THE HONDA CLASSIC

March 10, 2000

Rick Fehr

RICK FEHR: Started on the back nine, 11th hole, hit 8-iron in about twelve feet left of the hole, made it. Next hole, 12th hole hit, 7-iron about four feet behind the hole, hit a real nice shot there, made that putt. 15th hole, hit a 2-iron in there about -- I guess it was about 25 feet, rolled down a long one. That is it for my front nine which was the back nine. Then made the turn and all pars until the 4th hole and I hit a second shot up just off the left side of the green and chipped it up about a foot for a tap-in birdie. What the scoreboard didn't show on the next hole the wind got swirly, both Scott Dunlap both hit it in the hazard, the wind switched. I ended up playing it out of the hazard onto the green, made bogey on No. 5. Then made the turn on the way in. I hit -- 7th hole hit a little 9-iron in about twelve feet from the hole, made it.

RICK FEHR: Good. Last week I didn't play very well on the weekend, but been working hard on my swing; spent some time with Jim McLean over the last couple of months. Probably had one or two many swing thoughts going in last week. It's been my struggle last couple of years, so I have been committed to work through that regardless. I feel like things are coming together, I have hit the ball pretty well last two days. Actually hit it better today than yesterday so it is a good sign. I played two tournaments, Tuscon I finished fifth so I had a good tournament there. There has been good signs of things coming together and pretty confident and feel like I am playing well.

RICK FEHR: Which drop off?

RICK FEHR: Last few years?

RICK FEHR: Initially started, I think more than anything, just with desire and I was planning or felt like it was time to quit, to stay home. My family is more important to me than this and I was having a difficult time balancing that and seeing how I could continue to pursue a successful career out here and be home to be there. I think I found a balance for now and it seems to be working well. Kids are doing fine, wife is doing fine. She is certainly ready for me to get home Sunday or Monday morning to help out. So I think that was the cause of the downturn. I wasn't paying as much attention to my game. I kind of let things slip a little bit. And then, certainly, if you don't want it bad enough or if you are not putting in the time and the effort, as competitive as things are out here, you are probably not going to see much success. Last year got re -- I had to go back to the last two qualifying schools and certainly that is a sign of being committed to go back through that, I feel like it is coming together.

RICK FEHR: I think I just mentioned that, that, yeah, I had thought about it, not the last two years having going back to Qualifying School but prior to that, like I said, I think that it wasn't -- bad play didn't cause me to think about quitting. I think you are looking at it the other way. My view of things was that my thoughts of quitting caused the bad play. I am not alone. I think a lot of guys when they hit that age bracket, when the kids are a certain age, it is a real rough period. You either basically ignore those responsibilities and see things fall apart at home or you wrestle with it and there is a lot of guys that are going through that. In a lot of sports, your career spans six or seven years. So then you retire and you are home with the kids. Obviously here you can play 'til you are six feet under and so it's a real dilemma. Rarely does a guy step out. I was trying to figure a way to step out. But like I said, rededicated. I have never once doubted whether or not I am capable of winning multiple times in a year. I always felt very capable of that. I just let my game slip. Wasn't like it was gone. Takes some work to get it back.

RICK FEHR: First of all, living where I do out on the West Coast I had to recognize that the only way to play out here is to occasionally or frequently be gone for two weeks at a time. Back in 1997 or so I was playing one week at a time. I'd come out, play one tournament, go home. Come back out -- and it didn't work very well. I racked up a lot of frequent flier miles but didn't play very well. But first of all, getting comfortable with two weeks at a time, but also setting a limit two weeks is it. Looks like I might be eligible for Bay Hill. I love that golf tournament but I am not going because this is two weeks away from the family. It sounds prohibitive but at the same time it is pretty freeing because you have got standards and things to go by. Also it helps. My wife is very supportive. She is like, hey, we are fine here. Obviously I am on the phone a lot, missing a few little league practices this week, but other than that, things are fine. I think -- I miss them more than they miss me. Their life moves on just fine.

RICK FEHR: 3, 6 and 9.

RICK FEHR: Yeah, for this year's. I guess it is iffy because I am 74th, but it looks --

RICK FEHR: Top 70 get in automatically, but to get the field up to 120 players -- I haven't checked recently because I am not going, looked like there was a good chance.

RICK FEHR: Well, that might be why I am still out here. I never found it. But not for lack of effort. I actually took a job in the off-season if -- I guess it was the fall of 1998, November of 1998 vice-president of business development, big title, but for a junior golf company, made junior golf clubs custom fit, First Tour Junior Golf out of Redmond, Washington. I was driving into the office in the morning, you know, during the off-season pretty much working full-time up until January, then the plan was to cut that back to part-time and then play and hold that just to see if it was a transitional thing where, hey, it is working out great, I am not going to play anymore. A couple of things happened, one is the business wasn't doing real well, but probably more than that I realized I am not playing so well that I could be sitting here in the office getting ready and at the same time be ready to go compete. So it was sort of -- I felt like God used that as, hey, make up your mind for now - I think it is very difficult to be involved in more than one thing. Some of the top players in the world, you know, have gone through that, whether they are designing golf courses or whatever. I don't know how you can play your best and be involved in a lot of different things.

RICK FEHR: No, I am not.