WGC DELL TECHNOLOGIES MATCH PLAY

March 22, 2023

J.J. Spaun

Austin Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. J.J., got up 3 through 5 and then Matt came back and you turned it on there a little bit at the end. How would you characterize that match?

J.J. SPAUN: It was good. I mean, I was in the driver's seat for the first whatever, six or seven holes. Yeah, started to get some momentum taken from me. I think 10 was a good turning point or momentum gainer for me just to have the hole after a terrible shot.

I went from 3-up to only 1-up at that point, and to make like a 12- to 15-footer I believe for par to keep my lead kind of springboarded me to the rest of that side of the nine holes.

So, yeah, overall it was a good day.

Q. How would you assess your play during the match?

J.J. SPAUN: It was good. It was different. I haven't played match play since college I think was the last time I played match play. It was fun though, because like every shot is really intense, at least you think, because hit one bad shot, that kind of gives your competitor an opening.

It was cool to feel more pressure from the very start of why you round than normally in stroke play. Yeah, I played good. Been working hard on some things in my swing and it's starting to come together.

To pull it off in match against a guy like Matt is very -- it's huge for me.

Q. I know this is your first time in this format. How big do you believe that win is on day one to start you in the right direction?

J.J. SPAUN: Yeah, from what I've heard it's tough to get out of group matches, so getting one, the first one, is huge.

Obviously I still got a ton of work left and just got to keep playing good and hoping that you kind of take this momentum from today on to the next matches.

Q. Do you need to change your mentality much when you move from stroke play, which is pretty much the whole season and one week of match play?

J.J. SPAUN: Oh, totally. I mean, like maybe this is a good lesson to learn from, but I like to -- and I'm sure every other golfer does it too -- but dwell on past shots or past holes. I made a bogey and literally gave Matt a hole from the fringe on No. 8.

Should have halved it, but I hit a terrible chip championship. Normally I would've been super heated it and would've carried over into the next hole and maybe next few holes.

But in match play that hole is done. That has no affect on anything in the future holes, so it was nice let that go and forget about it and not let it affect the next few holes.

It's definitely different.

Q. Could that help maybe your mentality going back into stroke play?

J.J. SPAUN: Yeah, you know, I was thinking about that. I was like, wow, maybe I should kind of do a little bit more of forgetting the bad and remembering the good I guess, which is a lot easier said than done.

Yeah, I'll definitely try to implement it next week at San Antonio.

Q. Walk us through the eagle real quick?

J.J. SPAUN: Yeah. I mean, you're only the second person to ask me. It was the highlight of the round. No, it was funny. It's maybe more funny to me, but I laid up. I can't get to that green, especially with this wind. Kind of hit it up to the right and it was a little right of where I wanted to and we're walking up and I'm like, isn't this where Tiger hooped it from a couple years ago?

He was like, yeah, this is. So we had in in our head the entire time. I kind of just slung it with the wind. I knew that green spins severely from back to front, like right to left considering our angle, so I couldn't really tell if it was going to be good.

I could tell it was going to be pretty good, but then it got really good, and then it just disappeared and the crowd went nuts.

It was just funny that the GOAT did it, that was what we were thinking, and I did it too.

Q. Looked like you played like a man who has played in this tournament many, many times. What does this do for your confidence, get off to a good start in this very difficult group?

J.J. SPAUN: Yeah, Fitzy is such a great player obviously. Been playing great golf and I have nothing to lose, and I think that's part of downside of being a top seed is all the pressure is on you.

I used that to my advantage and went out there and gave it all I had and ended up having a really good day.

Q. You got off to that fast start score-wise; started going the wrong way at the end of the front nine. Then the up and down, how much of that moment was the important turning point in the match?

J.J. SPAUN: Yeah, that was definitely a momentum gainer. I was kind of losing momentum, steam going into that hole, and to hit a terrible shot like that and end up where I was, and to bury a 15-footer for par just to halve the hole, you can see what it might do and that was -- that's the beauty of match play, is little things like that can really turn a match or can really save a match.

Fortunately for me, it saved it.

Q. When you won last year on tour you talked about at this time of year before you were trying to figure out how to keep your card. Now you're a PGA Tour winner. Do you feel differently as a player?

J.J. SPAUN: I do. I have more self-belief, that's for sure. It's nice to set the schedule and stick to the schedule and not feel like you have to play six, seven weeks in a row just to get a head start on things.

But, yeah, I think I winning solidified it. Solidified myself as a player out here and that I'm not one of those guys that are going to come and go.

Q. Made the turn 1-up through 10 and then you had that run to put him away. Solid round of golf you played.

J.J. SPAUN: Yeah, 10 was definitely a momentum saver. Maybe a momentum gainer. You know, I was kind of in control of the match early on and then started making some more, giving him opportunities and not closing the door on some opportunities on the front.

And it could have easily turned right there in his favor if I missed that putt on 10. I think that was the turning point to where kind of seemed like once I did is that and birdied 11, it was just kind of like just run with this momentum.

That's what we did and we had a good finish.

Q. And the hole-out eagle at 13. Tell us about that.

J.J. SPAUN: Yeah, it was funny. I don't like fading it off water. We were planning on laying up unless it was downwind. I kind of like pushed it a little more right away from the water and told my caddie, isn't this where Tiger hold it from?

We kind of hit it exact same spot. Even the ShotTracker guy said the same thing. We had that in our head walking up to the shot, and then lo and behold, I do the same thing. It was a pretty good moment and Fitzy was good about it. Small he want to jump in the water because he knew where the match was going from that point on.

Q. A big one point for you. In this format, these are so crucial. Give you a little breathing room.

J.J. SPAUN: Yeah, I've never played a format like this. Any match play event I played is always just elimination or something like that.

But it's been a long time, and I know winning one match especially your first one, is a big advantage moving forward in this very long week.