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THE OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPJuly 16, 2014Matt KucharHOYLAKE, ENGLAND MIKE WOODCOCK: We're delighted to welcome Matt Kuchar into the interview room. Matt, you've had top 15 finishes in the last two Open Championships. I think you finished 9th and 15th last year. How much do you enjoy the challenge of playing links golf in an event like The Open Championship? MATT KUCHAR: I love coming over. My record is not great here, but turning in the right direction. The last two years have been much improved. And I've always enjoyed the game, and think my game is pretty well suited to a British Open. So I'm not sure if I'm figuring out how to adjust better, how to play better or my game has just improved. And certainly had some better results the last two years. I very much enjoy the game. It's unique. It's different. You don't hit many standard shots. I tell people normally if I'm in the States and I've got 160 yards, it's an 8-iron. Here it can be anything from a 5-iron to a pitching wedge. Never just a standard 8-iron. It's quite unique. But I always do enjoy it. I come over here, look forward to the British Open every year. Q. What's the thinking different like from the time you used to play majors until you had your first real good go at it, I'm not counting your amateur stuff, but at the Masters that one year? Do you feel coming into these things that you have a much better chance than you did back when you were still winning but just not contending regularly? MATT KUCHAR: I don't know that I have any different expectations from the early days. I think everybody comes expecting to play well. Back then it was maybe a little more hoping I'd play well, maybe. Now I'm much more confident that I am going to play well. I try still not to have much in the way of expectations. I try not to put any sort of limit on what I can or can't do here. I come as prepared as possible. I just feel a whole lot more comfortable with my game. I feel more comfortable playing in big tournaments. I feel more comfortable playing links golf. I don't know that I've switched mentality a whole lot, I just feel much more comfortable with my game and playing over here, playing in major tournaments. Q. How much does the course suit you? Secondly, what would winning The Open mean to you? MATT KUCHAR: I could use a little help. I still don't know exactly how to refer to it, if I refer to the course as Hoylake or Royal Liverpool or Royal Liverpool at Hoylake. I still have heard it many different ways, or even The Royal. I'm not sure exactly the proper name to call it. And maybe you guys could help me there. There's several names, aren't there? MIKE WOODCOCK: I think Royal Liverpool at Hoylake would be okay. MATT KUCHAR: Or Hoylake. One or the other, not both? Double namer. Enjoy the course very much. I've had four practice rounds. Had four great Open champions to play with. I played with Tiger on Sunday, played with Nick Faldo Monday, Tom Watson Tuesday and David Duval today. So I hope I get some unique perspective and some of that mystical Open Championships to rub off a little on me. It was great to play with all of them. I enjoyed my practice rounds. I feel like after four rounds, I'm quite comfortable here. To win the British Open would just be a dream coming true. I think all of us as kids that played the game envision holding the Claret Jug and envision winning British Opens, and it certainly that would be the childhood dream coming true for me. Q. The Open, does it stand alone, almost, of the four majors (no microphone)? MATT KUCHAR: (Laughing) I love coming here. This is a special place and so heaped with tradition. I loved going through and checking out the history, knowing that Bobby Jones won the second leg of his Grand Slam in '30. Or figuring out the different past champions and getting to know some history here. I think there was a guy, Johnny Ball who was a legendary player here. Trying to figure out some of the tradition, and the history here, I enjoy. So anytime coming here it's extra special because of the amount of history that is here. Q. You mentioned being as prepared as possible. What have you decided over the years is best for you in coming over here? Have you played the week before? MATT KUCHAR: No, I'm still learning there. The tough thing for myself and a number of other Americans is it's a huge stretch from here through The TOUR Championship. And to try to play a lot, if you said I really enjoy or think my best chance at a major is to play two weeks prior, and the major being the third week in a row. It would really be a tough stretch with the British Open followed by the Canadian Open by the Bridgestone Invitational, PGA Championship, Greensboro, and then right away are four playoff events start. So to have any sort of chance to play well through that stretch, hard to figure out just how much to play beforehand. Two years ago I played the French Open, took a week off before the British. One year played the Scottish Open at Castle Stuart. This year had three weeks off prior to the British Open. So I'm still trying to figure out the best way for me to properly prepare for the British Open, as well as not be too fatigued come Tour Championship. Q. What about links, specifically, did you like the year? MATT KUCHAR: I really enjoyed Castle Stuart. I really enjoyed Loch Lomond. Loch Lomond I played several years. I thought it was a terrible way to tune up for the British Open. I look towards tennis and you look at Wimbledon, and everybody goes to Queens beforehand to warm up on a grass court surface. It made sense to warm up on a proper links golf course before The British Open. I am glad The Scottish Open has moved that way. I hear great things about Royal Aberdeen. I hear that's a fantastic course and great prep for the British Open. My preparation could still be tweaked in future years, to possibly playing the Scottish Open. Q. As you mentioned, you played with Tiger on Sunday, and can you just explain how, if at all, a major championship feels differently when he is in the field in terms of atmosphere as to when he doesn't play. And also Tom Watson said on Monday that he would guarantee other players in the field note the scoreboards and look for Tiger's name, do you agree with that comment? MATT KUCHAR: When Tiger is in the field, certainly there's a lot of attention from fans, from media, from players, to see just how he's doing. The Majors are exciting. We had the U.S. Open this year without Tiger. It may not have been a great spectator week with the way Martin Kaymer played. It still had a major championship feel when we teed off on Thursday, with or without him. He's fantastic for the game. But you tee up in major championships, there's a whole lot at stake there. And the field is going to be really strong and everybody is going to be gunning for that championship regardless of who is in the field. I think the Majors stand out by themselves, no matter who's in the field. So he certainly adds to excitement. I think this year, again, everybody is going to be very excited to see how he does. Q. Will you be using, and how many times roughly, would you be using a 2-iron this week? And also, do you then take it out of the bag for the rest of the year? Is it one of those clubs that you probably just only use when you're over here? MATT KUCHAR: There's no 2-iron in my bag this week. Q. How about a 1? MATT KUCHAR: No 1-iron. Q. A lot of the guys are using 2-irons in the way that Tiger went the whole -- apart from one hole -- when he won in 2006. MATT KUCHAR: I can't hit it like Tiger. 2-iron is not enough for me. Q. You'll be using quite a few drivers? MATT KUCHAR: I'll be using -- great thing off the tee there's a lot of variety, a lot of options. I'll be hitting a lot of drivers, a lot of 3-woods, a lot of hybrids. It's unique in that way and I think it's great in that way. I think there's a lot of options, particularly for me. I think I played several practice rounds this week with Gary Woodland. He's a little more Tigeresque with length and power. And I think you'll see guys like that using more driving irons off the tee. Q. It's recognized over here that you have the best short game in the world. Do you have the array of shots to conquer a links course, which are completely different? MATT KUCHAR: I'm still learning and still enjoying. I found myself around a number of greens, tossing balls in the hay, tossing balls in the little hollows; trying to figure out the best way to get a ball close to a pin, whether it was a bump-and-run, whether it was a higher shot, whether it was putting. I'm not sure I quite have the array. I'm certainly not in the category of a lot of guys I can think of. The bump-and-runs are shots unique to here that I don't play very often. So I've spent more time practicing some of those. Q. How many wedges are you carrying this week? MATT KUCHAR: I carry four every week. I think most people would think over here you don't need that. You may just need an 8-iron as your highest lofted club over here. But for me my bag doesn't change a whole lot. I'm comfortable with the setup. I'm comfortable with my ability to figure it out. Now, I told you, I need more practice with those bump-and-runs. They're unique shots to me, to the game I typically play. But I feel like I'm prepared going into tomorrow. Q. How did you manage to develop your short game to the level that it's turned out to be? MATT KUCHAR: It's hard to say. I don't have a routine, a ritual. I think there's some coordination, some hand-eye coordination. There's touch. There's a lot of things that go into it. Technique I certainly have worked on. I spent time working on technique. I've spent time asking a lot of people. The last couple of years have been a progression in my golfing education. And I've actually sought out guys. I sought out Lee Trevino for help with the wedge game. I sought out Ray Floyd with pitching around the greens. Just trying to take guys that I knew were the best at what they did and figure out if there's anything they had to share that I could possibly use. There are a few things that Lee told me that I still use in my wedge shots. There are things that Ray Floyd showed me that I put in play. So a whole bunch of different shots. I don't have the array that either one of those guys had of short game shots, but I'm still learning. And I think that's something that I love about the game is the ability to continue to learn, to continue to get better. And finally feel comfortable enough with who I am and with my golf game to be able to seek guys out to ask for help. I think when I first came out as a rookie, I didn't want to get in anybody's way, and was too scared to ask for help. But now I'm comfortable enough to seek some guys out and to go ahead and ask them for help. Q. How do you think the weather conditions will affect the tournament this weekend? And what's your experience in these kind of what might be difficult conditions? MATT KUCHAR: Certainly weather plays a huge part in all British Opens. You can't have luck of the draw here or unluck of the draw. I don't know the exact forecast. I don't know that anybody knows the exact forecast. This will soften things up, green things up. The course was green but I don't want to mistake green for soft. It was still firm. It was still fast. I wasn't here in 2006, but I know it's not as firm and fast as 2006 was. But certainly it still feels like proper links golf, where you still will need to land balls short of certain greens in order to bounce them on and keep them on the green. So the weather is pretty unpredictable and don't know exactly how it's going to play out, but it always has a big effect. Q. The forecast for tomorrow is extremely good - warm and still - and the course is obviously quite scorable, it's getting softer as we speak. How low do you think you guys can go tomorrow in perfect conditions around this course? MATT KUCHAR: Again, it's a hard thing to say. I think even in bad conditions somebody goes low. You're talking about the best players in the world. Somebody always figures out how to shoot a number regardless of the conditions. Good conditions you'll see a lot more guys shoot a good number. But hard to say just how low guys will go out here. Q. Do you think some of the younger guys on Tour have it easier because they don't get pounded with Tiger questions every week, like what you guys went through from pretty much all the 2000s? MATT KUCHAR: We still get it. I mean, he's still the biggest name in the game. He's still -- the most interest around Tiger, what he does, whether he's in or out. It seems like there's a huge amount of interest. He still has that sort of pull and that sort of effect. And the kids today grew up idolizing him. He gets back on form again, and I don't think that intimidation factor is gone at all. I think these are guys that grew up and he was just dominating. And these are kids that grew up watching him and wanting to be him. And then to play alongside, you know, it would be a pretty intimidating thing. When I first came out it was Tiger and Phil and Ernie, and those were guys that I kind of grew up watching and idolizing. It took me a little while to get comfortable enough around them to be able to play respectable golf. Some of the kids seem a little more prepared, maybe, than I was. They've come out now, Jordan Spieth is amazing what he's done in the two years he's been out, pretty incredible. I don't know how many other guys, probably any other guys have that sort of track record as to what Jordan has been able to do. Q. Do you think there's a difference when you talk about an intimidation or mystique level watching it compared to being in the arena or getting thrashed by it, however you look at it? MATT KUCHAR: So you're saying a different intimidation for the guys who are now just coming up that just watched it on TV as opposed to my generation that were actually losing by ten to it? (Laughter). I'm not sure. I mean, if I was to go shoot baskets with Michael Jordan right now, I would be pretty intimidated. So it's probably similar, you know. The guys that played against him and that got scored 40 on probably have a similar feeling to me in the awe that surrounds a guy like that. I would guess a guy like Scotty Pippen, who would be much more comfortable, after seeing a bunch of it, to be around Michael Jordan. And the same being true I think for myself, to have been around Tiger long enough, I'm much more comfortable now playing alongside of him. Where I think you still see guys get in a group for the first time with Phil or Tiger or think of those guys, you see a lot of guys kind of struggle. I still think it happens. MIKE WOODCOCK: Thanks for joining us this afternoon, and best of luck the rest of the week. MATT KUCHAR: Thanks a lot. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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