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MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 5, 2018

Matt Kuchar

Augusta, Georgia

THE MODERATOR: I'd like to welcome to the interview room Matt Kuchar. Matt carded a 4‑under 68 today, he had six birdies, including two in a row on 15 and 16 and added four more an 8, 10, 13 and 18. This is Matt's 12th Masters appearance. His best finish came in 2012 with a tie for third.
Matt, tell us a little bit about your day.
MATT KUCHAR: So exciting to be at the Masters, so exciting. Every year I come looking forward to this week and every year you get such a buzz on the driving range, in the practice rounds, that you can't wait for golf to get going, and finally Thursday comes around.
I was just really excited to get the round going. Had some early nerves, but played some good holes early. Actually got pretty fortunate on the fourth hole to walk away with bogey. Made about a 15‑footer for bogey, and I felt like that kind of made things okay. I was staring a double‑bogey in the face and thought, this is going to be a rotten beginning to my Masters.
But to make that putt, I thought, I'm still in it. Haven't kind of ruined a round. Played some pretty good golf, particularly from 8 in. I played really well from the eighth hole in.

Q. Is it safe to say that you and the 16th hole have kind of kissed and made up?
MATT KUCHAR: Yes, for sure. I think the hole's a fantastic hole. I don't know if you call it risk/reward, but the shot value there, a good shot sometimes, a lot of times, turns out great. A bad shot is really penalized on 16.
I've hit some average to bad shots. It's been a hard hole for me playing a left‑to‑right shot, or it's easy for the ball to just creep too far right and be in trouble.
My last two rounds, competitive rounds, have been awfully special, with a hole‑in‑one, and then just over two feet today. It was looking like it might be another hole‑in‑one as it was working its way down the hill.

Q. And also, on 18, you guys really took a little bit of time reading that. What did you see? Was there any hesitation on that read?
MATT KUCHAR: My caddie, John Wood, and I, I bring him in a handful of times during the round, and he's done great with the‑‑ I don't remember what you call the‑‑ how you read it with your feet, and get a sense of how much slope and break there may be.
He's been great. If I bring him in a half dozen times during the round, we almost are on the exact same page. This was one of the few times we weren't on the same page. He had it fairly straight to a right‑edge putt, and I saw a decent amount of break. I also had a look at Rickie's coming up; I know we were on opposite sides of the hole, but his working up towards the hole tailed off pretty good at the end. I had him reread it, and we got on the same page with a little more break and hit a great putt. I heard that guys were missing it low all day, and I feel awfully glad to have made that and gotten in at 4‑under.

Q. A lot of times you can really sense the momentum changing here, especially in those last six holes of yours. At what point did you feel like, hey, I've really got the ball rolling right now?
MATT KUCHAR: You're always on edge. There are places here you can be a little bit aggressive, but you're always on edge, when it's a fine line between a shot being great and a shot being terrible.
And so, I don't know that you ever sense that, hey, I got it, let's keep firing at pins. Every shot you try to execute the best you can. You try to take as much trouble out of play that you can. You try to make sure you leave yourself either a chance for birdie or at least a place where you know you can get up‑and‑down for par.
So this course, it's never one where you feel all that comfortable or confident saying that, you know, I've got it figured out, I've got it, it's my day. Just always a bit on edge.

Q. Is it true that you played some tennis with the family this morning? And if so, is that a usual routine before a round of golf like this?
MATT KUCHAR: We did play some tennis. It is not unusual. It is not an everyday routine.
We found our way out to the tennis court. My boys are really getting into the game and my wife and I are into it. Anyway, to spend a little extra time with the family, take your mind off the game a little bit. It's a way that I loosen up, as well. It's certainly not a thing that's part of my daily routine, but a couple times a week, we really enjoy the game and it's just kind of a fun family activity for us.

Q. You talked about how this course, you can never really feel confident, but given the way you've played the last couple weeks coming into this, maybe this is something that you not necessarily could have seen coming, but you had a pretty good feeling coming into this?
MATT KUCHAR: The last two weeks have been good, and certainly that helps the confidence. Golf is a fickle game, and I think playing good golf breeds more good golf. I've felt good the last few weeks and came in looking forward to this week.
You always hope to be able to peak at the right times; this being the right time, but one of those things, it's hard to control. I certainly was awfully glad to kind of right the ship from being 2‑over par through seven holes and end up posting a good round of golf.

Q. Given Spieth's kind of amazing record here in now his fifth year, do you feel like he is going to be a guy you're going to have to contend with come Sunday?
MATT KUCHAR: Absolutely. Absolutely. With the round he's posted, the quality of golfer he is, he's on some similar form. Played great last week in Houston. You can just kind of see good things, good things happening, and particularly for him around here, just his record's spectacular around here. It's quite amazing.
MODERATOR: Thank you very much, Matt. Good luck tomorrow.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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