THE PRESIDENTS CUP

September 22, 2022

Cam Davis

Si Woo Kim

Quail Hollow Club

Press Conference

MICHAEL BALIKER: We'll get started. We're joined by Cam Davis and Si Woo Kim of the international team. Gentlemen, 2 up win today. Just a couple of opening comments from each about how you played and how the match went.

CAM DAVIS: I'll start. You know, to be honest, we both played really well all day. I think it took us a little while to get the speed of the greens, and, you know, obviously, one shot in the water there actually kind of sparked a little bit more fire in me.

I wasn't going to keep playing with a little bit of a scared mentality or a little nervousness. I was going to start really going for it.

And then to me personally, I felt like everything turned around by ripping 3-wood down 8. From then on, I felt like I didn't look back. Si Woo kept doing his thing, keeping it in play. Every putt looked like it was going in.

It eventually started going in the hole, and it was right at the right time as well. 16, 17, 18, we just played them awesome. It was great to turn the tide from a pretty rough start to a really cool finish.

SI WOO KIM: Yeah. As we said, it was brutal start, and then we got nervous first five hole. And then hard to, like, speed control, especially putting and starting windy.

It was brutal start of first front nine, and back nine, try to keep it positive and keep it tight to, like, 17, 18. So I think that works.

And then last five holes, we finally dropped some putt and it works.

Q. With how much red there was on the board early on, did you feel any sort of extra pressure to flip your match?

CAM DAVIS: To be honest, the first update I got was on 11, and it didn't sound great. We were down in our match as well. It didn't change any of our mindset. I felt like it was just we got to keep putting. It's starting to come back. Keep doing what we're doing.

It felt great to get a little bit of the other color on the board because it ended up being a little one-sided.very proud we managed to get some work done for the internationals.

Q. Just wondering if, when you go back in the team room, you'll talk about maybe saying something along the lines of, see, guys, you know, it doesn't matter how far we're down, doesn't matter how good they are. We can do this. We can come back and give these guys as run.

CAM DAVIS: Yeah, I mean, everyone kind of saw where we were. We already pretty much had that conversation behind the 18th green. Everyone is super pumped. We can do this, you know.

He's done it once before in this competition. I've just done it my first time and seen some success. So there's no reason why we can't keep playing that golf. I mean, everyone on our team is capable of the golf we played coming down the stretch. If we can all bring it out at the same time this week, we can really get things going.

So I'm excited to see what we've got coming up next couple of days. But at the same time, yeah, really proud of today.

Q. Ask you guys about two of the bigger shots down the stretch. Si Woo, your putt on 16, if you can analyze that. Cam, the lag on 18, I was curious if, at any point, you thought of using something other than putter and what you saw from the shot?

SI WOO KIM: Yeah, like before the 16, like last three, four holes was pretty close to getting into the hole. Just so frustrated. Then try to get positive.

And then, yeah, 16 was finally the right time to made it. And then, yeah, 17 was -- Cam hit a great shot. It was, I think, perfect timing to, like, makes it and finish.

CAM DAVIS: Lag putt on 18, I mean, the fringes are so perfectly cut out here, it's almost rolling like a green anyway. So I just saw it as though I was on the green. I took the flag out and treated it like a 50, 60-foot putt.

If it was green all the way, it was uphill. So I had to hit a bit firmer anyway. So it didn't really come to mind, anything else other than a putt. I've been practicing that plenty.

These greens will give you a lot of long putts, especially in this format when a good shot in the middle of the green is sometimes needed to keep yourself in the hole.

No, it was just a simple, long, uphill, slightly right-to-left 60-footer with the match on the line. Yeah, it came off great. I left him with an uphill putt, which is always good. So it was perfect.

Q. This is for both of you. When did you find out that you would be a team? Why do you think you are a good team? And do you want to keep this team together going forward?

CAM DAVIS: I think we had a bit of an idea earlier the last couple weeks, only really solidified this week.

I don't know, he drives it great. My iron game's generally been pretty sharp this year as well. Lag putting as well. You saw him start to just get that speed of the green perfect and all these 40-footers are looking like they were dropping in.

So I think it worked great. We feed off each other really well. I think we've got the same approach to the game, just about, in terms of I ask him what he thinks, it matches pretty much what I'm thinking, which is a pretty easy way to think our way around the golf course.

Yeah, obviously, worked great today. I think we've got something pretty good going so would be very happy to play more golf with Si Woo this week.

SI WOO KIM: Then like all the guys hit it far, and then Cam hit it far. For me, a little hard to play because it's kind of long for me. And then I think Cam helps me a little distance-wise. Yeah, definitely helps.

Cam has great iron shot and I got -- I had a great confidence with the short game and putts. So, yeah, I think that we had a great combination.

Q. Si Woo, you said to start, you had a lot of nerves that lasted for a while. I would like to ask you guys, when did the nerves finally go away? How many holes?

SI WOO KIM: To me, when we announced our name 1st hole, I was a little shaking leg. I don't have experience much. And, yeah, kept going through 5, 6, I'm getting pissed off because I'm losing, you know.

Then I think that makes a little nervous going. Then yeah, Cam makes clutch putt on 10. Yeah, I think that's the time my nerve is gone, yeah.

CAM DAVIS: For me, I think I was playing a little nervous. Not so much scared, just a little nervous golf. And when I hit the ball in the water on 7, I was like, that's the last time I'm trying to hit a smooth shot when I'm nervous.

It's a pumped-up nervous so everything is going a little further. It's kind of hard sometimes to hit a ball over water with a club that would normally not make it over the water.

So I think that finally clicked in my head. Right, we've just got to play aggressive. We've got to hit it hard. If you're stuck between clubs, go the shorter one. Actually on 8, I was thinking driver. Si Woo was actually thinking driver. Then both of our caddies were like, no, no, no, we're hitting 3-wood here. Hit it really hard. Your best swings are when you hit it hard.

Sure enough, I ripped that one. Pretty much from that point on, I'm like, right, I have a game plan. I'm going to stick to this. My best swings are when I do this.

Pretty much felt like we played awesome golf, both of us, from that point on. Si Woo was driving it great right from the get-go. So there wasn't a lot of pressure on me to get out trouble. It was just try and get it close.

We hit a lot of greens. Really didn't make many mistakes. It was a couple of good putts early on.

We didn't really have nerves coming down the final nine, eight holes because we were behind and we needed to chase, and we were playing great.

Q. And he was pissed?

CAM DAVIS: He was pissed, yeah.

Q. How satisfying is it to beat a team that has the world No. 1 in it, given that they're both really good friends.

CAM DAVIS: Any time you win a match in match play, it's super satisfying you've beaten someone else. Obviously, these guys are some of the best players in the world and the best player in the world.

Yeah, they've been the ones in form all year. We've been kind of creeping around in the background a little bit. Yeah, very satisfying, head to head, to have the game that takes that on and gets on top.

So very proud. Yeah, some good vibes the rest of the week.

SI WOO KIM: I know it was No. 1, and that it's hard to beat. But it's not, like, 1 versus 1 and then 2 versus 2. In match play, never know, especially this format.

I think we try to keep positive. I never think about his No. 1. Yeah, I think that works. And Cam has great iron shot.

MICHAEL BALIKER: Cam, Si Woo, thank you so much. Best of luck the rest of the week.