WALKER CUP

May 9, 2021

Stuart Wilson

Joe Long

Seminole Golf Club

GB&I Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Obviously not the result you had hoped for. Talk about the team's efforts this week and what this looks like for you.

STUART WILSON: Yeah, yeah, the team has done a great job this weekend. Really it's always -- well, the history books tells us it's always going to be difficult to come in and do well out in America, and I think we would obviously love to have walked away with the win, and at one point now this afternoon after a good session this morning, the guys had enough points on the board to make that happen.

But as we all know, match play can change pretty quickly, and the way the course was set up and how tough the closing stretch is here at Seminole, anything can happen. Obviously 14-12, it's a respectable result coming out here without a doubt. But yeah, we would have loved to have been 14-12 the other way with it.

Q. What was your biggest surprise good or bad from your team this week?

STUART WILSON: You know what, like I say, we've had a really good system over in play in the UK -- well, GB&I -- for a wee while now, so I was captain of the boys -- well, ten of the boys for five years leading up to this, so at least 50 percent of the team we've all worked with and been in teams together before, so there's no surprises with these guys. We know each other very well.

So the team room was electric. Everyone was getting on great and having such a good time. The atmosphere and the support for each other was super. I don't think there was any kind of real surprises. I think the guys probably obviously tried their best and tried to prepare as much as we could, and we've been a little bit lean in golf with our preparation and certainly to come out, a course set up this way, it's quite tricky to go from playing pretty sparse links golf to coming in and playing a setup like this.

The guys did great.

Q. If somebody said to you you'd be 14-12 at the end of these matches, losing by two, and yet statistically your best player didn't win a point, would you be surprised?

STUART WILSON: 14-12, I wouldn't have taken that coming out here. I would have thinking we were coming out here expecting to win, to be honest. I think that's the only mindset you can have.

And I would have been surprised if you'd said that Alex didn't score any points. He's too good a player to blank. It just wasn't his weekend, unfortunately.

Q. Some people over in Scotland want to know what your plans are in two years from now when they go back to the old course, which I believe is where you won your British Amateur?

STUART WILSON: That's correct. Yeah, yeah, back in 2004 was fortunate enough win the amateur on the Old Course. Hopefully I'll get the nod to be captain again. It would be great to do one in Scotland, and then obviously even more special being at the Old Course at Scotland. And like I said in the closing speech there, we'll be ready and waiting without a doubt.

Q. Did the team play with a chip on its shoulder at all this week, just knowing the talk that the Americans had so many more highly ranked players?

STUART WILSON: I wasn't aware there was any of that chatter. I think I've been in situations like this before when there's been teams that have been very strong on paper and the result hasn't gone the way you'd expect.

We know when it comes down to 18 holes' match play anything can happen. There certainly wasn't a chip on the shoulder. The one thing we were kind of using as a little bit of motivation there was a lot of comments about us hanging in well and fighting really hard, whereas I was more of the opinion we were letting the Americans away with it.

That was my mindset on the whole thing. The guys played well and did really well, but I think on their day, the match would have been a totally different result.

Q. To elaborate on playing well and the way that you guys did perform here, can you expand on that a little bit and maybe Joe, too? The things that you did here that were really good and allowed you guys to be in there right until the end?

STUART WILSON: I think, like I said, the preparation, all the practice rounds that we did do, we concentrated on being here, was slightly disrupted by the rainstorm on Thursday and then obviously the illness like I said affected both teams.

We can't play on that too much. But Joe as the amateur champion coming in for one singles match in the last session, that's not what we were kind of hoping for. Obviously he's got 100 percent record, so from one match, so think what he could have done over four matches.

So 14-12, and when you think back like to the guys on day one, three of our guys knocked it in the water at No. 10 and all the matches went up the last and they would have changed the outcome. So that 14-12, it doesn't take much when you look back to actually flip it around to 14-12 the other way, so it was a really close match?

Q. Do you have any thoughts, Joe, on what you saw your teammates do well or what you felt like you did well this afternoon?

JOE LONG: I felt like we all bonded really well throughout the week, like just some great team morale. We had some great advice from Paul McGinley. We just felt great out there. We done some great prep, and we just kind of gave it our all.

There was a few loose shots. The conditions got tougher, especially when I played this afternoon. It was a lot tougher than when I played it on Thursday.

You know, so it was interesting, a lot of us hadn't played that style of golf before.

But I felt like we handled it pretty well. There was just a few loose errors that you can't afford to do around there, but that's golf for you. Under the pressure, and I kind of think that's what the Walker Cup is all about really, that's what makes it exciting.

Q. Joe, how did you find Seminole? Was it as you expected?

JOE LONG: In a way, yeah, it was a lot tougher than I expected, especially as the week went on. It was kind of similar to Augusta, the way -- the firmness of the greens and how quick they were, especially today. They were just so quick and firm. It was really brutal out there.

You know, kind of -- it was what I expected, but it wasn't. But yeah, it's a super test of golf, and it's great for match play, as well.

Q. Joe, does it sting as a player only being able to play one session with your health with such a close margin of defeat?

JOE LONG: Yeah, it does sting, but it's a team event. I felt like I made the right calls for the team, especially yesterday. I wasn't up to full health, and you know, this afternoon I was exhausted come the 18th. So it was definitely the right call by Stu to rest me this morning, as well. It happened on both sides. Obviously I was hit by it a little bit harder which one of those things, and I'm just glad I got to play one match and represent my country, really, which is pretty special, so yeah, it was cool.