CANON GREATER HARTFORD OPEN

July 30, 1999

Brent Geiberger

BRENT GEIBERGER: Birdied 10. Driver and a 7-iron about eight feet behind the hole. 11, I hit a 9-iron about 15 feet short of the hole. 13, par 5, driver and I laid up a 6-iron and hit a little sand wedge about three feet. And burned the edge on 14. 15, I hit a driver just short of the green and hit a little 9-iron chip about -- let's say about six feet and made that. Lipped out on 14. I made 10 from the front fringe on 18. Driver and 9-iron. It was about a 20-footer, I think.

BRENT GEIBERGER: 3-wood -- sand wedge about 10 feet.

BRENT GEIBERGER: I hit a pretty good drive, I thought, and it just barely ran through the fairway and I didn't have a very good lie. I was in the first cut of the rough. I didn't have a very good lie on it. Squirted right on me and went behind the tree and I hit it through the squail and I missed the putt. Almost birdied the par 3. Par 5, driver and I laid up with a 4-iron and sand wedge about eight feet. Made that. And made a really good -- birdied 7. Driver, 9-iron about 15 feet. And made a great up-and-down on 8. Hit a 4-iron a little up the left side of the green, and the wind caught it to about 10 yards left of it, actually, and I bumped it through and left it about 20 feet short and made that putt. That was a big putt. Made a good up-and-down on 9. Hit the fairway bunker on 9 in the squail (ph) and 2-putted from there. Nice way to finish.

BRENT GEIBERGER: Walking up the 9th fairway yesterday, I was 1-over par and I was chastising myself walking up the fairway. I was a little upset that I wasn't doing any better. Just kind of going through the motions and birdied there. I birdied five holes in a row, 9 through, whatever, 13. I don't know, I put it where I need to make birdie. I put it in the fairway, which you have to do on some of those holes. The greens were nice this morning, also. If you got it on line, if you read them well, you're going to make some putts.

BRENT GEIBERGER: I just -- I played here the last couple years and those are some pretty tough chips. Especially in front of me, it was a pretty good face. And it was actually higher than the cup. It would have taken a pretty good touch to stop it anywhere around the hole, to at least land it on top or if I bumped it on the hill. I just like putting those a little bit better. It takes a lot of the error out of it for me. I just know my strengths, and I'd rather putt it than flop it up there or something. It's a little soft around the greens, and you could do anything with it. I think I've done that about three times this week and it's worked out really well.

BRENT GEIBERGER: It seems like we talk maybe about once or twice a week. That was a special week for us because we were named the golf family of the year by the Met Section. That was almost the first time, I think we've had everybody from our family in one spot in about eight years, I think. My sister came in from Italy. It was nice for a couple days there. My dad and my brothers came out and followed me around on Monday and Tuesday.

BRENT GEIBERGER: I'll call him. He probably won't call me. He'll probably stay away from me, because he thinks he's going to make me nervous. We actually don't talk about golf that much when we talk.

BRENT GEIBERGER: I was just kind of going one hole at a time. I was -- I just got in a mode where I tried to make as many birdies as I could. It seems like you're usually going to make one or two birdies even if you make a good shot. Even though the course makes it a little soft, when this course firms up, you can make bogeys awfully quick. Making birdies helps a lot, especially on this course, but 59, that's pretty low, even though it is a par 70. People always ask me -- I say, well, I did do it every day, but I always have a couple holes to go.

BRENT GEIBERGER: It was neat. I didn't get to see too much of my dad. But when he took me on the road for a few years there during the summertime, I was about, probably seven or eight until about 12 or 13, I'd go out a lot with him during the summer. It was a lot of fun. I learned a lot. Meeting a lot of neat players. Players you looked up to and watched on TV all the time and meet a lot of interesting people. It was a lot of fun.

BRENT GEIBERGER: He was always really easy on me, to play golf. I was always playing a bunch of other sports; playing basketball and baseball, and he never pushed me in any direction to do anything. He was always really good about that, and that's the way, I guess, grandfather was with him. That was always nice. I kind of did what I wanted to do and I found out for myself what I liked.

BRENT GEIBERGER: A little success probably in high school and college. The game is so humbling that all of the sudden, you think you've got it figured out and you're at the bottom of the barrel again, especially going through the mini tours and stuff like that. It's a grind. Getting out here is one of the toughest things you'll have to do.

BRENT GEIBERGER: The course is a lot softer than it normally is. Hitting 4-irons on some of these greens, and normally you have to land on the first five paces; and now the ball is releasing about 10 feet, that's it with a 4-iron. You're going to see low scores when the greens are that soft and they are rolling really nice right now also. And the fairways aren't too firm, also. When you get the fairways a little softer than normal, the ball is not going to roll through into the rough. That promotes low scores.

BRENT GEIBERGER: I feel pretty comfortable. I think that's what the main thing is if you're playing a golf course. You're afraid of hitting certain shots, you're not going to do too well. But you've got to feel comfortable on a course to do well. Hitting a mixture of drivers and 3-woods and I'm actually not hitting it all that well off the tee right now. I'm hitting them pretty straight, but I'm not hitting it real solid. And getting away with it in a couple spots. Trying to think my way around the golf course and make birdies and pars; I know my limits.

BRENT GEIBERGER: Well, I kind of -- I try and just slowdown and not move too fast. I'm talking to my caddie all the time. We're not even talking about golf. We're talking about shorts and stuff. It makes for a very long day if you're talking about your golf game in between shots. It would be -- God, I would be a basket case after five holes if I did that. We talk about anything but golf, probably. Just trying to keep it as loose as possible. We have a good connection, I think between the two of us, and I seem to stay pretty focused when we're talking. I'm able to keep everything pretty focused and everything out. I don't notice everything else around me, a lot of people or something like that.

BRENT GEIBERGER: Birdied all nine holes? No.

BRENT GEIBERGER: I felt I had a good rhythm going and a nice pace. I kind of just tried to keep myself on a certain level the whole time and not get too up and too down when I made a birdie. Not get too far up or too far down, try and stay on the same level. I had a good rhythm going and everything just fell into place when I got to a certain shot. I just knew how to wing it and hit it. Actually it got backed up a lot and we were waiting on three, four or five tees for a little while, and that kind of plays on your mind a little bit. Especially when it's that warm out.

BRENT GEIBERGER: A little bit. Not that much.

BRENT GEIBERGER: I think a little bit. More than me, yeah. I mean, I'm fascinated meeting some of these guys that used to play. I love talking with Byron Nelson. Any time I see him I try and corner him for at least a couple minutes and pick his brain. He's phenomenal. Sharp as a tack.