CANON GREATER HARTFORD OPEN

August 1, 1999

Brent Geiberger

BRENT GEIBERGER: Thank you. I like the sound of that.

BRENT GEIBERGER: Just go with the birdies. No. 2, 3-wood and little pitching wedge I missed up to the right and caught the tree. But hit a pitching wedge probably about 20 feet behind the hole. Made a nice putt there. 3, a 3-wood and an 8-iron about 12 feet. 5, a good one there. 3-iron about 15 feet behind the hole. 7, I hit driver there, driver and 6-iron about eight feet behind the hole. 9, 3-wood. Hit a good 3-wood there and just barely snuck through the fairway to the first cut. Hit a little pitching wedge and it turned out perfect. Came up about six feet short of the hole. Pars all the way to 16. Hit an 8-iron to three feet. That was nice. I almost made it on 15, but I wanted to get it as low as I could and not have to worry about anything else.

BRENT GEIBERGER: The wind was funny there. It was left-to-right. All three of us were in the bunker over there. The wind was supposedly going left-to-right. We thought we hit decent shots and they just went straight in the bunker. That was the first time I really looked at the board to see how I stood. I knew I had six shots on Teddy. I didn't know if anybody else had gone crazy. I thought I could get it over the water. I thought I hit a good 7-iron there, and I was kind of surprised to see it hit the bank and go in the water. We weren't sure where it landed. It was right around the line. Nobody could really confirm that it crossed the line. So I went back and dropped and got myself a little under a hundred yards and dropped -- hit it up there and it spun back about 15 feet and 2-putted for double. So I knew if I got by that hole with at least four shots, I was fine. It made it a lot easier playing the last hole. A lot more fun. 18, hit driver and probably five more feet to the left I was in the middle of the fairway. 6-iron to the front bunker, blasted it about six feet, eight feet past and made bogey. That was fine with me.

BRENT GEIBERGER: That was nice. Tried to keep a nice level for myself. Not get to up or down. I knew I was playing pretty well. Tried to hit fairways and green. I knew I was putting really -- I knew I had a good feel for the greens, the speed. Teddy was playing real nice. It was nice to make some birdies on top of his. He made a few right in front of me. Made birdies on 7 and -- 7 and 9, made a nice up-and-down on 8. That was nice to shoot 30 and get myself off to a decent start. I knew guys were going to be shooting decent scores. I didn't want to go out and shoot par or 1- or 2-over and see what happened. I wanted to go out there and play my game, and I knew I was capable of shooting a decent score today.

BRENT GEIBERGER: No. I just kept doing the same thing. I hit some good shots. Just a couple putts on, I guess 12 and 13. Just misjudged the speed. I thought it was going to be quicker. Came up a good 8, 10 feet short on them. It was kind of odd. Usually you hit a putt like that you've got a good idea right off the bat if you hit it 6 or 8 feet by or 6 or 8 feet short. I didn't feel that. I just misjudged the speed a little bit. The first time I really looked at the board I think was 16 green. I knew I was shooting 5- , 6-under for the day and it was going to be pretty hard to catch me. So I just kept going through what I was doing and if somebody was going to catch me with that, they are going to have to shoot a pretty good score.

BRENT GEIBERGER: It started off I had a three-shot lead also. There's only one guy at 12; if you were 14- or 15-under, you were 4- or 5-under on the day. A few of those guys, Skip finished 15 (-under), didn't he? I think he shot 4-under on his round, which is a good score. Greens are starting to firm up just a little. The wind was kind of tough out there at times, trying to pick it up and see which way it was going. And I just kind of knew if I just stuck with my game, I would be fine. I didn't want to start thinking about what everybody else is doing. You start doing that you start playing too conservatively. And just playing for pars. I wanted to keep making as many birdies as I could.

BRENT GEIBERGER: I was kind of anxious on the 1st hole. Just kind of wanting to get started and get going. I felt real good the first few holes. And I felt good yesterday morning in the first few holes. Just a couple shots that were a little off-line, and it cost me. But I knew I was playing pretty well, and I was able to regain my score.

BRENT GEIBERGER: Yeah, it is. They always say: How are you going to feel if you win. I don't know. This is the first time for me. I never won on the Nike TOUR or anything like that. It's pretty special. Looking forward to calling my dad and talking with him about the whole experience, and my friends and other people in my family. It's pretty nice. It was nice to be able to have it easy up the last couple holes. You don't get that too often where you can have a four -- whatever, four- , six-shot lead the last couple holes. And that definitely kept me at ease. I tried to not hit a really bad shot.

BRENT GEIBERGER: I felt like could I hit it on the back of the green. It just really surprised me; it didn't quite make it. Another couple feet, another foot, it was fine. It was going to bounce just short of the green or bounce on. And there was a little bit of a face there, and it just bounced backwards. If I had a two- or three-shot lead, I probably would have blasted out and took my chance from there to still make par.

BRENT GEIBERGER: No. It was 9 o'clock here teeing off, which is 7 o'clock in the morning there, and I don't think the Seniors tee off too early.

BRENT GEIBERGER: He left me a couple messages on my phone I missed. I was at dinner. Something is wrong with my cell phone that it's not ringing right now. Maybe that's a good thing. I had 20 messages yesterday. I've got to stop giving out my number.

BRENT GEIBERGER: Yeah, my dad could put a tape recorder on some of those. He was telling me to be patient and he kind of -- what he told me last night on the phone, he said something that was almost identical for yesterday's round. He said: You know if you get down a little don't worry, you've got a lot of holes left. If you get off to a bad start, just hang in there and try your best and be patient. And. It kind of was exactly what yesterday's round was like. I could have gone the other way, but probably having him -- I can hear him in the back of my head saying a few things that gets me going and keeps me inspired out there.

BRENT GEIBERGER: I've won one mini TOUR event I think.

BRENT GEIBERGER: The Golden State Tour out in California. I couldn't even tell you. That short-term memory again.

BRENT GEIBERGER: My caddie really helped me a lot. A very positive person. He just told me to hang in there and there's a lot of holes left. It was only the 6th hole yesterday, and just give myself a lot of opportunities. I knew I looked at the board, and I was only two or three shots out of the lead. So I knew, it was only Saturday. You can't just cash it in right away. Maybe a few years ago, that might have happened. But you learn a lot playing out here, especially if you can get up near the lead. You learn a lot about yourself.

BRENT GEIBERGER: Pretty special. It was real nice, especially with a four-shot lead. Got to enjoy it a lot more. Missing the par putt on the last hole it didn't matter at all. Just cozy it up there and tap it in.

BRENT GEIBERGER: Paul Fusco.

BRENT GEIBERGER: I learned that I was able to take the heat. Especially this way, being up three shots and going out and shooting 30 on the front nine, that was real nice. I knew I was able to keep myself -- keep myself calm and not let any of the outside things or players get to me or start thinking about this or that. It was real soothing at times also. I had a nice pace and a nice demeanor going on out there. My caddie and I were talking about other things in between shots and talking about my lowly Dodgers; losing again. But we had fun out there. It was real enjoyable, believe it or not.

BRENT GEIBERGER: Not much. I was only eight years old. I just remember it was pretty warm. Being from southern California, not getting to experience the humidity too much when I was younger. But I always got to watch my dad on TV, and it was always nice to be able to go and watch him play in person with all the other pros. I was with him I think in '76 when he won in Greensboro, and that was about the only win I think -- well, he's won the TPC -- I was at the TPC at Colonial and at La Costa, also. It's always neat seeing something like that happen and having family with you.

BRENT GEIBERGER: Always. I was thinking about doing it last night, because that fruit just isn't lasting with me. It's pretty warm out there, and all of the sudden, you don't want it to just hit you on the back nine and start getting the shakes or something like that. Eat some kind of a bar. I usually do. That's one thing I learned from my dad. He has low blood sugar; so that peanut butter sticks with you pretty well.

BRENT GEIBERGER: Oh, yeah. All the time.

BRENT GEIBERGER: Yeah. It's easier to see on TV, Van de Velde or something like that, you never know what's really going on unless you're there, put in that position. And you really have to keep all the, whatever, inner demons or whatever, away from you. You've got to figure out what works for yourself. Some people move pretty quick. Some people move really slow. I like to slow down a little bit and make sure I'm thinking clearly. Unless you've never been in that place -- you see somebody on TV missing a little putt or this and that, there's a lot of factors involved there, and it can be tough.

BRENT GEIBERGER: Next week.

BRENT GEIBERGER: Yes.

BRENT GEIBERGER: Yeah, maybe. Haven't really thought about it much. I'm going to try and take care of myself, just staying healthy. That's always been a chore for me. I feel a little banged up with my back or wrist or something. Always feels like there's something nagging. But it's always nice to feel well when you're playing, and I think I'm feel a little bit better. I took the last three weeks off leading up to here after I finished third at the Western. And the first two weeks, all I did was work out. And the third week, I was off. I hit balls about three times. So I felt a little rusty coming in here. I did play on Monday and Tuesday at Fred Couples' tournament. But it doesn't take too long to get back into it. I finally hit my driver decent today. I hit it awful the first three days.

BRENT GEIBERGER: I'm always so banged up, I can't workout. I like to workout and try and get a little stronger.

BRENT GEIBERGER: Yeah, you know, just little things. I need to workout and get my back a little stronger and sometimes it starts to flare up, and you get a couple muscles that tighten up. And it's pretty tough to go out there and compete at a certain level and stay up with these guys. The level is so high that you have to feel good to be stronger. It's like any other sport: All the players are bigger and stronger and faster, and the depth is so big now.

BRENT GEIBERGER: I did. It was a good little break for me. Mentally also, and physically. You need to do that. Sometimes I go home for a week and I don't quite get the clubs out of the travel bag. They are still in there. But try and stay in touch a little bit, and hit balls at least once or twice in a week off. I usually don't. I hardly ever play when I'm home either.

BRENT GEIBERGER: Palm Desert.

BRENT GEIBERGER: High school and junior basketball.

BRENT GEIBERGER: Just one in junior college.

BRENT GEIBERGER: In high school playing, I was pretty -- I'm still pretty skinny. But I was pretty frail. And it's either you start trying to get bigger and stronger and play basketball and I felt like that would hurt my golf and, I knew I wanted to kind of lean more towards golf.

BRENT GEIBERGER: Not quite. I didn't start. I played a little bit. But it was fun. It was totally different from golf, I thought. It was a good release. Good exercise. And I think ever since I've stopped playing basketball, everything is starting to hurt.

BRENT GEIBERGER: Probably forward. Forward to a guard.

BRENT GEIBERGER: No. It's more muscle. Playing golf, that's not good for the back. It's like basketball, throwing a pitch like this. (Indicating.) It's just not good for you. Your arm normally goes underhand; it's not good for it. The back, golf, is not good. You don't quite get the good stretch when you're walking around. You hit shots and the muscle tends to lock up sometimes and get tight and get knots, and it's just hard to work them out all the time. Try to stretch as much as you can and try and stay on top of it.

BRENT GEIBERGER: Kind of depends on the course where you're going to hit it. A few times yesterday at the end of my round, I knew I wasn't hitting very well, but I just needed a 3-wood. Put it in the fairway; and if I hit a decent shot on the green, I know I'm putting pretty well. On 18, I just hit 3-wood off the tee. The wind was a little behind it and I had no problem doing that. I wasn't hitting too well just because of the layoff, I think. I hit it pretty well in Chicago. You can tell my putting stats the last two tournaments I've played in has been the difference for me.

BRENT GEIBERGER: Yeah, pretty much. It feels nice. I'm not going to sit back and relax now. I'm going to keep pressing forward and trying to get better all the time. I know there's still parts of my game that I need to improve on. Maybe just practicing maybe a little more at home, or just doing little things here and things here and there.

BRENT GEIBERGER: I don't get caught up in that too much. It's nice. I know my dad is pretty happy. When I missed the qualifying school -- or actually, when the Nike TOUR -- in the last tournament of the year, they took 10 spots at a time, and I got past three guys in the last week and I finished 20th in the tournament. I didn't play poorly. And I got passed by three guys and I missed my TOUR card by a hundred dollars. And he took that a lot harder than I did. I knew I had given it my best and that was that and I knew I had another chance at qualifiying school and I went out and performed well there and finished 7th in '96, I believe that was. So I don't know if that answers your question. We have a lot of fun talking about golf and little things. Golf swing. We get together and we're practicing. We have a lot of fun talking about little things like that and what our -- what my brothers are doing and my little brother, Alan, Jr. We just have a good time talking.

BRENT GEIBERGER: John, my stepbrother is head coach at Pepperdine; head golf coach. Little brother, Brian, he's 22. He's playing at Oregon State. This is going to be his last year. John used to play a lot when he was my age. He doesn't play competitively anymore, but he's still a pretty good player. Little Alan, Jr., he's 11. He's got quite the swing. Gets up he was up there at Fred Couples tournament and showing off again. Five, six years old, he could just hit it perfectly. Club would not break down. It was unbelievable. Good little swing. He might stick with it. And my little sister, Katie, she's into gymnastics.

BRENT GEIBERGER: She's 8. Dad's busy. Got his hands full.

BRENT GEIBERGER: No. He's not actually my father, but since I was about three years old. Pretty much adopted though, yeah.

BRENT GEIBERGER: I's tough mentally and physically, being able to stay at that level. You know, it was tough keeping myself at a certain level there today, just thinking. It takes a lot out of you. And those guys who do it week-in and week-out, that takes a lot out of you. They were saying what, Jack Nicklaus was a great player in his spare time. He played like 15 tournaments a year or something like that, and he was always at the top of the heap. And that's pretty impressive, especially to be able to play like 20 tournaments a year, 22, like some of these guys do right now; and they are up in the Top-5 every year.

BRENT GEIBERGER: It's a little bit inside of your head. A little bit physically. It's a little bit of everything. And they have found something that works for them and they are going with it. They have got a lot of ability.

BRENT GEIBERGER: Pretty much. I knew at the end of high school I wanted to try it. I just enjoyed playing basketball so much that I had a hard time stop playing. It was a lot of fun.

BRENT GEIBERGER: No. Especially today, I didn't feel any pressure that way at all. Kind of blocked everything out really well. Kind of surprised myself that way. There's so much dead time in between shots that the mind can just wander here or there. And so I'd walk down and be thinking to myself: Wait, what are you doing. Get this next shot here. As I'm getting up to the ball, I'm thinking: What are we going to do with this shot. But that's the tough thing about this game. There's so much dead time. You've got to take in the scenery, do something.

BRENT GEIBERGER: A little bit. It's such an individual sport out here that it's -- I don't really think about it much. It's nice to talk about. It was real special for me to be able to play with my dad at the PGA last year. We had a lot of fun; being able to play a couple practice rounds with him. Those things are really special to me. Being able to hang out with my family. We don't get to hang out together too much. We were we were family of the year up at Westchester. It's nice to be able to get together and do things and talk about things.

BRENT GEIBERGER: No. A little too far away. I did have a friend -- a friend of our family's he used to caddie for my dad. He's from up in Boston. His mom and sister flew up here, and I saw them on about, No. 15, I think. And kind of surprised me. It was really neat to see them, see them out there. It's always nice to see a friendly face out there that you know. It really helps.

BRENT GEIBERGER: No. That was probably the last thing on my mind. I was trying to stay with what I was doing out there. It can turn around on you so fast, especially on the back nine, I think. The scores I shot on the back nine the previous days were pretty good. I hit some good shots and hit them in the right spot. And you can get it going the wrong way in a hurry. There's a lot of water. If you get off the fairways on some of those holes, especially years past being so firm. They are a little softer this year than they have been. That's why I broke the tournament record, I think.

BRENT GEIBERGER: No. That was just kind of trying going out and do my boring thing and just stick with it.

BRENT GEIBERGER: No.

BRENT GEIBERGER: No. I know I was hitting some pretty good shots last couple days into some of these pins. I know my caddie and I talked a lot about -- it's lot really thinking negatively of where you couldn't want to miss it. But like shot into No. 7 today, wind was going left-to-right. I had 181 to the pin, which is my 6-iron, but we weren't sure if the wind with a hurting or helping. It was just going across. If you go back over the green, it's not good on some of these pins to be off the green. It's going to be tough to get it close to the hole. I was trying to play conservatively aggressive. Get it somewhere near the hole, and if it gets to the hole, good. But I'm still trying to get it close to the pin where I could make some birdies.