THE RYDER CUP MATCHES

September 29, 2002

Darren Clarke

Sergio Garcia

Padraig Harrington

Bernhard Langer

Paul McGinley

Colin Montgomerie

Sam Torrance

Q. I know the ending is sweet. But what kind of diabolical man wrote the script at the last hole? Can you imagine anything like this?

SAM TORRANCE: No, it was tremendous. It was always going to be close. And we've won it.

Q. Your strategy, sending your big guns out this morning worked. You said last night they've got one Tiger, I've got 12 lions. You've got to be proud the big guys you sent out early delivered the way they did, particularly Colin Montgomerie leading the way?

SAM TORRANCE: He's been fantastic all week, leading. He just led them to the water.

Q. And Phillip Price, he comes out and delivers?

SAM TORRANCE: Heroes come out of that. Paul McGinley, Phillip Price, fantastic.

COLIN MONTGOMERIE

Q. Colin, the leading point-getter for the Euro squad. You've had a tremendous career, and Ryder Cup. Do you think these matches may define your career?

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: Possibly. You like to think that major championships are more important, in a way, but I've always liked team competition, and I've always thrived on that competition, more than I have the game of golf. The competitive nature of me comes out in these matches, and I enjoy them thoroughly. And I've been fortunate to have good partners. Bernhard Langer would be a partner for anybody. And Padraig Harrington. And it was nice to beat someone of Scott Hoch's ability today because he's a tough man.

Q. Sometimes we're guilty of looking at everything only from the American perspective. Can you tell us just what does a Ryder Cup victory mean to the European Tour?

COLIN MONTGOMERIE: It means a huge amount. It means more for us to win it than I think it does for the might of the U.S. tour. The Tour would continue with its strength without winning the Ryder Cup. We are a smaller Tour. Definitely in dollar terms, anyway. And we need to win this. I've just spoken to Ken Schofield our executive director, the opposite number to Tim Finchem, and he's crying his eyes out, because of what it means to him to win this Ryder Cup.

SERGIO GARCIA

Q. Sergio, you went to the 10th tee with a 2-up lead. You pulled out the driver. A very bold play. You lose the hole with 4. What were you thinking on that tee, and why did you go with driver?

SERGIO GARCIA: Well, first of all I felt comfortable all week. I probably had the worst break all week right there. That ball bounced in the bunker, if it stays in the bunker, it's probably the easiest up-and-down on the whole golf course. It goes over, and it's a difficult one. I don't think you should take anything from David. I think he played great. He's a wonderful player. He's a great guy. And I love that I had the chance to play with him.

Q. Your European team is in the midst of a wonderful comeback. Still very close. But I know you want to watch them.

SERGIO GARCIA: It's very close. Let's see if we can pull it off, and that would be great. I wish I would have -- I could have given my team at least a half a point.

DARREN CLARKE

Q. Darren, can you describe your emotions right now?

DARREN CLARKE: Good and bad. Obviously a little bit disappointed that we only managed to get a half. I got off to a good start, got up a few holes, and then let David back in. We played decent golf on the back nine. A lot of decent putts were played.

Q. What about the crowd?

DARREN CLARKE: It's awesome. It's just the best. You've got 40,000 people shouting your name, it doesn't get any better than that.

Q. Darren, you've been on the other side of this thing. Can you put into perspective what this means for your Tour, your team, yourself?

DARREN CLARKE: It's just massive for us. And Sunday at Brookline was a very disappointing experience for us. The American guys played fantastic, and we didn't play the way we should have. And to come back this year, and play it with the team that we had, everybody was writing us off, saying no chance. And it's great to come and win. It's great to show anything can happen in match play. And that's what happened this week.

BERNHARD LANGER

Q. This looks at the moment like a fabulous day for Europe. Are you surprised how well Sam's strategy, loading the top of the order, at the moment is working?

BERNHARD LANGER: We looked at the draw the last night in the team room. We saw it could really work out well for us. Obviously we needed to play well. You can't look at a pairing and say he should win and he should lose; there's no such thing. You've got 24 of the best players in the world, and anybody can beat anybody on a given day. But we felt good about it. It gave us somewhat of a boost, and we wanted to win the first five, six matches and come out here and take the pressure off the guys further back. And we'll see if it works back.

Q. Every session so far in this Ryder Cup seems to have been European punch, American counterpunch, are you expecting a back lash, or do you feel confident you can close it out now?

BERNHARD LANGER: I'll have to look. I haven't paid much attention to the board, I was too involved in my own match. When you look at the last 200 or so odd matches, we're dead even. We're dead even the last 20 years. And that just speaks volumes, and it looks like another close one today.

PADRAIG HARRINGTON

PADRAIG HARRINGTON: I've got to say I wasn't a hundred percent on top of my game this week. I had to focus and did the best with what I've got. When Mark gave me the opportunity I took it.

Q. Did the team always have the faith?

PADRAIG HARRINGTON: I think so. I had to have faith in what I was doing, I just had to get out and do the best I could. I knew if I did the best I could, and obviously when I got a few up, it was a question of keeping the pressure on.

PAUL MCGINLEY

PAUL McGINLEY: I knew how important it was, and it was for the Ryder Cup. And just to have that opportunity, I said I'd love to have the opportunity, and fortunately I did. I knew the line was -- it was the matter of having the nerve to hit it on the line, and fortunately I did.

Q. The conventional wisdom was he front-loaded your Sunday matches with all the big guns in the front. What was your thinking as you went out knowing you would be facing some of their more experienced and accomplished players, and it might come down to you?

PAUL McGINLEY: Myself and Pierre Fulke and Phillip Price talked about it at breakfast. One of us is going to be here, is going to finish it. It was unlikely that the first six matches would all be won. It was going to fitter down to whether we were going to win the Cup or not.

End of FastScripts....