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ARNOLD PALMER INVITATIONAL PRESENTED BY MASTERCARD

March 15, 2008

Bart Bryant

ORLANDO, FLORIDA

JOAN vT ALEXANDER: Thank you, Bart Bryant, for joining us for a few minutes in the media center here at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Everybody is there at 6-under and you made it to the 6-under mark, just talk about your day.
BART BRYANT: Are it was a good day. The wind was tough, for sure. It was funny. I was telling these guys, I was standing on the practice tee and Sean O'Hair was 7-under through 14 holes, Hunter Mahan was 6-under through ten. I'm going, "What course are they playing?"
So it really made you focus the beginning of your round on those downwind holes and get a couple birdies early, which I was fortunate to do and just hung on to the round the rest of the day. I made a couple of bad plays, but recovered pretty well.
But all in all, I was very happy with 2-under. I am surprised that that put me in a tie for the lead, obviously, and you know, Vijay is not having a great day, although I see he's coming back now. He may end up getting ahead of us, I don't know. But very surprised that the total, 6-under, wherever it ends up, I'm surprised it's there.
I played with Vijay the first two days and he chipped in twice yesterday, so he's obviously chipping well.

Q. What did you hit on 16?
BART BRYANT: I tried to hit a 4-iron, but I think it turned into like a 7-iron or something but by the time -- it was a pretty bad shot to say the least.

Q. How big was the putt?
BART BRYANT: That was really -- honestly, if I were to do something good tomorrow, that would probably be the putt of the week for me to save a bogey there. It was just one of those things where it was a little uphill, breaking a little left-to-right, and I could really see it and felt like I was going to make it.
It was a good feeling when it went in, but to hit that good of a drive on that tough of a hole, and walk out of there with a double-bogey just would have been a killer, so it was a huge putt for me.

Q. Were you aware you were in the lead at that point?
BART BRYANT: No, no. I thought that Nick Watney was 8-under is -- I don't know what happened. Did he like make a quad?

Q. 16.
BART BRYANT: Did he really? I didn't know that until I got to the 18th tee.

Q. Is it a shootout atmosphere, anybody's game?
BART BRYANT: Yeah, it's pretty much Tiger's game. Obviously when Tiger plays great, he's tough to beat. But having said that, I heard the wind is going to blow a little bit tomorrow, maybe from a different direction.
You know, I think it's anybody's game. But if you're going to say, does it have somebody somebody's game, obviously he's the guy to beat, there's no doubt about it. The guy's won six or seven in a row or something, and he's not playing great and he's tied for the lead, so you figure he's got to play good at some point.
But not to say that somebody can't go out and play a great round and beat him, and not to say he's going to play perfect golf, either. It's definitely there for the taking.

Q. What did you beat him by at East Lake?
BART BRYANT: I think six. Thanks for bringing that up. I appreciate that. (Laughter).

Q. Do you think you have his number?
BART BRYANT: Do I have his number? No. He didn't give me his phone number. He doesn't even want to hear from me. (Laughter).
I do not have his number. Nobody has his number, and you ain't going to get me to say that. (Laughter).

Q. Getting ahead of ourselves a little bit, but having won Jack's tournament, what would it mean to throw Arnold into your trophy collection?
BART BRYANT: It would be cool.

Q. Can you wrap your head around that one?
BART BRYANT: Yeah, I can wrap my head around it. That would be a pretty neat thing to happen. But I've got a long, long way to go. That's in the distant future at this point. There are a lot of guys that have a chance to win this golf tournament, and I'm going to have to do some great playing tomorrow to win this golf tournament.

Q. You mentioned the streak that he's on right now, and given how deep this pool of talent is out here, do you think maybe the outsiders people don't realize how remarkable of a run that is, eight out of nine coming into this week?
BART BRYANT: Honestly, I do. I agree with what you just said. I don't think people really understand. I think the guys on TOUR understand. I think the real avid golf fans understand it. Good golfers around the world understand it.
But no, I don't think people in general, and maybe even the average golf fan, cannot appreciate exactly what Tiger is doing. I mean, they appreciate it. I just don't think they understand the magnitude of what he's accomplishing right now.

Q. You're up there, okay; are you going to be playing your game differently with Tiger on your tail?
BART BRYANT: No.

Q. That doesn't change how you play?
BART BRYANT: No. I can't afford to do that. I'm not good enough to change my game. I mean, all I got is the game that I got, and I don't hit it very long and it's kind of boring, but I'll have to go out and have to manage my game very well, hit it in the fairway. You know, it will be short but hopefully it will be in the fairway and try to get on the green and make a couple putts, and that is all I can do. If I change my game, I'm in big trouble.

Q. The fact that the wind is blowing, I guess gives you a hustler's chance.
BART BRYANT: Honestly, probably so. I think the wind blowing, and I think that's what you see today. We had a really windy day, you had a guy who was leading by 2-over maybe one or two guys, and now you have six guys tied for the lead. A lot of times, that's what the wind does, and so you may be very right. I think it may bring a few more guys into the mix.

Q. You've kind of got that New Mexico lowball thing, don't you?
BART BRYANT: Yeah, I grew up hitting it low. If it blows a little bit, that's okay.

Q. When Tiger goes on these runs of five, six, seven tournaments in a row, is there ever any talk in the locker room or the practice tee of guys, "I want to be the guy to stop him"?
BART BRYANT: Do you want to be the guy to stop him?

Q. Do people talk about it?
BART BRYANT: I'm sorry. Do people what?

Q. On the practice tee and in the locker room say --
BART BRYANT: Are you saying, are we talking and saying, "I want to be the guy to stop Tiger's streak?"

Q. Yes.
BART BRYANT: No. No. I want to be the guy to win the Arnold Palmer Golf tournament.

Q. I don't mean just this week, but in general.
BART BRYANT: I don't know. I haven't really heard guys say that, 'Boy, it would be nice if I was the one to stop the streak.'
I think guys are out here to win golf tournaments and they want to do the best they can, and if you happen to win when Tiger is on a streak and you beat him, and of course that happens, I don't think guys go and say, 'Boy, I'm so happy because I beat Tiger's streak.'
They are happy to win a golf tournament. Gosh, what Tiger is doing and when he goes on these streaks, it's great for the game of golf. We love to see it. We want to beat him because everybody wants to win, but when Tiger is playing good, it's good for golf.

Q. Why did you move from Ocoee?
BART BRYANT: Into Windermere? We just changed our residence about 300 yards. Just happened to go from Ocoee he least into Windermere. The line from Ocoee and Windermere is like right -- we are barely in Ocoee, and now we were barely in Windermere.

Q. You seem like more of an Ocoee guy than a Windermere guy (laughter).
BART BRYANT: I'll take that as a compliment. (Laughter) 'Bart's a real down-to-earth guy, he's not snooty or anything.
JOAN vT ALEXANDER: Thank you, Bart.

End of FastScriptsâ€¦

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