WGC DELL TECHNOLOGIES MATCH PLAY

March 24, 2022

Richard Bland

Austin Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Overall takeaways of the match today?

RICHARD BLAND: Yeah, it's a tough game. I got out early, got my neck in front and even 4-up the next sort of two or three holes are crucial. If Talor makes birdie, birdies 9, birdies 11, 2-up, seven to play, it's game on.

And as I said to the other guys, I didn't really feel like I did a huge amount wrong. 15, I think that was my only dropped shot of the day. He made a good birdie at 14 and, yeah, the birdie at 17 was huge.

Q. Take me through that. That obviously was crucial.

RICHARD BLAND: Yeah, I kind of -- Talor had the honor, which was kind of not too bad actually, I could kind of see what sort of shot he's hitting. The wind was up and it didn't really affect his ball too much.

Then the wind dropped and my caddie was kind of looking at the wind and he was sort of 10, 15 yards in front of us and I said, Greg, just get out of the way, I want to hit this. Because the wind's down and then I don't have to think about it too much. And I was, All right, just get out of the way, you know, let me hit this. And I hit a good shot, probably 12, 15 feet just past the hole and yeah, managed to roll it in.

Then yeah, trying to 2-putt downhill, downwind from eight feet and even that, you know, it's not easy. You got to set the ball off and then just gathers momentum and it goes 18 inches by. Of course Talor is going to want to see it, but fortunately not to be and I closed it out.

Q. What's your comfort level in a match like tomorrow with Westie?

RICHARD BLAND: There's a lot to play for, certainly for me. If I can beat Lee, then depending on what happens with -- I take it Lee beat Bryson, did he?

Q. He did.

RICHARD BLAND: Right, okay. So if Bryson can beat Talor, and I can beat Lee then I'm through. But, you know, I just got to try and take care of Lee. But there's no easy game, doesn't matter, Lee's still a class act, always has been, always will be, but, yeah, it should be good fun.