Print this page  |  Close Window

By Helen Ross
PGATOUR.com Chief of Correspondents

HARRISON, N.Y. -- Billy Andrade had his welcome-to-the-PGA-TOUR-moment at Westchester Country Club back in 1989.

He was just 25 and in his second year on TOUR. Andrade had shot rounds of 69, 69 and 70 to surge into contention in what was then known as the Manufacturers Hanover Westchester Classic.

Westchester is a special place for Billy Andrade. (WireImage)

MORE ANDRADE

• Billy Andrade has finished in the top-10 at Westchester five times in his career, including a win in 1991. For more on Andrade,  click here.

"I remember playing the last round with Fred Couples who was the No. 1 player in the world and Paul Azinger," Andrade said. "I think I shot 1 under and finished fifth, and that was kind of my, hey, I'm good enough to play out here.

"So since 1989, this place has always been pretty special."

Two years later, Andrade picked up his second PGA TOUR victory at Westchester. He's had three other top-10s on the lush, tree-lined Walter Travis creation, as well, including a tie for third last year.

Andrade enters The Barclays this year in need of another top-notch performance if he is to continue his run in the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup.

The four-time TOUR champ started the Playoffs ranked 136th in the standings. He needs to move 16 spots -- or better -- into the top 120 to make the field for the Deutsche Bank Championship, which is contested at the TPC Boston, just 45 minutes from his boyhood home.

"It's pretty big for me," Andrade said. "It's added incentive. You don't want to miss tournaments where you're familiar with the surroundings and you're familiar with your friends and you're familiar with everything about it.

"I really, really want to play next week so I have to do something special here."

Andrade doesn't know all the permutations of the points. He majored in sociology, not math at Wake Forest, after all. He just knows he needs to put four rounds together and contend, and he's looking forward to the challenge.

"I'd like to win, that's what I'm looking at," Andrade said. "I'm at a place I absolutely love. I've played well here in the past. ... I love everything about the atmosphere of having to do it, and now it's just a matter of going out and doing it. I like the fact that the pressure is on versus the pressure not being on.

"It's a different feeling I think for me and for guys in our position than it is for the guy who is eighth on the points list. They know they are going to play for a month, and I really want to play more than a week.

"So you know, I have a lot more on the line and the guys in my category have a lot more on the line than the guys who have had a great year."

Andrade has been playing well of late with four top-25s in his last nine starts. It's just that one bad round or a few ill-timed errant shots have kept him from turning those solid performances into top-10s -- or even the elusive win.

The return to Westchester could be just what the New Englander needs.

"That's kind of been my year this year is making a mistake here or there and that's really cost me," Andrade said. "So I feel great going into this week. I felt great going into last week. I've been playing well. It's just you've got to put it all together.

"I don't know what it is about this place. I don't know if it's the look, if it's the feel, if it's the way the fans are here. You know, it just is kind of how I grew up. I grew up on golf courses like this. Every hole kind of catches my eye."