WGC DELL TECHNOLOGIES MATCH PLAY

March 24, 2022

Lucas Herbert

Austin Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. What do you like about this format, Lucas?

LUCAS HERBERT: I mean, I'm always good for a big miss left or right, so it's good to know that if I do spray one, it might only be one hole rather than ruining my tournament with an 8 or something like that. No, it's a very different kind of way to play. You're not super focused on your own game all of the time. You've got to play a little bit around how your opponent is playing and adjust your strategy here and there to fit in around them, so it's been a lot of fun.

Q. Some of your biggest wins around the world have come in windier conditions and that's what we've seen the last two days around this course. Why do you play so well in the wind?

LUCAS HERBERT: I don't know. I feel like we played a lot in the wind in Australia, and then obviously the experience I got in Europe, we play a lot of links golf over there. You play a lot of windy golf over there. You just get a lot of exposure to it and you figure out how you want to fly flight golf ball in those windy conditions. Yeah, it's just a lot of experience. But this TaylorMade ball that I'm playing, the TP5x, as well, it's so stable in the wind, I think that's a massive part of it, too.

Q. Against a really good player in Xander Schauffele with six holes to play, you birdie half those holes, including the 18th hole, 1-up win. Heck of a race to the finish line for you.

LUCAS HERBERT: Yeah. Wasn't getting a lot of confidence with driver the whole day, so it was just had to try and manage that as best I could coming in there, and just said to myself I didn't want to give him any free holes on the way in. I didn't want to rinse one in the water and just throw away a hole. I wanted to keep pushing him the whole way.

Just had to try and at least if I was going to lose, make it a contest. Fortunately I got myself back into the match and gave myself a chance down 18 and played quite nicely.

Q. I thought that birdie on 13, you kind of rolled the dice a little bit trying to drive that green, windy conditions, water front?

LUCAS HERBERT: Yeah, for me every day that's going to be a green light to go at that green from the tee. I think it's just -- I know it's a little patchy over the back there in this dormant rough, but I still feel like I'm confident from over the back there to get it up-and-down more often than I am from the fairway. Yeah, I think some days you're going to get lucky there and maybe have one sitting in a good lie and a chance to make 2, but I think like the majority of the time playing the percentages I'm going to make birdie from hitting it at the green with my tee shot rather than laying up.

Q. Sandy birdie out of the bunker at 15, as well. Do you enjoy playing in the wind?

LUCAS HERBERT: Yeah, I do enjoy playing it. I think I've just had so much experience playing in wind over the years, whether it be back in Australia or over in Europe. It feels like every time the wind comes up, it weeds out some players that maybe shouldn't be around the lead, and it gives me a chance to be a little bit creative, too, and it's proven well for me so far in the last 12 months.

Q. How satisfied are you with a round like that?

LUCAS HERBERT: Yeah, pretty satisfied. It's always good coming into match play events, seeing the draw, getting to play against a really good player. Yeah, to come out and play the way I have against Tony and Xander has been really satisfying.

Q. This match kind of went back and forth the whole way. Seemed like it was close and in the balance the entire time. How do you keep your mentality strong at a time like this, especially somebody who's relatively new to an event like this?

LUCAS HERBERT: Yeah, it's interesting, I played a little bit with Tony the last 12 months in some bigger events. I feel like I competed with him pretty nicely. That was obviously good for yesterday.

Then I played a lot of amateur golf with Xander, and I feel like he's obviously had a quicker rise than I did to the PGA TOUR and to that top 10 in the world, but I felt like back seven or eight years ago we probably had similar games, and I feel like I'm getting somewhere near where he is. I didn't feel super out of place playing against him. I felt like I knew him and had spent a bit of time with him out at events and practicing and that kind of thing with him before, so I think that was a big benefit to me versus playing against someone that I've not really met before and not played any golf against.

Q. Heading into tomorrow, you have a good start now, ahead with two victories. What's the mindset going into tomorrow, to try to finish the job?

LUCAS HERBERT: Yeah, look, if you don't lose a match for the week you're going to be doing pretty well. Same mentality, got to go out and beat the player that's in front of me. Takumi is obviously a great player, from Japan. It's not going to be an easy walkover. I can tell you that. He's a really solid player, so I've got to be on my game tomorrow and make sure I'm bringing my best stuff. If I do that, it should give me a good chance to get through to that next stage.

Q. What's the plan for tonight getting ready for tomorrow?

LUCAS HERBERT: I'd say more on the relaxing side of things. It's been a big sort of month of golf, so don't want to wear myself out too much. Obviously hoping for it to be a long week, so I'd like to keep myself fresh.