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WGC DELL MATCH PLAY

March 24, 2016

Jordan Spieth

Austin, Texas

Q. Another impressive win thanks in part to another impressive start. How important is it to jump out to a lead early and maintain that lead through the match?
JORDAN SPIETH: Honestly, I don't know I started ahead in this match. He just about drove the green and I was actually hitting my third shot before he was hitting his second. I hit a pitch up there to about four or five feet past the hole, thinking I needed to make that. He ended up leaving his short and missing the next.

All of a sudden I walk off with a tie on the first hole and I'm supposed to be 1-down. Three-putted the second. The first two holes I couldn't tell you how I was up. Sometimes that's how match play works. I think it rattled him enough to be able to continue to advance that lead.

Q. How satisfying is it to see some of this hard work that you've been doing finally come to fruition?
JORDAN SPIETH: It's nice, especially with the ball striking and the wedges. I'm really starting to see that hard work that we've been putting in. My ball control is there, especially in this wind. It's nice to be able to hold posture, hold my alignment and not get too far off.

It's all about the putter now. That's what still needs more work. That's what I need to feel a higher level of comfort with. But striking the ball the way that we have thus far is going to win us matches, which is nice, but I would like to roll some putts in as well.

Q. You taking on your good buddy tomorrow. The attitude when taking on a friend, what is it?
JORDAN SPIETH: I think we both want to beat each other. We obviously have a ton of respect for each other and each other's games. We have since we were 14 years old. He'll want to beat me bad even if -- I'm not sure how the match is going to finish, but even if he's out of it, he'll still want to beat me. That's kind of just who we are. As much as I just want to halve the match and stay in tomorrow and practice, I don't think he's going to want that to be the case. I'm going to have to bring my A game. With the conditions lightening up, they're going to play in his favor.

Q. Solid effort today. Obviously a great result. You look good going into tomorrow?
JORDAN SPIETH: Thank you. It's great position to be in. No complaints on my side. Been striking the ball great. The middle of the front nine has really been a solid place for us. And when you are up 3-up and you are striking the ball well on a windy day with a difficult golf course, it's difficult to come from behind. We tried to stay as solid as possible. It was nice to get done there on 14.

Q. Were you surprised the way Victor came out that you were able to grab an early lead?
JORDAN SPIETH: On the first hole it was amazing, that flip. Here and there you are going to see some crazy flips in match play. I was on the right side of one on No. 1. That's a nice hole to be on the correct side of one. I definitely should have been 1-down through 1, and instead I'm 1-up through 2 with a couple of three putts on his side, just leaving them short. I think he anticipated faster greens today. So that was a big change there for the match. I mean, you like to -- good starts are very important in match play. You can certainly climb back and you have certainly seen that this week already. That was a flip-a-roo that was -- it was nice to be on that side of it.

Q. (Inaudible)?
JORDAN SPIETH: We have the same mindset, whether we're 2-down or 2-up. We still want to play like we're 2-down. It's tough to tell because conditions are going to change significantly the next couple of days from what they have been. When you are down, you like to think in windy conditions maybe you make a couple birdies, that's good enough. Now you never know. A lot of these holes will be birdie-able.

With Justin tomorrow, he's very capable of running off seven or eight birdies. He's got the firepower to do so, especially in calmer conditions. In a tighter match, we're going to have to grind. Just going to have to grind and really see where that patience level is. Today was a little bit better than yesterday. Hopefully we can continue to improve. I still was hitting a little -- thrown aside in some of these winds, the gusting winds, trying to decide what club to hit, what shot to play. Just getting a little confused, like everybody is. I'm going to have to have a higher level of patience as we go forward.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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