HERO CUP

January 13, 2023

Richard Mansell

Ewen Ferguson

Abu Dhabi Golf Club

Great Britain & Ireland

Quick Quotes

Q. How was that half-point?

EWEN FERGUSON: We battled well, and at the start we played incredible. We had a wee spell in the match where things were not going as good. They were playing brilliant but to be fair we didn't do anything wrong. At the end, Rich took the game by the scruff of the neck. A couple putts at the end.

Q. Everybody's there at the end and even more pressure on, it's a nice day to get that half-point?

RICHARD MANSELL: Yeah, me and you know said we didn't want to give anything up today. Every hole was won by birdie. We played great. He came up with a couple of great putts on the front nine, and then yeah, happy to finish. I think a halve was fair. I think the boys played well as well.

Q. You gelled well, any sort of put that went in, you celebrate how you wanted to celebrate.

RICHARD MANSELL: We are both passionate players. We get on great.

EWEN FERGUSON: We are friends, we go away to dinner together at normal tournaments. We knew we are a team. We thought we would be good beforehand. Said to Tommy and Luke, I think it will be good, and I think we will be good tomorrow as well. Both games are in similar shapes, very strong and long off the tee and I'm very accurate off the tee usually as well. I think we have gelled quite well together with good games.

Q. Always nerves on the first tee when you tee up in an individual event. Was it nerves today of a different kind in?

RICHARD MANSELL: Like you say, you're playing for more than yourself. I haven't done that as a pro and I don't think Ewen has either before. You're playing for GB&I, and not just yourself. You want to go out and try to deliver a point. Like you say we got a halve today which is big because at one point we saw a lot of blue on the board and it was nice to keep us in at the end.

With everyone watching it was more pressure at the end.

EWEN FERGUSON: I wasn't nervous at all to be honest. No, I just felt like I wanted to get going and make putts. I wanted to get something happening between us. I didn't feel nervous at all. Actually probably felt nervous because I hit bad shots on the one hole.

Q. Good to get back in competition?

EWEN FERGUSON: Yeah, definitely, seemed like a couple iron shots we hit compared to our practice rounds, we were maybe hitting good shots to 30 feet, and today we're hitting good shots to ten, five, you're a bit more on it and playing the slope.

RICHARD MANSELL: You're a bit more fearless in match play. It's like tournament stroke play, you are trying to hole it but four foot is a great shot -- we both played match play a lot growing up.

EWEN FERGUSON: I think it's tough playing against someone who is an U.S. Open champion. He knows how to do it. I think that's always in the back of your mind as well.

RICHARD MANSELL: Fran doesn't give any shots away.