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WGC DELL TECHNOLOGIES MATCH PLAY

March 22, 2018

Paul Casey

Austin, Texas

Q. You're such a great match play competitor, why is that?
PAUL CASEY: I don't know. I played lots as a kid growing up, that's all we did. County matches, national stuff, club stuff. I guess there's a few tricks. But ultimately I don't make a lot of mistakes, and that's tough to play against. I feel like I'm never out of the whole. And then you've got to do something special to beat me.

Q. Yesterday you said you ride waves and are usually down after you get a victory. Here you are at the top after the first two days. Are you on the rise or is your game still up and down?
PAUL CASEY: No, I'm on the rise. I was pretty flat yesterday, fatigued. I feel really good today. Good night's sleep. I feel good.

It's so volatile in match play, you just don't know. I feel confident but you don't want to get ahead of yourself.

Q. What was the difference today?
PAUL CASEY: Really solid stuff today. I didn't make too many mistakes. I made some putts, really nice putts. I still find the golf course difficult. You saw me staring at that shot on 15. I had no clue how to play it. Kyle Stanley showed you how you obviously needed to play it. But the margin for error is so small. Today I just eliminated the mistakes, made some putts and made it very, very difficult for Kyle today.

Q. What is it about match play that you like?
PAUL CASEY: I'm a guy that makes a lot of pars, a lot of birdies, and if I ever have a disaster it's usually something really big. It doesn't matter as much. It's just a loss of the hole, you go to the next. It frees my putting up, I can be aggressive with the putts.

I played a lot as a kid growing up. That's all we did. I grew up in Surrey, just outside London, we played each other matches, matches against the other counties and club stuff. There's some tricks to it. I love it. It's such a pure form of golf, I really do.

Q. You won two weeks ago at the Valspar. Everyone knows if you win it breeds more confidence. How much more confidence do you have now?
PAUL CASEY: I don't know how to measure it, but I do have confidence after that. I've got to share a line with you, Bernd Wiesberger on the green earlier this week, he says, "What does it feel like to be the guy that shot Bambi?" I'm not worried about Tiger, Tiger is going to win pretty soon. But it did give me a lot of confidence. And the big thing was putting on the weekend, 21 putts on Sunday. That's something I haven't had in three or four years, a weekend of putting like that. And that's what I'm most excited about, because of the way it tees me up for the rest of the year. This, majors, hopefully Ryder Cup at the end of the year. I'm excited.

Q. It's a totally different day today. Yesterday you got to 18, today a bit more control?
PAUL CASEY: Yeah, a lot more control. The difference a day makes. Really solid stuff today. Hit a lot of quality golf shots, made some nice putts, totally different. Put some pressure on Kyle, and obviously I was clearly tough to play against, which I like.

Q. You said you were a bit low yesterday. Obviously a bit better today?
PAUL CASEY: Yes. I think just with the travel from last week, flying backwards and forth to England, a lot of stuff going on. Just flat. I definitely had -- even Scotty is working for me this week, and he goes, you need to slow down, I was walking too quick for him today. It felt good. My momentum is there, it's what I wanted.

Q. And Ian Poulter got 25 victories. You got the 25 victories now so you're neck and neck with him. It kind of shows the strength of yours and Ian's match play, doesn't it?
PAUL CASEY: Yeah, but he's older than me, so I'm technically ahead of Ian, maybe not Tiger.

He's very good at the match play. He loves it. Good to see him playing well this week. We both played a lot of it as a kid growing up.

There are little tricks, little secrets to it. Ultimately it's just playing flat out good golf, eliminating the errors, and making the clutch putts, which I'm not bad at and neither is Ian.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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