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EDS BYRON NELSON CHAMPIONSHIP

April 28, 2007

Ken Duke

IRVING, TEXAS

Q. I've got Ken Duke here after lighting it up this morning. You were second group off; three and a half hours later you're on the leaderboard.
KEN DUKE: Yeah, that's good. I felt good, and I hit some good shots, and it's all about making putts out here, and I made a few coming in. The key is I think I drove it the way I should be able to drive it, and you can get chances to fire at them.

Q. Second week in a row you've played well. Anything you're doing differently or just could you feel it coming?
KEN DUKE: Don't wake me up here. It's just golf. Yesterday was a tough day for me. I didn't feel good, and I had a bad day. But that's the way it goes. You've got to sleep, come back the next day and see what happens.

Q. Tell me what you had for breakfast, I'm going to have it tomorrow.
KEN DUKE: That's a secret.
On that back nine I really hit it like I was supposed to and had a good putt on 13, 14 and 15 to really jump on out there and set a good round. I made a great save on 17 and made a great putt on the last. Just great to get off to a good start.

Q. Does playing early ahead of a lot of guys help? Does it matter?
KEN DUKE: I think it makes a difference today because we're only eight shots out of the lead, and we know the wind is going to pick up and we're going to be done when the wind picks up. The greens are perfect when you're the second group out, and hopefully you get off to a good start and just roll with it. If that wind picks up now, I might be in the lead at the end of the day, you just never know.

Q. You played well last week, too. How are you feeling?
KEN DUKE: I feel good. I didn't like the concept of playing two courses, but that's the way it goes. But I feel good. I just have got to get some rest because I've been playing a lot, and being in contention wears you a lot.

Q. You said 13, 14 and 15 you could have --
KEN DUKE: I hit it in there about ten feet every one of them.

Q. Is that the secret out here is to hit it close?
KEN DUKE: Yeah, because these greens are not -- they're rolling good, but you can get one little bounce here and there and it can knock it off. But there was no excuse on those three. I thought they were easy putts and there was nothing in my way except the hole.

Q. How was the iron play for you today?
KEN DUKE: I drove it well, too. I think I missed two fairways all day. I made two tap-ins from a foot, and that makes a big difference. But I hit some really good iron shots.

Q. Your ball flight used to be right to left and it's now left to right. Can you talk about how that happened, why it happened?
KEN DUKE: Well, I've always aimed to the left. I always set up to the left and I always would swing to the right and try to draw it with my hands.
Two years ago in '06 in January I just happened to be in the Pro-Am, and some guys knew Bob Toski, and he's a legendary teacher. They introduced me to him, and he said, why don't you come see me. I had never really had any lessons before, just really self-taught.
We got on the range one day, I went for a lesson, and he was -- I thought it was going to be like an hour long. It was like four hours long because that's just the way he is. He just wears on you pretty hard. But straightforward guy.
What he suggested me to do is hit a few shots the way I do and hit a few shots the way he wanted me to do and which one is easier, and the way he wanted me to hit it was a lot easier because I've always set up left and he wanted me to swing it to the left, and it was just so much easier for me instead of working across my body.

Q. So now you just play that gentle fade?
KEN DUKE: I play the fade the whole time. I'll draw it with my irons off and on, but with my driver it's 99 percent with a fade.

Q. When you said four hours, where was it?
KEN DUKE: Down at his range in Margate in south Florida. But he told me -- I had a few good tournaments early last year on the Nationwide and didn't end up winning, and he said you can run with this one if you just be patient. You can run with it. My caddie and I just set out a goal and won the title.

Q. It sounds like it was a change that was kind of natural for you.
KEN DUKE: It wasn't a big change at all. It was an easy change, and that's what a lot of people don't realize. I think that's why it's made it easy for me. It wasn't a drastic thing.
Some guys go through a swing change and it can be a year or two before they even figure it out. But for me it was real easy and just comfortable, very comfortable.

Q. Were you apprehensive about even trying it in the very beginning?
KEN DUKE: I was because I played 13 years before that and never changed. But after I started doing what he wanted me to do, the ball was going right at the pin, and now I'm -- this is not right, it's going right at it (laughter). It's just one of those things that I knew the ball wasn't going to the left, and when you've got the confidence and just believe it and just trust it, it was there.

Q. Do you now work with an instructor and have you changed your mind about that at all?
KEN DUKE: No, I work with him, Mr. Toski. He knows Mr. Nelson and he knows Hogan and all those guys. That's what's special about him. He knows the game probably as much as anyone, and he played with these guys. You know, he knew back in the old days how they played, and it's different nowadays.
But we work when I'm at home and I'll see him in a couple weeks when I get home, and I'll go down for half a day or something like that. It's not only hitting balls, it's really talking and hitting a few here and there. That's really what it's all about, just telling me what we've got going.

Q. Talk about getting into THE PLAYERS.
KEN DUKE: That was the whole goal last year on the Tour, on the Nationwide. We wanted to win the title. If you won the title you got into PLAYERS, and that's what everyone talked about last year is trying to get in THE PLAYERS. It's going to be special. It's our tournament and the best in the world are there. It's going to be fun.

Q. Can you go lower than 64 tomorrow?
KEN DUKE: That would be nice (laughter). It would be nice to have two good weeks in a row trying to run it down. I came out and did what I had to do. That's the main thing. With the lead not so high, you just never know. Get two good rounds, that's what it's all about on the weekend, if you play well on the weekend.

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