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ST. JUDE CLASSIC PRESENTED BY FEDEX

June 14, 2009

Bryce Molder

MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE

PHIL STAMBAUGH: Bryce Molder, you didn't win there week but tied for 2nd, your best career finish on the PGA TOUR. Congratulations. You mentioned out there to the local TV that your first Tour start, you actually had your previous best at Reno, Tahoe, just tell us about today. Hung in there pretty good. Obviously happy to make the eagle there coming down the stretch.
BRYCE MOLDER: Yeah. I've been playing well for the last few weeks, and the few tournaments this year that I had some decent finishes, I really just -- I mean, I finished very poorly. And it kind of felt like it was going in that direction. I tried to -- gosh, I tried to just stay in my shots and focus on just those, on the shot, on the target or whatever, and I 3-putted 14 which -- I hit a really good 6-iron and a good putt that went by the hole and hit a bad putt, and all of a sudden now it feels here we go again.
I said a lot of little prayers in the last four, five holes just to let me kind of stay with it and just kind of let go and played and, what do you know, a putt falls in on 16 for eagle and then two good pars to finish.
As you mentioned before, my previous best finish was tied for 3rd -- 3rd place alone. I think my first event as a professional, so you kind of think this game is not too hard, and here I am. It took eight years or however long -- eight years later, I'm getting -- I'm finally better that.
It's been a long journey. Been some ugly days, and there's still going to be in some ugly days, but I feel like there's a lot more good days ahead, and I'm excited about this week.
PHIL STAMBAUGH: Can you just sort of take us through your day. We had the long delay.
BRYCE MOLDER: Yeah. The best part about our tee time was that it was 9:00 and I could just wake up and go play. And then I woke up and we couldn't do that. So I woke up at 6:45 or 7:00 and then waited around and tee off at 1:00.
That's a long time to sit around and think about things that could go wrong. Unfortunately, that's the first thing that comes to mind when you haven't been in that position in a long time. But I've got a lot of friendly faces around, staying at my cousin's house, saw some friends beforehand to kind of break up the mood a little bit. And then, you know, it was just a slow day for me all day. I felt like I hit a lot of pretty good shots. I wasn't as crisp as yesterday, wasn't as crisp as the day before.

95 percent of that I'll put on the fact I was uncomfortable and not embarrassed about the fact that I was uncomfortable. There's a lot at stake, but that's the fun part. Feel like I'll be better next time. But as far as just the round goes, yeah, I just had a lot of pars. I bogeyed 4, didn't feel like I hit a bad shot, hit the edge of the bunker, came back into kind of a bad lie. Made some decent pars early on, on the back-9.
Bogeyed 14 after hitting a great iron shot and then, you know, the eagle on 16. So it was kind boring as far as looking at the scorecard, but definitely some birdie chances out there I didn't take advantage of and definitely some holes that I scrambled okay on.
PHIL STAMBAUGH: Before we go to questions, can you give us your details on the eagle at 16?
BRYCE MOLDER: I hit kind of a lousy tee shot. They had the tee up on 16, the par 5. Probably was only playing 5, 10 yards, but it's wet into the wind. It was uphill a little bit. I remember kind of fanned 1-over to the right. I had 230, like low 230, 234 or something to the hole. I hit 3-wood and just so happened hit to it about 15 feet above the hole, and I hit a putt and looked like it was going to end up short and the thing got there. And there was some other putts I definitely thought I hit better than that one, and that one goes in. That's the way golf is. That's why you stay patient.

Q. As the day goes on, how much are you thinking about placement and where that might move you in the startings? Because I know all those things are very important in your position.
BRYCE MOLDER: Unfortunately, I'd like the say that they didn't at all, but they do, a lot, especially when I've had a brief history recently of falling down the leaderboard in the last three, four, five, last hole or whatever.
In Dallas I was tied for about 10th and doubled the last hole, and you give away a lot of money. Unfortunately, it's not even about the money. It's about when you're in my category, just fighting to get in tournaments. Playing well gets you in more tournaments. It's not even just the money itself, might give another start.
It is important. That's why I think it was so important for me to just kind of talk to myself and, like I said, say a few prayers and kind of get out of that mode and get back into playing golf and hopefully something good would happen, and it did.

Q. Did you feel like you missed some opportunities putting on the front-9 where you might have been able put some pressure on Brian in those situations?
BRYCE MOLDER: You know, I didn't have a lot of short birdie putts. Starting on No. 2, I was 15 to 18 feet. 3, I was 15 feet. 5, I was about 18 feet. 6, 20 feet. Always in that range where you're not going to make that many of them, but you would think that you put them all together and you would make at least one.
I'm a very streaky putter. When I see one, two go in, a lot go in. When I don't, you know, I start hitting bad putts. And I hit a few bad putts, and finally I made a good putt on No. 10 for par. That was really the first putt I made over 2 feet all day.
I had another good par putt and missed a short one. You know, early on, I did have some chances. I felt like I hit some good iron shots that didn't end up quite enough close. That's kind of the day it was.

Q. Bryce, how tough was it to catch a golfer that was as hot apparently all week as Gay? For example, on the 10th hole, he bogeyed and comes backs and has a tap-in birdie?
BRYCE MOLDER: It was so tough. I didn't even get close to catching him, that's how tough it was. If I would have played well, at least put a little bit of heat on him, then who knows? I know I had a 63 and a 65, so I could have caught him.
But, you know, it would have taken a very good round. I almost feel like, too, if he would have been pressed, I think he would have been tough to catch. You could tell he just played pretty safe. And, yeah, I mean, when you win, things like that happen. He bogeys 10 and mishit the shot on 11. He'll tell you. It's not mishit in a bad way. He planned for the shot. He aimed probably 6, 7 yards left of the hole, knowing that if he pushes it a little bit, he's still okay. That's why you do that.
So you hit -- hits it over there, and it's a foot from it. Then on it was kind of like alright, this is probably his tournament. Obviously, we can have something to do with it, but he was going to be really tough to catch. He was only one -- especially when I got off to a poor start, he got off to a good start.

Q. For yourself, how much inspiration do you get from seeing a player like Brian who you know was a college All-American and just took him years and years of working at it to get where he's one of the top players on Tour?
BRYCE MOLDER: You can just tell that he's now -- I haven't watched him play that much. I've never played with him before, you know, yesterday and today. But you can just tell that he's comfortable with who he is now and who -- what I mean by that is you know, within himself who he is.
He's not afraid to win. He's not afraid to have his name up there. I think part of that, too, he's comfortable with his golf game overall, and that's a big part.
You know, when you're young playing, it's about talent, and later on it's about working through some issues. You're going to have some issues whether putting, ball striking, clipping, mental, whatever. You're going to have some issues, and once you kind of get through that, you're more mature and who you are.
That's what seems like with him, that, you know, he knows who he is now and he knows what to expect out of his game, and that's it.

Q. Bryce to follow it up, how comfortable are you with your game right now?
BRYCE MOLDER: Right now I'm really comfortable. Five weeks ago I was playing in San Antonio, and I didn't have one ball flight that I could trust. I ended up missing the cut by a shot, but I found a little something in the last few holes.
And that's kind of how I am. I've never had a golf swing to where I wake up in the morning, I hit it the exact same way as the day before and next year at this time I'll hit the same way. I'm just not that way. So I just kind of play by what it feels likes, whatever shot I feel like I can hit.
And right now I feel very comfortable. I know didn't play my best this week, but I also know that a few things go right and I still could have won. So, I am getting a lot more comfortable with my game. About a year ago at this time I started kind of deciding or kind of finding out exactly who I was and the shots that I could hit under pressure.
PHIL STAMBAUGH: Anything else for Bryce? Bryce, congratulations again. Good luck the rest of the year.

End of FastScripts

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