FEDEX ST. JUDE CLASSIC

June 29, 1997

Dudley Hart

DUDLEY HART: I didn't. To be honest, I didn't watch it very closely. I went into the locker room and tried to cool down a little bit because I'd been out there for a while today. And, after I saw him hit his shot, I heard he was at 14, then I went and watched him. His shot on 17 hit, sit up there close. I said, "I better go warm up." I decided to go back out there and warm up. And, as it turns out, I could have stayed in the locker room. Didn't have to work up another sweat.

DUDLEY HART: The roar of the crowd. It was pretty obvious. Just hitting some balls on the range, and just heard them go nuts. I said, "All right. Get out of here. Get in the shower."

DUDLEY HART: I didn't. One of the guys said that it was about 25 feet or something. I don't know if it was 2 feet or 40 feet. But, not much you can do if you are going to lose a golf tournament. That is a hell of a way to finish for him. Just got to take your hat off, birdieing the last three holes. 17, 18 are tough holes, too.

DUDLEY HART: Different experience for me. I didn't know how to react. Obviously, you just don't want to get too happy. Obviously, as you saw, there is a lot of golf left. And, everyone is coming up saying "Good going. Good going." You know, but, you know, that -- as it turned out, there was some golf to be played and that I might have to go back out there. And I tried to stay in that frame of mind. I was trying to prepare myself saying this is probably going to a playoff. I better get ready to, you know, mentally prepare myself for a playoff.

DUDLEY HART: Not really. I mean, it is a great finish. What can I do? I played the best I could play. And, it ended up being one shot, you know. I didn't have one more birdie in me, but I thought when I started the day, if I got to 16, I thought that was going to be the magic number. As it turned out, that is how it was. I was grinding hard over that putt on 18 to get to 16. Just kind of ran out of steam and broke off. But, that is how it happens. I am happy with the way I played. To be honest with you, earlier in the week I wasn't real -- I felt my ball-striking was really solid, but I didn't feel comfortable with my putter. As the week went on, it got better and better. So, it was encouraging to see that at least.

DUDLEY HART: About a 20-footer, probably. Maybe a little longer, but basically 20 feet.

DUDLEY HART: Well, last year it wasn't memorable necessarily because I played well. But, last year was the first tournament back for me after I had wrist surgery which was in January of 1996. And, I played, you know, I played pretty well. I mean, considering I hadn't played a tournament in about seven, eight months, and, you know, I didn't know what to expect from my wrist. I didn't know how it would hold up with the rough and everything. And, as far as being memorable, that is probably the best. I mean, that was -- other than this week, that was the most memorable thing. Because I worked real hard trying to get back the strength and the flexibility in my wrist after the surgery, and, you know, when you are out for six months, a lot of crazy things can go through your head just only -- if you are ever going to be the same golfer or have the same abilities or whatever. Fortunately, it responded well.

DUDLEY HART: Yeah, everybody can do that. I got a little overaggressive on 14. My plan was just to kind of hit it, try to let it run off the ridge to the left of the flag and my predominate shot this week had been a fade, kind of set up real well for a fade. And, I kind of set it there and got a little greedy. And, I said, well, let us try to work it back, get it real close because I just made birdie on the hole before, and to get to 15, and I peeled it off a little too much, and went in the water. So, I was fortunate enough to get -- to save a 4 there for bogey, and which kind of kept me in it a little bit. Just make doubles. Doubles are really tough to take sometimes, especially coming down the stretch in a tournament.

DUDLEY HART: 4-iron.

DUDLEY HART: 209 downhill, but downhill and there was some downwind too. Down, right-to-left.

DUDLEY HART: I mean, for my career I wouldn't go as far as saying that it does anything drastic for my career because your career out here, it seems to change from week to week how you are playing, you know, it can, at least. It is just nice to know that I am playing better finally. I had a rough time the first few months of this year because I was messing around with my swing. A lot of guys fall into that trap, trying to get better changing some things. Seemed to have made me a little worse. And, the last two months, I have really played pretty solid. I felt that my game was kind of gradually coming around. And, obviously, it is nice to know any time you can be in a pressure situation on Sunday, with a chance to win the tournament, it helps because you have learned -- you learn how you handle certain situations, emotionally; how your nerves react and how to cope with them a little better.

DUDLEY HART: Not really. I have never gone through this situation where I finished pretty, you know, I don't know how far, at least an hour and a half, probably, before the last group finished. And, I have never been in that situation. I came back from behind when I won in Canada last year. But, that obviously was in the last group and I knew what I needed to do. So, I was in control the last hole. I knew exactly what had to happen and that is a lot easier. I think a little more pressure maybe because you know you have to make a certain number. But, at least you have control of the situation and sitting here watching and, you know, it is tough because I don't have -- I am done. Obviously, I don't have any control over what Greg does and I can't better my score in any way, so, it was different, for sure.

DUDLEY HART: Well, when I finished, I didn't come to the clubhouse, but for about probably 20, 30 minutes. But, I mean, I was done for an hour and a half probably before that last group.

DUDLEY HART: No. You know, I might next week, I might not. It is a hard to tell with me. But it is something that I have battled with my whole life and, you know, I have always been really hard on myself, and not very accepting of bad shots. And, you know, I know that I played better or at least give myself a chance to play better when I am more patient with myself. If I hit a bad shot, just go, "All right, forget it, let us go figure out what we can do from there." And, sometimes, it is easier than others and I can't explain why. I mean, if someone can get into my head, and tell me, that would be great. But, you know, I guess you can maybe say I am a moody guy or something. But, you know, at times when you are struggling, you really need to be patient. And, early on in this week, I could have got frustrated because I didn't putt very well the first two days, really. In fact, the first day, especially, I shot 2-under and really putted bad. I mean, I didn't -- I hit the ball great, and was really pretty disappointed when I finished because it was one of those rounds where you if you putt average, you could have had something nice. But, I stayed patient and just said, "Let us just keep hitting every putt, try to make every putt, just do the best you can, forget about it, go on." And, fortunately, the last two days, that patience, you know, helped because I started to make some putts.

DUDLEY HART: For me, personally, it wasn't too bad because I didn't -- I got lucky on the tee times where I wasn't one of those guys going out and getting stopped because I was supposed to play late on Friday and that was, I think, the worst day. They had guys play couple holes, come out, warm up, come back before they even get on the course. I didn't play until 6:15, which was a new one. That was the latest tee time probably ever for me. But, I only played one hole. But, you know, when you start that late, I have never, you know, I didn't even begin. So, you can't really throw off any rhythm. I think it is tougher if you go out there and play two holes, come in, sit down for an hour and a half, and then go warm up, because that, you know, it can either help you or hurt you, is what I'd like to say, because if you remember playing bad, it might help you, go back, calm down, figure something out when you are warmed up again and start fresh. But, if you are playing well, and you made a couple of birdies, that is when you kind of, you know, usually seem to group birdies together and that is when it can hurt with some momentum.

DUDLEY HART: I played 27 the last 2, I know that. So....

DUDLEY HART: I birdied 16.

DUDLEY HART: Yeah, I birdied 16.

DUDLEY HART: Yeah, that is a tough hole. And, I had a hard time early on in the week hitting the tee shot on that hole because my driver tends to go, you know, little further than I want it, even though it's a long hole, a tree on left and right that the -- kind of crowd that fairway. If you hit -- it is even on the right center, left center of the fairway, you might have to work it around the trees. My iron game has been good enough where I said "I don't mind hitting 3-iron to this green." Problem was I misjudged the wind - my caddie and I did. We kind of assumed it was blowing down left-to-right. I kind of hit a little bit on the heel, not bad, but a little on the heel, ended up getting there -- I had 232 to the hole. I said, "Wait a minute." I kept it far enough back from the trees, but I kept it a little too far back. And, I don't carry a 2-iron. And, it is straight downhill. And, I hit -- I didn't want to hit my 4-wood because I thought I might carry it too far, run over the green. I said, "Let us take our medicine and hit you a good hard 3-iron, try to get it 30, 40 feet below the hole." I had hit a good shot. I misjudged the speed on the first one. Thought I hit a great putt. Come up over the hill. When it comes back, starts breaking left. It was kind of running downhill. I ran it by about four feet, and had a little downhill left-to-righter coming back and just missed it. I can't -- it is a hard hole. Been a lot of bogeys made on that hole. I was -- I think I only made two bogeys in my last -- in all of today, but all 27 holes I played today. I think.

DUDLEY HART: I don't think I have done it when I was in the hunt for -- not that I can remember. I mean, I have -- fortunately, you know, when you are in the hunt for a tournament, you are playing well, so, it is a little easier to be patient with yourself, obviously, because you are not hitting as many crazy shots, and bad putts or whatever. But, you know, I have always been pretty patient when I have had a chance to win a tournament or play pretty good. Usually when I tend to get mad at myself is when I am kind of struggling to make the cut and kind of chopping it all over the place and, occasionally, that will frustrate me.

DUDLEY HART: Snapped a club? You don't have enough paper for that. I have broken a few clubs. I have done a lot of it, actually. Done a lot of it, post-round stuff, you finish and you don't like this putter, you kind of go in the locker room step on it and say, "Put this one to rest, it didn't work very well." But, you know, nothing major, really. I haven't had any major, you know, anything out of the ordinary - I don't think. There is a lot of guys that get frustrated at times, a lot of guys who have worse tempers than I do. But, I got that -- the nickname, you know, Steve Pate is the Volcano. I got the Mini Volcano. When I came out here it stuck. That is fine. I don't mind it. I am deserving of it at times.

DUDLEY HART: Yeah, I told the guys when I went up in the tower, they said, "Well, looking at this leaderboard, who do you need to look at?" I said, well, Norman, because he is, you know, you look at how many times he has been in the hunt for tournament he knows what to do. I mean, he has been there. He is not going to be nervous. He might be a little nervous. But, he knows how to control his emotions and everything. And, you know, I said, as good of a player as he is and aggressive as he is, those last few holes - even though they are hard, they can play hard - I know he is going to be firing at them. I said, you have got to watch out for him. As it turned out, I look pretty smart for a change.

DUDLEY HART: Like I said earlier, I said I think it is a little easier when you have a better idea of what you need to do. But, I mean, I was out there trying to shoot as low as I could, get in with the lowest number I possibly could and see what happened and turned out to be one short.