WGC DELL TECHNOLOGIES MATCH PLAY

March 24, 2021

Matt Kuchar

Austin Country Club

Quick Quotes - 2

Q. Just assess your match and the win over Justin Thomas.

MATT KUCHAR: Yeah, thanks. I knew I was in for a tough match, playing Justin Thomas, one of the top players in the world just coming off THE PLAYERS victory. I had my hands full for sure. Not the first match I don't think anyone wanted to see. But thankfully I've gotten to spend some extra time with my coach, Chris O'Connell, we're back in Texas, his neck of the woods, and we've been working really hard the past two months and finally starting to see the fruits of the labor pay off. Started to feel much better yesterday, even Monday into Tuesday, and got at least excited. I know coming into this week my form has not been great, and certainly Justin has been really good.

I had a great day today, and it was fun to be back out there feeling a bit like my old self again.

Q. You got up on him early and kind of, never kind of -- he had a couple holes on the back, but did it help to get up early and keep going --

MATT KUCHAR: Listen, you certainly don't want to get down at all to a guy like that. I was able to birdie the 1st and make a few early and felt like when I got wedges in my hand I was really taking advantage. So yeah, I think Justin gave me one hole there on the 9th hole. He hit a really nice fairway bunker shot that fell back into the hazard, and that was kind of one bogey and I did well to make a handful of birdies and not give away any holes.

Q. Why does match play seem to suit you so well?

MATT KUCHAR: I wish I knew. I wish I knew. I'll tell you, I don't think that much differently than I do on stroke play. I try to play the smart shot, the right shot for each situation. Rarely in match play do I change my strategy. But that head-to-head competition, I don't know if it's kind of, growing up, wanting to be a tennis player, kind of used to that draw and that battle of head-to-head play. But I certainly have enjoyed it, and it's been awfully good to me.

Q. What were the big things that you and Chris were working on?

MATT KUCHAR: We continued to kind of work down the same road. It's mainly trying to become more consistent. My dispersion had gotten to the point where it was -- I had bigger misses than I was used to. I used to be able to kind of roll out of bed and know that I was going to at least hit it in the right direction, be in fairly decent control. But we try to eliminate as much face rotation as possible when we play, just to be as consistent, and it's been working that direction and kind of continues tweaking it to make me do it. That's to say a couple different ways sometimes to make sure it clicks in, and we're starting to go in the right direction now.

Q. A match like this, a big win over Justin, can that kind of help to propel some of that good play forward and even past this week?

MATT KUCHAR: Yeah, geez, beating a guy like Justin Thomas on the form he's on is a great win, but just that finally feeling of hitting the ball solid, being in control of what I'm doing. I got out on the course and felt really good today. To come away with win like this is certainly hopefully a kick starter for me.