MICHELOB CHAMPIONSHIP AT KINGSMILL

October 3, 2002

Bart Bryant

TODD BUDNICK: We welcome Bart Bryant, five under 66. Bart, it matches the 66 you opened with last week, as well.

BART BRYANT: Just one bogey and six birdies.

TODD BUDNICK: Why don't you start by talking a little bit about how you played today.

BART BRYANT: Actually that was Tampa. Last week was in Texas. I played very solid today, kept the ball in the short stuff, which is imperative right now. This rough is extremely high, and I hit solid iron shots and made a few, 15-, 20-footers, just played a very solid round, nothing extraordinary. I didn't do anything bad, didn't do anything great, I just played very solid.

TODD BUDNICK: Let's go through the birdies. Looks like you started out with bogey on 11.

BART BRYANT: I bogied 11, I drove it in the rough there with my 3-wood, just no way to get to the green, just made kind of a mediocre chip, missed about a 15 footer there.

Came back and birdied No. 13, is that the par 3? I hit a solid 6-iron there, about 15 feet up to the pin just like you're supposed to, and rolled it in.

Then I birdied the par 5, which is 15, had the layup, I hit it in the rough by about six inches there, just had to lay up with a 9-iron, about 15 feet with a wedge, which was not a very good shot, but made another 15-footer, which was nice.

I birdied 18, that was big. I hit right over the top of the pin, probably about another 15, 18 feet right behind the hole, made a real good putt coming down the hill, and that put me at two under on the back nine.

Made the turn, hit a sand wedge about four feet on No. 1, birdied that hole.

No. 6, which is the short par 4, I hit a 4-wood off the tee box there and then hit an 8-iron in about six feet, made the putt.

And then No. 9, I hit a 5-iron and left it right of that pin, which is the absolute worst mistake you can make, but I got a little lucky that I carried it onto the fringe and the ball stopped pretty quick. I ended up having about a 20-footer in. Two feet less and the ball is in that little pot bunker and a couple feet more it probably goes into the back rough because there's not much area there, so I kind of got away with an off-line shot. It was way too aggressive but it worked out, so that was nice.

Q. How far was the putt there?

BART BRYANT: Probably about 20 feet.

Q. A lot of people are coming in here talking about how tough it is out there and the rough is so nasty, but there seem to be a lot of good numbers on the board.

BART BRYANT: I haven't seen the numbers yet, but I know Duval shot seven, right?

Q. There's a lot of guys at five.

BART BRYANT: I think it has to do with the weather being so good. If you hit it in the rough you pay the penalty, but it's not like you have anything that tough to deal with out there. I mean, conditions are so kind that, you know, you hit the ball where you think it ought to go and that's where it's going to go today. There's nothing tricky going on. If we get a little breeze that hits us, it'll definitely change the golf course, or if the golf course got real firm and all of a sudden the ball started rolling in the rough. Right now it's very soft and there's no wind. Wherever you have these conditions out here, no matter where you play, these guys shoot low.

Q. Do you think the courses are starting to narrow up the fairways a little with a lot more rough because of the fact you can't go back much further?

BART BRYANT: Well, on and on. This is my 16th event of the year. I haven't played as much as a lot of guys out here, but I would say I've noticed that a little bit this year, that I've had a little bit more rough and the fairways have been more -- at Tampa there was no doubt that they were much more narrow than I've seen them in the past, Philadelphia, incredibly narrow with high rough. I wish we played every course like that, you know. I'd rather see more premium on driving the ball straight, but I'm not a real long hitter so it makes sense for me, where somebody else might want to stretch it out and cut the rough down. It's just preference.

TODD BUDNICK: Bart, you've had a consistent year as far as making cuts, and you're 168th on the money list but maybe you haven't finished as well as --

BART BRYANT: Like I said, I haven't played as many events as most guys out here because I'm on medical and I had a couple other health problems this year. That set me back a little bit. I've played very solid, made 11 cuts out of 15. My problem is I haven't really been able to put four rounds together. I've shot some low rounds, but for some reason I keep throwing in a two or three over round every week, and you can't win doing that. Your bad around here has got to be one under or maybe two under, and you've got to throw in a couple real low ones.

It's not that I've played bad this year, I just haven't played good enough on the weekend, and that's what you have to do to win. I've only got one top ten, and it just so happened that weekend I shot 6 under on the weekend where the score was like ten under or something. That was a good weekend. Another weekend I shot 63 on the last day, but other than those two weeks it's been 71, 72 on the weekend and out here you lose ground doing that.

Q. What were the medicals?

BART BRYANT: I had elbow surgery last year. I ended up playing ten events at the end of 2001, so that left me 19 to play this year. Originally what I thought I would do is play the 19 quick and earn my money -- hopefully earn my money to be in the top 25 off the 2001 money list which would exempt me for the rest of the year, but as it turned out I had some back problems that kept me from playing this year, as well, so it's kind of come down to at the end of the year I'm barely finding a way to get my 19 events in, which is fine. I'll be able to do it. I have to do something to keep my card, I understand that, but I've been close a few times, and if I could just manage my game a little better on the weekend and be a little more consistent I have a good chance at doing something.

My stats are pretty decent this year overall. I was looking at them before we started. I'm not doing anything really bad other than my bunker game needs a little improvement. Everything else looks pretty good. I have confidence that my game is in good shape, it's just a matter of letting it happen.

Q. So will you play next weekend at Vegas?

BART BRYANT: I will. I'm going to try to play the last five, assuming my health holds out.

Q. I did not have a chance to look up your previous play here on the way in here. Do you have any background here to speak of? I can't remember seeing you in the interview room.

BART BRYANT: I was here one year and I was actually in second place after two rounds. That was the year the hurricane came through. I don't know if you remember that. Man, I was praying that hurricane would stall right over Kingsmill, believe me, but it came on through that night and they got the debris off and we played late on Saturday. I don't know, I ended up 30th or something. I shot about two or three over on the weekend.

Q. That was about three years ago, something like that?

BART BRYANT: That was a good -- I think it was either 95 or 96. Y'all probably know better than I do. I think it was one of those two years. I think I was eight or nine under after the first two rounds and ended up about five under, five or six under. You know how you go reverse on the weekend.

Q. You know, Brad Bryant is one of the great pressroom entertainers in golf. I don't know, when you come into the pressroom I just wondered if you feel pressured to be funny and tell jokes. Do you think people expect that from you?

BART BRYANT: I don't know. What do y'all expect? I'm not a real funny guy. I guess Brad got the funny gene, I don't know. He's a good old boy, though.

Q. How's he doing?

BART BRYANT: He's doing well. You know, he's played four events this year and he'll play Disney because he won there. That will give him five. I guess if you play five events if you're a lifetime member, which he is because of career cuts, that gives you subsidies or something. So that's why he tried to play five this year.

Q. He's just got this reputation as a wild and crazy guy, and I wondered if people came up to you and expected you to be exactly the same way.

BART BRYANT: Most of the time I hope I'm not like him.

Q. Last time he was in here he talked about how he had just married way over his head and stuff.

BART BRYANT: That's true. I'm always afraid I'm going to get shot because somebody thinks I'm Brad. I need a sign on my back that says I'm Bart, don't shoot me.

TODD BUDNICK: Thank you, Bart, for coming in today and good luck the rest of the weekend.

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