WGC DELL TECHNOLOGIES MATCH PLAY

March 24, 2021

Jordan Spieth

Austin Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Jordan, in a format like this do you get a little bit more reward because of the instant reward of it all? Instead of playing four rounds and waiting for the result, do you feel like, wow, I got a good result today?

JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, yeah, I mean, I guess you could play somewhat poorly and end up pretty happy at the end of it. But for me, I felt like I played a solid round of golf. I felt like I would have been -- I feel just as good as I would have, had I just shot 4-under the first round of a tournament here, and that's kind of where I was. I'm playing to play the golf course while still making the right decisions if your opponent is in trouble. And I thought today was going to be a really difficult match with Matt, and he didn't make many mistakes, but he didn't make any birdies. He made a really long par putt on a hole, but overall I played well, but he could have easily come out, as in form as he has been.

Q. When you make a big putt in a match as opposed to making a big putt in stroke play, do you get a little bit more momentum?

JORDAN SPIETH: For sure, yeah, definitely. It's not exactly like winning a golf tournament each match, but you get some of these feels. I was pretty calm out there and then, all of a sudden -- I hit a really good putt on 15 to win the match and it just went right by the hole, and then I lost 16, all of a sudden I'm walking up there feeling some significant nerves going to 17. That wouldn't happen in a stroke play Thursday round.

It definitely changes things as you get towards the end of a match, and sometimes just starting out, too.

Q. Is it getting pushed, is that good for you or would you rather win 6 & 5?

JORDAN SPIETH: Well, I would have rather -- if I made every putt inside of six feet today, I'd have been done 30, 45 minutes ago. So that's obviously better, but there's also an advantage to getting pushed a little bit. I would have liked it if it were because we were both making a bunch of birdies. I just kind of made a bunch of pars on the back nine after having a really solid front nine.

I'll look to improve on that tomorrow, but if I could play 14 holes and be on the good side of things the rest of the week, there's no reason for me to want to be pushed any further than that.

Q. What happened on 16?

JORDAN SPIETH: I just tried to hit a perfect shot on a flop shot and it hit the lip and went into the bunker and Matt got up-and-down from a similar shot maybe 10 yards in front of me for birdie. Yeah, I could have -- if I hit it on the green, no matter what, that putt is to win the match. I was kind of playing it maybe too much like stroke play and less like match play there, but it was a difficult shot. I should have hit my second shot further left to have a better angle.

Yeah, I didn't love the fact that I was walking up the hill to 17. I didn't feel that that was necessary in the position I was in on the back nine today.

Q. Patrick mentioned he saw your drive on the 15th green. I don't know if -- do you remember that?

JORDAN SPIETH: But Carlos and Hideki were playing that hole, but maybe the group in front of us was -- yeah, I think it landed on the cart path and then just shot over. There's stairs coming down and my ball came down on the left side of the stairs. And to that back left pin it's a no-brainer, you hit driver up there and you have a 50- to 60-yard pitch right up the green, and that wedge shot is just so difficult to the back left pin. I was in -- no matter where it goes there, you have 80 yards of room, as long as it doesn't toe-drop in the water, any other position is fine. When it hit the cart path it just makes it look crazier, but in reality you're going to drop in the same place, no matter where you hit it. I don't see that strategy changing for me. It was just kind of annoying to have to walk an extra 50 yards to get my ball.

Q. Did you putt pretty well most of the day?

JORDAN SPIETH: No, I didn't putt well at all today. I had a very poor putting day, probably would have lost a couple to the field, strokes gained. Which is normally a good sign for me if that's the case, and still shot a good round, but I had a three- or four-footer after hitting an 8-iron close on 4 and missed it and three-putted 12 from the front, given it was 120 feet, but yeah, I missed a couple putts inside six feet and then didn't make a few different 10 -- I made a couple really important putts. I had a par putt on 6 after kind of getting into a bad position that tied the hole from about eight, nine feet and then I made a really good four-footer on 13 when the momentum was going his way.

Q. Was it kind of nice to -- obviously not hometown here, but you went to school here, playing in front of the fans back here in Austin?

JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, it was great. The support here is as good as Dallas. I mean, it's pretty awesome. It makes me feel like I'm home, even though I only lived here for a year and a half and periodically during that time.

It's awesome. I mean, just Austin, Texas, is such a beautiful place, and it's just fun driving around this area and going to restaurants that I've missed going to and try and spend more time going forward in this city. I love it.