WGC DELL TECHNOLOGIES MATCH PLAY

March 27, 2021

Matt Kuchar

Austin Country Club

Flash Interview

Q. Taking down two great players. Assess the day.

MATT KUCHAR: Listen, anybody that's in this field is a great player. But you know when the guys have gotten out of the pool play, you know they're playing really strong, really solid golf, and you know it's going to take really high quality golf to keep advancing. To beat Jordan this morning, I don't think I led until the 18th hole. And then Brian is just one of those cagey bulldogs, a lot like Kevin Kisner earlier in the week, that it was going to take a great performance by me and thankfully I had another strong afternoon.

Q. When you were down early, mentally, to Jordan, how did you kind of, be able to fight your way back there a little bit and, as you say, maybe not had your best stuff early on, but to be able to fight back to win that match?

MATT KUCHAR: Yeah, it was an interesting match. He birdied the first two and I birdied 3 and 4 to square it up. Then he got the lead again and from there it was quite a fight and I just kind of had to hang on the best I could knowing that at any time a putt may drop for me, something may go my way and thankfully I had a couple of those happen at the end. And I really, I got the best of the break on 18. I think my ball off the tee hit the down slope and made it further up the hill where I had a much easier chip than he did. I think he probably landed on the flat and he had a tough chip and so I was pretty fortunate to get in that situation and end up with just a 5-footer to win the match.

Q. Did you say that you had a quick little session in between matches with the driver?

MATT KUCHAR: I did. I had 30 minutes between sessions. I had to grab some lunch, got out with Chris O'Connell. I wasn't thrilled with how I was driving it, and thankfully he's been doing some great work and we have made a great team for, golly, it's 15-ish years now, so he was able to kind of say the right thing and get the driver clicking again and I felt awfully good this afternoon.

Q. Did you feel like the momentum just kind of building for you? As you said the play hadn't been great coming in here but all it takes is just that little bit of spark maybe.

MATT KUCHAR: Certainly golf's a funny game and I think there are times as a professional where you can feel so far away, you think, golly, I don't have it. I'm racking my brain trying to find it, but then you plug in the right ingredient, the right key, and then all of a sudden it snaps back, and thankfully it's been working and I'm seeing progression. It's just finally now it's clicked and it's a lot more fun this way, I assure you.

Q. Was it a little frustrating for you the last maybe few months?

MATT KUCHAR: Yeah, for sure. Listen, I had had a number of years where I didn't miss many cuts and then to have the last six months pack up more Fridays. It's no fun packing up Fridays. I was working hard, doing all the things that I thought I needed to do to get better and not seeing the improvement, and that's a tough thing when you're putting in time and not seeing results. But thankfully stayed the course and finally got things clicking again.

Q. How are you physically, mentally right now? Obviously we're going into a match 6 tomorrow morning.

MATT KUCHAR: I can't tell you how good I feel right now. I feel like I'm still floating. Listen, there's a high level of intensity and to come out on top, to make a 10-footer on the last to win the match, listen, I feel incredible. Certainly a little easier tonight being done kind of 5 o'clock than it was last night being done after 7. So get a full night's rest and hopefully a couple good matches tomorrow.