MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 8, 2021

Hudson Swafford

Quick Quotes

Q. First off today; did you get to see the ceremony before you teed off?

HUDSON SWAFFORD: I heard it. I was hitting some putts trying to focus in on how the greens were rolling over there by 1 tee, but yeah, I heard it and I was walking through the crowd. That was a pretty cool moment.

Q. What was it like to be the first off?

HUDSON SWAFFORD: I was a little nervous, I'm not going to lie. Usually I don't have too many nerves on the first tee, but a little different here for sure. But hit a good one, so kind of got into my own early.

Q. You were up on top of the leaderboard for a while there. Did you notice your name up there?

HUDSON SWAFFORD: Yeah, I mean, it's right there pretty big, but for being first off, and it's Thursday, I'm not really too worried about the leaderboard. That's really not what I'm looking at.

Q. What about on No. 4, what did you hit in there?

HUDSON SWAFFORD: No. 4 I hit 8-iron. We played the up tee today with the right pin and hit a beautiful shot in there. I might have pushed it a little bit off my target, but ended up in a good spot.

Q. 1-over today, but the way the course is playing, the wind kicking up now, how do you assess your round?

HUDSON SWAFFORD: I played awesome today. The score was not really indicative of how I played. I played some really good golf. There's only maybe one shot that I'd maybe kind of take back. Yeah, not my strongest back nine, but my game is in a good spot. I putted great today, had a lot of burned edges and putts could have fallen. I did a lot of good stuff. Not too worried about the score. It's playing tough. It's going to play tougher. I know I'm doing good things.

Q. You mentioned being a little nervous or whatever. Obviously coming right off that ceremony, but you hadn't been here in a while. What was your mindset coming back here, finally getting back here to play in a tournament that you obviously love a lot?

HUDSON SWAFFORD: Yeah, this is kind of my Super Bowl, growing up in the southeast, going to the University of Georgia. Yeah, I don't usually have too many nerves on the first tee or whatever reason, but yeah, felt good today. It had me a little bit.

But it's good to be back. After two years of pretty much being injured and right after my best season on the PGA TOUR always kind of progressing in the FedExCup, some pretty good setbacks with a rib injury missing 10 weeks and then a foot injury and missing half the year the following year, that's not what you really want after you win. I was kind of just cruising, in a good spot.

It was unfortunate, but you take it, and there's bumps in the road with everything, so I am just happy to be back.

Q. You rebounded with a victory last fall in the Dominican. How sweet is it to have regained your form after some tough times?

HUDSON SWAFFORD: Oh, man, it's unbelievable, especially being on a medical, having a couple events left. I'm not going to lie, it's pretty tough, tough mentally, going from in '17 cruising, playing great golf, competing with the best in the world every week, making your schedule, to a lot of unknowns.

Yeah, it can flip in a moment. A lot of hard work went into it and a lot of patience that I was not displaying early last summer, but it was awesome to get that victory and come back to where I feel like I belong, with the top players in the world.