THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

March 16, 2025

Bud Cauley

TPC Sawgrass

Quick Quotes

Q. Bud, just talk about what it means for you, for your career, having a top-10 finish here and knowing that you get your card for the rest of the year, knowing everything you've been through?

BUD CAULEY: Yeah, I mean, it's kind of hard right now to think about that. A little disappointed with how the day went. But yeah, I did a lot of things well this week. To finish top 10, like you said, in a tournament this big is a great step forward for me, and I'll try to build on that the rest of the year.

Q. Did you feel like you just couldn't get any momentum going early? You had the great putt on 9, but there was probably a couple bogeys there you thought where you should have got pars?

BUD CAULEY: Yeah, the three-putt on 3 kind of was tough. Then kind of followed it up with a poor drive on 4 and then gave myself a good look at par there and missed it. If I could have made those par putts early -- it was playing tough. Pars were good scores out there those first few holes. I just made a couple mistakes and didn't really give myself any looks, and kind of the same thing on the back. I hit a couple close and made them, which was nice. But yeah, just too many mistakes.

Q. You were contending on the back nine, but unfortunately you were kind of swimming upstream because you were always down three shots most of the back nine.

BUD CAULEY: Yeah, coming right out of the delay, I hit that wedge over the green on 11 and it plugged, made bogey there. That was a killer. I'd bounce right back and birdie 12, kind of get it back, and then hit a poor iron shot on 13 and make another bogey. I just couldn't get it going. I'd follow up a good hole with a bad hole, and like I said before, just unfortunately too many mistakes.

Q. Justin Thomas said during the delay, obviously, that if for any reason you happened to win this thing, he said the celebration would just be off-the-charts crazy, without specifying what that exactly meant. When you leave today, would you allow yourself to dwell on the accomplishment as opposed to the disappointment of not giving yourself a better chance on the back nine?

BUD CAULEY: I guess I don't look at it so much as an accomplishment, but it's just like a step forward. Like I said, I did a lot of things well, and I'm playing next week, so I get the chance to go back out and try to clean up some of the things that I feel like would have helped me this week, and hopefully keep doing the good things good and see where that takes me.

Q. Did you need a week like this to remind you that you're a world-class player?

BUD CAULEY: Yeah, I've always believed that I can compete with the best guys in the world, and I should be hopefully winning tournaments and playing on Presidents Cup teams and Ryder Cup teams. That's always been my dream, and I still believe that I can do that. Yeah, this helps a lot. I felt like I contended this week and still feel like I made a lot of mistakes that I can clean up pretty easily.

I think that's what I'll take from this the most is that I was right there and it wasn't like I was playing perfect. I felt like there were a lot of things that I could improve.

Q. Could you encapsulize what Justin Thomas's friendship has meant to you, especially going through all the adverse circumstances you did?

BUD CAULEY: Yeah, he's been great. We've been best buddies for a long time, and it's great to have somebody like that that I can bounce things off, whether it's out playing golf, or now we both have young families, and it just feels like we're kind of doing things at the same time.

To have close friends like that makes life even more special.

Q. He said he felt like a nervous parent for you last night.

BUD CAULEY: (Laughing).

Q. How much do you believe in momentum, and does this change the trajectory of your season, do you think?

BUD CAULEY: Yeah, sure. Yeah, I have a lot more confidence, I think, leaving here today than what I showed up with, which I think will help me throughout the year.

I'm really excited. I'm really happy that I'm playing next week, just so that I can maybe take tomorrow off and then get right back at it Tuesday and try to clean up some of these things.