THE HONDA CLASSIC

March 11, 1999

Bradley Hughes

BRADLEY HUGHES: I bogeyed the first hole, I rode one in on the wind a little bit long. Chipped to about 10 foot, missed the putt. Had two chances the next two holes but didn't make them. Third in I hit probably about a 6-footer, which I made because that was good because I missed putts a bit longer than that on the other two holes before. And then par 5 was downwind. I have never played that hole downwind. So I hit a nice drive and then like 270 to the pin and hit a 3-iron. I don't know how far it ran, but it landed short and ran up to about 35 foot and then I holed it.

BRADLEY HUGHES: Bogeyed 18, hit it in the fairway bunker then in the green side of the bunker, missed like 5, 6-footer there as well. And then on 1, hit a wedge to about 7 feet. 4th, I hit a 9-iron, laid up to a 9-iron to about 6 feet, I guess. And then 6, I holed an awful shot into the green about a 45-footer. And then the next hole I hit a good shot with a wedge, just beyond the hole, probably 12 feet.

BRADLEY HUGHES: No, I heard about it.

BRADLEY HUGHES: Yeah, I have played with him a lot of times back in Australia.

BRADLEY HUGHES: I think he's just confused when they said Bradley, he maybe thought I was in the field, because I played on the Presidents Cup. Whatever, he might have thought that I was actually going to be in that tournament and not realized. Someone just told me the other day. I didn't actually hear what he said.

BRADLEY HUGHES: Yes. Our birthdays are the same, so he's gotta be looking after me somehow.

BRADLEY HUGHES: I played here, actually, two years ago. I wasn't in the event. I was actually playing in Europe, played the Moroccan Open, and I was going to play the Portuguese Open and they rang me up. About 11 people withdrew on Monday so I had to fly back from Portugal to play and I got here Wednesday and just did no good at all.

BRADLEY HUGHES: I had no choice, I wasn't allowed -- because I didn't ask for a release to play and -- away from this Tour, I couldn't play. I had to either not play that week or come back here, so I had no choice, which is one of the crazier rules, I guess, just because I'm not as far as European I could have played over there with no problem, but because I was from Australia, Australia is recognized as my home Tour, so it is the rule.

BRADLEY HUGHES: Back to London and into -- I don't even know where I went to, Orlando and then down here, I guess.

BRADLEY HUGHES: Stuart won, yes. Then last year I didn't get in the tournament.

BRADLEY HUGHES: No, we don't see each other that much, I guess. Sort of play different schedule because he's been a tournament winner and I was out of the school last couple of years, he played the goodies and I played the not so goody ones, I guess.

BRADLEY HUGHES: I'm going to play most weeks -- going to play the first seven in a row, so I needed a week off last week which was good to get refreshed again and work on my game a little bit. Next week I don't know if I'm in or not, that all depends on this week, I guess. And I'm a member there so I was hoping for an invite. And then probably after seven in a row I was pretty much beat, so I'm going to try and make it four in a row at the max and have a week off here and there. I think that's probably a good plan, count a lot of money -- you can't play them all.

BRADLEY HUGHES: No, I threw my card in over there to come over here.

BRADLEY HUGHES: Yes, I played in Europe in the late '80s and early '90s, and I played in Japan for three years after that. Then I moved over here at the start of '95, so made that my plan, and I wanted to stay here and have a go at it. Took a couple of years to get into it, but last year was pretty decent second half of the year, got the hang of it all now.

BRADLEY HUGHES: Well, I have always sort of worked on the swing a little bit. It's been good but not great. I mean it looked all right if someone watched it, but when you slowed it down it wasn't quite right. I think I almost got that right, I have always had a little bit of trouble short game and putting, but everything sort of blended, everything has improved a lot over Christmas and the first few tournaments, so I have had -- a bit of confidence and now I can plan a schedule because I'm exempt. It's making it a lot easier, so I'm looking to -- well, I think I have got the game to win once, so the next six months or so I'd like to win one before the year's out.

BRADLEY HUGHES: No, I'm not, no.

BRADLEY HUGHES: I played there last year, so it is a priority because I enjoyed it so much. I'd love to go back there, but obviously you want to consolidate your place on THE TOUR and if you can win, then that's going to make it more or less set you up for the next couple of years and get yourself in the Masters and possibly the U.S. Open and things like that. I just want to play, more or less, to the best of my ability, because I haven't touched on what I can do yet, I don't think so. I don't think, I have always been fiddling with things and getting closer and closer every week, so hopefully I touched on something last week in practice and I hit the ball pretty good and I'm putting good.

BRADLEY HUGHES: I was from the U.S. Open the year before, Congressional, top 16.

BRADLEY HUGHES: Everything. It's -- obviously money is one, but I think we're pretty spoiled with the courtesy cars and all the food and whatever. Even if you need a new club you just walk up to someone and say, hey, I need a club, and in Australia you have to run down to the street. If you need a grip or shaft on, you can get anything done. So I think a lot of the guys over here probably take that for granted being a service, but when you've played in Australia and other places it is sort of a bit mind boggling the stuff that people throw at you and all the stuff you get for free, I guess, instead of -- you sort of wander around in a daze for a while.

BRADLEY HUGHES: I guess even in college they fly in planes and all that stuff. We jump in eight-seater buses and bounce all over for six hours wherever we were going back in the days in Australia, so it is a little different. It takes a bit of adjusting, I think, for us to get used to all that stuff.

BRADLEY HUGHES: I think that's one of the reasons why -- well, just use Australia as an example. We are not a big country population-wise, but we have a lot of really good golfers and I think that's because you're not giving -- people aren't giving it to you on a platter, you have to go out and earn it all. If you have no money in the bank, then you are not going to be able to travel. We play 11 tournaments, I guess in Australia, so once those 11 are over, you have to pack your bags up for six months and go to Europe or Asia to get some experience and make some money because you are not going to survive any other way.

BRADLEY HUGHES: I won five in Australia.

BRADLEY HUGHES: Well, it's different. I won the Masters twice against good fields in Australia, Price and Norman and people like that, so that's one plus, I guess. But then over here, it's probably a little bit higher level because in Australia I knew I could play my own game. But here you have to still go nuts to win even on the last day. I think because I knew no one was going to jump out of the pack badly in Australia, now I could shoot my 3-under, 2-under.

BRADLEY HUGHES: The courses are different. There's not as many players that can go super low like they do over here, and then you got all the other things, your exemptions and your money and all the Masters and all that if you win over here, so that obviously plays on your mind, I guess. It would be silly if you said it didn't.

BRADLEY HUGHES: No, I didn't really have a schedule. I knew what I could do. I just wanted to -- like last year helped being exempt, I could work on my game a fair bit. It's hard to try to continually improve when you're coming out of the Q-School because you are doing something that got you there, then you try and tinker with it to make it better, but you don't want to mess yourself up and go the opposite direction, so now that I was exempt this year, I could change things a little bit more drastically, and so far they've worked good. They could have gone the other way and I could have played not any good at all.

BRADLEY HUGHES: I don't know, I think -- well, Australia is all right, I guess. Japan may be strange, that was like the last place I went. I played America, I played Europe, and I played Australia, and got to Japan and sort of money is good and the place is pretty good, the courses are good but -- so it was strange to me in that I went the opposite cycle and got there and had to pay for your meals and had to buy range balls and --

BRADLEY HUGHES: Yes, some of the places, so that was pretty weird. It is not a horrible place, I have been to worse places, but that was --

BRADLEY HUGHES: I don't know, I just sign, just sign and pay at the end of the week and not look at the number of zeros at the end.

BRADLEY HUGHES: Thank you.