Jason Dufner will tee it up Thursday morning The Barclays for the first time as a major champion, and he doesn’t think it will feel any different.
Dufner rode his underwhelming personality to the PGA Championship two weeks ago at Oak Hill in Rochester, giving him the biggest win of his career. Yet instead of a lavish spending spree, Dufner did a little media tour and got ready for the first event of the FedEx Cup playoffs at Liberty National in Jersey City.
“As far as me personally, nothing has changed,” Dufner said Wednesday, preparing for Thursday’s 7:54 a.m. tee time off of hole No. 1 with Kevin Streelman and Jason Day.
“I still took the trash out on Tuesday morning and we actually got a new puppy, so I was up at three in the morning every night taking him out to the bathroom.”
Dufner changed his cell phone number three weeks ago, so it limited the amount of congratulatory phone calls and texts he received. Though two of those came from Charles Barkley and Bo Jackson — both fellow Auburn products — Dufner has now found a new level of competitiveness.
“It’s made me a little hungrier to be competitive and win more events, more majors, be part of the Ryder Cup team, part of the Presidents Cup team,” he said. “I had a little bit of relaxation there for a week, but my mind is getting ready to try and compete this week.”
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When this tournament was last at Liberty National, there was a media focus on the players’ criticism of the course. After designers Tom Kite and Bob Cupp softened some of the greens and widened some of the landing areas, the early feedback from the pros has been overwhelmingly positive.
“They have made some really nice, positive improvements,” said Tiger Woods, who could only muster a course description of “interesting” last time around. “The golf course is obviously very different than the last time we played it. It’s not only they made a bunch of changes, but it’s really dried out.”
Added 2011 FedEx Cup champion Bill Haas: “I think they did a lot of the correct changes. … They were a little drastic at some places and maybe quieted down all the slopes and everything. They looked a little more natural.”
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Nets coach Jason Kidd played with Swede Henrik Stenson in Tuesday’s Pro-Am, and said he was excited to be interacting with some of golf’s best.
“Seeing Tiger, talking to Tiger this morning and Phil [Mickelson], that was great,” Kidd said. “So as much as they’re basketball fans and sports fans, we’re fans of those guys, too.”