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THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT PRESENTED BY NATIONWIDE

June 2, 2016

Hudson Swafford

Dublin, Ohio

Q. Do you allow yourself to think 59 at that point or not really?
HUDSON SWAFFORD: With this back nine, 59 is pretty tough. You've still got to shoot 30. But, yeah, I mean, the conditions -- I wasn't really thinking 59. I was just trying to get one more, you know. Just trying to give myself a chance.

Kind of maybe played a little too aggressive on 11. It's not a tee shot that sets up great with my eye. I even talked the 3 wood over with my caddie because it's such an easy wedge pin, it would be a 3 wood, 8 iron, lob wedge.

I've been swinging it good. So I decided to hit driver, try to -- you know, that's a pin you can get one close, make an eagle. You never know, you can turn 7 into 9 quick. Didn't work out, pulled it a little bit. Actually hit a great putt for par, missed it. But I wasn't really disappointed.

Hit a great shot on 12 right after that to about eight feet, nine feet. Kind of an unfortunate lip out.

I actually played pretty good on the back nine. I hit a lot of quality golf shots. Just missed -- just played a little more defense on the putts than I did on the front nine. It's tough to make a considerable amount of putts when you're playing defense.

I'm not really disappointed with the nine that I played on the back nine. I shot 1 over. Score is kind of irrelevant there. I turned a birdie hole into a bogey. But other than that, I really struck it beautifully on the back.

Q. Is your tendency to try to get conservative, you figure you're already at 6, you to get to 7. Do you have to fight the tendencies?
HUDSON SWAFFORD: Yes and no. That's kind of why I ended up hitting driver on 11. I mean, I'd been swinging at it great. Bust a drive down there, have a 5 or 4 iron in there, go to 9. Then you're thinking, okay. But that didn't happen. Still hit a lot of quality shots coming in. Just didn't get up and down. I hit a bunker shot a little fat on 16, made a late bogey.

Hit four really good shots coming in on 17 and 18, gave myself a great look on 17. But I had to play a lot of break, fast putt. A lot of defense, hit a wonderful putt, slid over the edge.

18 is a tough pin with not the perfect number. I missed it right where I thought I would miss it, and it wasn't that bad of a two-putt.

Yeah, all in all, solid day. When you shoot 6 under around Jack's place, you're never disappointed. But, yeah, there's that what if, but still a solid day.

Q. Switch to the other side, and you played offense. Was that No. 7?
HUDSON SWAFFORD: Yeah, that was a good run. Just it wasn't much difference between the front and the back. It was just I could be a little more aggressive with my putts. I was putting uphill a fair amount more. The pins might have been a touch favorable on the front nine.

Yeah, I'm not going to lie. I kind of shoved a 5 wood, just kind of going for the middle of the green on 7 after I had two birdies, and I just pushed it a touch. But I hit it a really well 5 wood and ended up seven feet behind the hole putting uphill and made it.

Q. When you're rolling like that on the front, mentally, how do you handle it? Do you allow yourself to get fired up, motivated, or do you block out the number and just roll?
HUDSON SWAFFORD: Yeah, just kind of block out the number and just keep giving myself the best chance at birdie. Trying to be aggressive really. Felt really comfortable. Swing felt great. I was being really aggressive to conservative targets. If I push or pull it just two or three yards offline, then it would end up actually closer to the hole.

No, it was just a really good nine ball striking and actually carried over to the back nine. Just didn't have quite as many good numbers on the back nine as I did on the front. Just had to play a little more defense on the greens, man. You could have ten feet one way on a certain side of the hole. You're looking your chops because you've got an uphill. Or you could have a ten feet, and you're like, I just want it to fall in on the last roll. That was my thinking on a lot of putts on the back nine, which was kind of unfortunate, but really struck it beautifully all day. Not disappointed.

Q. There's a long way to go, obviously, but I would imagine a start like this at a place like this puts your heart and mind in a pretty good place, right?
HUDSON SWAFFORD: Yeah. Actually, I played really well here last year. I had a hiccup on Saturday with a really windy round. I really like this golf course, great ball striking golf course. I feel like my speed's really good on the greens. I can kind of be conservative in certain situations coming out of the first cut rough. Feel like I can play offense with my putter.

No, yeah, I feel comfortable. Golf course is in unbelievable shape. So just looking forward to the next three days after a good start.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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