Harrison Frazar shoots a 59 to leadUS Tour Q School by four shotsFROM THE US PGA TOUR WEBSITEBy HELEN ROSSLA QUINTA, Calif. -- Harrison Frazar was the one to shoot the elusive 59 on Saturday, but he didn't plan any special celebration.
"I'm going to do the same thing I did last night," he said simply. "Watch football and eat a sandwich."
Even though Missouri couldn't upset Oklahoma and bring Frazar's Texas Longhorns back to the forefront of the national championship picture, that sandwich surely tasted a little better. After all, the magical round of 13 under certainly put Frazar in the driver's seat at the US PGA Tour National Qualifying Tournament.
Frazar now has a 72-hole total of 24 under and owns a four-stroke lead over Tyler Aldridge with two rounds remaining at PGA West. He knows the low numbers are out there, though -- witness his performance Saturday on the Nicklaus Tournament Course -- so he can't afford to let up.
"We've got two days left, and on these golf courses you can get at it, as we can see," Frazar said. "But you can also get bit pretty hard if you hit some bad shots. So I am trying to stay focused on the fact that I feel like we have to make as many birdies as we can. When I got to 8, 9, 10 under, I thought let's just try to keep hitting good shots and keep making putts.
"If I shoot 60, 58, 62, 64 or whatever -- it's still going to be a good round."
Frazar set the tone early, making four birdies and rolling in a 12-footer for eagle at the par-5 seventh to turn in 30. Things really heated up on the back nine when the Dallas native reeled off seven consecutive birdies -- including a 40-footer on the 17th hole that moved him to 13 under. Frazar knew just where he stood as he studied that 18-footer for a 58 on the 18th hole, too, but the ball slid just past the hole.
"We know how low we are every time," Frazar said. "Somebody who says they don't know how many under they are is lying. I knew how low I was. To be honest with you -- and this is going to sound bad and this is going to sound flippant -- but I didn't really care if I shot 59. I just wanted to make as many birdies as I could. This isn't the last day, and this isn't over."
The score may be the rarest of rare, but interestingly Frazar's 59 was the third one shot in competition at PGA West. David Duval used an eagle on the final hole to carve out a 59 on the Palmer Private Course and win the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic in 1999, while David Gossett shot another on the Nicklaus Private Course in the fourth round of Q-school in 2000.
"If you are ever going to do one, I think the desert is the place," Frazar said. "The weather's perfect, and the greens are great. But you still have to have a lot of fortune."
Frazar made his own luck on Saturday. His iron play was spot-on -- leaving him 10 birdie putts inside 15 feet and that crowning one at the 17th hole from 40. He also reached the seventh with a well-struck 2-iron hybrid to set up the eagle.
"I felt very comfortable over the iron shots," Frazar said. "I had good numbers. I had clubs, and I had shots to the pins where I felt I could make good swings all day. I just kept hitting it 10-12-15 feet. The putts, I'm not quite sure what happened. There was no conscious change. Just perfect speeds -- that's what it felt like -- and everything was going in. It was very easy."
That's in sharp contrast to the way Frazar has felt using the flat stick most of the year. He ranked 185th on the TOUR in putting average and 194th in putts per round. On the other hand, the Texan ranked third in greens in regulation, 14th in driving distance and 40th in total driving.
"He's struck the ball well this year," said Frazar's coach, Randy Smith. "He didn't putt the ball well at all, though, and that starts playing with your head a little bit. Everything's bad when you're not putting the way you want to."
Smith left his student after he made birdie at the 11th hole to go check on some other players he teaches. He glanced at the scores on his mobile phone a little while later and saw Frazar was on a birdie binge that ended at seven straight with the most important one on the 17th hole.
"I looked at my phone and said, 'What in the devil is he doing?'" Smith said with a smile. "Then Donna (Caponi of the GOLF CHANNEL) comes running up she said, 'He birdied 17.' I was like, let's do the addition here -- that's 13 (under). I said, 'Oh my God.' And he leaves this on the high side which is kind of cool. Most of the rest would have missed it to the left."
Smith was beaming. He said he didn't necessarily see this coming, but he was thrilled for the boost he knew it would give Frazar, who has played the Tour for 11 years but has had to go to Q-school each of the last two seasons. He didn't get his card last year, but finishing 131st on the money list gave him some status. He won't have that luxury in 2009 after finishing 163rd, so Q-school is even more important.
"I wanted him to be competitive, keep himself together and play six rounds of golf very steady," Smith said. "I had no doubt that he could do that without any problem. But to have one like this (is special)."
Frazar said he started feeling comfortable with his putter several weeks ago. On Saturday, he saw the lines, and his speed was perfect. Truth be told, though, Frazar was more pleased with the way he hit the ball over the last couple of holes as the pressure built.
"I am really proud of myself the swings that I made the last couple of holes, when I knew that I was low," Frazar said. "You can feel it. The heart rates get up a little bit, and it's tough to get a little spit. But I hit my routine. I was thinking well, and I feel like the swings I made on the last couple of holes were some of the best swings I've made all week.
"That's probably what I'm most proud of."
Frazar will start the third round with a four-stroke lead after that stellar 59, but the biggest edge he may have on many in the field of 163 is his attitude. Sure, the 37-year-old is a veteran who has grown accustomed to the million-dollar purses, courtesy cars and ardent fans on the PGA Tour, but he has embraced the challenge presented by Q-school this week and is determined to succeed.
"There can be nothing but good that comes out of it," he said. "Half the guys that are here, they want to be here. They're really fired up about it. They're excited. And a lot of them here are thinking, oh gosh, it's Q-school again and maybe they don't want to be here quite as much.
"However, we still want to play golf, and if you want to play golf, you've got to go through this to have a chance to go out there and play with the best players in the world. It's a rite of passage, and it's something most people have to do. There are very few who make it through their career without having to do it. So it all depends upon your attitude."
++Editor's Note: Harrison Frazar must have Scottish roots way back. Don't you think "Frazar" is a corruption over the years of "Frazer" or "Fraser?"
LEADERBOARDPar 288 (4 x 72)264 H Frazar 69 64 72 59.
268 T Aldridge 68 66 70 64.
270 J Williamson 67 69 69 66.
271 G Day 70 67 64 60, D Fathauer 70 69 6567, B Molder 68 67 69 67, J Nitties 69 63 69 70.
272 B Heintz 67 70 69 66, G Sisk 69 65 69 69.
273 J Huston 74 69 65 65, Y E Yang 69 68 68 68, A Watkins 71 69 68 66, K Cox 70 69 68 67, K Jones 67 69 70 67.
Selected scores:277 M Brooks 66 69 70 72 (jt 42nd).
279 M Richardson (Eng) 67 74 65 73 (jt 58th).
Labels: US PGA TOUR, US PRO TOUR
-700474.jpg)
