WGC DELL TECHNOLOGIES MATCH PLAY

March 25, 2021

Matt Kuchar

Austin Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Did you ever feel like you had the momentum in that match?

MATT KUCHAR: There was certainly a whole lot of ebb and flow. There was never, I don't think either Louis or I felt totally comfortable out there today. I think conditions were hard. Each of us had some struggles we were battling with.

But each -- the nature of the game in golf is how different things can get. Each of us played some great holes, some brilliant holes by making a good number of birdies, but we also had a good number of bogeys and others.

Just to summarize match play, we halved the 11th with double bogeys. Both put it in the water, I had to get up-and-down for double bogey. It's a crazy game that way. But hat's off to the guys that set up the course, they set it up in a way where match play you attack things a little bit differently, and a few of those pin locations sometimes you're willing to take a little more risk, and some of those added up to some numbers that I'm not used to shooting.

Q. I'm guessing you haven't halved a hole with a double bogey in a long time?

MATT KUCHAR: It had been a very long time. That's the unique thing about this game and certainly about match play.

Q. When you look how you had to play the last two days, both matches have been close. Is it more taxing because it's match play as opposed to if you just played two days of stroke play?

MATT KUCHAR: I think match play without a doubt. Even the easier wins, every hole has a higher level of intensity than stroke play. Every hole feels like it's last hole of the tournament. And so the level of intensity is always much higher and you always go back to the room ready to have a good night's rest for sure.

Q. You've beaten two incredibly strong match play golfers the last two days but the reward of being in the group of death is you have Kevin Kisner tomorrow. Is it a little strange that as well as you've done, you still have to beat the defending champ, two-time finalist?

MATT KUCHAR: I was always a fan of just the old single elimination, and the way I have tried to look at this pool play as if you don't lose, you keep moving on. And regardless of whether this is pool play or single elimination, tomorrow is without a doubt for Kevin and I a single-elimination match, you've got to win it to move on. Listen, I know I've got a tough match tomorrow against Kevin, he's a really steady, really solid player, great match play player, won't give any holes away, and he's a guy if he ever misses a green, you can count on him to get the ball up-and-down and still be in the hole.

Q. You've always been really good at this format, some struggles coming into this. Is it the kind of thing that gets you going a little bit to have this kind of format and can you use it as a springboard in any way?

MATT KUCHAR: I sure hope so, but listen, I don't think just by changing the format my game's going to change. I put in a lot of work with my coach Chris O'Connell and feel like we have turned the corner and are on to some good things. So I certainly will take the quality of golf shots I've hit with me, but some of the wins as well, to beat both JT and Louis are some great wins and certainly take a lot of confidence from those.

Q. You've had a chance to play alongside Kisner before and against him in this event; how would you characterize him as a match play player?

MATT KUCHAR: Just match play, stroke play, he's a tough competitor. He's not going to ever give anything away. He's a grinder, a bulldog, he's a guy that's going to always be in every hole. Shoot, certainly when you're on a team you love having a guy like that on your team, knowing that that guy's giving you everything he's got on every hole.