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CIALIS WESTERN OPEN

June 30, 2005

Todd Fischer

LEMONT, ILLINOIS

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Todd Fischer, thanks for joining us, great round today. 7 under par 64 puts you at tied for the lead with Ben Curtis and Jim Furyk for 18 holes. Long ways to go but you're off to a great start. Start with some opening comments.

TODD FISCHER: I said outside, it's finally nice to start off with a good round of golf. This year it's been a long struggle for me, and I always have to force an issue on Friday and shoot under par to usually make the cut.

My golf swing is coming around, I'm hitting it a lot better. Scoring is still an issue for me, but fortunately today, everything fell together.

Q. I guess the question then, Todd, is could you feel it coming? Did you know a round like this was coming soon?

TODD FISCHER: Yes and no. I had a pretty decent week last week on Friday and Saturday and finished very disappointingly on Sunday, and it almost kind of dropped my mental attitude back down to the pits again, but I wasn't going to shoot 7 under today. I knew the conditions were going to be pretty tough, but my ball striking is getting a lot, lot, lot better. I've putted fairly well for most of the year, and today it just kind of all fell together, which was I mean, it's Thursday, long way to go, but it felt really nice to have a really good day.

Q. You were talking outside about your demons. What kind are they?

TODD FISCHER: They're just errant golf shot demons. When's that shot coming in? So I've kind of strategized myself around the golf course not to have those type shots anymore.

Q. You thought it was helpful to play in the afternoon today as opposed to necessarily playing early, even though there was a delay and everything?

TODD FISCHER: You know what? It was just you know, the rain helped it. I didn't even know it rained today. It softened up the greens, which made it a lot easier being in the afternoon to play probably. I think the shot on 9 I hit, coming in, I hit a good shot and it took a good hop. That thing landed, I think, pin high, and most of the day that ball would stop right where it landed, so they are drying out. Tomorrow's afternoon round, I think if the wind stays the same, it'll be a little tougher playing into the greens today than it was today.

Q. How do you keep those mental demons out of your mind if you're trying not to think about it?

TODD FISCHER: You know, it's one shot at a time. The more good shots you hit, the farther the demons seem to go away.

Q. I believe you played a practice round with Tiger on Tuesday; is that correct?

TODD FISCHER: I did.

Q. Do you play a lot of rounds with him and what is your relationship?

TODD FISCHER: I've met him a long time ago, and that was the first time the first time I met him, he probably won't even remember this, we played together in a practice round at the U.S. Amateur my last year back in Muirfield probably in '92, and he was I didn't talk to him much then, either. He was over there and I was over here. But that's the first time I've been paired with him in anything since I've been on Tour for three years.

It was nice to see how it's a whole different game from where he plays from. John Cook and I were in that group, too, and we were talking about some of the par 4s out there where he just still goes straight and John and I have to go over here and run it over here, but it was enjoyable to watch how far he can hit it and what he goes through out on the golf course.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: If we could go through your round, 16 greens in regulation, 11 fairways, so a really good day of ball striking. You started out on the back side, No. 10, with three straight birdies.

TODD FISCHER: Yeah.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Go through those holes.

TODD FISCHER: You know, I hit driver off 10 and tried to get it as close to the green actually on Monday I played in the Pro Am, and my drive went almost through the fairway, and it was almost actually green high, and I figured that was a perfect drive for probably three of the four days. Any time the pin is front right that's not a great spot to be, but any different place I can chip it down the green. So I wasn't that far. I had 84 yards and hit a nice sand wedge up above the hole and spun back to about three or four feet and started the day off good with a birdie there.

Par 5, 11, drove it in the fairway, just hit the Rescue club of mine over the bunkers, had about 75 yards in, and I don't know, probably 15 feet, and rolled that in for a good one.

Par 3, No. 12, I think there's a case where the greens being soft made the shot a lot easier. Monday I think I hit where we teed off today was the same place I teed off Monday, and I hit 6 iron there, landed kind of in the middle of the green and took a big hop and rolled to the back. Today I hit 6 iron again and flew it in the same spot, and it held this time about three or four feet, maybe four feet.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Pin was back left.

TODD FISCHER: Middle left.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Then bogey on the next hole, long par 4.

TODD FISCHER: There's where some of the errant shots that I hit gets me in trouble a little bit. I'm not the farthest driver of the ball, and my accuracy is not the best out here, either, but 90 percent of the fairways I miss, the ball seems to land in the fairway and then bounce in the deep rough.

I had to hit 7 iron to keep it short of the green and I actually had to hit it a little farther from the green from where I wanted to be, and I hit the 52 degree wedge, hit it a foot or so from the hole and spun it all the way to the front edge and that left me with 25 to 30 feet for par.

Then came back with a birdie on 18, good driver and a good 7 iron to maybe four or five feet there.

On the front side birdied 1 with a driver and had about 120 yards in. I didn't hit the best shot there. I had maybe 20 feet, made a good putt. It went in. I hit a 52 degree wedge.

3, hit driver there and sand wedge to about a foot and a half, two feet maybe.

No. 6, par 3, a 6 iron landed just on the front of the green and rolled up to maybe five feet.

No. 8, tried to knock down a little 8 iron, hit that a little left and had about a 25 , 30 footer, big breaker, curled right in.

Q. Could you talk a little about the evolution of your career? It took you a little longer to get out here, but you've had a couple of good years. How did that all come about?

TODD FISCHER: Just never gave up, simple. I don't know anything else to do. I've been in this stupid sport for so long that you know, golfers sometimes are happy when they're playing good and miserable when they're not. If I didn't play golf and had to do something else, I would never be happy. So I just kept at it, and here I am.

Q. What kept you from getting out here sooner? Was it part of your game you needed to improve?

TODD FISCHER: Yeah, probably listening to me talk in my head gets in the way of a lot of things. You know, not having for me, I did the best I could. It did take when I turned pro I said I was going to quit at 30 if I didn't make it. I played mini Tours throughout most of the West Coast and some bigger tournaments throughout the United States, but I always kept making money every year, and that's what kept me going.

But what kept me back was Tour school. I think there's so many good golfers out here that probably belong on the Tour, but before the Nationwide came out or whatever, you only had one shot a year to get out here, and that was Tour school. You don't play good at that right time, fortunately you've got to wait again for another year.

I always made it past the first stage pretty easily and never made it to the finals of Tour school. I went the alternate route and played my way on through the Nationwide and got out here through that.

Q. The second stage is the one that got you?

TODD FISCHER: Yeah, second stage. Seemed like every year there was one or two shots I'd miss by every year.

Q. Did that become a mental thing after that happened a couple times? Did that get in your head a little bit after you got to the second stage?

TODD FISCHER: Yeah, I could have bought a nice car with all the money I spent on that Tour school stuff. You know, I hope things can turn around this year so I don't have to go try that this year.

Q. How many times did you go to Q school?

TODD FISCHER: I went nine times, I think.

Q. What do you think has gotten better that has enabled you to be successful out here the last two years and make some decent money? Where have you improved?

TODD FISCHER: You know what, just being out with good players. You just learn to make yourself better. My year, I'm complaining more about my year than I did last year, but last year at this time I made more cuts, but I've made more money this year. I have some statistician that always texts me with all the stats stuff. I just found that out yesterday. "Don't worry about your year so far, more tournaments, and here's where your stats are right now."

You know, I'm not giving up, and I know that I can play. I've had good tournaments out here and tournaments that I didn't win that came close that I can always look back on certain things that kept me back from winning which are strong points in my game. As long as everything kind of will feed together, then I'll be fine.

Q. Do you have a support group? Do you have somebody who's a coach or somebody who's helped you or a sports psychologist? Do you have some people who have helped you get here, to where you are?

TODD FISCHER: I've got thousands, thousands. I wish I could name them all, but I can't. I'm working with some people right now, and it sure helps a lot. Marshall Smith out of Oklahoma, I've worked with him when I first came out here and I see him every once in a while. And then for the past probably three months I've been working with Mike Nolan out of San Diego, and then when I'm at home in the bay area, I have a lot of guys that teach out there that come and watch me hit balls and they give their opinions, too. It's nice to have a lot of big corner in my back.

Q. Do you have a most exciting moment or most memorable moment in golf at any level, whether it's amateur, professional or junior golf?

TODD FISCHER: Probably something I can't say out loud right now.

Q. How about the second most memorable then?

TODD FISCHER: Probably bogeying the 18th hole at Pebble in the U.S. Open to miss the cut.

Q. 2000?

TODD FISCHER: Yes. I had a hole in one that morning, which was the first shot of the day on No. 7. But bogeying 18 over shadows that one.

Q. That was the fog delay day?

TODD FISCHER: Friday night, I only play through 6 because of darkness, and I finished out and then went to No. 7, and the first shot of the day for me I knocked in a sand wedge for an ace.

Q. So it was pretty disappointing to miss the cut after that?

TODD FISCHER: That was I grew up 100 miles from there, so it was very disappointing.

Q. What was the crucial shot at 18 that cost you the bogey?

TODD FISCHER: That was I drove it in the fairway, which was good, hit 4 iron just to lay up, put it in the fairway bunker, caught that a little heavy, stayed in the bunker by the green, knocked that up to about six feet and lipped out.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Todd, thank you very much.

End of FastScripts.

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