Q. Can you just run through the shots you played on 17 and 18?
KEVIN SUTHERLAND: We both hit good drives in the fairway. I wanted to get up closer to the green; so I went ahead and hit a 3-wood, I think I had about 70 yards. Then he hit probably a wedge, I would guess, maybe a 9-iron. He had about a 20-footer and I had hit it about 12 feet. We were both on exactly the same line and he hit a good putt. It just didn't break. I hit a good putt, too. I thought for a second it wasn't going to break; it just was hanging and it kind of crawled in the left edge, the high side. So I got the help with a little bit of a read from his putt and it definitely helped.
In the last hole, we both hit good drives. I hit a 7-iron from like 152, I believe it was. It was uphill into the wind, so I hit a good 7-iron. I hit about, I would guess, ten feet behind the hole. He was probably about 15 yards longer than I was. I don't know what he hit, maybe an 8-iron, I don't know. Maybe a 9-iron. And it sucked back towards the front edge of the green and he had quite a long putt and he rolled it past the hole, and then I made my putt. So that, obviously, goes without saying that that was the biggest putt of the day for me, on 18.
We played the first hole, we both hit good drives. I came up a little short on my first shot with an 8-iron. I had like 145, came up short of the pin and actually I was on the fringe, but I was probably 25, 30 feet from the hole. He hit his shot in the middle of the green and he hit a great putt. When he was three feet from the hole, I thought he made it, and it just, for whatever reason, it just stayed on the high side and didn't break. That's kind of the way it goes sometimes for you. I hit a good putt.
Then we both hit good drives on 2. He hit it long and left, and I hit a 3-wood to 20 feet. But he hit a poor chip and he actually had to putt before I did for birdie and he missed it; so I just had to lag it down to a tap and win the match.
JOAN vT ALEXANDER: Did you use much of his line?
KEVIN SUTHERLAND: We had exactly the same line. I was more concerned about speed, at that point, than I was line. You know, if it would have gone in, that would have been great, but the 2-putt was fine with me.
Q. Wouldn't you rather win a match with an eagle?
KEVIN SUTHERLAND: Well, I would agree with you, but I'll take a birdie when that's all you need.
Q. You guys play a lot of stroke-play out here. What's it like playing match-play? Do you like this format?
KEVIN SUTHERLAND: I love playing match-play, I really do. I hate to say it, I'm not used to it. I've only played -- this is only my second match as a professional, in match-play. You know, obviously when you're an amateur, you play a lot of match-play. Our Nor Cal is match-play, the State Am is match play, the Junior Am is match play. There's so many amateur tournaments that are match-play. You actually -- you almost get used to it as an amateur, but when you turn professional, you don't play it anymore. I kind of miss it a little bit. It's a lot of fun.
Q. Where else did you play match-play as a pro?
KEVIN SUTHERLAND: Last year. I only played one match and I lost to Vijay last year.
Q. Any theory on why the trifecta of Top 3 seeds are all gone?
KEVIN SUTHERLAND: I don't. I don't know. I'm sure there's some people not too happy about that. (Laughs). I think that's probably the truth.
Q. Well, you knock off the No. 3 seed on the day when the 1 and 2 get knocked off; this is like an afterthought.
KEVIN SUTHERLAND: Exactly. I didn't do anything. (Laughter.)
I'm joking, because David Duval is a great player. Obviously, starting the match, I was the underdog. On any given day, anybody can beat anybody, and I think that's been proven in this tournament. You know, no matter who you're playing, you're going to have to play really well. And so it just depends. I can't explain why the Top 3 seeds all lost today, though. There's a lot of depth, I guess, would be the reason for it.
Q. What were your expectations coming? Obviously you're hoping to win.
KEVIN SUTHERLAND: Absolutely. I don't think I would have played if I didn't think I could win. There's no reason to. I really felt like could I win. I knew that I had to play good, and I knew David was going to play good, but I just, you know, I felt like I could win. I'm not -- you know, if you play the match ten times, he's probably going to beat me more times than I would beat him, but I still think I've got a chance.
Q. Regardless of whether the conditions or greens and all that are the same for everybody on match-play --?
KEVIN SUTHERLAND: Well, that's true. You know, today I just happened to make a couple of big putts at the end of the round, and that kind of kept the match going, and David had a couple of putts that didn't go in and that was the difference in our match. You know, we were kind of going -- I kind of got off to a good start. He played good in the middle and I kind of finished -- I finished well. But that's kind of the way our match went. You know, the difference in winning and losing in match-play can be very small. Today, it was -- I was on the right side of that.
Q. What do you know about Paul McGinley?
KEVIN SUTHERLAND: I know who he is. I've met him, but I don't know much about him, to be honest with you. I've never played with him before. And obviously, he's a very good player. Like today, I'm looking forward to playing tomorrow.
Q. Have you ever gone out drinking with him?
KEVIN SUTHERLAND: No. (Laughs).
Q. Did you feel like you had the momentum going into the first extra hole after making the two birdies?
KEVIN SUTHERLAND: I think maybe a little bit. But obviously, I had a little bit of momentum going. But momentum can go pretty fast the other direction.
Q. What was it like in your match, you had him down, and then the back nine he came back and had you on the ropes.
KEVIN SUTHERLAND: He definitely did.
Q. Is that worse than if you had just been down the whole match?
KEVIN SUTHERLAND: I think so. I think it's a little discouraging when you're up two and all of a sudden you're, what, six holes later -- actually he birdied 7 to go -- I was 1-up and I was 1-up until 12, and then he running off three holes in a row.
So, you know, I was ahead in the match and then three holes later, I'm 2-down with four to play; it's not looking too good. So that was a little discouraging. I think that's why when I was on 16, I was hard on myself a little bit to be a little down and I kind of regrouped myself just in time. I kind of said, "Why am I acting like this? I've still got a chance. It doesn't hurt to try."
Q. Can you describe what he did on 12, 13, 14?
KEVIN SUTHERLAND: I had basically a 3-footer for birdie on 12 and he rolled in a 25-footer for eagle. So, you know, you don't -- you don't like losing holes but you lose eagles, that's not so hard to take.
Next hole, he hit it to a tap-in. It was a gimmee. And I didn't make birdie.
The par 3, 14, he hit on the green and I was just short and I chipped it up to about four feet. He actually hit a poor lag putt about five feet and I missed mine. So I went 2-down with four to play. But 17, 18 kind of brought it back.
JOAN vT ALEXANDER: Thank you, Kevin. Play well tomorrow.
End of FastScripts....
