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BOB HOPE CLASSIC

January 25, 2010

Matt Kuchar

LA QUINTA, CALIFORNIA

DOUG MILNE: We would like to welcome Matt Kuchar to the interview room here at the Bob Hope classic.
Great round today. I heard you outside a little while ago saying that you, how can you feel bad shooting a 9-under 63 on the final day. It wasn't quite good enough for the win, but all in all, you got to be feeling pretty good.
Just a few comments on the round, and then we'll take a few questions.
MATT KUCHAR: Yeah, 63 is a heck of a round. I played some great golf today. I got off to a hot start. I birdied 1 and 2, and kind of kept it going there to shoot 6-under on the front side. That was some fantastic golf.
Here I am shooting 63, and only 10 minutes ago, I was on 18 and unable to convert a birdie. It's a hole you know you are counting on making a four there. And I played couple good shots and just kind of put myself in a difficult situation. I had an in-between yardage, I went with a hybrid instead of a 4-iron. If I could do it over again, I would probably still hit the hybrid, but I think I would just -- I'm better than leaving it 10 feet short from 70 feet. Normally I'm probably a pretty good putter and a pretty good lag putter. I would like to have that first one over again.
But shooting 63 is fantastic. I wasn't sure I had that much in me today. It was a great round of golf.
DOUG MILNE: We'll go ahead and open it up for a few questions.

Q. Give us your yardage on 18 to the pin, second shot?
MATT KUCHAR: I had 208 front. I had 215 pin. And generally that's a 4-iron. But it was sitting in the first cut of rough, and I'm not going to hit a towering high 4-iron. My 4-iron's going to come in and it needs some green to work with to stop.
I thought out of the first cuts of rough, it may not come out with enough spin to hold a trajectory and stay in the air and make kind of knuckle, almost fall out of the air maybe. So like I said, if I could do it over again, I would still hit that hybrid. I still think that's the right play for my game.

Q. You barely missed some putts on the back, especially on 14. Do you feel like you had that one that just barely grazed the left edge there?
MATT KUCHAR: We played 90 holes, and there are a lot of missed putts, a lot of missed opportunities. I've always looked at golf that every shot counts the same value, that my first tee shot Wednesday morning kind of the same value as that missed putt on 14 or the missed putt on 18.
There were definitely a few more opportunities today, but with five rounds of golf, there are a lot of opportunities. I missed one. I 3-putted from 12 feet earlier in the week. The ball kind of horseshoed around the cup, went three feet to the side of the cup, and missed that. And looking back, I did everything I normally do. I took my time. I did all the steps. I just missed a short one. I 3-putted from 12 feet. It's one of those things where that counted just as much as that 3-putt on 18, unfortunately.
So we try to focus as hard as we can for 90 holes this week and I would have liked to have definitely had that 3-footer back and a couple of others today as well.

Q. How, you were obviously in front of the other two groups, how aware were you that you were either in the lead or tied for the lead coming down the stretch?
MATT KUCHAR: I had a pretty good inclination. When the TV cameras come to you, you know you're playing some good golf. And the leaderboards, I started checking out the leaderboards probably there around 14, 15, somewhere in there. I knew that I was in first place, or tied for first, but knew that you still got to stay aggressive. I was reminding myself, don't start playing conservative, you still got to be aggressive. You're going to need more birdies.
I figured right at 30-under was going to be the winning score. As I was kind of making my way through the back nine, I thought 30-under would have been a good score and there it was. It was the winning score.

Q. Is concentrating for 90 holes different than 72? Do you notice mentally any fatigue in these extra rounds?
MATT KUCHAR: With the pro-am, I think that you could find yourself slipping away a lot easier. I feel like playing regular tournament golf with just professionals, it's a little easier. I think that you can get distracted sometimes with the amateurs. I like the format. I enjoy the format. I'm probably, I think, one of the better guys at this format. I have a good time with the amateurs. I still think I am able to stay focused, stay out of the amateur's way, have a good time with them, and still play some good golf.
But 90 holes, I don't know, it does seem like a endurance answer contest, it does seem like a longer week, and it seem like it would probably be easier to lose concentration.

Q. Your last five official tournaments now, you have got a first, a second, and a third. How good is your game right now?
MATT KUCHAR: The game is good. I put in some more work with Chris O' Connell, my instructor this off season. We actually came out here prior to Hawaii, put some work in. I'm really happy with the way we work. I think that I'm a believer in the one plane method it, works for me.
I feel like I can play well every week. I feel like when I start the week, I'm going to have a chance. I was thinking that, it was two days ago, some guys were at 20- or 21-under. I was probably at I think 13-under, and I was thinking, it's going to be a big stretch for me to get in contention here. With as many birdies as you would have to make, I thought I had more than my work cut out for me to kind of Top-5, much less get in contention.
And to shoot the two rounds over Sunday, Monday's rounds was fantastic, to get myself in contention this week. I was real pleased and really looking forward to a great year this year. I think this last year was my best year ever, and I think this year could be better.

Q. Shot Link had the last putt at 91 feet. Whether that's accurate or not, but when it got over the hill, did you think that it would feed all the way? It seemed pretty slow when it got over the hill?
MATT KUCHAR: It didn't have enough gas. For a minute I thought it wasn't going to make it over the hill. I had a putt in Kapalua, it must have been similar distance, but it was downhill, down grain, downwind, and I ended up putting it off the green. And so that kind of flashed back into my mind, thinking, alright, I haven't had a 90-footer in a while, the last one I had I knocked off the green.
When I hit the putt I really thought it was a good putt. I thought it was good speed, I thought it was good line, and I think if it -- it's not that far off, it came up nine or 10 feet short, but I think with another three feet of pace going down that hill, it makes up the nine feet and is really a good putt.
DOUG MILNE: Lastly, if you wouldn't mind just running us through your birdies and just hitting us with some clubs and yardage.
MATT KUCHAR: I drove it in the left bunker on 1. I had about 158 yards to the pin. It was a perfect 8-iron. I had about, I hit a great shot out of the fairway bunker to 10 feet. Made that.
The second hole, that's a par-5. I'm blanking on how I made birdie there. But it was a birdie.
There were a lot of them on the front side. I had six of them.
The highlights were kind of 9, that was a hole that you looked to make a par on. It's a 460 yard hole, there's water down the left, it seems to be a hole that you can get in trouble on. I hit a great drive there, hit a 6-iron from 182 yards to about 12 feet below the hole. And made it coming straight up the hill.
Kind of made a good stretch there, birdieing 8, 9, 10, and 11.
10, drove it in the right rough, I think that's probably where most people drive it. Everybody is a little scared of the water left. I hit a 7-iron from 172 yards to I think probably 15 feet. It was just a good shot coming out of the rough to a right pin to, a tucked right pin. Again made another good putt, it was nice. 9 and 10 were both good putts.
I hit a hybrid on the green to probably 30 feet on the next hole and then an easy 2-putt from there.
And then 17, I hit a pitching wedge, it was a full pitching wedge for me, I think it was about 145 yards or so. Playing downhill to 135 yards. And it was a full pitching wedge. I hit it to 15 feet and that was a fun putt to make because I knew I had slipped back into a tie for first.
And then so I knew that that birdie would put me back on top, looking like I would make a birdie on 18, but it wasn't to be on 18.
DOUG MILNE: Okay. Matt, thanks for your time congratulations on another solid week.

End of FastScripts

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