CANON GREATER HARTFORD OPEN

July 31, 1999

Brent Geiberger

TIM ANDREE: Brent, congratulations. It was a great day for you all around, but No. 11, you did something very special. So on behalf of Canon USA, we have a few gifts for you. This Canon EOS system camera.

BRENT GEIBERGER: That's beautiful.

TIM ANDREE: To us, this is very important, but this might be a little more important to you. This is $25,000 for your hole-in-one.

BRENT GEIBERGER: That's nice. Thank you very much. (Applause.) I've got to make them more often.

TIM ANDREE: You keep making them, we'll keep paying.

BRENT GEIBERGER: Let's see, 3-wood and little 60-degree sand wedge about -- I think about 10 feet behind the hole on 2. Made birdie there. Started backing up there for a while on the next few holes. Par 3, I was three feet off the fairway, and just had a horrible lie. Tried to hit a 7-iron and roll it up towards the front of the green. It got left on me and then went in the left rough, and I couldn't do any better and ended up making 6; double-bogey. Next hole, I pushed a 3-wood off the tee. Got into a spot right of the green, and had a good par putt attempt, about eight feet, and just left it short right in the hole; made bogey there. Par 3, I hit a 4-iron. Just pushed it a little bit and caught the lip of the bunker. I missed probably about a 4-footer for par there. By that time, I'm starting to talk to myself. My caddie and I were just talking; I wasn't hitting the ball real bad, but just a couple shots in the wrong spots. We tried to regroup and start over, and I think I pushed a drive over 7 in the bunker. And I hit an 8-iron out of the bunker about six to eight feet left of the hole. Good putt there; birdie. Par 3, I pushed a 5-iron and it went in the back swale through the green and made probably about a 30-footer up the hill and down, and hit the pin and it went in. That was a surprise there. I think I parred 9.

BRENT GEIBERGER: (10) Nice drive. I think it was the only one I hit solid. I hit driver and 8-iron to about two and a half, three feet. And made 1 on 11. 9-iron. And then, 12, made really good 2-putt from the back edge of the green about 50 feet, 60 feet. Par 13, par. Good par there. Hit it in the hazard there but stayed out. 14, driver and a little 7-iron short of the hole about 20 feet. Tough little double-breaker and made that. That was a nice putt. 15, hit 3-wood off the tee and wasn't quite sure if I could get it there, but I guess it finished up a little bit short and it rolled right up there about -- I think about 10, 12 feet left of the hole right in the middle of the swale. Could not have a better putt. It just lipped out and I made birdie there. And I parred in from there out.

BRENT GEIBERGER: 162.

BRENT GEIBERGER: There's a pipe there, and the water has come down some. And so the pipe's exposed and it's broken; so it's sticking up a little bit, more than it would if it wasn't broken. Sticking up right in my line of flight if I tried to hit any kind of mid-iron shot. Even a pitching wedge with the lie I had, I was skeptical. I just took my wedge and blasted it out into the fairway and tried to not make it worse than it already was. I had been at the bottom of the barrel, and I didn't want to get back down there.

BRENT GEIBERGER: That's two now. The first one was at a Nike event, a tournament at Sonoma, '95, I think. That's two for me.

BRENT GEIBERGER: It's kind of nice. Funny thing was I wasn't nervous at all. I just felt really good out there. Just put the ball in a couple of tough spots where it was hard to recover from. And being able to come back from that was really nice. My caddie and I worked really well with that, and just trying to stay calm. There was a lot of holes left. I knew I was putting the ball pretty well. I feel pretty comfortable on these greens. Just wanted to hang in there and give myself -- even though I went back to about 8-under, I knew I was still only a couple out of the lead, and there's a lot of golf left and give myself a chance for tomorrow.

BRENT GEIBERGER: It was just a nice smooth 9-iron. I didn't want to hit it too hard. Real smooth one. Playing just a little bit shorter than yesterday. I knew it was on a pretty good line. I didn't know how firm the ball was going to bounce. A couple of these greens are a little different than others. The ball bounced a little harder and it landed just perfectly. Nice and soft. I'm not sure; it looked like it trickled in a little bit. It didn't look like it rattled in.

BRENT GEIBERGER: I think a little. Birdieing 7 was nice. I wanted to make the turn 1-under or par for the day after those bogeys. That was a definite bonus there to have it go in. I was definitely trying to 2-putt; cozy the ball up there as close as I could. The lie was a little iffy and a little soft down there so I didn't want to catch it a little funny and try and get up-and-down for bogey; so I thought putter was the best option for me.

BRENT GEIBERGER: Yeah. Today it blew the hardest of any of the days. For a while there on the front nine, it really was tough to figure out which way it was coming from, because it kind of moved around here and there. And club selection got a little tough there, trying to hit the right shot you wanted to hit. You really had to be careful. Sometimes you look to the right and the trees were blowing this way (indicating opposite way) and you look to the left and they were blowing this way (indicating opposite way). And on 8, I was trying to play it a little straight and it was blowing right, took off downwind. It was pretty tough.

BRENT GEIBERGER: I guess at Vancouver, I was in third going into the last round last year. Not real sure. My short-term memory isn't too -- I'm not too sure.

BRENT GEIBERGER: I finished -- I think I finished about 10th. I was wearing a splint. I almost broke my ankle the week before. I was pretty happy to be playing at all. I was wearing a big ankle brace. I knew a was going to be -- I knew I was playing pretty good; so, I stuck with it. I don't think I was -- Phoenix, I was right up there, I guess. I finished second there, but I was tied or around the lead after two days, first, second day. But I think about third is the best I've been going into the last day.

BRENT GEIBERGER: A little bit. I'm just going to approach it the same way I approach any other round. Pete Jordan and I went out and had dinner last night; we're going to go and have dinner again tonight. I think I owe him a few beers for that one. But I'm not going to do anything different. I'm going to approach everything the same way.

BRENT GEIBERGER: Yeah, it is kind of tough to tee off at two o'clock, even though I still am on west coast time.

BRENT GEIBERGER: I know. I don't mind it. I felt a little groggy on Friday morning; getting up and being on the range, trying to get loose and go out and play. But that's fine with me, than having to deal with the weather. Should be a little better earlier.

BRENT GEIBERGER: I'm not hitting my driver very good at all. I even hit 3-wood on the last hole off the tee, because I knew where that was going. First three days, I haven't hit my driver that well. I've hit it good in spots, but I've hit a couple shots that have been a little funny. I've been off for three weeks, and I take that into a little bit of account. I hit the ball off the tee pretty well at Chicago. I finished third there at my last tournament. That's one of the clubs that's hard for me to jump right in and start hitting it well again. I would think it's that way with any player.

BRENT GEIBERGER: Putting pretty well. Today, I tried to putt it in spots, if I missed the fairway like on 12, I just tried to put it somewhere in the right side of the green, somewhere around the green where I had a chance to make 4. Only a couple spots where it got me in trouble. And I didn't even hit that bad of a drive on 3. I was just a few feet off the fairway. 7, I just pushed it in the right trap. Just a little off. I'm going to go to the range and hit a little bit more and see if I can find something going into tomorrow.