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WGC DELL TECHNOLOGIES MATCH PLAY

March 21, 2018

Justin Thomas

Austin, Texas

JUSTIN THOMAS: I think I tried to start hitting a lot of greens and try to have to make him have to start making some putts is what I was trying to do.

Q. He holes out on 15 like he did, what's going through your head in a match play match like that?
JUSTIN THOMAS: It's tough but I mean I couldn't have played 15 any better. I hit a perfect drive and a lob wedge that I don't know how it didn't go in. It was going to go six inches past and lipped out halfway around the hole. There wasn't much I could do about that.

16, I just didn't play very well. He made a very easy birdie. So it wasn't like I was playing bad out there. I obviously wasn't playing great and I made a lot of pars, but I just -- I couldn't make anything. I thought I hit a lot of putts that didn't go in. I was fortunate Luke didn't play very well to get off to the lead that I did.

But then he started making some birdies and then I was happy to be running out of holes.

Q. Do you know what happened to his putter?
JUSTIN THOMAS: I have no idea. I don't know what happened. I just know we got to 8th green and he was using a wedge. That's about all I've got for you.

Q. Are you feeling better?
JUSTIN THOMAS: I am, yeah. I would say I'm by far the best I felt. I'm probably about 90 percent or so. My strength is back. It doesn't hurt terribly to drink water or do anything like that. So I'm just hoping it keeps getting better every day.

Q. (Inaudible)?
JUSTIN THOMAS: It was bizarre. I've never had it happen before. I had a wrapper in the bunker that was blowing around and I can't pick it up because it's in the hazard. So that's why I was kind of waiting. I'm backing off and I'm over it, my ball is here, this far away. Then it blew up close, so I had to back off. I basically had to hope that it blew away and it never did.

I finally was like, screw it, I have to hit. I can't wait here forever. Being in that hole, in that bunker, it's not like the wind was going to get it. That was a challenge in itself.

It was a great bunker shot, especially with Luke being in there eight or nine feet. I wanted to get inside of him. I didn't want him to have that putt to halve the match. I really wanted to get inside of him. I thought that was going to be huge.

Q. In that situation, I know it's always a feel deal about how you concede putts in a situation like this, but if you have a competitor who is putting with a wedge, does that affect you in your decision at all?
JUSTIN THOMAS: For sure. He putted probably two or three putts I wouldn't have made him putt with a putter.

Q. 12 and 13 probably?
JUSTIN THOMAS: No. 13 was -- it was a short putt he's probably going to make. It had a lot of break.

But 12 putt was two feet straight uphill. But I was like he's got a wedge, so I'm going to make him putt it.

Q. Have you ever gone up against someone who has had to putt with a wedge?
JUSTIN THOMAS: Not in match play, no.

Q. How much do you practice putting with a sand wedge?
JUSTIN THOMAS: Never. I don't practice it. It's pretty pointless to practice. I just don't bend my putter.

Q. Your second win in match play. Is it tougher than -- you have been playing a lot better, as you said. Is it tougher getting the results that you want even though you are playing well?
JUSTIN THOMAS: I just don't understand the question.

Q. Your seventh match, only your second win. Do you feel like you've played better than that?
JUSTIN THOMAS: I didn't play well the last two years. I didn't deserve -- I would have liked to win more matches but I didn't really deserve to. I'm a lot more complete golfer. I feel a lot better about my game, my mental game. I made a couple bad decisions out there in terms of lines and clubs. We're lucky that we had a lead to get away with it, but we can't let that happen anymore the rest of the week. That's for sure.

Q. Did you come earlier in the week last week?
JUSTIN THOMAS: No. I just came Sunday.

Q. How good was your shot on 9?
JUSTIN THOMAS: One out of 50 probably. With the lie I had, I was extremely lucky to have the lie. I still don't want it over.

Q. Was it a good -- you couldn't see on TV?
JUSTIN THOMAS: It was just very clean. That's the only reason I went up and looked. I saw it land and it didn't roll back. I was like, Jimmy, I'll at least go look. With him -- in stroke play I would have done the same thing. It was wide open. I probably would have been a little more cautious about getting it up in the air. I was trying to get it inside of Luke. I was lucky that I had a shot.

Q. You touched on this yesterday and how you could play good in the match and still come up short. Today was a lot closer than you feel like you played. Is it hard wrapping your mind around that that you can play well and still end up losing a match?
JUSTIN THOMAS: It is. Match play is brutal. It is. I don't know how to describe it. It's just weird with this pod play because it's -- obviously my match means something and I won. But I'm still not guaranteed to get through my pod type of thing. I think that's something I had a hard time dealing with the last two years. I feel like I'm watching the other match in my pod as opposed to worrying about my match.

Tomorrow a big day. I don't know what happened to the other match if the person that won loses, then my match is like -- that's a huge type of thing where obviously it's important no matter what.

I'm think about what they're doing as opposed to what I'm doing. It needs to be the other way around. So try to stay in here a little bit more this year.

Q. It's rare that you can play a full 18. Is it good that you got the full course in on the first day?
JUSTIN THOMAS: I would have loved to have done at 11:00 or 12:00. I don't care how many holes or how few holes I play. As long as I win, I'm satisfied.

Q. I'm sure you were dialed in on that bunker shot on 18. But did you see Phil? He ran around you.
JUSTIN THOMAS: I didn't no, no. I was worried about the candy wrapper I had in my way.

Q. How much weight did you lose?
JUSTIN THOMAS: I lost six or seven pounds during the wisdom teeth. I don't know how many I have lost the last four days.

Q. Did you go a couple of weeks without solid food at all?
JUSTIN THOMAS: No. I went a good almost a week and a half. I'm pretty sick of soup. I love mac and cheese but I wore that out and applesauce and Jello. And then it just was a bummer because it was like right when that that started to feel close to normal than my throat came up. It was like it doesn't want me to eat or something, I don't know. I don't need to be losing any weight. I'm trying to put it on.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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