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FRY'S ELECTRONICS OPEN

October 20, 2007

Billy Mayfair

SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA

Q. Would you just talk about your round today?
BILLY MAYFAIR: Well I got off to a good start ask birdied the first two holes and was actually 3-under after four and I made the turn at 10-under, and, you know, just cruising along there and birdied 10. Then ran into a few hiccups coming in, missed a few putts coming down and a short putt on 18 for par.
Overall, it was a good day, but unfortunately didn't quite finish the way I wanted to.

Q. Going into Sunday, you're in contention, and you still have a shot to win this thing.
BILLY MAYFAIR: Absolutely. The weather is suppose to get bad tomorrow. It's supposed to get windy, so it's going to bring a lot of guys back into it. Like I said, I didn't shoot myself out of it quite yet.

Q. You had a nice gallery following you and people rooting you on, all of the Scottsdale natives rooting for the local boy. How does that make you feel?
BILLY MAYFAIR: Well, it's great, it's a great feeling. I love playing here and down at the FBR Open and here, I've got a lot of fans and it's great. It's really fun to play in front of them and to see everyone. But the best part is tomorrow night when we're done, I don't have to drive home. I'm already home. I don't have to get on an airplane.

Q. How nice is it that you can literally just drive over, a simple trip, and not have to do the grind of traveling from location to location?
BILLY MAYFAIR: It's nice. Obviously this is my 30th event this year and there's only been two at home. The other 28 have all been that same grind. It's very nice to be home, that's for sure.

Q. How has this year been treating you? Can you talk about your year and how you think you've played this year?
BILLY MAYFAIR: I've done pretty good this year. I think I'm 57th on the Money List going into this week and all but with all my problems I've had with my cancer and personal problems and still being out here playing on the PGA TOUR and being competitive, I think I've had a pretty good year.

Q. In a sense, you are like a warrior, in the sense that you had to persevere over so much, and how much does playing the game mean to you even more now for all of the things that you've had to endure?
BILLY MAYFAIR: You know, getting cancer and all that stuff just puts a whole new perspective. When I was diagnosed with cancer, I was trying to fight to make the Ryder Cup Team. And I went from trying to make the Ryder Cup Team to keeping alive, and it changes your outlook and perspectives.
Yeah, I still get mad at myself when I do dumb things on the golf course, but playing out here is not life-and-death. When you get diagnosed with cancer, that can be life-and-death. Sports and golf and everything else doesn't seem to mean as much.
But you're still out here to win. We're all competitive. If you're not competitive, you wouldn't be out here on this tour and you would not be an athlete. The competitiveness is still there but maybe after the day is over, I'm thankful just to be alive and healthy.

Q. How much has your game changed from when you first started playing this game?
BILLY MAYFAIR: Well, a lot of it, I think I've gotten stronger and the equipment and golf balls have gotten better and the golf courses have gotten harder. This is a different type of game.
I remember when the late Payne Stewart played, when he was playing really good, he worked the ball a lot. He hit a lot of hooks, a lot of fades, high balls, low balls.
Now, with the way the technology and the golf courses are you aim at the flag, hit it hard and let the equipment take care of itself. So the finesse and the working of the ball has gone out of the game, but you still have to shoot low and putt well.

Q. How physically draining was it going through all that, was golf the farthest thing from your mind?
BILLY MAYFAIR: Not really. The nice thing was once I got inside the ropes, I forgot about everything else and it was kind of my sanctuary. If my form wasn't on, no one could call me and no one could bother me on those four and a half, five hours on the golf course between the ropes.

Q. And now when you come out here and you see so many people rooting you on, great galleries what, does that mean to you to have that support here on basically your only course?
BILLY MAYFAIR: It's great. I've seen a lot of friends and people I haven't seen in a long time and people I've known for a long time come out and support me. I always want to do well for them. On the 7th green, they had a big huge banner, "Billy Mayfair's Cheering Section," and all that stuff. It's nice to have.
You're out here for a lot of weeks and you play and you see a lot of people, but when you come home and you see people supporting you, that's what it means -- it means the world to me.

End of FastScripts

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