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<\/i><\/p>\nPEBBLE BEACH, CALIFORNIA<\/i><\/i><\/p>\n
THE MODERATOR:\u00a0 Dudley Hart, a 7?under 65 in round one.\u00a0 With that being said, we know you’ve got your major medical, you’re trying to accomplish the goal there.\u00a0 So how much does a round like this mean to you today?
\nDUDLEY HART:\u00a0 It means a lot.\u00a0 I don’t really think about the medical part of it, to be honest with you.\u00a0It’s nice to be (back.)\u00a0I’ve had two months of decent amount of practice and no physical issues.\u00a0 I’ve had a heck of a time with my back over the last four years.\u00a0 Two spinal fusion surgeries and screws all over the place in there, so it’s nice just to get back and get in a groove and feel like I can start moving in the right direction with my golf game.<\/p>\n
I hit a lot of nice shots today.\u00a0 Could have been better, could have been worse.\u00a0 But I gave myself a lot of good opportunities and it’s ?? more importantly, it’s nice to know that I can hold up and hopefully, I’ll continue to hold up and that I still got a little decent golf in me being an old broken down pro.
\nTHE MODERATOR:\u00a0 What are you most confident with?\u00a0 What part of your game did you feel was clicking the best?
\nDUDLEY HART:\u00a0 I think my iron play was pretty solid today.\u00a0 I really hit a bunch of greens.\u00a0 Two of the greens I think I missed were on the fringe.\u00a0 I wasn’t ?? sometimes you hit a lot of greens and hit it 30 feet.
\nBut I had a lot of really good opportunities and pretty much hit the ball where I was looking, for the most part.\u00a0 It wasn’t perfect but my misses were pretty solid still.\u00a0 So that’s been real encouraging.\u00a0 I feel like I’ve been moving?? stuff I’ve been working on with my game and being able to practice helps.\u00a0 And I’m moving in the right direction with that.
\nTHE MODERATOR:\u00a0 Questions?
\n<\/b>
\nQ.\u00a0 Could you just go back to when your back problems started and give us a brief synopsis. <\/b>
\nDUDLEY HART:\u00a0 Sure, it was awhile ago.\u00a0 I believe it was 2009.\u00a0 The year before, I had one of my better years, finished Top?30 and I went down to Florida.\u00a0 I live in buffalo, smart guy, and went down to Florida to practice before the season, and I had had some problems with may back, but nothing major.\u00a0 I herniated a disk in the 2000 British Open was the first time I ever had a problem.\u00a0 Managed it pretty well for 10 years after that pretty much.<\/p>\n
I had a real hard time that off season and then the beginning of 2009, and to be honest, I never had it looked at and didn’t want to have it looked at.\u00a0 I was in the Majors and especially the Masters, I have ?? at the time, now I have four kids now, but at the time I had triplets and they were old enough to maybe remember.<\/p>\n
And I’m, in the Masters, I’m ?? I knew something was wrong ?? so a long story short, I went and got a MRI after the Masters and found out that I had no disk left at my L5 S?1 and first doctor said, well, just don’t play golf anymore and I’m like, okay, don’t be a doctor.\u00a0 I’m not really qualified to do anything else, maybe flip hamburgers somewhere.<\/p>\n
So I finally came to the conclusion that if I wanted to play, I had to have a fusion.\u00a0 So I had a fusion done, spun my wheels for a couple years, and had more problems after the first one.\u00a0 I finally went and saw another doctor, hindsight I probably put a little too much faith in the first guy, but found out the first surgery wasn’t done properly.\u00a0 There was a screw that was not in one of the vertebras on one side, and one screw too far went into my psoas muscle, whatever that is, and it didn’t fuse so I had to have it all?? I had to start all over.<\/p>\n
I went to the hospital for a special surgery after that, Dr. Cammisa, he did an unbelievable job and I’ve been ?? I still had some issues.
\nIt’s been a long road coming back and finding the most frustrating thing is there’s no book to look at and say, okay, if you have this done and you want to play golf, this is what you have to do.<\/p>\n
So there’s ?? there was a process where you try things and you go to different people and finding what you need to do to get yourself to be able to play at a consistent level is difficult.\u00a0 I think I have found, hopefully, I don’t want to jinx myself, but I found the right formula where I can at least practice, hit balls for an hour or so a day and hit, putt, and chip.\u00a0 I can put four hours of practice in in a day and be fine.\u00a0 So, that’s where we’re at now.
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![\"Dudley](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/buffalogolfer.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/hart2.jpg?resize=240%2C220\")
\nQ.\u00a0 I know you said you don’t normally think about the medical, but you don’t have a whole lot of tournaments left. <\/b>
\nDUDLEY HART:\u00a0 Sure.
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\nQ.\u00a0 Does that weigh on you at all?<\/b>
\nDUDLEY HART:\u00a0 No.\u00a0 Not really.\u00a0 If the more I think about it, the less chance I have to play well, for one.\u00a0 I told Jim outside, I said, I’m pretty realistic guy, I’m 46 years old, I’ve had two back surgeries.\u00a0 I said I know my better days on this TOUR are probably behind me somewhere, and I’m hoping to be able to play and keep and just keep a normal amount of competitiveness up and hopefully, I can play some good golf and keep my card and go from there.
\nBut I’m a broken down guy, playing against young kids with flat bellies and it’s ?? I know the odds are against me, but I’m going to keep grinding away and work hard and go out there and do the best I can.<\/p>\n
THE MODERATOR:\u00a0 Well Dudley, great round today.\u00a0 Appreciate your time.
\nDUDLEY HART:\u00a0 All right.\u00a0 Thank you.<\/p>\n