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WGC DELL TECHNOLOGIES MATCH PLAY

March 28, 2019

Henrik Stenson

Austin, Texas

Q. Congratulations, another win for you. A really good start. You won three of the first four holes. He never got closer than two. Your thoughts on how you played the match today?
HENRIK STENSON: Yeah, I played okay. It's difficult out there. You've got a course where the standard is quite high. It's undulated greens and it's blowing a good two club a wind. It's difficult to get it right. A lot of times with the shorter clubs it's probably even harder to get the yardages right, than with some longer irons.

Difficult conditions. I played pretty solid and didn't give much for free, even though I tried on one or two occasions. I kept it together nicely, and he gave me one or two easy holes, and other than that I thought I had it under control most of the day.

Q. Two wins in two days, you know if you win tomorrow you advance to Saturday and the weekend. You're going to play Jim Furyk tomorrow. You 40-something-year-olds are playing some pretty good golf these days, aren't you?
HENRIK STENSON: Yeah, we're trying to keep up with the older guys. I'm only 43 next week, so I feel like a young pup.

We knew it was going to be tough matches in this group and up against Jim tomorrow. So just got to regroup and go out with a fresh mindset to try and get the points tomorrow.

Q. You never trailed in this match. What did you do so well against Jason Day today?
HENRIK STENSON: I don't think I gave him too much for free today. He gave me one or two holes by making some mistakes. I played fairly solid, kept the ball in play even though I was a bit further back from him on a few holes. Solid iron play. And I was tidy around the greens, and cleaned up with a few good putts. So all in all pleased with the day.

Q. Jason Day, Phil Mickelson and Jim Furyk in what you were calling the group of death but you're still undefeated and your fate in your own hands. What do you focus on tomorrow as you try to advance?
HENRIK STENSON: Just go out and have another good match. You have to regroup. It's a new day, new opponents. What's done is done. It's going to be a tough one. He's a tough opponent in match play or in any play. And he doesn't give away anything for free, that's for sure. So I've got to go out and play solid tomorrow if I want to advance.

Q. You took control from start. What are your thoughts on today?
HENRIK STENSON: Yeah, I mean it's a tricky golf course. The wind just started to kick up when we kind of left the first hole and Jason ended up in trouble. I was actually more in trouble off the tee, and then he put himself in trouble and I ended up winning the hole, or got the hole conceded with about a six foot par-putt.

Got off to a good start again getting the first hole and then I pitched in from 25 yards, 20 yards on the second to win that one. So I got off to a flier, 3-up after 4. And then Jason won 6, and I had a good chance to win 7. And it was like a little back and forth.

And then not much going on until the 10th. I had a really good second shot there and hit it to about two feet for birdie. Went to 3-up.

A key moment in the match on 12. Jason hit a bomb of a drive and it landed on the road, I think. And he was going with a sand iron on a par 5, which is not normal. And I was in a fairway bunker, got it short of the green, had a good putt, pitch, and made about a seven or eight-footer for birdie to halve. And that was kind of to not let him get any closer, and then he conceded the next hole after being in trouble there.

So after winning 13 going 4-up, I felt like I was pretty much in control, even though I left myself a little test to close out the match on is 15.

Q. Jason has had some back issues this week. Did it appear to may be struggling today?
HENRIK STENSON: Well, if you're hitting driver, sand iron on a par 5 it doesn't seem like you -- it looked like he could go after it pretty good. I don't know how he feels and if he's had issues again. I know his back is a bit fragile at times and he's had issues in the past, but he didn't complain. Obviously in match play you're not going to go and complain to your opponent if you're hurt. But if he is struggling, I hope he can get it sorted as soon as possible.

Q. (Inaudible) what's your mentality after getting off to a good start?
HENRIK STENSON: Well, it's more keep on playing the course, keep on hitting the shots that you want to hit. At times you might pull back a little bit. I mean, you don't want to give away anything easy. Once you manage to get a hold of a match, sometimes it's about controlling it and not giving anything for free. Make the other guy really work hard to win holes. And I feel like I done that both today and yesterday in not giving away too much. So just regroup and try to do the same tomorrow. It's going to be a match against Jim for whoever is going through, most likely, right.

Q. Your thoughts on that matchup?
HENRIK STENSON: It's going to be a tough one again. Jim, I don't think he's given away an easy bogey since 1994 or something. So he's a gritty match player, and someone that's always going to be tough to be up against. Yeah, I need to go out and play a solid round tomorrow, if I want to beat him.

Q. Why are the Europeans doing so well in match play?
HENRIK STENSON: I guess we play it a bit more growing up, potentially. I don't know. I don't have -- I don't have a great answer. I saw, obviously, yesterday, that the majority of the Ryder Cup team won their matches yesterday. And we know the success we've had in the Ryder Cup over the years. Yeah, it's obviously a format that we enjoy. I can't put my finger on exactly why, but don't jinx it now.

Q. It's not like diet, conditioning, better looking?
HENRIK STENSON: It's most likely down better looking. Possibly a little bit on the conditioning side, but better looking, I think we'll put it down to that.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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