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WGC DELL TECHNOLOGIES MATCH PLAY

March 30, 2019

Lucas Bjerregaard

Austin, Texas

NEIL AHERN: Lucas Bjerregaard, the Tiger tamer. How does that sound?

LUCAS BJERREGAARD: Yeah, I'm not sure you can quite call me that yet. But it's been a pretty incredible day. Happy to sit here in front of you now. It's been emotional, that's for sure.

NEIL AHERN: You mentioned that Tiger Woods was your hero growing up, you read books about him. It didn't feel like you showed any nerves out there or were overwhelmed in any way.

LUCAS BJERREGAARD: I actually felt all right. And I can't really explain why, I felt more nervous in the morning match against Henrik. Maybe just because there's so many people and I'm feeling a bit tired. I don't really know. I can't really explain it, but actually felt all right. And it was just -- it was an incredible experience for me to play with him and see what he plays in front of every day.

NEIL AHERN: You had a little problem there at the end there, you had to go and pick up your one-year-old after coming off the green to beat Tiger Woods.

LUCAS BJERREGAARD: Yeah, my fiancÃ©e had to run off, and get the little one. Kept the krech (phonetic) open another half hour for our sake. She's the only one in the krech this week. It's great to have them here, as well, they've been out for a few weeks and we're playing the next couple of weeks, as well. And it's great to have them. I can't wait to go home and see her now.

Q. Krech, what is that?
LUCAS BJERREGAARD: Childcare.

Q. Of all the things you did, Lucas, on the back nine, what do you consider the most important putt you holed and why?
LUCAS BJERREGAARD: 16 and 17 are both up there, but I think 17, because I knew he wasn't going to miss his. So I knew that was -- that had to go in. Yeah, and it's nice, I putted really well against Henrik this morning. And couldn't really get it going on the front nine against Tiger, didn't really putt well, the speed was a little bit off, missed a couple of short ones. And then, yeah, on the back nine I got into the rhythm of things a bit more and hit some really nice putts. And those two are up there with some of the best.

Q. You had the same line as Tiger on 16, right? How much has that helped you and how critical do you think that putt was for today?
LUCAS BJERREGAARD: Yeah, it definitely helped. I think I got more from the speed, seeing the speed of his putt and it came up short, and I actually thought that was getting a bit closer. So I thought maybe it wasn't quite as fast as it may have looked. But, yeah, just pulled it off perfectly.

Q. And what went through your mind on your putts on 18?
LUCAS BJERREGAARD: I've been struggling a little bit today with right-to-left putts, actually. I've been hitting them left to right a lot better. And that one there was just a little bit uncomfortable because it was so quick. I didn't want to ram it too hard and put it outside of Tiger. So I was trying to go with a high line and a bit soft pace, and it just broke more than I thought.

Q. With Tiger in the field this week, you knew there might be a possibility that you would face him at some point. Did you give any thought to that at any point before earlier this afternoon that you could play him in a match?
LUCAS BJERREGAARD: Yeah, I did last night. But then again, I didn't get ahead of myself. I knew I had to beat Henrik first and I knew he wasn't going to miss many fairways or greens. I knew he was going to play well. I couldn't afford to look at who I was going to play in the next round because I knew the match against Henrik was going to be so tough.

But, yeah, I definitely noticed it last night, who I could potentially play against in the next round.

Q. When you were growing up did you have thoughts of 10, 11 years old that you were playing against Tiger in a match?
LUCAS BJERREGAARD: Yeah, I dreamt about it. I didn't think it was ever going to come true. But I've definitely seen myself on the practice putting green when I was ten years old making a putt to beat him or in a major or something like that. I won't lie. But, yeah, you know, obviously didn't know if it was ever going to come true. And just to get to play with him today was an experience for me.

Q. What did you think wasn't going to come true, playing against him or beating him?
LUCAS BJERREGAARD: Both. And definitely the latter.

Q. I'm just curious, surely there was an opener or two, but was Mexico the first time you'd been in the same tournament with him?
LUCAS BJERREGAARD: No, I played Chambers Bay and maybe once more, but, yeah, not many.

Q. You never met him until --
LUCAS BJERREGAARD: No, I've never met him before.

Q. First tee?
LUCAS BJERREGAARD: Yeah.

Q. How did that go?
LUCAS BJERREGAARD: Oh, actually I went over, when he was warming up, I went over and introduced myself on the driving range. He was really nice all day. Obviously in match play you don't really speak a lot because obviously you want to beat the other guy. But, yeah, he was really nice all day.

Q. What was it about those last three putts that just, it just seemed like everything just came together at the right time? Was there something you saw different from the other holes or was it just happened to be fate?
LUCAS BJERREGAARD: I wish I knew. I'd make a whole lot more putts. Yeah, it probably is. I can't tell you, it's just -- obviously it helped to see Tiger's on 16. And then the putt on 17 was just a really good putt. So, yeah, I've been putting -- I've been putting quite nice this week, and it's something I worked on quite a lot. Normally it's something I struggle with quite a bit. And I had a few good chances on 14 and is 15 to get a couple back on Tiger and just missed them. Hit two great putts that just didn't go in. Yeah, I was running out of time and luckily I made a couple before I finished.

Q. I noticed a couple of times on the back nine when you were in and Tiger had a putt usually to halve or to win the hole, you never watched him, head down, especially on 17. Head away on 11. And you were watching on 18. Was that anything conscious or what was going on there?
LUCAS BJERREGAARD: No, you're right, there's a couple where I didn't watch. Because normally you can hear from the crowd if it goes in or not. Yeah, I just felt -- obviously I felt the nerves a bit and knew I was up against him so I can't really tell you why I did it.

Q. You played here in a Western Junior tournament, here, in Austin a long time ago?
LUCAS BJERREGAARD: Yes.

Q. You went to the UT campus and they tried to recruit you. How close did you come to going here?
LUCAS BJERREGAARD: Yeah, I really liked it. The campus was impressive, very impressive. Obviously a great school and a great team. So it was definitely up there with my last three or four schools, that's for sure.

Q. And you kind of wish you'd gone now, because they'd be rooting for you tomorrow?
LUCAS BJERREGAARD: Probably it would help (laughter).

Yeah, I decided not to go to college. It would have been fun and it could have been good in a lot of ways, I'm sure. But it's worked out all right now, yeah.

Q. Given all the craziness that was out there today with the galleries, the huge galleries following Tiger, how did you shut it out and be able to, I guess, make the run on the back nine and put the pressure on him to make the hole on 18?
LUCAS BJERREGAARD: I didn't actually shut it out. I really enjoyed it. I tried to enjoy it because I knew it was going to be crazy and I heard the stories from top players that when you play with him it's different than anything. And it definitely was. But I actually tried to take it in and not try to close it out. And that worked pretty well. I enjoyed all the yelling and stuff. And there was a few guys making fun of my name, which was all right (laughter).

So it was really, really -- you know, I'm probably glad I don't play under those conditions every time I play because it's very, very different to anything I've experienced. But it was really -- it was actually quite enjoyable.

Q. I have to ask, what was either the worst or the best pronunciation of your name you heard today? Your surname, to be clear.
LUCAS BJERREGAARD: I've heard, yeah, "Beer garden" and all sort -- like people lifting their beer up in the air and going, "This is you, man." I've heard all sorts of things, especially this afternoon, where I think they've had a few of them. (Laughter).

Yeah, it was surprisingly a lot of support for me out there. It wasn't just Tiger's name that was yelled, which was a little surprising but really nice, actually.

Q. Just wanted to ask you how often you see Thomas and just how close you are with him?
LUCAS BJERREGAARD: Bjorn? I would say I'm quite close with Thomas. And I've learned a lot from him. Probably more than anyone in the game. He knows what he's all about and the last few years he's been very happy to share with me, and we've spent a lot of time together. So he's definitely helped me a lot. He's seen it all. He's played against them all. He's played in all the big events. He knows what it's all about. So I've made sure to ask him quite a bit in the last few years, and he's been nothing but kind to me.

Q. We talked about you finishing strong, but how important was it to you to get the first hole, go 1-up mentally for this match?
LUCAS BJERREGAARD: Yeah, obviously important. You know, against him every hole counts. So he got unlucky there, didn't hit that bad of a shot and got unlucky in a lip of bunker. I hit a pretty good 3-wood. I was kind of hoping it could run down there; it didn't. And then hit a good chip.

Of course it's important. I had a good chance on the second that I missed. And then he turned it up a bit, hit some great shots on 3, 4, 5. Had a good chance to win 6, as well.

It was tough when we were on 5, 6, 7. It wasn't looking great. But I didn't putt great on the first nine, and I knew I've been putting good all week. I was just kind of waiting for it to happen and luckily it did in time.

Q. When you're standing there on 18th green, as he's having the last putt are you already thinking 12, start of the playoff? And what was your reaction to seeing him miss?
LUCAS BJERREGAARD: I'm looking around trying to figure out what hole to play off, I didn't know if it was 12. I didn't know if we were going down the first. Yeah, I wasn't expecting that, that's for sure.

I've said it a couple of times now, it's a shame it had to end that way because it was a really good match. Conditions were tough today and we both threw in a bunch of birdies at it. So it's a shame it had to finish with a bogey. But obviously I'm happy to be standing on the winning side.

NEIL AHERN: Thank you very much. Many congratulations again.

LUCAS BJERREGAARD: Thank you.

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