WGC DELL TECHNOLOGIES MATCH PLAY

March 23, 2023

Keegan Bradley

Austin Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Easy day. If I were to tell you this is your first match that you have won since Spieth was a freshman at Texas, you would say?

KEEGAN BRADLEY: I said to my caddie, Scottie, walking off, this is what it feels like to win one of these match. It's just been so long. I've tied a billion of 'em. It's just a weird thing. It's just the course doesn't totally fit my eye, but I just -- you know, I played really well today and, geez, it felt good to win a match, yeah.

Q. We talked so much about each day in this group play that you basically have to reset the next day. But were you able to take any positivity out of the way you finished yesterday?

KEEGAN BRADLEY: Yeah, I obviously finished great, but I hit really, really good shots, and I hit really bad shots before that, and it just sort of -- something clicked in there on like about 14 and it just carried over. I kept trying to tell myself that, let's just keep playing. If it was stroke play and I finished like that, I would be pumped to come out the next day and play, and I played great all the way through today.

Q. How have you gone so far this week game-wise? Are you pretty confident of the way you're trending?

KEEGAN BRADLEY: Yeah, my first nine holes I played as bad as I played all year. And then starting on 14 and then from 14 until -- I just finished my match, I haven't -- I didn't really miss a shot. I putted great. This format's bizarre. Sometimes it gets you feeling weird and uncomfortable, and I just sort of settled in there at the end of yesterday.

Q. If you don't mind me saying, over the years, you have always played really well with a nice little chip on your shoulder. Is that a good thing to be playing Rory tomorrow?

KEEGAN BRADLEY: Yeah, I mean, listen, I think everybody loves a chance to play Rory just because he's one of, if not the best, players in the world. We all love to match up and see how we do. It's always a little more buzz, and I really like Rory, and I'm excited to play him tomorrow.

Q. First time you'll be playing him -- have you been paired with him, I guess, over the years?

KEEGAN BRADLEY: Yeah.

Q. I'm thinking Medinah.

KEEGAN BRADLEY: Yeah, last time I played I him in match play was Medinah, so I hope he --

Q. Sleeps in.

KEEGAN BRADLEY: (Laughing.) Yeah, listen, I know I got a really tough match ahead of myself tomorrow. It's Rory McIlroy. But I'm sure -- you know, I'm playing well too, so I'm going to go out there and try to win the match.

Q. What kind of momentum do you feel like you're having right now, not so much at ACC, but moving toward Augusta, moving toward a big part of the season?

KEEGAN BRADLEY: Listen, this is the best I've ever -- I've putted since the belly putter. I think I'm actually putting better than I was then. It's sort of been a gradual climb here. I can go out on a day like today and make a handful of mid-range putts and make all the -- it's just the game's so much easier.

At Augusta, I've never played Augusta with a short putter. I've always had a belly putter or an arm putter and I always felt like that was a disadvantage, just from how hard you have to hit some of the putts, and then putting from off the green is a lot harder. So I'm excited about that.

Q. What have you done putting-wise? What has led you to this performance, I guess?

KEEGAN BRADLEY: Well I hired Phil Kenyon about a year and a half ago -- a year ago. He's sort of worked on my green reading and my alignment. As a golfer you just, you want mechanics and you hope like something's wrong with the mechanics of your swing with your putter. And he just said, I think your stroke looks great, let's just work on the fundamentals and basics and it really helped.