WGC DELL TECHNOLOGIES MATCH PLAY

March 23, 2023

Kurt Kitayama

Austin Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Great match today. Got your point on the first. How were you feeling about the round today?

KURT KITAYAMA: Yeah, felt good. Hit it really well and felt in control of my game all day. Christiaan was a tough battle. Yeah, felt good, though.

Q. Based on the scorecard, it looked like you played a great round yesterday. Is that just kind of a victim of match play where you shot 4- or 5-under yesterday and you ended up falling a little bit short?

KURT KITAYAMA: Yeah, I think so. I think sometimes you catch a hot player and then sometimes you might get one that no one makes birdie for a while.

Like I was talking with some friends yesterday in their matches and I was like, man, I wish I was playing you yesterday. But I think it just happens.

Q. Got it rolling today; obviously heading into a massive match with Tony tomorrow with a chance to go to a playoff and advance. Your mindset heading into tomorrow?

KURT KITAYAMA: Yeah, just wanted to get a point up today and give myself a chance for tomorrow, because playing right behind them I saw Tony won his match and I knew if I won today that I would at least give myself an opportunity to, so just looking forward to tomorrow.

Q. Didn't go your way yesterday so that kind of put you in a position knowing you needed to win today. How did you manage the pressure of starting a round knowing if you want a chance to advance in something like this, today was pretty much must-win?

KURT KITAYAMA: Yeah, I mean, I don't know, I think you just -- it doesn't matter. You've got to win anyways. You know at least 2 is going to give you an opportunity to move on.

And it doesn't change anything really. You're still playing one guy. You just know you just have to win.

Q. Is the pressure any different than, say, chasing a cut or anything like that?

KURT KITAYAMA: I don't think so. I think making a cut is maybe a little more pressure because you've got -- there's a lot that you can't really control in that, and in a one V one type of situation there's a little bit more you control and base your decisions off of how they're hitting it.