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THE PRESIDENTS CUP

December 12, 2019

Melbourne, Australia

THE MODERATOR: Ladies and gentlemen, we're joined by two members of the U.S. Team, Matt Kuchar and Tony Finau.

Tony, your take on the day and obviously 4-1 right now, but obviously still plenty of time to get it turned around. Your thoughts than how the day went?

TONY FINAU: A lot of golf to be played. One fourball match underway, and we know there's a lot of golf in front of us. Internationals played some great golf today and they are leading 4-1. We are down three points but there's so many points to be had, so many points to be won, so we are already looking ahead to tomorrow and trying to put our best squad together to try and rack up some points tomorrow.

They played a great -- they had a great day, all of them, from what it sounds like. They got off to a great start and good thing for us, there's a lot of matches and a lot of golf to be played.

THE MODERATOR: Heading into foursomes where you've had a solid record in the past, are you looking forward to getting out there and tackling this golf course?

MATT KUCHAR: Yeah, I know I don't have a lot to offer here, as I did not play. But I think I was chosen to come in today.

TONY FINAU: (Laughing).

MATT KUCHAR: Because I was late to a team meeting tonight. Pretty sure that's why you guys are seeing me at the moment.

But I will say, amazing to watch the guys coming in. To be out there as a teammate, as a spectator, always frustrating to not be out there competing, but interesting to kind of learn from watching. Almost like some of the TV commentators. You kind of get to see a bit of the course in a different way than you would if you were actually out there playing.

It was interesting to be on that side, watching this course. It's such a unique course, Royal Melbourne. So for Rick and I to be out there seeing how to play it from a different perspective, just from a fan's perspective, almost a media-type of perspective, was neat.

But then to see the guys come in, and I've been on a lot of teams where I've seen guys come in after results they weren't happy with, and show a lot of frustration as they come in in the locker room. Didn't see any of that. Was amazed to see the positive energy that this team has, and I think Tiger picked a bunch of guys that knew were good team room guys.

I was really impressed with the team room after a 4-1 result today. It was a great vibe, even after that result. That goes a long way, those positive feelings, those positive vibes. We saw a lot of good energy in the team room and I think that goes a long way.

Q. The Internationals got off to a hot start. Do you pay attention to other matches, what's happening?
TONY FINAU: Yeah, I don't think intently. I'm not looking for the scoreboard but it's hard to miss it when you're out there. There's enough scoreboards to when I look at it, I notice where some of the matches are.

For the most part, you try and stay in your lane as a player and just focus on your match and trying to get your point. I learned that last year at The Ryder Cup, but today, as far as today goes, I did notice that they must have got off to a lot of birdies on the International side. We faced that with Byeonghun An and Adam Scott, DeChambeau and I, so they definitely rallied right away right out of the gate.

But we didn't expect anything less. We know that they came here to play, and so did we. So we've got three days ahead of us.

Q. There's a bit of colorful heckling coming from the crowd at times today. How do you personally deal with things like that, because some can be personal at times. How do you deal with that?
MATT KUCHAR: I think what the Fanatics bring is great fun and energy. I think any time you get so many people at an event, and certainly here there's a lot of passion between the countries, between the teams, and it's great to see.

But I also saw a whole lot of respect from the fans. I thought well done by the fans. It was respectful on both sides. To have the singsongs, it's really good fun. It's a great environment.

TONY FINAU: Yeah, I thought the vibe was great out there. There's some things that I heard that maybe weren't great but there weren't many disrespectful things. Nothing crazy and the energy was great. It's definitely an international crowd and we expected that. We're playing away from home.

Q. You were at the first tee when Patrick Reed came out. What was your reaction to the boos and the cat calls that he received?
MATT KUCHAR: My reaction was, it's going to fire Patrick up. Listen, you kind of almost thought, "Man, I can't wait to see what Patrick does today." I think he really enjoys that. I saw that as being a thing where, man, this is going to get Patrick in the state he wants to be in; he needs to be in; plays better in that state.

When I heard it, I thought, "Can't wait to see how he does. This is his element."

THE MODERATOR: Thank you so much.

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