COGNIZANT CLASSIC

March 1, 2024

Bud Cauley

PGA National Champion Course

Quick Quotes

Q. Another solid round. How has your game felt to start this week?

BUD CAULEY: It's felt great. I've been hitting the ball solid. Short game has been sharp around here, which you need. You're not going to hit every green.

I've been holing a lot of nice putts, which has been a lot of help.

Q. Obviously you're comeback now is kind of well-known, well talked about. Did you expect to contend this early into the comeback?

BUD CAULEY: Yeah, I gave myself enough time to prepare at home before I started playing again. Yeah, my expectation was to come out and compete, and I felt like my game was in a good spot.

Saying it is one thing, doing it is another. I'm really happy with how I've played. I feel like my game has been trending in the right way. I've been hitting the ball well and just needed some scoring things to start.

Q. Day two, but could you feel those juices like you're contending at this point? How does it feel to finally have that again?

BUD CAULEY: Yeah, definitely the last couple holes -- like this place is so tough, you almost don't think about it. You're so into the shots that you're hitting.

Yeah, I saw the leaderboard when I was coming down 18 and knew if I made birdie I'd have the lead. That was nice because it was kind of getting dark on us, also. But yeah, it was great to have those juices flowing again.

Q. What do you draw on just having been away from the game for so long? When you're going and contending into a weekend, can you look back five years ago at things that happened or is it like doing it all over again?

BUD CAULEY: It's funny, someone asked me how I was practicing because they're like, you don't have any stats to look at, do you just go day by day. That's pretty much what I've been doing. If there's something I don't that happened the day before, that's what I work on the next day.

To your question, yeah, I've played golf my whole life. Obviously I've been out for a long time, but I feel like there are plenty of situations I can draw on in the past for this weekend that'll make me feel comfortable.

Q. How special is it for you to be leading the tournament? Was there a point where you wondered if you were ever going to be in this spot again with your injuries?

BUD CAULEY: Yeah, there were a lot of times where I thought that my career was over. To be back here playing and playing well, it's nice. It just makes me that much more happy that I kept after it and didn't stop trying.

Q. What do you have to do the rest of the weekend?

BUD CAULEY: Just keep doing what I'm doing. You have to drive the ball well out here, and I feel like iron play is a strength of mine, and then keep making putts, and should be in good shape.

Q. How often are you out here? Are you out here much?

BUD CAULEY: No, other than the tournament. This is kind of my only time out here. I tried to actually come and play last week because I was home, but the tee time was pretty booked solid, so I just got out here on Tuesday.

Q. The reception on 18 was pretty special. As you were walking out, everyone was going crazy screaming for you. How does that feel and how is that going to help you going into the weekend?

BUD CAULEY: Yeah, it's really cool. I had quite a few buddies that came out today to watch me play, and it's fun to play well anytime, but if you can play well when your friends are around and kind of enjoy it with them, it makes it even better.