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EDS BYRON NELSON CHAMPIONSHIP


May 16, 2004


Dudley Hart


IRVING, TEXAS

TODD BUDNICK: We have Dudley Hart after a 3-under 67 today, runner-up at the tournament. Dudley, your third runner-up of your career but your first playoff. Talk a little bit about the day today.

DUDLEY HART: Well, I didn't finish the last hole the way I'd like to obviously. I got a little overaggressive with the second shot out of the rough. I got a 9-iron that flew almost 170 into the wind and ended up hitting in maybe the worst spot you can hit it around that green, long, and over the middle. I just had a big hump sitting in the middle of the green, and in order for me to keep it on the green, it would have had to have started trickling.

I got a little overaggressive, but I'd rather make a mistake being aggressive than being passive, and that's what I said to myself before I started the playoff. I said, let's pick targets and be aggressive, and if you make a mistake that way I can live with it.

Out of the rough, maybe that would have been a time to hit it short of that pin, anywhere short of that green. 50 yards short of that green would have been better than where I was. But I can't be disappointed. I rallied, made some good putts when I needed to coming in and hit some good shots when I needed to. So it's a positive week for me.

TODD BUDNICK: You started a few strokes back and bogeyed the first two, so to begin the day you probably thought --

DUDLEY HART: Well, I kind of almost shot myself out of it after two holes. I stayed patient and I made a few putts right after the bogeys to kind of get back to even and I played solid, hit my ball in the wrong spot on a few holes, and when you do that out here you have some putts that really bend quite a bit and are tough to make. All in all, I hit the ball really solid today, hit it better. I didn't hit it very well early in the week so I'm happy with how my swing has progressed through the week.

Q. You're still recovering from your back injury. You took -- you only had seven events to make your money this year. You made it in your sixth. Since that a T4 I think it was and a 2nd place?

DUDLEY HART: Yeah, I feel pretty good. I mean, my dad came down to see me a couple weeks before Houston, and we worked on some things. My dad is a golf pro and has been my main teacher my whole life, and he got me back to some basic things and got to where I was making the game, which almost everybody has played it at one time or another, does, but made it so complicated and thinking about mechanics rather than trying to hit shots. He and I simplified things, and it seems to be getting better.

Q. Did 10-under surprise you to get this far?

DUDLEY HART: Yeah, a little bit to be honest with you. Believe it or not, I really didn't look at the scoreboard much. I had a feeling -- I saw on 12 or 13 a scoreboard and Duffy got to 10 I think it was on 13, birdied there, and I knew he was tied for the lead or right around it at least, and I think at that point I was 7-under, so I knew I had to -- I looked at my caddie and said, let's try to run the table I told him, to see if I could birdie out. If I could get to 11 or 12 that could give me a chance, and I birdied three of the last five.

I figured the putt I had on 18 that I probably needed to make it to get in the playoff, and it didn't work out that way, but I'm proud of the way I played coming in and I hit some really good shots and stayed positive. The main thing is you stay aggressive and stay positive, like I said.

I've always been the type of guy where I can deal with mistakes as long as I'm thinking properly and being aggressive. The mistakes I don't like to make are when I'm thinking negatively or not picking targets or not into my routine or trying to be passive. When you're afraid to do something, usually that's when you'll make a mistake, and fortunately I didn't do any of that coming in.

Q. Can we just ask you about the winner? I don't know how much you saw Sergio play this week. What are your thoughts about this game?

DUDLEY HART: About Sergio? He's lucky. No, Sergio is a good friend of mine. Everybody knows he's got a great personality, he's a lot of fun to be around. I'm happy for him. I would have been happy -- Robert and Sergio are good friends. Obviously we're all out there trying to win, but he's playing -- seems like he's been playing real well lately. I haven't been out and played but seven or eight tournaments this year, so I haven't seen him a whole lot. I didn't see him play at all this week. I didn't see him hit a shot until the playoff, but obviously he's playing solid and he generally does play pretty well.

Q. You said you hit your second shot to probably the worst spot you can get in the playoff. Once you got to the ball, what were you facing there?

DUDLEY HART: Well, I had it over the green in the longer rough, and I basically had a ridge that was running not only started uphill right on the edge of the green but then downhill and across, basically trying to chip this way, and I basically putted not from obviously over the green, but I was pin high putting over that hump and it was wicked quick. I mean, I got to right to the top and it fed right down to the hole in regulation, and I knew I had to bump that thing through the rough and have it trickle -- once it hit the green it had to be barely moving to even possibly stay on the green. There's no way I could have flipped it and landed it on the green and kept it on the green because I was downwind, downhill and it was firm and fast going that direction. I just was in a position where I had to try a shot that was maybe one out of three of getting it pretty close, and it just didn't work out. I needed to land it about two feet further than I did. Then I left myself in the same predicament basically except just a little bit better lie.

TODD BUDNICK: Your bogey on 1?.

DUDLEY HART: My bogey on 1, hit a 3-wood, thought it was a decent tee shot, right to left, went through the fairway in the rough and caught a real gnarly lie and I hit a wedge that shut down, the grass caught it and I hit it left of the green and didn't get it up-and-down.

2, I hit a 5-iron trying to hit it down in the wind and just hit it over the back of the green and didn't get that one up-and-down.

4, I hit a nice drive down the middle. I hit a 7-iron to about 20 feet and made that for birdie.

5, I hit a 6-iron about 15 feet short of the hole and made that for birdie.

14, I hit a 3-iron off the tee and hit an 8-iron to probably two or three feet, made that for birdie.

16, I hit a good drive, one of the best 3-woods I probably could hit under the circumstances and hit it up into the middle of the green about 35, 40 feet short of the hole and two-putted for birdie there.

Then I hit a 5-iron about 20, 25 feet past the hole on 17 and made that for birdie.

TODD BUDNICK: Thank you, Dudley.

End of FastScripts.
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