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PUERTO RICO OPEN PRESENTED BY BANCO POPULARMarch 13, 2009Bart BryantRIO GRANDE, PUERTO RICO NELSON SILVERIO: Bart Bryant, thanks for spending a few minutes with us here. Rounded out there currently tied for the lead. Why don't you give us some thoughts on how this weather might have affected your round today on and off, if anything. BART BRYANT: Yeah. It made it a little tough out there at times. Some of the holes the wind blew extremely hard, and then it would calm down and then rain, and then blow and rain, and then it would calm down, and then it rained some more. So you're always constantly changing what types of shots you were playing conducive to the weather, you know. So it wasn't terrible, but it was always something to think about for sure. NELSON SILVERIO: Okay. Questions? Q. What's your strategy for going into the weekend? BART BRYANT: Well, hopefully more of the same. It looks like, from what I understand, the weather is going to probably be here for a few more days. So I think we're going to see the showers off and on and some high winds off and on. So you just kind of go with the flow, hopefully hit the right holes at the right time. So a lot of times that can make a big difference, what hole you're playing when the weather gets bad. But I'm hitting the ball pretty well, and the guy who makes putts is going to win in the end, so after this I'll go hit a few putts. Q. You ended the day with a 68? BART BRYANT: Yeah. 68 was -- I think I've played -- probably this is the first time this year I played a lot better than I scored. I shot a lot of decent scores this year, but just kind of got aground and made a putt here and there, great up-and-down here and there, but today I played extremely well, and I felt like through the first -- especially through about the first 13 holes, I was 4-under and I felt like I left a couple out there, for sure. And then I missed two greens all day, and they were the two par-5s on the Back 9, and those are holes you gotta take advantage of. So I feel like I left some out there, but I'm sure everybody else did as well. NELSON SILVERIO: Talk a little bit about the week and how it's gone here in Puerto Rico. BART BRYANT: I've enjoyed it. I actually didn't commit until almost 5:00 last Friday, which is our deadline to commit, so I wasn't going to come. I haven't played two weeks in a row this year, and I decided I really felt like I needed to play some golf, and heard some good things about the golf course and the weather (laughs), so I decided to come. But I'm glad I did. It's a great golf course. They did a good job. It's in very good shape. I heard last year that the conditions maybe weren't as good as they are this year, but they did a great job getting this course in good shape, and the resort is really nice and people are very friendly, and I think all of the players are having a great time. So we appreciate the warm hospitality. Q. Where are you going after this? BART BRYANT: I'm going to play Tampa, Houston and hopefully win one of those and then play The Masters. If I don't win, then I won't play The Masters. I'll have to win to get in there. I'll play the next three in a row, assuming my health is good. Q. And you mentioned having to adjust your shots to deal with the weather. What specifically did you have to do? BART BRYANT: Well, you know, a couple of times right after the rain came down, the green was soft for, you know, one or two, and you had to fly the ball to the hole and stop, where early in the day we were getting a little bit of runout. All of a sudden we got a heavy shower like making the turn and I was able to -- the par-3, like No. 11 was actually kind of from right with the wind. Earlier in the day I would not have felt comfortable going at that pin. I probably would have aimed left and tried to two-putt for par. Just so happened I caught it right after that heavy rain shower. I flew a 5-iron and stopped it on the plateau and made birdie, so sometimes it works out good for you. When we came through 13, the wind was just ripping from left to right. I hit -- in the Pro Am and the first day of the tournament I think I hit wedge in there, and today I hit a 6-iron. So if you catch the wind at just the right time, it can really get you. I came to 18 and the wind had been blowing downwind on 18 all day today, and it actually -- a rain shower came in, and for some reason the wind turned slightly, so the hole played extremely long, where I think earlier in the day you might have got there on two. So a lot of times you're just continually adjusting to how the hole is going to play. And a little bit of it is luck. You want to get those par-5s downwind, and sometimes you just don't. Q. Who do you think will be coming Sunday? BART BRYANT: Well, I haven't -- Q. (Inaudible question). BART BRYANT: Yeah. I don't know. I haven't even seen who's up there. I'll be honest with you, I really didn't look at the board. The only thing I saw was Jason Day was 10-under. I was 9, and looked like there were a bunch of 8-unders, and I didn't even notice who was up there. And the bottom line is you just gotta go out there and play your game and play the golf course and play really well. There's not a Tiger Woods or a Phil Mickelson or somebody up there that you know they're going to be up there at the end. It's a little bit of an unknown at this point where some of the younger guys -- maybe some of the older guys, like myself, I'm 46, some of the older guys that have not played the TOUR in a couple of years that have been able to come back and play because of access to this golf tournament. So it's hard to know how they're going to play. So you just have a lot of people who probably are not as experienced as the top 30 ranked players in the world. So I think there's just a lot of unknown, but somebody's going to play really good and someone's going to win. Q. (Inaudible question). BART BRYANT: I played better today. We only shot 67 yesterday and 68 today. That's just the way golf is. But I hit the ball today as well as I've hit it in a while. I just didn't get a lot out of it. But I was comfortable both days. A lot of that is just getting up on the right side of the bed in the morning, I think. I don't know. (Laughs). Yeah, making a putt early. I birdied the first two. Today that gets you pretty comfortable right off the bat. Q. (Inaudible question). BART BRYANT: Well, like I said earlier, I'm just going to try to do more of the same, which is, for me, I'm not a real long hitter. That's to get the ball in the fairway, hit quality iron shots and manage my game, not try to do something that I don't normally do. We have four par-5s here, which normally doesn't bode well for me. I tend to play better on the par 70 golf courses. Q. (Inaudible question). BART BRYANT: No. With the conditions, this course is great. That's what I was saying earlier. I think last year they might have had some issues. This year they don't. Whatever they did to get ready for the tournament this year, they did it right because the course is in great shape. So everybody needs to be commended for that, because you know, there's a little bit of a learning curve in holding a golf tournament, but whatever they did they did right because the course is perfect. The texture on the greens is right. The seed is right. The fairways are good. We're probably used to just a little more rough on a regular TOUR event, but all in all the course is in great shape. NELSON SILVERIO: All right. Bart Bryant, thank you. BART BRYANT: Thank you. End of FastScripts |
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