THE WALKER CUP

September 3, 2023

Mark Power

Liam Nolan

Quick Quotes

Q. Congratulations on the win. That was some back nine you put together between you.

MARK POWER: We were both saying in our singles match yesterday, we were both coming off the back nine 2- and 3-down, and we said -- we were even after 10, and we said, look, let's just get something going. Geez, we got on a little birdie run. We both hit some great shots, both hit some great putts. We just really fed off the crowd and we're both dogged competitors, so once we got into it, we just loved it all.

Q. Looked like there was a lot of feeding off the crowd, a lot of energy and fist pumps on that back nine?

LIAM NOLAN: Yeah. When you have home crowd out here with you and you're hitting close wedge shots and you're holing putts, you've got to get the whole place going because we still have the evening session to go, and you want a really strong wave of momentum going into that.

Q. An incredible finish yesterday and now an emphatic win today. How is this for your Walker Cup debut?

LIAM NOLAN: No, this is really special. I was delighted when I heard I was playing with Mark this morning. We've played so much together, and we know each other's games inside out and we're really close friends, as well. We really feed off each other out on the course, and to play the way we did, especially on the back nine there, was amazing.

Q. Mark, you must have loved that pairing, as well?

MARK POWER: Yeah, it was unreal. Liam and I have played together for Ireland the last two, three years. We have a great record, and we know each other's games inside out, and we just love playing with each other.

We don't care if one of us hits a bad shot. It's just a challenge to try and recover, get back in play. We just have free rein, really, and we just love getting stuck into a match, and it doesn't matter how it's done, we just get it done.

That was really fun to get an early win and hopefully give a little momentum to the lads and see if we can finish this morning pretty strong.

Q. You got on a hell of a roll on the back nine, but how big was the par save on 9 after leaving it in the bunker?

LIAM NOLAN: That was the start of it really because it felt like not long before that we were down and kind of --

MARK POWER: A couple of bad breaks.

LIAM NOLAN: A couple bad breaks and really scrambling to stay 1-down. To get that putt on 9 and the whole crowd lining the back of the green was a really big momentum boost and really kicked us on to play some really good golf on the back nine.

Q. GB&I will take a lead into the singles regardless of what happens up ahead. That must be a huge boost.

MARK POWER: Yeah, that's great. That was our main goal this morning, not get complacent. Just make sure they know that we're not going to lie down, that we're not going to think that we have this won. We want to try and build on our lead, and we know there's a lot of matches this afternoon, so just trying to build on that lead.

Yeah, look, it's nice that we're leading, but we still have a good job to do this afternoon.

Q. Regardless of what happens in the afternoon, how special was it to be an all-Irish pairing today?

MARK POWER: Oh, it was unreal. I played with John Murphy at the last Walker Cup, and I just thought that was it, but getting out there with Liam, we're such good friends, and we've played home internationals before, European team championships together. To get to do it in the Walker Cup is pretty special, and to get a win like that, four birdies in a row on that back nine, it was some of our best golf.

Q. Liam, you'd say the same would you?

LIAM NOLAN: Yeah, I remember playing in the Europeans last year in St George's with Mark, and we were in the room together, and this is a long time before any Walker Cup teams, but he told me he builds Walker Cup players. Yeah, I'm glad that's come true, and playing with Mark really does a lot for your confidence, and the all-Irish pairing is amazing.

MARK POWER: It was a joke, but look what's happened, so...