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AT&T BYRON NELSON

May 20, 2016

Bud Cauley

Irving, Texas

Q. Good round today, from Bud Cauley. We just haven't seen you a lot here this year. Last played in Charlotte at the Wells Fargo.
For you, where did a round like this come from given that you haven't had a lot of tournament experience here in the last few months?

BUD CAULEY: Yeah, I haven't played like you said very many events but I've worked really hard at home like trying to get ready to play.

I played well at the start of the year and I was first alternate, second alternate in a few events. That kind of hurt my momentum or rhythm a little bit.

I know going into the summer I'll be able to play in a lot of events so I just try to make sure when I was at home that I was getting ready to play when I got here.

Q. Automatic medical exemption, so it's a little more difficult to get in with your status. Now that you have an opportunity here on the weekend, what is your excitement level, what is your plan for being around the lead here going into the weekend?
BUD CAULEY: It's exciting. It's just nice to see some good scores you know for the work I put in at home to kind of payoff. You know, I played a lot of golf out here so it's kind of hopefully just like riding a bike and I feel like I'm playing well and if I can keep driving the ball I think I'll get a chance this weekend.

Q. Overall, how is your health? Obviously sitting out all of last year.
BUD CAULEY: I feel great. I did all the physical therapy and took my time. I felt I did it the right way. Won't be a problem in the future.

My shoulder feels great so I'll just keep doing the things I've been doing to keep it feeling that way and hopefully I never have to worry about it again.

Q. The front side, things seemed to be going very, very well for you.
BUD CAULEY: I played nicely. I drove the ball well, hit some nice iron shots in there and even some of the putts I had, I had quite a bit of break in them. Kind of keep my round going. And, yeah, everything was nice.

Q. From a health standpoint as we all know, had a little trouble in the last year or so. Little bit of redemption which at least what you did and went through, you didn't rush it too much, you feel good?
BUD CAULEY: I feel like I did it the right way. Everyone that I was with as far as my PT guys or doctors or what, stressed that not to rush back and make sure I'm healthy and felt good when I came back.

I still do my PT everyday to make sure that's never a problem again but I worked really hard to get back so it's nice to come out and play well.

Q. It's not Jordan Spieth's tournament but maybe kind of feels that way with his home town. Looking forward to maybe the chance of playing with him or right around him during the weekend?
BUD CAULEY: Yeah. I'm just ready to compete. Like I said, I put in a lot of work at home practicing, both physically and with my game to come out here and compete with these guys again and so put myself in a good spot going into the weekend and go throughout and try to keep doing what I'm doing.

Q. Kind of like riding a bike. How was it to see your name up on top of the leaderboard? Kind of get the juices going?
BUD CAULEY: It was just nice to be out here in a tournament and just hitting nice shots, be able to look and see the shot I wanted to hit and execute it.

Like I said, I put a lot of work in at home to get myself back out here and it's nice to see some results and obviously rolling 36 holes through it. So, I'm looking forward to going out there and competing on the weekend.

Q. How about those five birdies on the front-9?
BUD CAULEY: Those always help. I hit a lot of nice shots, I gave myself some good looks and putted well also. So try to keep it going this weekend.

Q. When you weren't able to play was that all of not having enough status to get --
BUD CAULEY: This year? The way I got -- I played Humana, San Diego, Pebble and I didn't get another -- into another event with my medical -- would have been Puerto Rico.

And I hurt my heel so I had to sit out a few weeks for that. So, it's kind of tough, especially coming off an injury not to be able to set a schedule or play a few weeks in a row to kind of start and stop.

But, you know, this summer I know I'll get in lot of events. I put in a lot of work when I was home and not able to compete so I was ready to get back out and have the chance to play.

Q. How much does that weigh on your mind or kind of easy to put that aside and focus on what you need to do inside the ropes?
BUD CAULEY: I don't think about it too much. Once you get out there and you're playing, that keeps enough of my attention so I know I haven't been able to play that many events this year. I'm playing well. If I have a chance to play some tournaments this summer that's all I'm worried about, just playing when I'm playing.

Q. What tournaments do you know you're in?
BUD CAULEY: I'm not in next week. I was fortunate to get an exemption into Memorial. I will play that one and Memphis. I have those two coming up.

Q. How did you find out when you were going to play here?
BUD CAULEY: I think I kind of always knew just like with the field size and where my number was that I would have the chance. But I guess I booked travel a few weeks ago so I knew for sure I was coming.

Q. You've been kind of gearing toward or aiming toward this week for awhile.
BUD CAULEY: Yeah. Yeah. I played Charlotte a couple of weeks ago and really didn't play that poorly, it was more just kind of shaking rust off after not playing, get that competitively for a long time and kind of stayed on top of it last week practicing because I knew I would have this one and a few after this.

Q. You're a Alabama guy, you can appreciate the football reference here but feel like a road game at all with Jordan Spieth, kind of a home course?
BUD CAULEY: I mean, you know, pretty much everywhere you go there's a favorite. Obviously there's tons of people out here to see Jordan and that's great.

Q. (Inaudible).
BUD CAULEY: Nothing. I don't think about that too much out there, just trying to get the ball in the hole.

Q. What's the best part, what's your key here to doing well?
BUD CAULEY: I mean really everything. Compete in these events you have to pretty much do everything well so if I can keep driving it in the fairway -- I think the weather is supposed to be nice so it's going to firm up a little bit. So I think that will help me to get some good looks at birdies and keep rolling them in.

Q. Bud, when you went through the 14 month stretch after your shoulder problem I read somewhere you didn't hit a ball for 7 months. How frustrating or how antsy did you get?
BUD CAULEY: It was absolutely miserable. For the first three months, probably three and a half months I went to physical therapy twice a day. It's the most mindless thing. You go in there and tell you to do this and you do that.

I was bored. I watched a lot of TV and just kind of hung out and drove everybody crazy. So it's much better for me and everybody else that I'm back out here now.

Q. Did you binge watch on anything?
BUD CAULEY: I wore out Netflix. The whole thing which pops up, "Are you still watching?" "Yes, I'm still watching. Let's keep it going. I got nothing to do."

Q. You're updated on House of Cards then?
BUD CAULEY: Yeah. Yeah. I was lucky I didn't watch that one twice.

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