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WALKER CUP MATCH

September 12, 2009

ARDMORE, PENNSYLVANIA

RAND JERRIS: It's our pleasure to welcome the captain of the Great Britain and Ireland team, Colin Dalgleish, along with Gavin Dear and Stiggy Hodgson. Colin, perhaps you can start us off with some general comments about the afternoon.
CAPTAIN COLIN DALGLEISH: Yeah, well, in terms of -- I suppose looking at the morning quickly. We were looking at possibly maybe being two apiece and that finished up 3-1, and that hurt us a little bit.
Afternoon we seemed to be up to a reasonable beginning but that very quickly feel away and for a while the board was looking pretty awful. But we did manage to salvage some very good halves out of it. And I think at the end of the day, we will certainly take 8-4. The guys know that they are certainly the match of the U.S. Team, and although we were these points behind, the games were so incredibly close and there was a lot of great shots hit on both sides.
But the halves that we got, I think with Gavin, Wallace, Matt, Niall and Chris were all very important halves for us. And in the main, they were very good halves with some great shots played on 18. Gavin made a great up-and-down on 18 for a halve in his game, and then Matt Haines played a beautiful pitch stone dead at the last to get a halve there, and Chris made a great up-and-down from the back of the green. And of course, Stiggy winning again for his second time this afternoon, which was fantastic.
I think that we are happy to be at 8-4 right now. We feel we are still very much in contention. There was a while this afternoon that, as I say, things didn't look very good at all. The board was all red on one side and it wasn't looking good. But the guys fought back very well, and I think we played the 18th particularly well.
We probably maybe sometimes didn't play the 17th too well. Equally, we had some great shots played on 17 against us, I'm going to making 2 on 17 after Drew Weaver, and Drew birdied 16 and birdied 17. So sometimes those great shots were hit against us and sometimes a little bit of slack on our part. But 18, we generally played 18 quite well in terms of making 4 there.
RAND JERRIS: Gavin, you talk about being the first player off in the afternoon match, what was your feeling like on the first tee and how did the rounds go for you?
GAVIN DEAR: I like playing No. 1. I've tried to play No. 1 pretty much whether it be club, county, national or obviously today. First hole was quite comfortable actually. I didn't swing it that great this morning.
Obviously the foursomes was quite difficult. I had a few tee shots go right and you don't really have the time to gather rhythm or make changes. Went and spent a bit of time on the range, completely fixed it, and felt very confident the first tee, and obviously birdied the first two holes, parred the third, which were good pars today and got off to a good start. Swung it really nicely the whole round.
RAND JERRIS: Stiggy, you were the anchor match in both the morning and afternoon. How did the day go for you?
STIGGY HODGSON: It was a lot of fun being out there, especially down the back nine, when I know my point is vital, I've got guys telling me my point is vital. It just seemed to bring the best out of me I think. I love being in that position, and you know, I'm a fighter, which is my greatest strength and also my mind.
So no, it felt great, and it was good to win. But you know, there's a big job ahead tomorrow and we look forward to that.

Q. Gavin you saw that putt in foursomes beat you this morning. How disappointing was that and how good was it for you to get it back on 18 and get a halve?
GAVIN DEAR: It was very disappointing. We both hit poor shots on 17, and they got a big break being on the tee. I missed the fairway on 18, which again, you've got to give matt a chance to at least knock it on the green.
Got it in the bunker which actually, we talked about it, he hit the 5-wood, and a good play in the bunker, wasn't bad. Knocked it out. And it's just one of those things you know. You're not going to putt, and Matt just hit it a little firm through the break, but he putted really well the whole day. I really thought he would knock it in.
And it's very disappointing, obviously, to lose in such a way, but that's match play. It's gone against me as much as it's gone for me.
So this afternoon, I fancied, I holed a sort of 4-footer on maybe 16 to sort of make sure that we down 17 and I really fancied -- I had the honor then, you hit the 17th green and hit the 18th fairway, and you've got a really good chance to turn it around. I wasn't going to miss the putt on the last. It had to go in. So I was happy to see it went in.

Q. Playing 17, you had a 2-up lead on Brendan and you hit a great shot in. He hits it down in the gully to the left and then almost hits the shot of the century. Can you talk us through what you were thinking, because obviously you were in a great position and he almost hole it is.
STIGGY HODGSON: He obviously hit a great tee shot there and Brendan, you know, that's a very, very fast green from whatever way you come at it. And it was travelling at some pace.
But in all honesty, I had thought he holed it. As you say, he hit the shot of the century. He was a little unfortunate not to go in. But you know, my putt, it was very, very quick. I mean, obviously I was happy when it didn't go in. But you know, I would have fancied my putt having needed to hole it, especially having putted the way I did all day.
But you know, Brendan, he played pretty solid all day. Didn't make many mistakes. He hit a couple of bad drives. We both hit a couple of bad shots really, but yeah, I guess you know when stuff like that happens, it's just not meant to be. So you know, it was a great shot in all but if it's meant to be it would have gone in I guess.

Q. Colin, could you describe your emotions at about 3 o'clock when you look and that whole right side of the board is red?
CAPTAIN COLIN DALGLEISH: Yeah, it was pretty desperate. You know, I suppose from that position, either it's going to go crumbling just going to go that way, or you're hoping for things to turn around. And it just takes every match to win two or three holes and you're moving in the right direction.
So it was certainly very early to be giving up hope in the afternoon, but certainly was looking pretty bleak. I knew the guys were all working pretty hard and they all knew how important it was for any of them to get some change on the board and I know we were a bit motivated by that. But it was pretty bleak at one point in time.

Q. What is your decision-making process as far as deciding which of your two players will not play in singles?
CAPTAIN COLIN DALGLEISH: For today, what we are trying to do is ideally I would like to have everybody play on the first day in either the foursomes or the singles. Sometimes the foursomes are dictated a little bit by the pairings you think are going to work best.
In terms of singles, again, you just have to make a decision based on kind of historical form coming into the week, and also on some current form and the informal stuff we have had together as a team and just make a judgment on that.
I felt that we had ten players who were collectively really playing very solidly, and it was a very tough call, because quite often you can have, you know, some players that are clearly just off form and you're trying to figure out who is going to play who is going to not play.
But on this occasion, I brought ten players who could very comfortably had played; played all of them. But ultimately made a judgment as to who you think should play in the afternoon.

Q. Stiffy, you talked about your greatest asset being a fighter. Where does that come from within?
STIGGY HODGSON: Good question actually. I don't know. I mean, I grew up from a pretty underprivileged area. And ever since I've known what's golf's about, I've realized what the reward can be. And you know, it's always been -- the idea of being a champion or having that -- having that something over everybody else, just something -- it's always been sort of a dream of mine to be, you know, a winner if you like, in whatever way possible; whether it being part of the winning team or winning a European Tour event or winning a whatever.
I love that feeling and I think coming from an underprivileged background, in a relatively rough area, it just makes you want it more, because you never got those things there. You never had anything handed to you.
So you know, as my dad has always said to me, if you want something, you have to go out to get it yourself which -- you know, that's sort of what we stick by all the time, and it's how much you want it. You know, if you want something bad enough, you're going to make it happen. And you know, I was lucky enough to go out there and I made it happen today.

Q. Where does your team make up ground tomorrow as far as playing the golf course? Is it driving a little better or making a few more putts?
CAPTAIN COLIN DALGLEISH: Yeah, I think all of the areas, driving a little bit better and making a few more putts of course. Tomorrow we have got these extra two singles matches, so there are 14 points at stake tomorrow, which I would say helps when you're coming from 8-4 behind. I think we just have to be a little bit tighter in a few areas.

Q. You've probably been asked this question a million times. Where does the nickname Stiffy come from?
STIGGY HODGSON: Basically when I was 2 1/2, my dad was late at home from work, and the trash guy out there, we called him a bin man. I don't know what you guys call it; the guy who collects the trash. My dad missed him. So he had to go to the skip, the Dumpsters I think you all them, sorry, to put all our trash away.
So I was always glued to my dad's side. So I went with him, and I was sort of messing around trying to help, you being knee-high and stuff and I fell into the skip, and I was rolling around and I found a golf club, which my dad, not knowing anything about golf, he thought it was a putter. And turned out it was a mashing, niggling 7-iron. And that's how I started golf, as well. I went from there, and the story goes, there used to be a cartoon in England, I don't think it's run anymore, called Stig, so people just started calling me Stiggy from there after.
RAND JERRIS: Gentlemen, thank you very much for your time this evening and we wish you lots of luck tomorrow.

End of FastScripts

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