WGC DELL TECHNOLOGIES MATCH PLAY

March 26, 2021

Kevin Streelman

Austin Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Kevin, took one extra hole but you're advancing to the round of 16. Your thoughts on the day?

KEVIN STREELMAN: Yeah, I feel fortunate. When I made the turn off of 9 and seeing Viktor was down 3, I knew he'd have a tough hill to climb to win. I needed him to win for me to have a chance. Just played steady all day.

I finished nicely, made a nice few putts coming down the stretch to just nudge out Bernd, but I was fortunate. Hit a nice drive on the playoff and then hit it in the exact same spot where I had my putt this morning. I underread it this morning. I played like right edge, so for the playoff putt I gave it a little extra and I knew it would crank at the end, and to see that go in was a good feeling.

Q. When you made the turn and you saw that, your emotions, how did you feel continuing on the back nine, just nothing changed?

KEVIN STREELMAN: Yeah, you know, I'd say I was a little disappointed, but I still needed to focus and try and win the match. There's still FedEx points at play, depending on how many points you make, and last year I missed the TOUR Championship by a couple points.

So in the back of my mind I give it my all on every shot I have out here, and it was fortunate. I had to have a few things go right for me, but kept my head down and made it happen.

Q. After the turn did you glance at any leaderboards to see what Viktor was doing?

KEVIN STREELMAN: Oh, yeah, yeah, at the turn I saw he was down three, so I pretty much thought it was over.

Q. After that did you take any looks?

KEVIN STREELMAN: I tried to, to be honest, and there was so many scores up there I honestly didn't see until I think I got to 17 tee and I saw he was pulling up on 8 tee and I was like -- I looked at Michael, my caddie, I was like, Holy cow. We've got a chance here. Kind of put the nose down and made a huge putt on 17 where Bernd hit it to like two feet, tap-in birdie, and made an 11-footer to push that hole, and then just made two nice two-putts at 17 and 18 to kind of hang on.

Q. I think this is just your second start in this event. Is this a format that you like?

KEVIN STREELMAN: Yeah, I do. I think it's a blast. Anything can happen. There's probably more pressure on the top guys than a guy like me coming in ranked 58th or something. It's like, Hey, I've got nothing to lose, and trying to get in the Masters still, and now we've got a few rounds in front of me that some good things can happen.

If not, fine, I'll go home to my family. But if so, it's going to be fun.

Q. You spoke about the probability of advancing last night was maybe 15 percent and 1 percent after nine holes today. Does it speak to the quirks of this tournament in a good way, that's the kind of things you're into?

KEVIN STREELMAN: I really do. I think it's got to be fun for the fans to watch and the social media buzz and stuff like that. Seems like it's a lot of fun for everybody, and the field is obviously incredible. You know, we're just out there giving it our best and kind of having some laughs.

It's cool, too. We finished and the four of us who just tried to kill each other for three days were sitting down and we all had lunch together, and me and Abe still had the playoff. So it was kind of cool, just golf in general, that like the four of us, we've literally spent the last three days trying to beat each other's heads in on the golf course, sat down and just had some laughs over the golf course, and two of us went to a playoff together.

That's the cool thing about our sport and the mutual respect we have for each other.

Q. What's the lunch conversation like when you're across from a guy that you're about to sudden death duel with?

KEVIN STREELMAN: Bernd was flying up to Dallas to see a buddy and probably have a little fun tonight, too, so just kind of living vicariously through him for the night.

But you know, just lighthearted good stuff. We all respect each other quite a bit and gave it our best.

Q. Real quick on the flipside, a little sympathy for Abe because we talked about your win probability, his was through the roof and now he's going home. I guess that's the flipside of this format.

KEVIN STREELMAN: Yeah, it can happen real quickly. But yeah, I feel fortunate. I'm excited to go rest up and see what I can do.

Q. You mentioned the Masters; do you know where you need to --

KEVIN STREELMAN: I don't. I'd rather you not tell me.

Q. I actually don't know. I didn't know if you knew.

KEVIN STREELMAN: I think I'm 58th in the world. It would take I imagine a top couple spot if not a top spot.

Q. Are you playing next week?

KEVIN STREELMAN: I was going to if I didn't get to the weekend, so I think now I'm going to focus up -- I've got just a minor -- when I play too much golf I get a little tendonitis in my wrist, so it's just flaring a little bit. It's not really affecting shots, but just enough where if I don't get in the Masters, two weeks off would probably get me back to 100 percent. So I think I'll probably not play next week.