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FBR OPEN

February 3, 2005

Dudley Hart

SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA

JOHN BUSH: We've got Dudley Hart with us after a 4-under par 67 in the opening round. Dudley, thanks for coming by for a few minutes.

Nice start out there today. I know it was not the way you wanted to finish up on the last hole, but that doesn't take away from the fact that you played really well today.

DUDLEY HART: If you would have told me I would only make one bogey out there today before I started, I would have taken it.

You don't want to finish that way, but you're bound to hit a ball or two on a day like today in the wrong spot, and I hit one in the wrong spot on No. 9, and it cost me.

Q. You started on the back 9 today. Take us through your birdies starting on No. 17.

DUDLEY HART: No. 17, I hit a good drive in the middle of the fairway, a drive that went about 220 probably, straight into that wind. Then I hit a little 9-iron from 96 yards to about eight feet, made it for birdie.

No. 18, I hit a good drive in the middle of the fairway, hit a 7-iron about 30 feet left of the pin and made that for birdie.

No. 3, I hit a good drive in the middle of the fairway, hit a 4-iron six feet, made that for eagle.

Q. How far was the 4-iron?

DUDLEY HART: 4-iron was 228 with a slight bit of helping wind (laughter).

Q. It either helps you or hurts you.

DUDLEY HART: Yeah, I hit a driver 220 and a 4-iron longer going the other direction.

No. 5, I hit a drive down the right side of the fairway, hit a 9-iron about 15, 18, feet to the right of the pin, pin high, and made that for birdie.

Bogey on 9, I hit a good drive in the middle of the fairway and tried to punch a 4-iron. I just was trying not to hit it actually to the hole, just because the pin was tucked in a real tough spot with the wind blowing as hard as it was.

I knew that distance control would be an issue, so I was trying to just hit it about 20 feet left of the hole, and I ended up hitting a 4-iron that went about 195 into the wind, which I didn't think it would do. I was back fringe about two inches off the green, but I really probably should have chipped it because I had to go over this ridge, and I hit this putt that went eight or ten feet to the right. I couldn't really start it on the proper line, and I didn't make that for par.

Q. Are you a good wind player? I mean, is there something about your game? And also, did you feel exhausted after the round?

DUDLEY HART: A little bit, yeah. I mean, it's a grind out there obviously. You're going to see that by the scores. I've always considered myself a good wind player. It doesn't mean I always play well when the wind blows, obviously. And it helps to make -- I made quite a few putts.

You get a lot of days like today you might hit some greens, but a lot of times you're 30 feet, 40 feet, from the hole, and as hard as this may be to believe, when the winds and the greens are this fast, the speed on your putts is really tough to judge.

You hit a lot of putts that are six feet short, eight feet by, and I did a bunch of that early and made all those putts coming back, and when I missed the green and chipped it eight feet, I made most of those.

So I mean, obviously, when you putt well it makes you look like a better wind player. When you putt well, everything looks better.

But I definitely think I have an advantage over most guys when the wind blows because I can hit it low. And I've grown up in Florida, or spending so much time in south Florida, the wind blows a lot.

I remember when I first moved down there, I didn't know how to hit a punch shot and I had to learn how to do that. That comes in handy.

There are some guys that don't feel comfortable doing that, and they just go ahead and pick three, four more clubs, hit it straight up in the air. Not that I always hit good punch shots, but I think when you can keep the ball down and control the trajectory in this wind, you won't hit as many squirrelly shots. If that ball is up in the air curving, that wind is going to just exaggerate how much spin that ball has, so it's going to just curve even further after line.

I do consider myself a good wind player, but it doesn't mean I'm always going to play well when it howls.

Q. You're a good wind player today?

DUDLEY HART: Today I was, yes.

Q. What happened and how did the delay affect you?

DUDLEY HART: The delay? Nobody likes to do that. I mean, it's just part -- this is starting my 15th year, so I've had enough delays and been through this stuff before, so you just kind of deal with it. You know, you'd like to come in -- as cold as it was, I would have rather come in and waited in a nice warm spot instead of standing on the 16th tee, but it's just part of the game. I mean, I wasn't the only one out there. You try to stay loose. I was taking a couple clubs and swinging periodically just trying to make sure that I kept my back loosened up, kept everything moving, kept the blood flowing and just hoped the delay wasn't going to be too long.

Q. Do you think it's fair that they watered the greens down for the afternoon group?

DUDLEY HART: They're probably just going to continue what they were doing with us I would think. I mean, it's -- we waited on No. 17 for him to spray the green. We were in the fairway, and by the time -- honestly by the time -- we were all 100 yards away. By the time he got off the green, we hit our spots and I couldn't see any water (laughter). I could tell it was barely maybe a little moister than the other greens, but it's minimal effect.

I think -- I don't think you're going to be able to fly the ball to the hole and it's going to stop, especially downwind. I don't think it's going to make that much difference. They're trying to make sure the ball is going to stay around the hole. It's more for putting than anything, but it didn't seem to make much difference at all when we played it.

Q. Some people had some adventures with balls blowing around on the green a little bit. Did you have any of that?

DUDLEY HART: We had some gusts where the ball just kind of kept going, looked like it was on ice almost, but we all hit a couple putts early that it would either break -- you'd miss a putt by a foot and it would look crazy because a gust of wind comes and takes it. It's hard to imagine how much the ball can be affected by wind, but when the greens are really fast and really firm like they are here, the ball can really get taken into some weird spots sometimes.

Q. How much guesswork was there on club selection?

DUDLEY HART: A lot, yeah. Put it this way: I drove it in the rough on No. 15, and I had a terrible lie and I just hacked a 5-iron out and I knew I was going to have a long club in. So I had 162 to the pin, and I hit a 4-iron hard and low. I mean, I hit it probably maybe 15 feet off the ground. It was what I was trying to do, just hit a punch shot in the middle of the green and let it use the slope.

If the wind dies down a little bit, like on No. 9, I had 185 to the pin into a hard wind, not quite as hard as it was earlier, but I'm thinking my normal 4-iron is 195 tops without any wind or anything, and I'm thinking I'm just going to hit a bullet 4-iron and figured it would land over the bunker somewhere and just take it on the green and take a 20-footer or whatever. It went -- I guessed and I just hammered one and it went through the wind 15 yards further than I thought it would.

You're going to look silly when the wind blows like this because you try to hit a punch shot and if it spins up in the air -- I hit a great 4 on No. 16 that came up 30 feet short. I thought I hit a great shot. I was on the green but not even close to back to the pin.

Q. You hit a 4-iron into 16?

DUDLEY HART: A 4-iron into 16. I know I've never done that before.

Q. You're saying it was about a three club wind at times or two club?

DUDLEY HART: It's hard to say. It depends on how high you hit it. I mean, I could stand -- I could have hit -- I normally hit a full 60 degree sand wedge about 85 yards, and if I hit a 60 on No. 17, if I cranked one normal, I bet it wouldn't have gone 30 yards. When it was blowing, it would get up there and it would go nowhere, maybe 40. So it depends how high you hit it.

Like on No. 9 it was blowing really good and ended up not bothering that 4-iron too much because I stung one and hit it low through the wind. I could go back out there right now and hit a 4-iron that wouldn't get to the front bunker because I could just tee it up there and hit it as high as I could and it would start coming backwards.

It's a lot of guesswork, and what it makes you do is get in a position where you have to pick and choose your places, when to try to be aggressive and try to make a birdie.

But when you're standing back and you've got 170 into a tucked pin, you say, if I can make a 30-footer, great, if not, I'll get out of here because you start trying to fit it into some of the corners and you short side yourself you're in trouble.

Q. Are you even better off chipping at times? I'd hate to say you'd like to miss a green, but --

DUDLEY HART: No question. Early on, you're better off chipping -- I told my caddie, I don't care if I miss a green. I want to be going back into the wind.

He talked me out of -- the only thing I can give him grief about today was on No. 13, par 5, I hit a pretty good drive and I was hemming and hawing 4-iron or 5-iron, and the wind was down right to left and the pin was front right.

You hit it in the bunker, you can't even get it close. Even short wasn't that great because it was straight downwind, not a lot of green to work with. I mean, it's not a brutal chip, but it can run away from you.

I told him, I'd rather have it 50 feet on the back of the green putting or chipping from the fairway grass over the green because I can control that, if you're not worried about a gust as much. He talked me into a 5-iron and it came up six, eight yards short, and then I had that chip and it went eight feet by.

I could have hit a better chip, but it was not in the spot that I wanted to be.

You try to think about that on your second shots especially. If I would have hit it in that bunker you'd have a hard time landing it 15 feet unless you have a perfect lie in the rough. When it blows like it did today, I think you have to think about that stuff, not that you're always going to hit it where you want to, but you have to be aware of that.

Q. So the important thing is, no matter what you decide to hit, you have to commit to it?

DUDLEY HART: No question, you've got to commit to it and hope it's the right shot because if you're standing over it questioning it, you're not going to hit a good shot either way.

Q. How long did it take you to play your round today with the delay?

DUDLEY HART: We finished about 2:30, 2:25, so what time did I tee off? 8:40. What's that? Almost six hours. I'm brain dead right now, sorry. School wasn't one of my strong suits.

Q. Full day you feel like you put in?

DUDLEY HART: Yeah, it was a long day. I feel wind burned to be honest with you, and I'm sure I am. My face is warm. No practicing today.

JOHN BUSH: Thanks for coming by.

DUDLEY HART: Thanks a lot.

End of FastScripts.

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