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WGC BRIDGESTONE INVITATIONAL

August 7, 2010

Matt Kuchar

AKRON, OHIO

LAURA HILL: Thanks, Matt, for joining us, a nice 66 out there to get yourself in contention. Talk about today and how things went out there heading into the final round.
MATT KUCHAR: Yeah, thank you. I drove it beautifully today. This was the best day so far of my driving. I think I hit 13 of 14 fairways and I missed just one and the first fairway was only the first cut and was able to make a birdie there. It was just a solid round. The one lone bogey was the three-putt on 5. It was a three-putt from only about 25 feet and it was kind of a silly bogey. Other than that it was just a solid round of golf. It was fairways and greens and I'd like to have another one of those tomorrow.

Q. You only got nine holes of practice here and this was the first time you've been to this venue?
MATT KUCHAR: First time I qualified for this event and figured I got in Tuesday night figuring I'd play a practice round on Wednesday. I lounged around in the morning with the kids and figured most guys would play nine holes in the morning and be done and I'd have the course to myself in the afternoon and a big storm came in, and it actually didn't rain at all. There was just some lightning and some storm clouds in the area. So they blew the horn when I was just about ready to get out there, so I only got the front nine in. I was able to walk the back nine but only got the front nine in for a practice round.
Firestone is quickly becoming one of my favorites. It was easy to know where you were supposed to go in the practice round, even just walking the back nine, I knew where to go. There was no tricks out there. I knew you just had to drive it accurately, and from there it was pretty self-explanatory.

Q. You're No. 1 in the all-around stat right now and the improvement the last couple years has been pretty steady, pretty amazing. What do you attribute that to if there's one or two things?
MATT KUCHAR: I've got to attribute it to Chris O'Connell, my instructor. Since starting to work in 2006 -- I fell back to the Nationwide Tour in 2006. That's when I started working with Chris, and every year has gotten better, and I think as a professional, you look at your year before and you hope to get better, you hope to improve. And for me there was no one glaring weakness. I just knew everything needed to kind of -- dialing in. Everything needed to get a little bit better.
I think in all categories I probably improved. I'm starting to hit it further, I'm hitting it closer to the hole, I'm putting better. My short game is good. But Chris has made me a much more consistent golfer and a much better golfer. I feel like -- it seems like this year I've had a number of chances and had a number of top 10s. It's been fun. I think as a golfer you look at guys like Tiger Woods or Steve Stricker and you kind of want to be those guys, the guys that you see up on the leaderboard every week.
I heard when I was younger you were going to make 80 percent of your money in 20 percent of the tournaments. You're going to get hot a few times and that's where you're going to make your money, and I kind of understood that theory. But that's never the guy that I wanted to be. I never wanted to be the guy that played well three times a year and just kind of was hanging around the cut line the rest of the time. I wanted to be the guy that had a chance just about every week. It's been a great year this year and hope to continue. I hope to continue to improve for next year.

Q. Right now there's 21 guys between 4-under and 9-under. What are your thoughts on that, that many, and what does that bode for tomorrow?
MATT KUCHAR: Hopefully it's an exciting tournament. I think there's potential to shoot some low rounds. What was there, an 8-under earlier today? An 8-under, looks like a 6 and a 7-under, as well.

Q. Yeah, O'Hair shot 7-under.
MATT KUCHAR: So it looks like there's a potential for anybody in that range that you're talking about, from 4-under, to have a chance, because you can get it going around here. The leaders can have some trouble. It's not one where you're going to have to shoot a 59 and come from behind because the leaders could make birdies but the leaders could struggle. But there also is the potential to shoot a low number and really move up the leaderboard, so it should make for an exciting finish.

Q. Last week you moved right into the Ryder Cup mix for the U.S. Team and obviously you're helping yourself here. Talk about that.
MATT KUCHAR: I'm doing everything I can to not talk about it.

Q. Sorry.
MATT KUCHAR: I've always been of the thought process that talking about it can't really help me. Playing better can help me make the team, but by talking about it, I kind of fall under the John Wooden mantra of you take care of the details and let the big things take care of themselves. I've never been a guy that says, that's it, this is my goal to make the Ryder Cup team. I never felt like that was going to help me make the Ryder Cup team. I felt like I take care of the details and good things will happen.
That's the way I look at golf, too. Tomorrow I'm not going to go out there and say, well, I really need to have a good round or I need to shoot 4-under. I never thought that could help. Golf you say it over and over again, take it one shot at a time, take care of the simple things and add up the scores and see what place you finish.

Q. I would guess, though, it's pretty exciting to be in that discussion I guess for the first time in your career, right?
MATT KUCHAR: Yeah, yeah. It is. It's one of those topics that is hard to avoid. I have friends and family and everybody bringing it up, and I'm doing my best not to think about it, guys. Thanks a lot.

Q. So I'm going to come at you side arm on the same thing. What was your Walker Cup experience wearing red, white and blue even though you guys got drilled pretty good.
MATT KUCHAR: Yeah, we got beaten -- my links golf experience to date hasn't been great. I've really enjoyed it. I made my first-ever cut at a British Open this year, one of six. I'm starting to figure it out. I think my Walker Cup experience was my first introduction to links golf, and I wasn't great at it but sure did have a good time.
It's fun camaraderie. Golf -- I had a good time out there with Paul Casey today. But I think it would be so much more special to be with guys -- and Paul Casey, I know being on that GB & I team, but having teammates, my college experience was probably still the highlight of my life. Just having four other teammates travel alongside of you for four years. I still probably have some of my fondest memories from my college experience and to be part of the team. To be part of a team to represent the United States would be great.

Q. I was asking Lance and your wife about this year you've been having -- your wife says you're in bed by 7:30 every night, and she says it's clean living. Is she exaggerating? I know you've got two very tiny little kids. Is that really much of a stretch, or is it true?
MATT KUCHAR: You're not going to find any dirt on me. (Laughter.)
It is very clean. I've married the coolest chick in the world and got two great little kids, and life is good for me. We unfortunately aren't out partying and don't have many stories to tell. We get the kids fed and they go to bed, and we kind of have to tiptoe around while they sleep, and we watch a movie or Seinfeld or whatever sort of rerun we can find. That's pretty much it. I'm a big fan of sleep. I enjoy my sleep, so getting to bed early is not a problem for me.
LAURA HILL: Matt, thanks so much. Good luck tomorrow.

End of FastScripts

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