Jason Dufner, who finished tied for fifth at the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits last weekend, was at Auburn's football practice Monday. His previous best finish in a major was 30th in this year's Masters.

He has one more event in Greensboro before the FedEx Cup begins. He finished 10th last year.

Dufner has lived in Auburn since 2003, after spending two or three years in South Florida playing on mini-tours. Once he got established on the Nationwide and PGA Tour, he moved back to the Plains.

He spoke to reporters briefly. Here's what he had to say:

(How much fun did you have last weekend?)
"It was a pretty good week, best finish in a major, so that was good. Best tournament of the year so far. Trying to build on it going into the playoffs."

(How does it feel that your Tour card is safe?)
"You don’t really think about it as much as some people suggest, but it’s in the back of your mind, what’s going to be the number to keep my card for next year? Last year once I locked that up, I played a lot freer and had some really good finishes after that."

(What did you think about the two-stroke penalty Dustin Johnson got for grounding his club in a "bunker" on the 72nd hole?)
"You know I’d left by then, so I’m not really sure what was said after it happened. But I do know there were notices all over the locker room and everything. It’s kind of unfortunate for Dustin that it happened, but I can’t say the PGA didn’t try to warn you about situations like that."

(Did you have a situation like that this week?)
"No, pretty much I think I was in three or four bunkers for the week, and I knew it. It wasn’t in an area that was 60 or 70 yards off the middle of the fairway. I tend to not be in those areas too often."

(What did you do well?)
"I did everything pretty well. I struggled a little bit with my putting this year, but last week I putted really well. I’ve been working with my coach on trying to get more efficient and effective with my putting, and that paid off."

(Are you a football fan?)
"Yeah, huge football fan. It’s pretty exciting to see what’s going on with the program now. I was close to Tommy (Tuberville), and I was sad to see him leave. But I’m excited about what coach (Gene) Chizik’s doing and the recruits we’re getting, and hopefully the product that we can put out on the field is going to be competitive and try to vie for the SEC title and start looking into winning some national championships."