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THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

May 15, 2016

Ken Duke

Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida

Q. Just what's it like to find this kind of form after suffering the wrist injury?
KEN DUKE: Yeah, it was great. I've been working hard and doing a lot of therapy as well and just getting the confidence to get back and make some putts when you need to and hit some shots when you need to. That's what it's all about.

Hitting the shot on 17, I don't care if it's a sand wedge, it's still in your mind.

And same with the tee shot on 18.

Played those holes great this week. That's been a big difference.

Q. You seemed like you had a lot of fun on 17 today. What was that experience like?
KEN DUKE: Yeah are, it was just a sigh of relief, to be honest with you. When you hit that green any time it's a sigh of relief. The fans really were behind me today and I wish I could have made a couple more coming down the stretch and give him something to think about. But it was a great day for me and we worked hard to get there.

Q. How do you think overall 18 went for you shooting even?
KEN DUKE: It was tough. Not easy. Freddie said, I'm proud of you, way to grind and way to hang in there. It was good.

Q. You talked yesterday about trying to enjoy the ride. How much were you able to do that in the environment that was out there today?
KEN DUKE: It's easier to enjoy the ride when you're playing good making birdies and pars. But it was a grind. It was a grind from the first hole. I knew that going in. If you hit it in the rough here, most likely you're going to make a bogey.

You have to make birdies on the par-5s and some of the shorter holes that give you some sand wedges in. I did that a couple times and hit some good shots.

Q. Playing off a medical, how much does this finish change the outlook for you for the season?
KEN DUKE: It's just huge for me. I'm still going to keep going forward and playing in Dallas and I think this gets me in Colonial and Memorial, which I'm planning on playing those -- and Memphis. So have to keep going forward and see if we can roll some good rounds off.

Q. Did you see any sense of this coming like in a practice round or anything?
KEN DUKE: Yeah, I've been playing good. I had a good round, the second round at Honda was unbelievable, 5-under on the second round. That place is ridiculous hard.

I played good at Tampa the first day. I had a good round at New Orleans the second day.

It was there. I just hadn't put it all together yet.

I had a bad day the first day here, but I didn't really play that bad, I just scored bad.

But the round on Saturday got me in the game and got me in a lot of media, which I was really impressed with the way I handled it and the way I played that day and it was a fun day.

Q. Excited to come back here now that you've had some success here?
KEN DUKE: I'm always excited to be here at THE PLAYERS. It's great atmosphere, great fans. First class place.

Q. How tough is it when you're chasing the No. 1 player in the word?
KEN DUKE: It's always tough. Those guys are always good. They don't let up. Same with when Tiger was here, he doesn't let up either. He doesn't give you an inch. And you have to go get it. If they mess up, they mess up, but most of the time you got to catch them. And that's the way a lot of these young guys are doing it right now.

Q. Is there something Tigeresque about what Jason is doing?
KEN DUKE: I don't think you can ever put Jason in Tiger's league right now. Jason's playing great. Jordan had a wonderful year last year. Tiger is Tiger. I think that's enough said about that. He set the bar and his stats show it.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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