GTE BYRON NELSON GOLF CLASSIC

May 9, 2000

Harrison Frazar

HARRISON FRAZAR: I'd love to. I feel like I'm on top of my game right now. I feel like I'm driving it pretty well and putting well. I'm obviously familiar with the golf courses and know the area, know the climate. There's a lot to be said about being comfortable and being familiar. It's just a real easy week. Hopefully, I'll be able to focus on golf, and not on the Stars playoff series.

HARRISON FRAZAR: Well, no question, coming off a disappointment. It's been a long time since I've been in that position and gotten a chance to play for it; in Atlanta we got rained out. I've worked really hard on improving the quality of my short game, the consistency of my putting, and also my golf course management, just for the sole purpose of trying to win golf tournaments. When I get in the heat, I wanted to be better, and better prepared for the pressures that go along with it. So all the work that I've been doing -- I saw some really good things for those 17 holes or 16 holes I played, as well as all week, but to have happen what did on No. 17 was obviously a disappointment. It's going to hurt for a while. There's a sting there. And the best thing I can do is realize that I've been playing well for five or six weeks now. When I say "five or six weeks," I mean five or six tournaments, which has been almost two months I've been playing really good golf. And, you know, if I can try to focus on the positives and try to remember that I'm playing good golf, then I don't see it as coming off a disappointment or coming off the roll or coming off. I think I'm in the middle of a good stretch right now, and hopefully, it will continue.

HARRISON FRAZAR: Oh, I don't know. Everybody always says this is my time of year. I think it's because -- I'm not the kind of guy that can play all year long and can play hard all year long. I can't do that. I've got down time that I have to take at the end of the year, September, October, November, or even December -- November and December are times that I'm not really very interested in playing golf and don't do much. And you can't just jump out and say, "okay, it's time to play," and be ready to go and be sharp. It takes me a while -- the first part of the year I'm not ready. It takes me, five, six, seven weeks to get back into the swing of things. And I work hard in the first four months, five months of the year. So right now, I'm just starting to see the results of all that hard work. And then what happens is I continue to work hard and play hard through July and August, and then September I started getting burned out. So I don't know if May is really the time. It just seems like April, May, June, July, I'm in between that area where I'm comfortable with my game and before a period of burnout.

HARRISON FRAZAR: I haven't seen it. Yesterday I took the day off. Did a lot of housekeeping things, really, just kind of got myself registered, got tickets set up, got stuff done to my equipment, had a couple meetings; so I didn't have a chance to get on the golf course. I played Cottonwood today. Just speaking with Mr. Nelson, he seems to think that the improvements are going to make the golf course a better golf course that's going to test you consistently as you go through. And you know, I've heard that some of the changes are not terribly drastic, with the exception of No. 6 and 10.

HARRISON FRAZAR: On 15? There's not 40 yards to go.

HARRISON FRAZAR: Just trying to think of where they could possibly move it.

HARRISON FRAZAR: That's a big change. That hole's going to play tougher, because it was already a pretty good hole to begin with. 10, I think they just changed the angle on the shot. I don't think it's playing any longer. But 6, I think they moved it back 40 yards, something like that, back there by 12 tee. Those two holes alone, 6 now turns into -- instead of being a 2-iron, 9-iron hole, is now probably going to turn into a driver, 3-wood and having to take 7-iron, 8-iron at that green, and that's going to change it significantly, especially if you get the wind blowing like it can left-to-right pretty good. Number 15, that could be a real beast if the wind turns around and blows out of the south. Isn't that right? South will be into it? Yeah. Wind turns and blows out of the south, you've got some serious finishing holes out there with 14, 15, 17 and 18. And it's supposed to be windy. It's been windy here all spring. I don't see why it would stop for this tournament.

HARRISON FRAZAR: Well, of course, you know, everybody has got to play both of them. I think a lot of it depends on the weather. If you happen to catch TPC on a windy day, and don't -- and then get to play Cottonwood on a calm day, then obviously you've got a huge advantage over the person who has it reversed from you. If the weather stays consistent and the wind blows a similar direction and with the similar speeds, you know, about the same velocity, I guess I should say, then I don't see it making a huge difference.

HARRISON FRAZAR: No.

HARRISON FRAZAR: The Cottonwood course, yeah, it plays easier. I think it's because if you -- if you're driving your ball well, you've driving it into places where the shots are easier. If you're not driving your golf ball very well, Cottonwood can be pretty tough. So, you know, a lot has been made about stroke -- you know, about Cottonwood being easier, but I would have to say probably it's not. Maybe you guys know the stats, but it's probably not much more than a shot or shot-and-a-half difference. That's not tremendous. It's not like somebody can win the golf tournament playing Cottonwood. You've got to go play them. And the par 5s are reachable on the golf course, and it traditionally plays a little bit softer than TPC so that you've a little bit more freedom of taking a shot right at the pin. And your chip shots are easier; ball's not going to run away from you as much.

HARRISON FRAZAR: Wow, I've learned to be able to function without sleep. I've learned that tired has taken on an entirely new meaning. And on top of that, now -- before I was very good at being able to -- and I had to learn how to do it also with Allison, but we had to learn to -- there's a time for golf and there's a time for your wife. And before, because we were both so serious about golf, that was kind of all we did. You know, it was easy for us to be able to go away from the golf course, talk about golf or think about golf, and we thought we were separate. We thought that we were keeping the two independent of each other. We weren't even close. And now this is making me really learn how to take golf off the focus. You know, you go to work and you do your job and when you leave -- he's five months old. He doesn't know that I just shot 76. He doesn't show that I shot 64. He doesn't care. The only thing that he knows and the only thing he wants is that if he's upset, if I can comfort him or I can play with him. And the only thing that Allison needs right now is to -- she has taken to motherhood so well and does such a wonderful job with him, the only thing I can try to do is be supportive for her and I try to help her when I can. And if I'm sitting there worried about golf, or worried about a shot that I hit on No. 17, I'm not being a very good husband or a very about father. And I figured that out the hard way the first part of the year. We tried to travel with him too young, and you can't do it. It stressed me out. It bothered me. Allison and I were -- you know, on pins and needles with each other, and you've got to learn to separate the three. So it's changed me drastically. I'm a much different person, I think, especially now that golf is just not nearly as important to me. It's still important, but it's not the most important thing.

HARRISON FRAZAR: Harrison.

HARRISON FRAZAR: He's William Harrison and I'm Richard Harrison.

HARRISON FRAZAR: My mom doesn't have a problem. My father has a hard time calling him Harrison because I'm Harrison to him. He calls him Will, but now everybody has the new nickname they are calling him, Shrub. My nickname is Bush, just for a long time ago so instead of -- when he first -- we had a football we were signing and everybody was saying, "To Baby Bush," you know, and they would sign it. And I think Justin heard the story and he goes, "Baby Bush? Why doesn't you just call him Shrub?" So Justin gave him the nickname Shrub, and that's kind of stuck. That's what my dad calls him now. And hopefully it won't stick forever. Who knows.

HARRISON FRAZAR: They do great with them. They are very gentle. We really worried about it. We had some really good advice from friends who also had dogs; that when you come home from the first couple nights, bring a blanket and hat just give it to them. Don't make them feel like it's something they can't touch; don't make them feel like it's something they can't be around. They will get used to the smell. They tore up the first blanket, but by the next night, they kind of sniffed it and said, no big deal. The first thing we did when we got home, sat the dogs down and put the baby out in front of them and let them kind of nose him and smell him and sniff him and they forgot about it. And now they -- Hunter has taken on a pretty protective role of him. If he's sitting in his bouncy seat or jumper something like that he gets a little upset, Hunter will walk over lick him and sit next to him. He smiles now when he sees them and he'll just sit there. They are going to be his best friends, you know. And they are great with him. They have never once , you know even as much as put a paw on him. And so it's been a big relief for us.

HARRISON FRAZAR: Labradors, chocolate labs. They are wonderful dogs. Wonderful demeanors. You know, in a couple years when he starts pulling on their ears and pulling on tails, I don't think they will ever turn on him, ever. And that's the big reassurance.

HARRISON FRAZAR: I don't know. Maybe I should have -- I shouldn't say less important. I should just say that it's not -- it's not all-consuming. I don't dwell on it. You know, there's a time and a place for me to go do my job. And golf now is not something that I can just pick up on a whim and do now. I've got to be able to go and when I go to the golf course, I need to have a plan of what I'm going to do. I need to go and focus, and now I've realized that I get more concentrated work when I go. I get myself done quicker, faster because I want to go spend time with him and Allison. I don't sit around and waste time as much anymore. And so I think that it's helped me that way. But also, I think that it's helped, just in the fact that it's taken the pressure off. You know, when I'm playing a round, if I look up and see him and Allison on 18 green, you know, all of the sudden I could care less if I'm 1-over par or 4-under. It all gets put into place real quick.

HARRISON FRAZAR: They were. Allison went to get him on -- before I hit my tee shot on 17. She went to go get him. And she came back and saw that I had made the double on 17 and by the time I walked off the green, I walked over and he was passed out asleep. He could have cared less. The excitement, I guess he -- I don't know, I guess he was just emotionally spent off the double-bogey. Who knows.

HARRISON FRAZAR: She didn't see it. She went to the day care center, which is right there on site, which they have computers there. I guess she just didn't -- I think she might have looked when she was there and saw that had happened. And she was upset about it. She was hurt by it, and that's part of it. She shares the dream as much as I do. But it was nice to see them there. You know, nice to have them there, whether I won or lost. And I hope they will be there a lot more.