THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

March 12, 2026

Bud Cauley

TPC Sawgrass

Quick Quotes

Q. Good week last year, starting off pretty good today, given the wind. Was a few under pretty good with what you guys had to play in?

BUD CAULEY: Yeah, I'm pretty happy with it. I hit a lot of good shots. Really the only thing I kind of let slip a little today were some of my wedges. I hit some poor wedge shots out there. But hit a lot of good shots. It was tough with the delay. We were on 17 tee and the wind switching and then I was the first guy to hit so I was kind of guessing, but I was happy to make two pars coming in.

Q. Not a good time to have to sit back and wait?

BUD CAULEY: No, no.

Q. It's like going to the dentist and you know it's going to be painful, but they say you've got to wait another two hours?

BUD CAULEY: Yeah, we got in the van, I was hoping we could come in and warm up, but we got it in so it was good.

Q. You attacked the par-5s today. No secret about this course, you've got to get there, don't you?

BUD CAULEY: Yeah, I think apart from 11, I hit good tee shots, and yeah, was able to get myself up there close and get up-and-down. I two-putted 16.

But made a great birdie on 11. Hit it in the trees Had to lay up, and hit a 5-iron to two feet.

Q. I saw that, 188 in --

BUD CAULEY: Yeah, I'll take that one.

Q. And a couple pretty good up-and-downs. 4, 6, 7 and 8, any of them stand out?

BUD CAULEY: The one on 8 was pretty good. My shot came up a little short there. We were trying to get it past, and that was a tough chip kind of downwind, downhill with the side slope and didn't really get one up there. I was happy with that.

Q. Was the before your tee shoot on 17 or after your tee shot?

BUD CAULEY: Before. We just putted out on 16 and the blew the horn on 16.

Q. What were you thinking about on that stretch?

BUD CAULEY: The first thing I thought of was, is the wind going to switch. Because that happens a lot when a storm blows through. We kind of had it down off the left before the delay, which wasn't that bad. And then we came back and it was blowing straight in our face.

I hit a pretty nice 8-iron that landed just short of middle of the green and spun back in the rough. I was just happy to be on land.

Q. What was the difference in yardage between the shot you might have hit and the shot you did hit on 17?

BUD CAULEY: 30 yards. From down off the left to pumping straight in, yeah, probably close to 30 yards.

Q. Were you going to hit the wedge --

BUD CAULEY: I would have hit the wedge, yeah. And I hit 8-iron short.