THE PRESIDENTS CUP

September 21, 2022

Christiaan Bezuidenhout

Quail Hollow Club

Press Conference

Q. Describe the week and how it's been so far and how much fun you guys are having.

CHRISTIAAN BEZUIDENHOUT: So far it's been great. We've got a great team around us, great captain, and the team's been phenomenal the whole week.

Everybody's excited to get going. Hopefully it's going to be a good week for us.

Q. What kind of honor is it for you to play, especially for Captain Immelman, who is a countryman of yours as well?

CHRISTIAAN BEZUIDENHOUT: Yeah, as soon as we found out that Trevor is going to be the captain of the international team, that was definitely one of my biggest goals of the season was to make this team and to represent my country with Trevor being our captain this week.

So hopefully we can make South Africa proud this week.

Q. What's been like kind of the highlight of the week so far for you?

CHRISTIAAN BEZUIDENHOUT: Everything about the Presidents Cup, the whole team environment, playing with all the guys that you used to play against every week, just in a team environment. That's been great.

Lots of laughs. Lots of jokes. Yeah, it's just a special bunch of guys who you're going to make friends here that's going to last forever.

Q. How have you found the golf course? Could you just describe how the course has been playing out there.

CHRISTIAAN BEZUIDENHOUT: Yeah, we were here three weeks ago for a couple days. We had a lot of rain then. The course is obviously a little bit firmer. The greens are a lot quicker than what it was three weeks ago. It's some of the best greens that we have putt on all year.

There's a lot of putts to be made this week on the surfaces. Yeah, to a degree, it's a fairly long golf course, but with the rough being down, it's definitely going to be gettable and seeing a lot of birdies as well.

Q. In your career, what would a win this week mean to you?

CHRISTIAAN BEZUIDENHOUT: I haven't been part of a Presidents Cup yet, but just speaking to the other guys that have been part of it and been in this environment, guys like Hideki, Adam Scott, that hasn't won it yet, and you can just see they want to tick this box off the list.

So, yeah, it would mean a lot for the international team. As well playing under the shield for the second time now, we came together as a unit. So I'm sure all of us that's playing this week would love to lift the Cup.

Q. Your story growing up, what does it mean to be here on an international stage and broadcast all over the world? What's it like standing there answering these questions? What is that like for you?

CHRISTIAAN BEZUIDENHOUT: It's great. I grew up in a small town back in South Africa. There wasn't a lot there. I grew up on a small nine-hole golf course with no chipping green or putting green or driving range. I basically just grew up grinding away, hitting my balls down the 3rd fairway, picking them up again.

So to be standing here for a guy like me coming from a small town in South Africa, it means a lot. It's very rewarding to see how far I've come over the last few years.

Q. If the PGA TOUR and LIV golf ever played a tournament together, would you play in that?

CHRISTIAAN BEZUIDENHOUT: No, I don't think the PGA TOUR will do that. There's no reason why. All the guys that went over there went over there. They moved beyond the PGA TOUR. We support the PGA TOUR. We don't really care about what they do. So I don't think I will.

Q. As one of the best putters on the PGA TOUR, last year strokes gained in putting, what putter do you use? Why do you find that effective?

CHRISTIAAN BEZUIDENHOUT: I recently changed to Odyssey No. 7, that fork one. I actually changed to it five months ago. I used to putt with a similar putter when I was younger. I just changed to that.

I feel like I'm starting the ball online better, and the overall putter and the stroke of the putter just flows better with that.

Q. What kind of putter did you use growing up?

CHRISTIAAN BEZUIDENHOUT: I've always used a mallet putter, face balanced mostly. What I've got now, it's a face balanced mallet. So it's basically the same style of putting that I grew up putting.

Q. Did you make any other equipment changes headed into this week?

CHRISTIAAN BEZUIDENHOUT: No, I don't normally like to make changes. Like I'll maybe adjust one or two clubs here and there, if necessary. If the rough is a bit high, I'll put in a hybrid or things like that.

But I think my setup in my bag suits this golf course. So, yeah, I've been playing with the same setup now for more than a year, I think, yeah.

Q. What do you feel like over the last couple years you've done well or you're more comfortable with now that you've gotten to where you are today playing in the Presidents Cup?

CHRISTIAAN BEZUIDENHOUT: Just getting comfortable in this environment, in the U.S., playing against the best players in the world every week.

When I first came out, I reached a high level on the DP World Tour, and if you come over here, you kind of start from the bottom again and try to work your way up.

So it's just a matter of getting comfortable with the courses, with the guys, with the players, with the traveling, things like that. And I feel like the last couple years I've done that. I actually feel much more comfortable on these style of courses and with the guys I'm playing with.

Q. How comfortable are you with like alternate shot format? Is that something that you guys worked on?

CHRISTIAAN BEZUIDENHOUT: Not really. I actually played in the Zurich Classic. That was like a similar format. It's just basically trying to keep yourself going, just even if you walk down the fairway with a club in your hand and just take a couple of swings, even if you're not going to hit the next shot, just to kind of keep your body loose and just be prepared when you hit the shot, then you're ready to do that.

Q. Any pinch me moments or anything for you this week?

CHRISTIAAN BEZUIDENHOUT: I actually made an albatross yesterday on the 7th hole. That was a first for me. That was my first career albatross.

Q. You've just got to do that tomorrow instead?

CHRISTIAAN BEZUIDENHOUT: That was a nice moment. Just the whole experience so far. It's been great. Everyone has been so helpful. We've got a great captain, great teammates. Yeah, all of us are really excited to get this week started.

Q. What do you think is your best quality as a player? What do you think you can really bring to this team?

CHRISTIAAN BEZUIDENHOUT: I think I'm always there, you know. I can grind it out even if I don't hit the ball well, I know how to score, you know. I think that's one of my strengths over the last few years is just to grind out a score, grind out a result at the pin over there.

So even if you go 3-down with five to go, it's never over. So, yeah, I just think that mental toughness of grinding it out until the end to post a number or halve a match or win a match from down.

Q. You guys are so used to focusing on your own game on the PGA TOUR. Has there been anyone's performance or game this week that has been kind of eye opening to you that you didn't really know before?

CHRISTIAAN BEZUIDENHOUT: No. All of us know the guys that we play with in the team. We've played a number of tournaments together over the last few years.

Yeah, there's a lot of talent in this team. Everybody that's here can play. Hopefully as a group we can come together and pull this thing off.

Q. Is there one player this week you maybe have gotten to know better than before, like on a more personal level that you didn't know as well?

CHRISTIAAN BEZUIDENHOUT: Yeah, I've actually spent a lot of time with Scotty this week asking him a lot of questions. He's a veteran in this Cup, in this format, with playing in ten of these. So he knows the ins and outs and how it works, how he felt at his first one.

So, yeah, it was really nice to have sat down with him and just talk to him, ask him a lot of questions. Yeah, he's been great.

Q. We saw you today playing with Sebastian Munoz as a pairing. How well do you know him, or is this the first time you were playing with him?

CHRISTIAAN BEZUIDENHOUT: It's actually the first time that I played with him. I've seen him play. I've seen him hit. I've seen him -- yeah, I've obviously seen him in a lot of tournaments.

Q. Are you expecting to play with him probably any day this week?

CHRISTIAAN BEZUIDENHOUT: We don't know yet. Every day we've been playing with possible pairing, but nobody knows how it's going to work yet, with who you're going to play with.

Q. How is the environment inside the team?

CHRISTIAAN BEZUIDENHOUT: It's amazing. We've got a great bunch of guys on the team. Everybody's excited to go. The captains are ready. Yeah, it's been great.