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SOLHEIM CUP

September 14, 2019

Catriona Matthew

Gleneagles, Scotland, United Kingdom

THE MODERATOR: It's my pleasure to introduce the European captain, Catriona Matthew. What an exciting day. Obviously some really hard-fought points out there, very tough conditions, but tied 8-8 going into the final day as we were in Ireland. What are your thoughts?

CATRIONA MATTHEW: To be honest, probably as a team slightly chippier tonight. One point this afternoon looked as, though, could potentially go 4-0 or 3-1 was going to look good for us. So, to get into it at the two and a half one, one and a half ended up being good for us.

That fight back from Georgia and Celine was great. Caroline is devastated she missed that putt on 18, but she hit a good putt, maybe just a bit firm. But to be honest, we're really pretty pleased.

THE MODERATOR: Looked nerve-racking out there at times. What was going through your mind when you were sitting by the green?

CATRIONA MATTHEW: It is when you're just standing on the sideline, there's nothing you can do. You're just watching. You can't do anything about what's going on in the course. It's different kind of nerves, I think.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. When did you first get the idea to pair Georgia and Celine together?
CATRIONA MATTHEW: Probably had that for maybe from our practice date when we came here maybe about a month ago. I just thought that might be a good pairing.

They're in a way quite similar personalities. Georgia is great with her long iron. Celine is a great putter. So I felt certainly for foursomes that would be a good pairing.

And after them doing so well in the foursomes we thought we'd put them in fourballs. Celine's been one of the top Europeans in the LPGA this year, makes a lot of birdies on her own ball. So, just felt that could be a good pairing.

Q. That six-hole stretch that Suzann had today, I think starting at 7 to about 12, where does that rank among her stretches in this event?
CATRIONA MATTHEW: I think that was a great stretch. I didn't see all of it, but she obviously, I heard she made a lot of birdies, which in those conditions, just phenomenal to -- it really was. Unless you were out there in it you didn't really realize quite how tough it was.

That front nine especially was very exposed. It was a battle for everyone. And I think everyone played well. It was just a tough day.

Q. And obviously she didn't earn the point this afternoon, but considering how many questions she entered this event having to answer, do you feel like she's answered all those? And what's your confidence level in her going into tomorrow?
CATRIONA MATTHEW: Absolutely. She's certainly had no questions to answer to me. Maybe to the general public or the writing world, but to me I had 100 percent confidence in her right from the start. She's played really well, combining her with Anne van Dam. And I have complete confidence in her going out in singles.

Q. Almost every match this afternoon went down to the 18. What have we learned about these two teams so far that may dictate what is the decisive factor tomorrow?
CATRIONA MATTHEW: I suppose what we learned is there's not much to pick between them. They're pretty fairly balanced. Tomorrow is just going to come down to probably the odd shot, the odd putts, just to get momentum going one way or the other.

So I think it's going to be pretty tight again tomorrow, just like the first two days. And, like I said, it's just going to come down to that one maybe long putt, a chip-in, just a something. You can see the momentum changes sometimes on the leaderboard. I think it will be a small thing that can change it one way or the other.

Q. If you were given 8-8 before this tournament started, would you have been happy with it before Sunday, or how do you hope for more?
CATRIONA MATTHEW: I think as a captain you always hope for more. You always want to be going in ahead. Just in my nature I'd rather be ahead than behind. But tied is good. And as I say we're both probably happier tonight than we were last night. I think that bodes well for tomorrow.

Q. There are some players that haven't contributed with any points yet. I think of my fellow Swedes. How are you tonight motivating the players that have not contributed yet to do it tomorrow?
CATRIONA MATTHEW: To be fair, I really couldn't have told you who hadn't contributed points. It's a team event. You see it as a whole team. At the end of the day, the result on Sunday is how the whole team does, not individual records.

But I'm sure those individual players know and that will motivate them to go out and get a point tomorrow.

Q. We kind of touched on it there but Europe won four times when leading going into singles and once in Ireland when tied at 8-all. How do you rate your chances of winning again tomorrow?
CATRIONA MATTHEW: I would rate them pretty good. Yeah, obviously we won in Ireland. I think the weather is going to be a bit nicer tomorrow, which will be good. But I think we've got a good chance. The first two days you can tell there's not too much to pick between the two teams, so we're going in with a lot of confidence that we can do it tomorrow.

Q. Has Europe's singles lineup been changing throughout the day or did you have a game plan going into the week of where everyone would fall?
CATRIONA MATTHEW: We talked about it and thought about it. But I don't really see many weak players on our team. So it's tough to say, oh, we'll put her here and her here. I think we've got a good lineup out there.

Q. Is there a particular strategy you try to put out the players that you think might be bankers early on to get some points to get some momentum going?
CATRIONA MATTHEW: You can double guess yourself the whole time. The singles lineup, I think, you just have to go -- it's difficult. You can try and say, well, they're going to do this and they're going to do that.

I think you have to trust your players, that your players can go out no matter what position they're in and they can go out and win their point.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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