THE RYDER CUP

September 30, 2023

Patrick Cantlay

Sam Burns

Brian Harman

Wyndham Clark

Max Homa

Collin Morikawa

Marco Simone

U.S. Team

Press Conference

Q. Patrick, that putt, the difference between a half-point but how much bigger than a half-point was that?

PATRICK CANTLAY: Felt big. Just trying to get any momentum we possibly can going into tomorrow.

Q. Do you believe players should be paid to play in the Ryder Cup?

PATRICK CANTLAY: It's not about that. It's just about Team USA and representing our country.

Q. Do you believe they should be paid? Can you answer the question?

PATRICK CANTLAY: That's all I've got to say about that.

Q. Can you tell us your lack of wearing a cap, the reason behind it?

PATRICK CANTLAY: The hat doesn't fit. It didn't fit at Whistling Straits, and didn't fit this week. Everyone knows that.

Q. Does it need to fit for a team photo? Are you going to wear it for a team photo?

PATRICK CANTLAY: I was going to go no hat all week regardless, so I figured would I keep it consistent.

Q. You seem to take the fan reaction towards you very well today. Can you talk about what was your thoughts when you first saw it?

PATRICK CANTLAY: Yeah, I've never had so many standing ovations going to tee boxes and greens. I thought it was fantastic. You know, I told Wyndham when we were going to the first tee today that we were going to use all the energy out there as fuel, and we did.

Q. Just at the end there seemed to be a flash point between Rory and some of the other European players and your caddie. What was your view?

PATRICK CANTLAY: I was too busy letting out all the emotion that built up over the day. I didn't get a good look at it.

Q. With regards to the cap, you're not wearing it -- not not wearing it as a form of protest?

PATRICK CANTLAY: Not at all. This is the first I heard of it right when I got off the green. That's the furthest thing from the truth.

Q. Sam, do you want to answer a question, take some of the pressure?

PATRICK CANTLAY: That's fine, keep them coming.

SAM BURNS: I didn't know it was such a big deal not to wear a hat.

PATRICK CANTLAY: You didn't wear a hat one of the matches, too. This is the first time I'm hearing this.

Q. The leadoff match, you and Collin, you had not played since the opening foursome sessions, just talk about the importance and how big of a deal it is, the momentum in a leadoff, and especially taking down Viktor and Ludvig who are coming down off the largest win of all time?

SAM BURNS: We knew we needed to set the tone, and we had not won Hole 1 all week until this afternoon. And we felt like that was important, and we were able to do that early and then kind of got some momentum, and Collin played extremely well, and it was fun.

Q. There was a report earlier that along with the hat situation that there's a divide in the U.S. team room and that you're part of that divide.

BRIAN HARMAN: Y'all just don't quit, do ya. We love each other, man. It's been the most fun getting to hang out with these boys. Whatever happens tomorrow, I mean, love you boys.

PATRICK CANTLAY: Love you too, Harm.

WYNDHAM CLARK: Think you're putting too much into the hat.

BRIAN HARMAN: They said it on Twitter, though, so it has to be.

PATRICK CANTLAY: If it's on Twitter, it's true. Verified.

Q. To anybody that wants to answer, last night your captain said that you all were not well, and this morning was not the same and this afternoon you're staying healthy.

MAX HOMA: I think we are all just sick of Pat not wearing a hat (laughter).

PATRICK CANTLAY: Well done.

Q. Slightly hat related, but you did have the chance at the end to give a little bit back and jokingly, you pretended to take your hat off after the putt. How satisfying was that to give a little bit back to the crowd?

PATRICK CANTLAY: Yeah, like I said, I tried to enjoy it all day. Tried to use it as energy, and like I said, I think we did that.

Q. You said you were letting go of some emotion on the 18th. What was the message that you were sending?

PATRICK CANTLAY: I wasn't really thinking at the moment. It was just raw emotion. I was just feeling it.

Q. Was there any back-and-forth with the crowd that you were attempting to -- with your hat?

PATRICK CANTLAY: Could have been. Could have been.

Q. Would you say that Team USA is on a mission for tommorrow's single?

PATRICK CANTLAY: Yeah, we've been on a mission all week. We are going to be on a mission tomorrow.

Q. After the last two days, and then suddenly this burst of energy on 18, do you feel there's an injection of juice or whatever you want to call it? Is there a different feeling amongst you guys now after getting something to build on?

PLAYER: Pat, do you want to answer that?

PATRICK CANTLAY: I'm a little tired, you guys take this one?

MAX HOMA: Yesterday, the way our match ended, a lot of flips on the last one or two holes, it was nice to go into the night on a PC bomb. It felt good, honestly, just watching them. And you know, he makes a ten-footer, a nine-footer, a 40-footer, three in a row, we haven't seen a lot of that at the end of the matches yet.

They have been doing great job. It feels nice. Feels like we have momentum and we go kind of into the locker room laughing a little bit which just feels good.

Q. What's the difference between last night's feeling and currently?

BRIAN HARMAN: Better. We aren't getting our asses kicked quite so bad. Yeah, better.

Q. How difficult have the first two days been to kind of take? And you guys are confident, spirited guys. How difficult has it been?

BRIAN HARMAN: Yeah, extremely difficult. Look, I mean, Team Europe, they have got some of the most incredible talents in the game, and they have been executing. They have been out-executing and out-playing us for the majority of two days.

So yeah, it's just nice to end the night on a little better than we did last night.

Q. Wondering if you can talk about your own personal play, your first Ryder Cup, stepping up as you did, won the first full point, obviously played very well in that second match yesterday and then in the afternoon. Just the whole feeling of your experience and how you led the way almost.

MAX HOMA: Yeah, I've just been really enjoying my time with my teammates. It's been a blast. Win or lose, I think you do need to soak in how fun this week is. It's obviously a lot more fun when you're not getting beaten.

But I've had a really enjoyable time. I feel like everybody I played with has let me just go be me, and I've been fortunate to hole some putts when I needed to. But yeah, obviously you can only do so much of your -- in your control. As Brian taught me this morning, we are just going to focus on left foot, right foot. We might be a bit behind, but we can take that "one shot at a time" cliché.

So it's been enjoyable to be out there and staying in the moment. And there's been more blue than red, but I really do believe that this team is very unified in their goal to just kind of take it one shot at a time, trust how good you are and the person next to you is.

So it's been cool to see everybody bond over that.

Q. Wyndham, do you feel like you've proved a bit of a point? You drew some criticism for what you said about Rory McIlroy; do you feel like you proved something there today? And a question to all of you, what's been the transformation? Because we have not had a chance to speak to you. Yesterday was a wipeout, and Zach Johnson was talking as if you were lucky the doctors kept you alive overnight, you were so ill. And now you're pumped and rejuvenated. I just wonder what's happened overnight?

WYNDHAM CLARK: I think what I said in that interview has been taken out of context a little bit. I've given Rory a lot of praise, and he's amazing player and he's obviously amazing in Ryder Cup.

I need to have belief in myself that I'm as good as anyone in the world, if not better, and that's kind of what I said. I didn't have my best today, but it does feel great to beat them. You know, fortunately I had a great horse here that brought it in in the last three holes. But it's fun to get a point for Team USA, doesn't matter who it's against. But definitely makes it sweeter to do it against a U.S. Open champion in Matt Fitzpatrick and a multiple major winner in Rory. So feels great.

Q. Did something happen overnight?

PATRICK CANTLAY: Nothing's happened overnight. A lot of us have not been feeling great. We've been a little under the weather this week. But we finally have a moment we can celebrate a little, and we're going to take that opportunity and try can turn it into some momentum for tomorrow.

Q. The energy watching -- (technical interruption) --

COLLIN MORIKAWA: This is the Ryder Cup. We don't come here for fun. We are here to win.

Q. What was the extent of the illness this week from your guys' advantage point? How much did it affect play, pairings, just how things unfolded?

BRIAN HARMAN: We haven't been great. It's part of it. We're traveling around, in hotels, come in contact with a bunch of people. It happens.

Q. Feel like we skipped straight to the hat bit. The last three holes, a surreal scene from our perspective. Have you ever had anything like that?

PATRICK CANTLAY: Only thing similar would be the tournament at Caves Valley, but Europe has been playing fantastic all week. They played absolutely fantastic against us today. Felt like the group birdied darn near every hole on the back nine, and it felt like every putt was do-or-die.

Q. Felt like you had a couple moments chipping in, big putts, and you responded by shouting. What inspired the shout, and do you remember what you yelled and was it crowd related in any way?

MAX HOMA: Yeah, it's just headless, but we get yelled at a lot. They are actually fairly friendly over here, but they are making fun of us all day. So it's just my enjoyment on 15, a guy -- after I fatted my first chip, a guy just gave it to me for the ten minutes I stood there, so I turned back around and said something back to him.

So it's just having fun. It's enjoyable. J.T. told me at the Presidents Cup about how it's so fun being at these events because you can act like an idiot if you want to, and I acted like an idiot the few times I was lucky enough to have my ball go in the hole. Just comes out of you sometimes.