WALKER CUP MATCH

August 12, 2001

Bryce Molder

Danny Yates

DANNY YATES: Oh, it's not hard. It was disappointing. I knew they had a great team; that we were really, really going to have to play well. Yesterday, I think we had them down in 7 matches early in the afternoon, but I really didn't think that was going to last because they were too good and they showed it didn't last. What did we have, a point lead going into today. But I was hoping for maybe a split in the foursomes, and then see what happened in the afternoon, but they got off to a good start, and we really didn't. I guess a couple of our guys did, but they put the pressure on early. They made birdies and got us down and kept us down, and we came back. We had a fighting chance, but we just made more mistakes and they played better. They played really well. That's why I wanted to see what kind of scores they were shooting. I know Lucas Glover was under par and lost to Luke Donald on 16 and made a lot of birdies. We just didn't get the job done and they played very well. I like the way it matched up but they just out played us.

DANNY YATES: I think that you have to think you could have done more. Certainly, for some reason, I was not able to get them to play better today than yesterday, and I don't know how you do that. They all knew what was at stake. I just think, looking back, and I'm sure I'll figure out more tomorrow, but I remember, I read somewhere, and I was in Great Britain, some of the press folks know this, the player who was the low amateur in the Open there was only three or four strokes out of the lead. Their team is that good, but that guy is not going to be on the team. Obviously, a guy who could shoot under par for three rounds at Lytham that doesn't make this team scares you. That guy could really play.

DANNY YATES: Didn't he finish under par for the whole Championship? When that guy doesn't make your team, I knew we were in trouble.

DANNY YATES: We talked. That was sort of a team deal, and looking at -- he played a lot better with Bryce in the foursomes. The golf course setup a lot better on some of the other holes for his drive and the way he plays. He thought and we all thought he would be most effective in the foursomes. I should have played him. I should have overruled my -- I should have -- we all talked about it. I should have played him, and that's my fault, because he played great today. I thought some of the other guys should play, and that was kind of the odd man out. But I'll take the blame for that.

DANNY YATES: You all have so many good players, and the Ryder Cup shows that. I don't feel as closely as you do, but a lot of fine players in Great Britain and Ireland, obviously. But they have figured out a way to play very good team golf. They do it a lot, with different matches, from the Scottish team to the English team and the Welsh team and the Irish team and whatever, and playing Europe. I think they have got a good feel for, you know, their team situation. We have a world amateur team and a Walker Cup team, and they do it a little more often; that's not an excuse, but they are good at it. Like Peter said, a lot of these guys were raised to play on these teams and they play, obviously, great team match play. There's no question about that. Bryce here and Quinney and Eger and Curtis won the world amateur in stroke play, which, I think, is a little bit more our game. But they figured out how to do it, and they do an excellent job of getting ready for the Walker Cup. And it's been -- as you know, the last 12 years have been incredibly competitive.

DANNY YATES: I think, you know, when you are in a country as big as ours, it's very difficult -- and this is not an excuse. But it's hard for us to get together and play in practice when one guy is in California and another guy is in Massachusetts and another guy is in Florida and another guy is in Texas or something. And we have so many other things. Our game is college golf, and then it's amateur golf in the summer. We have several big tournaments in the summer and everybody goes to those, and that's how you look at the Walker Cup players. And it's a good system. Our USGA events are important. Then there are several other tournaments. It would be very difficult for us to get together, even as hard as I would like to have done it, it just won't work. It's just hard to do.

DANNY YATES: I don't know. They just played together well. Our team, we had great chemistry with our team, and all of our guys knew each other, and most of them had competed at the college level. Then the older guys had competed in the big amateur events in the summer with these guys. Everybody knew everybody. But our system is fine. I just think they have a good thing going. Their record shows it.

BRYCE MOLDER: I don't know if there's really words to express it. Disappointed would be one of many. You know, Danny Green said something, "We wanted to win it for you, and I wanted to win it for them." Danny wanted to win for the rest of us. But it was -- it was tough. I heard -- I heard maybe 10 or 15 minutes after my match was over with that they had accumulated enough points to retain the Cup, and that -- I mean, I was already tired and beaten and stomach was hurting and whatever. That just -- you know, I felt like I was going to fall down. It just took the wind out of me. I kind of felt like it was inevitable after seeing the last scoreboard out there. It's tough, because it's -- it's -- well I didn't stick around just to win the Walker Cup. I stuck around for the competition and the chance to win it again. I enjoyed being with the guys. I enjoyed getting to know them better. I enjoyed spending more time with Danny. Love him to death. It was just -- you know, it's stuff. I'm going to always remember the guys I've been with, and we'll keep in touch, but it's really hard to explain how you feel when you're this worn out.

DANNY YATES: You know, I think Peter brought up a good point. Right now, they have got great players. They put a group together that was spectacular. We have got a lot of players. It's just -- I don't know. It's hard. I haven't figured it out. We've got great players and so do they. Right now, you would have to say it has shifted over; they have won two in a row.

BRYCE MOLDER: But I think it's hard to measure dominance on two days out of two years. I don't know that that's how you measure it.

BRYCE MOLDER: I saw the scores and I'm glad I didn't play him. I wouldn't have made it too far. I know I was playing well and he always plays well. We've gotten pinned up against each other every time we've been in the same tournament so it wouldn't be any different. It would have been fun. We've battled out first and second place in a lot of tournaments, and he's gotten me twice in match play, actually. So I would have liked to have played him to try to even that up a little bit. But, you know, I played a very good player, Graeme McDowell. He's a very, very quality player and kind of a younger guy, but he's a very, very good player. He's also great to play.

DANNY YATES: If you look at our record, most of our guys have had a lot of success in match play. All of our guys had gone a long way in the Amateur, North and South, Western Amateur, so probably not. I can't explain it. You know, Peter said a lot of the American players will be great players down the road. I'm at a loss right now. I think it's just been a good system, and let's see what happens next time.

DANNY YATES: We didn't have a meeting, because I didn't even get to the locker room. I was the last one there. I was doing some TV things on the 18th green. I barely had time to change my shirt. We had not even gotten together to talk. We talked out on the golf course individually, but we haven't been together, really, as a group.

DANNY YATES: Yeah, I'd like to do it again. I'd like to get my golf game back. I've kind of -- when I was selected three years ago, I thought I was still a decent player that could play in a pretty good level of competition, the U.S. Amateur, probably wasn't going to win anything like that. But I enjoyed the competition. I kind of put that on the side last three years and that's selfish to say I would rather get my game back. Yeah, would I do it again. It's fun. It's like nothing I've ever done. I do it once every two years. You know, what you go through this week and what you go through, a guy like me does it once every two years. It's something that I am not accustomed to. And standing there watching things happen when you don't have any control and what do you tell a guy, I think I've gotten a feel for that. Peter and I both talked about the agony you go through when you are just standing around watching, and I now understand what a lot of these football coaches and people do, but they at least get to call time out. They can say, "All right let's put our heads together and see what's going on." Here, I'm standing on the first tee and the first match is out there on 7. I'm hearing on the radio that so-and-so birdied 2 and another guy parred so he's 1-down. You have no control over it and it's fun. It is a lot of fun, but it ain't easy. I enjoy it. But I tell you, it's different. It's different than anything I've ever done.

DANNY YATES: They had a good team in '89. Peter played on it, and I think this team certainly was a lot better. The team in '93 that they had was a very good team. You know, it talked about us being a better team than the previous two, but we had a -- that year, we just had a spectacular team with Justin Leonard. I think what happened there was we broke their backs. They put their No. 1 guy that shot the all-time low score in the British Open, Iain Pyman, so Allen Doyle goes out and beats him 1-up and Justin Leonard takes on somebody and beats him. Those guys, you just couldn't beat those two guys, and I think that broke their spirit and I think that's kind of what you see here when somebody gets the momentum; that it's hard to change the momentum once it's rolling out there, and that's what we did to them. We just couldn't pull that off; I mean, they did it to us.

DANNY YATES: You're welcome. Thank you for all of your interest in this wonderful match. It's been a lot of fun.