CANON GREATER HARTFORD OPEN

July 1, 2000

Edward Fryatt

EDWARD FRYATT: I'm excited, obviously and have a great opportunity in front of me tomorrow. I'm not going to get ahead of myself or think too highly of myself, because I really haven't hit it that great, but I've just kind of gotten it around and kept the ball in play. So, looking forward to tomorrow. And today was a good day, and the fact that I didn't make any bogeys. You know, whenever I've done that, I've made dad happy.

EDWARD FRYATT: Really, I don't mean to say this, but I haven't hit the ball that great. In fact, every tee shot I get up over, I'm wondering, "Well, where is this going?" And somehow I've kept the ball in the fairway a little bit. I've played with my putting a lot, and that's pretty much been what's got me to this point. You know, hopefully if I can keep putting well tomorrow, that's a great equalizer and carry me on to a good finish, if not a win.

EDWARD FRYATT: No, I really didn't even get up -- didn't get out of bed until 10:00, 10:30. My brother drove up from Doylestown, Pennsylvania; so that was nice of him. This is kind of a nice, special week for me because this is the one year anniversary of when I won on the Nike Tour, too. Seems like a little bit of dejavu because when I won in Hershey, he drove up; again, with his wife and two girls and watched me to go on and win there. So we'll just see what happens tomorrow and just try and enjoy the week.

EDWARD FRYATT: I wish I was Mark and Mark was me. He's obviously playing really well, and it's going to take a really good score to try and catch him tomorrow and if he gets off and plays the same way he did today, it's probably going to be impossible. I'm just going to go out there and do what I can do and not worry about that, and don't even really look at the board that much. It's not -- like I said, it's not like I'm hitting it right down the flag at every shot. So I'm going to try and keep the ball in front of me and give myself as many opportunities, even from 30 and 40 feet; that's just what I've got to strike from the golf course, and wait for good numbers to come around where I feel comfortable with the clubs I'm hitting into it and then attack from there, but for the most part I pretty much played defensively and just trying to keep the ball on the fat sides of the green and give myself many putts. And like the first two days, Thursday and Friday, I rolled a lot of those putts in today. I happened to roll a couple of those in. And I birdied both of the par 5s. Got it up around the green in two and chipped it up close, and made the day easy. So, you know, just see what happens tomorrow, I may find something on the range. I've been searching for the last few days to find a key thought, but it hasn't come to me just yet, but I've been doing all right with that. If I find it on the range, and hopefully I can take it into Sunday, that would be great.

EDWARD FRYATT: I think I may have been just barely in the Top-10 going into the final round at MCI. It's not -- I mean, for me, it's -- I'm not saying this in a bad way. It's not like this is unfamiliar territory. I've been doing a lot of this kind of stuff out in Asia, and I know it is a completely different -- I'm not trying too say it's the same stage or anything, but it's the same feelings. You're going to get the nervousness on the first tee, a few butterflies and light club on the first few shots. And once you settle in, the same things are happening. And obviously the courses are different and it's going to be a lot more difficult out there tomorrow, but the same things that carried me through over there, I'm going to be trying to do tomorrow. And that's go out there and keep myself slowed down and not run to the balls and just take my time and enjoy the moment and keep myself breathing and not let too much nervous anxiety get in me. Those thoughts of what I've done before, hopefully, it will carry me through to a good day tomorrow.

EDWARD FRYATT: I won five times in Asia and one time on the Nike Tour. You know, no matter where you're at, winning is still the same feeling and nervousness that comes along with it, pretty much the same. But obviously out here, there's a lot more money, and a lot more good things that can come along with it. So, you know, Mark can be tough to catch. He's playing some great golf, and it's fun to hear the crowds behind us, to roar that loud and get behind him. Just trying to take care of myself tomorrow.

EDWARD FRYATT: It's great, but it just kind of shows, for me, it's more of a situation where I'm not getting frustrated with myself and at ease with myself and the little bit of experience that I have is starting to pay off. And I'm not mature, but the little bit of maturity that I have is going a long way this week, where before I'd be frustrated every shot that's not hit right on line. It's just like, "Hey, that's the way it goes, let's keep moving forward." It's been a nice, calming week. Whether I have that next week or the rest of the year, I can't promise that at all. It's just been a nice, calm week.

EDWARD FRYATT: Well, I think everybody who comes out of the Q-school or off the BUY.COM TOUR is, you know, first and foremost goal is to stay out here. And from there, you'd like to obviously win one or maybe get into the Top-70, because that enables you to pick and choose your schedule a little bit easier, get into the Invitational. Once that I've sewed up my card, the goal to get into the Top-70 and maybe win, if things go really well, then try and get into the Top-30. But goals, you only achieve these goals by just doing small things, and that's working hard, and hopefully working on the right things and keeping the ball in play and hitting a lot of fairways and greens. And it just comes back to the cliche of one shot at a time, and if you can keep the ball in the fairways out here, you really can't hurt yourself. If you can do that and hit a lot of greens, and top of it make a few putts, which has happened this week, you get yourself in a position like this. And then the goals fall right in line with what you're doing.

EDWARD FRYATT: On 1, hit a driver and a pitching wedge in there about -- just under 30 feet just underneath the hole; again, in the fat side of the green and rolled that in and kind of settled me in. Parred 2. Parred 3. Parred 4. Parred 5. 6, hit a driver up the right side, just laid it just short of the green with a 3-iron. Chipped it up to about two feet and made my putt there for birdie. 9, was actually I made par there, but it was a big hole because I had driven it left and then hit it short, left of the green and chipped it up to about six feet and made the putt and kept the momentum going on the back side. Birdied 13 the par 5. Hit a driver in the fairway there. And then hit a 3-iron in there about, maybe, 20 feet for eagle. Probably my best shot of the day and hit the putt dead on line. Just came up short about a foot and tapped that in. Then on 15, hit 2-iron off the tee and chipped it up there about 15 to 18 feet and rolled that one and parred out from there. Nothing special. Just happened to throw a few birdies in there with a bunch of pars.