THE RYDER CUP

September 25, 2021

Patrick Cantlay

Xander Schauffele

Whistling Straits

Press Conference

Saturday Morning Foursomes

JOHN DEVER: Welcome back to the 43rd Ryder Cup.

Q. How are you able to step on the gas pedal?

PATRICK CANTLAY: I think we know every match is going to be a fight. Even if we lose a couple holes, we know that's how it's going to be. And that's how it felt today. It felt like our momentum was going to come, and then it did right in the middle of the round, and that stretch 7 through 11 was awesome.

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, Pat kind of spoke to it. We weren't as sharp or clean as yesterday. Speaking for myself, Pat was pretty much on all day. I put him in some spots to be able to manage, but I think we trust each other. No weird faces. No apologies. We know we're trying our hardest on each shot.

We have each other's back. We spoke early in the round, we need to make a long putt and get some momentum going our way. And we knew we were going to make a charge, and if they weren't able to hold us off, they weren't able to hold us off. So happy to finish up.

Q. The way the match has gone for the team and the performance so far, how much are you enjoying playing and the way things are going?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: It's awesome. It's a different feeling. The fans have been great. They push us through. Our teammates have been great. You know, we were joking about -- we weren't joking, but we were talking about Justin and Jordan, they were sitting down early, and we were looking at the board, and as soon as we saw red, I got fired up, and Pat did as well. We know we always have each other's back. It's a really good feeling.

PATRICK CANTLAY: Xander and I have been playing a bunch of practice rounds, and that's what we talk about all the time. This is what we are looking forward to, being able to perform.

Q. You referenced seeing red numbers come up. Can you speak to the form that your entire team is in this week so far? Doesn't seem like a weak link so far with anybody out of form, and what does that do to the confidence of the guys when there's a roll like that going?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: I just think competition is key. All of us are so competitive, and we look up at that board, and if we see blue, we want to see red, and I think that I can speak for my whole team, and we fire each other up.

And week-in, week-out, we are trying to beat each other's heads in, and all of a sudden we are on the same team and we are equally as competitive. One thing we all have in common is we all hate losing; so there's that.

Q. You talked about yesterday that you don't do a lot of talking on the golf course but you share looks. Is there any point today where you gave a look, and what it was for?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: I mean, several moments. We turned a bad situation on 8 into a good one. Just a look there. There's so many. Any time Pat makes a long putt or hits a really good drive or chips it close, we just give each other a look. We just know that we fire each other up and that we are not always very -- show a lot of physical emotion, I guess. But we are fired up underneath.

Q. Can you describe the lies you were in in the mess on 8 and all the momentum you gained there, how big that one single hole was?

PATRICK CANTLAY: I think we gained a lot of momentum on 7 because we weren't making any birdies or doing anything great, and Xander making that really long putt on 7 got us going. And we didn't want to lose that momentum we had. Both of us didn't hit great tee shots. Xander didn't hit a great tee shot. I didn't hit a great recovery. He was down there in the cabbage and hit an amazing shot to eight or ten feet, whatever it was.

And I told myself, these are the putts you cannot miss because this is a pure momentum putt. I buried it and went to the next hole and buried it again. It was like, now we are off to the races, and you could feel the energy completely flip.

Q. Distance from the cabbage shot?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE: 16 yards, sand wedge.

Q. Is it important do you think to sit, despite the way you played this week, considering tomorrow, considering the walk, whatever? Did you ask for it?

PATRICK CANTLAY: I think our team is so deep and I think it's great to have all the guys firing, because you want to get out there and experience it and play, and that will make you feel even more comfortable for tomorrow.

I think our side has the advantage of maybe having a deeper team, and so I think Strick feels comfortable getting everybody out there to play, and that makes everybody more fresh come Sunday, and I think that's an advantage that our team has.