us win.

Q. You had talked earlier about adrenaline and emotion, what did you feel like what was your emotional state during the back nine, did you feel like you had it?

HARRISON FRAZAR: No, I think like I said, I just wanted to get it somewhere around the hole. You know, I wasn't pressing, the par 5, I had a chance to go for it in two. You know, didn't feel good enough to really take a risk so we laid it up and hit a nice wedge. I just wanted to give myself some kind of chance around the greens because I know that and I don't mean to be negative or be a dark cloud about it, but any golf ball off my club face right now could go anywhere, and I don't know. I just had not played enough golf to really, really know where the golf ball is going.

I think that's evidenced by the fact that I did hit probably three or four really kind of loose, bad shots on the back nine and still managed to shoot a good score. I'm just trying to get it somewhere around the hole, and even if I miss the green, I feel like all I've got to do is get it somewhere inside ten feet and feel like I can make it for par. I can just keep it in front of me and just give myself some chances.

I didn't really feel any adrenaline, I wasn't nervous. I wasn't shocked or bewildered or surprised or scared or anything else. I was just trying to give myself putts at it. The only time I felt any nerves at all was on 17 tee, because the previous shots where we had any left to right wind, I was missing them right, and I think Mitch, my caddie, I think he could sense it, so he backed me off and was real positive about getting me to hit a 3 iron off the tee and made probably the best swing of the day off that tee with the 3 iron and kind of calmed me down again, and business as usual.

Q. It would obviously be a great story if you would be able to win this tournament based on what you've faced recently, trouble; you're going to be playing with a guy from the State of Connecticut and there's going to be a lot of people out there rooting for him. How do you black that our or blank that out?

HARRISON FRAZAR: Well, I'm not going to try to black it out or blank it out. I want to enjoy it. I want to experience it. There's no point doing it if we are not going to watch it, enjoy it and pay attention.

So I think purposely going out there and trying to say I'm going to black it out and ignore it, you're kidding yourself. It's too hard to do that. But you know, like I said, I'm sure there are going to be a lot of people out there that are going to be yelling and screaming for J.J. and they are going to be thinking, "Harrison who"? But that's okay. You get that wherever you go, anyways. There's always a favorite, there's always a local. I'm only a local two times a year, and rarely a favorite. So it's not going to be anything new or anything unique.

Q. Putting yourself in his position, is that really hard to perform up to your level when you're doing it in front of your home people like that?

HARRISON FRAZAR: Well, we have two tournaments at home for me, and I know that when I'm playing poorly, it's scary to play at home. Because even though you've got a lot of people there supporting, you don't want to look foolish. But at the same time, if you're playing well and if you have to confidence in your game, then it's really very electrifying, it's a lot of fun, because people get excited, you get excited and you get to experience everything that everybody else is experiencing around you.

So I've done both. I've hit rock bottom and shot horrible rounds and missed cuts at home and I've proceeded to win tournaments at home. You run the emotional gamut, but it just seems to magnify a little bit either way if you're at home. But obviously J.J. is playing well. He's got a lot of confidence. I was with him yesterday morning and he said, well, I'm going home for three weeks after this and it's time for either me to get in the mix or go home. He chose to get in the mix.

TODD BUDNICK: You started off with the day with a bogey on 1?

HARRISON FRAZAR: Yeah, bogey on 1, I drove it to the right and just had a horrible lie, just had to chip it back to the fairway. Hit a wedge from 140 yards or something, just kind of made a very bland bogey.

Birdie on 2. I hit 3 wood off the tee and then hit kind of a little punch the wind was into us there and I hit kind of a little punch gap wedge behind the hole and spun back, I guess it was somewhere around I guess somewhere around eight feet.

No. 3, I hit a really nice tee shot up on the flat and hit a once again the within was into us, hit a little punch pitching wedge to about eight or nine feet.

No. 5, the par 3, I wanted to say, I hit 5 iron, but really mis hit it. Hit it very poorly off the bottom of the club and hit into the bunker right of the green, blasted out to about hit a poor bunker shot to about ten feet, 12 feet. Obviously missed the putt. But I felt like I hit a good enough put there to go in.

7, I drove it just right. It went in the bunker and kind of semi plugged right up under the lip and didn't really have a chance to go at the green or anything. Was just trying to get something up front. I managed to get it back into the fairway but it was about 60 yards, 50 yards short of the green and a pin on the back on that slope. I tried to bang something into the hill and kill it and it went a little bit long and then hit a bad chip and actually had to make about a 12 or 15 footer from the fringe or a bogey there. That's probably the putt that really kind of saved the day or whatever if you want to kind of re kick started it.

10, I hit 3 wood off the tee. I hit an 8 iron I guess to somewhere maybe around 15 feet.

11, the par 3, it was downwind and downhill and hit a three quarter pitching wedge to 12 feet right behind the hole. Hit just a perfect putt that rolled right in the right center.

12, I hit a good drive right down the middle of the fairway and I had about 105 yards I think, somewhere around there, to the hole, to the pen right in front and hit a little punch gap wedge that hit behind the hole and kind of spun back a little bit to 13 feet.

13, the par 5, I hit a good drive middle of the fairway, laid up with a 5 iron and punched a little 56 sand wedge in from about 75, 80 yards where that pin was on that shelf. Just managed to get it up there on top and made a good putt.

14, hit a horrible drive out to the right that managed to somehow catch the first cut of the fairway on the right side over there and was way back, somewhere around 175, 180 yards. Hit a 7 iron pin high on the left 21 feet.

Then 15 was really that was the best break, by far, I've gotten I think all year. I hit a horrible drive out to the right and as it was coming down, probably going to land on the path or maybe just to the right of the path and caught a little limb up in the tree. Kicked down and hit the path and bounced just to the left of the path out by the bunkers in the rough. It was a great break that I could hit the ball but it was still a hard shot from there and managed to hit a really nice kind of flop shot that trickled down to the hole to somewhere about eight feet and made that.

TODD BUDNICK: How far was the par putt on 18?

HARRISON FRAZAR: That par putt on 18 was probably about a 10 footer.

End of FastScripts.

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