THE RYDER CUP MATCHES

September 28, 2002

Mark Calcavecchia

David Duval

Padraig Harrington

Scott Hoch

Davis Love III

Colin Montgomerie

Curtis Strange

Tiger Woods

Q. What an electrifying match that was. Great comeback, Mark.

MARK CALCAVECCHIA: Thanks, we got down on the hole early, but they were playing good golf and we knew we had a lot of holes left. We got momentum and we needed to turn it around. The shot David hit on the 10th hole turned us around.

Q. David, you were the only American today to hit driver off the 10th tee. When did you decide to play that shot?

DAVID DUVAL: As soon as Mark hit it in the fairway. I hadn't thought about hitting it all week. But in that situation we needed something. The worst case he's going to make a four. And really to swing the momentum, we felt like we had to take the best shot.

Q. You said earlier in the week your game was almost there, is it there now?

DAVID DUVAL: This is amazing, what this atmosphere will bring out to you. It's hard to describe to anybody who hasn't played, different than any major championship. It's amazing to be out there.

CURTIS STRANGE

Q. Curtis, you were looking for some way to wake Tiger up. I think he's alive and kicking?

CURTIS STRANGE: He's still down. In match play it doesn't matter how you play, you just have to get the job done. Davis chipping for birdie. Sergio and Westwood have been fantastic.

Q. Well, I guess Davis just woke up, too, didn't he, Curtis?

CURTIS STRANGE: He just woke up.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE and PADRAIG HARRINGTON

Q. Have you ever played in a fourball match where your play was better?

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: No. And had to be so. We're playing the No. 2 and No. 6 ranked players. David Toms is an underrated player, and we don't know much about him in Europe here. And of course with Phil, you're not sure what can happen around the greens, he's a magician around the greens. I think we did well to hold them off.

Q. Padraig, tell me about having Colin as your partner.

PADRAIG HARRINGTON: Colin was making stacks of birdies. I knew if I backed him up a little bit we would be good enough today.

TIGER WOODS and DAVIS LOVE III

Q. Congratulations, Tiger and Davis. For the first nine it was not an exciting match, but what a barnburner it was on the back nine. Please take us through the events on No. 10. That seemed to be a real turning point in the match with both Europeans across the water, you both elected to lay up. What were your thoughts?

TIGER WOODS: For me, driver is too much, and 3-wood I can't -- even my best one I don't know if I can clear the trees, with a hundred percent assuredness. I want to put it down. My wedge game has been good, I'm putting well, just give myself a look at it. My game plan was to give ourselves two looks at it. We did that. Unfortunately we didn't make the putts, but we did the rest of the back 9.

Q. It was never discussed that either one of you or both of you might go for the green.

DAVIS LOVE III: It was discussed early in the week, and decided it wasn't a good lay. Sergio's ball hit the tree and could have gone in the lake. Lee hit an incredible shot. If it was an easy shot we would have hit it. It wasn't an easy shot, it wasn't a percentage play. I'll take Tiger Woods at a hundred yards over hitting it over the lake. It was my thought to go for it and he would go one-on-one. But I didn't think it was a good play either. We decided early in the week, you have us together, we were going to lay up. We played the percentages. It didn't work. That was one hole. If I made a few more putts, we wouldn't have had to worry about the 10th hole. To me it wasn't that big a deal. He putted so good. He was by himself a few times and made beautiful putts and kept us in the match. And we were fortunate to pull it out.

Q. Tiger, your Ryder Cup record hasn't been great, but you found a partner today, 2 and 0 today?

TIGER WOODS: It feels good. Davis and I are good buddies, and it's nice to go out with a buddy. We played well. We gelled well together. And to me it was a lot of fun competing at this level.

SCOTT HOCH

SCOTT HOCH: We played some pretty good golf. Hit a few errant shots there at the end. I just made some tired swings, but, gosh, I think both teams shot a ways under. It's upsetting that we bogeyed the last hole. Obviously the only bogey we had, but a tough hole.

Q. It's a tough hole and in circumstances like that, particularly?

SCOTT HOCH: I don't worry about the circumstances. Just made a mistake. I really didn't know where my tee balls were going, so I have been hooking it. You've got to hit it in the fairway and I didn't. And that led to a shot I never hit out of the bunker; the only way to get it back is to hit a wood out of the bunker, and I never do that.

Q. The match is all tied up, everything to play for tomorrow.

SCOTT HOCH: I would say so, but that's the way it always is, isn't it?

TIGER WOODS

Q. Tiger Woods, what happened out there today?

TIGER WOODS: Great match. We all played pretty solid today. We made a lot of birdies, just a bunch of birdies. And it was just an amazing finish because we knew that anything happen in match play and it did. I stuffed one in there on 17, Davis chipped. I think everything swung on that putt he missed on 17. On 17, we're walking down to the 17th tee and Davis says "I've been here before but I won." He was talking been about when he beat Constantino Rocca. He was one down with two to go and he won his match so he was saying just hang in there. I said all we want is just two looks on every shot, every putt and and we did that and came out on top.

Q. Talk about their play a little bit.

TIGER WOODS: They both played really well today. When one didn't make a mistake, the other one was right there in position just like on number 8, Lee puts it in the water and Sergio stuffs it in there. That's kind of how the match was; if one was in trouble the other was definitely there to bail him out.

Q. Tomorrow's singles match, any thoughts what you want to do?

TIGER WOODS: I just want to get out there and win a point. I really do. I don't care. If its on the first or on the last. Doesn't matter to me. I think captain is going to decide what's going to go on, the order he wants to see everybody in. I'm going to tell him just what I told you. I don't really care. I just want to go out there and get a point from where I'm out at.

PHIL MICKELSON

Q. Phil Mickelson, please talk about your match today?

PHIL MICKELSON: Well, we had a very good match with Colin and Padraig and they played sensational. After we parred or halved number 1 in par, there was a birdie in the groove for the next 12 holes all the way through 14 and somebody birdied at least one. And it was a wonderful match. We fought hard and it just wasn't quite enough. I thought Colin and Padraig played incredibly well. 14 was the big turning point. Actually we tied it and halved and a par, that was the only other one. When we missed the putt on 13, it kept us one down and the next hole Colin made a 35-footer when I had a 15-footer when we were looking at to even the match. Instead I ended up missing and we were two down and that was a big momentum change right there.

Q. Tied up 8 and 8; what do you think about tomorrow?

PHIL MICKELSON: Well, this is about what we expected, that both sides were evenly matched and I think that it's going to come down to the final match or two tomorrow. I certainly anticipate that being the case. Each match in point is critical at this stage of the game and it doesn't seem to favor either team because in the past years the team that has been trailing seems too have done better in singles. Because we're evenly matched or tied, I think both sides are going to come out firing.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: I'd like to say I've had Bernhard Langer, and the whole team would love to play with him. I was lucky enough to have him. I think the whole American team would love to have him as a partner, as well. He's so fantastic in pairings and the way Pete Coleman and him work together is fantastic. He slows me down. He's got -- I've got great admiration and respect for him. And you need both of these in a partner. And I have that in Bernhard. We've played seven times, and have we lost one in seven. We have a super record. And I hope it's not his last Ryder Cup and we can have another go at it the next time.

Padraig did awfully well. I knew he was chunking at it this afternoon. He was looking forward to playing after the disappointment of losing both games the first day. He looked forward to the fourball. And I was playing with him actually until about an hour beforehand. And he came out firing all cylinders, and he was a great partner to have. Again, to have that confidence in a partner is huge. I never felt I was on my own, you know what I mean? And it's terrible to feel that way, but I didn't feel that.

Q. (Inaudible.)

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: It's been a complete waste of time. We shouldn't have bothered. We should have just come out with singles. I think the atmosphere of this competition is going better and better.

What we were saying about tomorrow is it's a very, very important job that Sam Torrance has. And this has been a year in the making, this draw that we have. And Ian Woosnam and Sam have an important task to get the order right. Sometimes we felt the order hasn't been the way we would like it and the draw hasn't come out the way we'd like it to do. Hopefully this time it will, and that's all we can say.

Q. You just have enjoyed it immensely?

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: I enjoy this competition thoroughly. I enjoy the atmosphere, the competition, the camaraderie. We have a great team spirit and I think that we just have to go for it now. We have to say, okay, 8-all, they're not ahead, and they're a strong team, they're a very strong team, the Americans, and we look forward now to winning the singles series, and we haven't done that often. We did it at Oak Hill. We did it here in '85 and '87. We need to do it again, and we're looking forward to it.

LEE WESTWOOD

Q. Have you enjoyed the competition?

LEE WESTWOOD: Yes, there's certainly nothing not to enjoy. Everybody wants to be in there and and playing under pressure, and there's no more pressure than this tournament this year.

Q. You have said all season, you never let yourself get down, you come through under pressure?

LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, there's a lot of pressure on the last. It's magnified. We were doing very well until then.

Q. Sergio's missed putt at 17 was unfortunate?

LEE WESTWOOD: We let them back in when we shouldn't have, really.

Q. (Inaudible.)

LEE WESTWOOD: I certainly feel like we should have a two-point lead. But at the same time I'm not disappointed that we're level going into the last day.

SERGIO GARCIA

Q. A bit disappointing, because you should have put them away early, should have gotten something out of that game?

SERGIO GARCIA: I don't think earlier, what we should have been 1-up going to the last, and probably going 1-up to the last we would not lose it. We would probably win it or halve the hole at the worst. But that's the Ryder Cup. That's the beautiful thing about it. It's not easy. I had a great chance on 17.

Q. How far was that putt on 17?

SERGIO GARCIA: Probably about four-and-a-half feet. And unfortunately it didn't break. And that's what happens. And then I hit a great putt on 18 that I thought it was going to go in. And then when it didn't go in, and Lee unfortunately missed his, but that's --.

Q. That's what happens on match play. You played so well the first first few days, it looked as if you were going to take a lead into the last day. Is that how you feel the team so be ahead?

SERGIO GARCIA: We should be. But we can't do anything else. We're tied and, you know, we've got to go out and win the singles tomorrow. It's that simple.

Q. Everybody says you're weak in this thing, but there's no reason that you should be?

SERGIO GARCIA: No, that's all crap talk. If we play well, we're better than anybody. So we've just got to go out and play well, have a good start and get it done early tomorrow.

Q. Get some points early?

SERGIO GARCIA: Get some momentum going.

JESPER PARNEVIK

Q. You waited a long time to get started, and you looked as if you were going to win a point and go 3-up at one point?

JESPER PARNEVIK: They've just been playing great golf for two days now, but we both had it under control today. Like you said, we were 3-up, and we had good chances pretty much all the way around. But I think they made 7 birdies the last ten holes to beat us. They really picked up the notch on the back 9, the Americans. And we tried the best we could, but anytime you're 3-up, you feel like you should win the match.

Q. Was there a key moment that turned it around?

JESPER PARNEVIK: The biggest key moment was on 14 for us. They birdied 10 to win. We both birdied 12, and then they birdied 13 to draw it to even. And then they got a 6 foot for birdie on 14. And Duval is left of the green on the fringe from about 25 feet and holes his. And Nick last misses and we go 1-down. We felt like we were about to go 1-up there. That was a big momentum swing in their favor. And then, of course, when Calc hit it to about two feet on 16, we went dormie. So I don't know what to say.

Q. At least you played. It must be key to everyone in the team now, they've got 18 holes, at least, under their belt?

JESPER PARNEVIK: Especially for the rookies. I think they feel very, how should I say, more comfortable now that they've played. I think it was huge for Pierre, because he looked like he played great this morning. And same with Nick last, he's been playing great for three days. He should be proud of how he's performing.

Q. He's a much stronger player now?

JESPER PARNEVIK: Yes, and he's loving it. So it's not like he's getting scared when everything is on his shoulders.

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