WGC DELL TECHNOLOGIES MATCH PLAY

March 24, 2022

Billy Horschel

Austin Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Pretty good at this match play thing aren't you?

BILLY HORSCHEL: Just happened to be, yeah. Today was a good day. I felt like I haven't played anything special the first two matches, just tried to put the pressure on my opponent, especially when I get up in the match. Made a couple bad mistakes, bad 3-putt at 12 and bad 3-putt at 13 to hand him two holes. But overall really a solid day of golf and in a really good spot to try and move on to the round of 16 now.

Q. You talked about the mistakes, but what was maybe a couple of the great shots you hit today?

BILLY HORSCHEL: Making a 50-footer on No. 1. That was really nice.

Number 7's a tricky par-3, always is, just the way the green sits and the wind and where that pin is. Hit a really great 6-iron in there to about 18 feet past the hole, just missed the putt and he didn't hit a good shot and wound up making bogey.

But other than that, I didn't hit anything, I haven't done anything special yet. Other than that birdie putt at No. 1 I felt like this morning. So, yeah, hopefully I just I've got a lot of really good golf left in me the next few days.

Q. When you say you haven't done anything special, is that you saying that just been a little bit lucky to have the opponent or the situations I've had or are you kind of hanging in in ways that even though you don't have your A plus game?

BILLY HORSCHEL: Yeah, I've been lucky that the two guys I've played have made some mistakes. So it's allowed me not to have to really do anything special. I put myself in opportunities, I missed one green yesterday and today I missed a few more. But I've been having opportunities to make some putts for birdies, I just haven't made 'em. Haven't really had to make 'em either. So I've been fortunate enough that the Tom and Min didn't have their best stuff the last two days so I didn't have to force anything.

It's also nice when you get up you don't have to really force anything. Once you get 2, 3, 4-up you just keep playing solid, smart golf and let them have to do something special to try and beat you.

Q. Is that an important mentality to understand if your opponent's struggling a little bit don't give them anything, let them beat themselves type deal?

BILLY HORSCHEL: Yeah, it is. You have to learn that a little bit. We're all aware of that, but you have to learn how to play when your opponent isn't playing great or isn't hitting really good golf shots. So that's why it's one of those things where when I've got the tee or I'm hitting first into the green, yeah, I would love to hit it to within 10 feet, but 20-footers serve a purpose just as good as 10 feet because now it puts the pressure on him to have to hit a good golf shot, which both the guys have struggled with doing the last two days.

So yeah, I've been very fortunate enough that I've had two guys that have just been a little off in their games the last two days.

Q. You have Thomas Pieters next. Have you played with him much and what's that match going to be like, because you are both guys that wear your heart on your sleeve and have a lot of energy?

BILLY HORSCHEL: Yeah, I haven't, I don't believe I played with Thomas yet. Obviously he's a really good player, he's won twice in the last four, five months over on the DP World Tour so obviously he's in some form. He won yesterday. I think him and Min are tied right now, but he's a guy who is a uber-talented player, hits it a long way, has a lot of game and I know it's going to be a really good match, especially if he happens to win his match tomorrow so that means it's going to come down to one of us moving on.

Q. Seven in a row at this tournament, what does that say about you as a match play golfer, very different matches, different kinds of wins?

BILLY HORSCHEL: Yeah, I think I don't toot my own horn I'm not one of those guys to tell you how great I am at what I do. I think just my game and the way I play, I just don't like giving holes away, I'm always in it, I'm always giving every shot 100 percent, giving it everything I can. And some people may see me frustrated at times and think that I'm going to give 'em something or from the TV perspective they're thinking that he's just going to give a shot away, but once the next shot, I get to the next shot, like whatever happened last shot, I moved on. Like I'm trying to make this shot or hit the shot as great as I possibly can.

So I've just, I'm a grinder, yes, I can make it look pretty sometimes but I'm okay playing in the mud and grinding it out and I'm a really good putter inside 10 feet which is crucial in match play. So, yeah, I love the format and right now obviously I'm having a lot of success.

Q. Tiger has the record 13 in a row here. You're halfway there. More than halfway. Can you catch 13?

BILLY HORSCHEL: Well that means even if I win the rest of my matches, what's that's five, so I'm short by one, so I better come next year and win at least one match? You know what, there's stats that he has accomplished and that he has that are just mind blowing. Things that you just can't imagine and when you think about 13 straight matches won, you don't think that's a big deal, but when you realize it, it's two years of match play and not losing almost.

Q. Those were all elimination matches.

BILLY HORSCHEL: So, yeah, listen, there's nothing I can say that someone hasn't already said about him, so if somehow I was able to continue on a great streak and win those next five matches and then come back and win one match next year, it would be really cool to have my name next to him.