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CAREERBUILDER CHALLENGE

January 22, 2017

Hudson Swafford

La Quinta, California

Q. What great moment for you. Take me back to the 16th hole, you played 16 and 17, 3-over par on Saturday, you play them 2-under par in the final round, a five-shot swing. That gives you the tournament.
HUDSON SWAFFORD: Absolutely. No, yesterday I kind of got a bad break on 16, like I said. Then caught a bad gust. I knew that the way I was swinging it and the way the wind was working, it wasn't too gusty, so I was confident on those holes. I hit a beautiful 4-iron on No. 16 and, I mean, I actually hit a really good putt. I thought it might -- I was just trying to catch it high lip and lip it in there. Unfortunately just slid over the top.

And then on 16 or 17, I knew I had the same yardage on 15 and I hit a great 8-iron on that hole and made birdie. And I knew that 8-iron I could just choke it up and swing it. I knew that it wasn't going to go long, so I had a great target, kind of middle of the green, might have shoved it just a touch, but it ended up being a foot or two. So it was perfect.

Q. I really admired your patience. On Saturday afternoon you birdied the 11th, then did not birdie another hole until the 7th in the final round. You just kept within yourself, gave yourself a chance and it turned out great.
HUDSON SWAFFORD: Absolutely, yeah, no, this is a tough golf course. When you come to the desert, all you think is birdies, usually the scores yield birdies. But this Stadium Course has kind of changed that. I know there is a lot of good rounds out here, but one errant shot, it's very penalizing. So you got to be super patient on this golf course.

Q. You get to join all the fellow Bulldogs in the winners's circle now. How great is that?
HUDSON SWAFFORD: It's great. Now I won't get a hard time everything telling me, "when are you going to win, when are you going to win, you need to." No, it feels good.

Q. And you got it all done before the rain.
HUDSON SWAFFORD: Absolutely. That's the best part.

Q. You get your first W, how do you get it done down the stretch?
HUDSON SWAFFORD: A loft confident swings. Really started to find my rhythm after about, really on No. 6 it just clicked. Hit a great 4-iron on No. 6 off the tee, great wedge, ended up making birdie.

From there on I felt lie posture was good all day and it just allowed the club to be in just a perfect slot all day. And really struck it beautifully, really didn't get ahead of myself, didn't really look at any leaderboards, didn't really know where I was. And D.J. just said, keep giving making birdies, keep giving ourselves chances. And we gave ourselves a lot of chances. And I had some putts slide by, maybe a couple weak putts on the speed, but hit a great putt on 15 and that just kind of freed me up. I hit some great iron shots coming in and just really gave myself a nice chance.

Q. As you ran off that stretch, you made birdie on 15, it seemed like momentum spilled over the next couple holes?
HUDSON SWAFFORD: Yeah, there was a spots, I kind of like rolling my putts at the apex and just really saw this ball mark that if it just rolled on the high side of that there was no way this putt misses. And I hit a great putt and it did not miss, it went right in the heart.

The next hole, just two beautiful shots, actually hit a really good putt, just trying to lip it in on the high side and it just kind of slid over the top. But, then just really felt comfortable out there. It was nice.

Q. I know you had a long stretch of good golf. It's been a long road to get your first win on the PGA TOUR. Is there one person that comes to mind that you really think about that meant the most to you to get you to where you are today?
HUDSON SWAFFORD: My dad, for sure. Well, both my parents. My dad was the one that spent countless hours just with me just beating around at Capital City Country Club, critiquing, you know, taking me out there, not really pushing me. Maybe my mom pulling me out of school a time or two in high school, and letting me play golf and enjoy what I was doing. But, yeah, no, they just gave me every opportunity in the world to be right here and it's just I never could repay them, but I know they're so proud at home.

Q. Now the proud Georgia alumni who lives in Sea Island, you know where you're going to be the second week of April. A trip to the Masters.
HUDSON SWAFFORD: Can't wait. Super excited. I was super excited about that, can't wait to have my parents go around there. They have never been there. I played it, being in Georgia, we got to sneak over there a couple times, which was nice. So, going to really enjoy the trip back.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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