Harrison Frazar Has A Share Of The Lead At The Barclays
If the PGA Tour's FedEx Cup Playoffs were like March Madness, then The Barclays would represent the opening weekend. That would also mean that Harrison Frazar would the equivalent of a No. 8 seed.
On Thursday, Frazar, who entered the 123-player FedEx Cup Playoffs 61st in the point standings, fired an opening-round 7-under 64 at Plainfield Country Club in Edison, N.J. In matching his season-low score, Frazar looked every bit like a No. 1 seed — which is what he would become should he win and advance to next week's Deutsche Bank Championship.
Frazar, 40, is not satisfied with being some first weekend Cinderella feel-good story.
"A win this week, it gets me in Atlanta [for the season-ending Tour Championship]," he said. "It would virtually lock up a very good opportunity to win the FedEx Cup, so that's the goal, that's the ultimate prize there at the end. I'm not here to try to just kind of skirt by and have fun."
With Hurricane Irene boring down on the East Coast and causing an unpredictable weekend weather forecast, Frazar understandably likes his position should the tournament possibly be shortened to 54 holes.
"It's never a bad spot to be in," he said. "We are going to have at least two rounds of golf left, hopefully three, we'll see what the weather does. Somebody is going to shoot low scores, they always do.
"I'm very happy and very pleased with my score. I feel like I kind of stole one today."
Frazar will not be giving it back, either. Entering the post-season, Frazar's record was spotty. He had made just eight of 16 cuts and had one top-10 finish — a playoff win at the FedEx St. Jude Classic in early June.
That win came at a time when Frazar, who also has one win on the Nationwide Tour, questioned his presence on the PGA Tour. He pondered whether he could continue to make the off-course sacrifices that warrant playing at this level.
"I think you'd be hard-pressed to find a 40-year-old that's been out here 15 years who hasn't thought maybe it's time that I find something else to do," said Frazar at the time. "I know I'm going to be doing this for another two years now, but after that, I have no idea."
Continued play like Thursday's round may just keep Frazar around longer than he planned.
Stuart Hall is editor of the Golf Press Association.
