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OMEGA MISSION HILLS WORLD CUPNovember 26, 2011Matt KucharGary WoodlandHAINAN ISLAND, CHINA JOEL SCHUCHMANN: We are joined by the United States Team of Gary Woodland and Matt Kuchar, 9‑under par today,63, and you are 19 under for the week. If we can start with some opening comments, you are certainly in the hunt tomorrow, a couple shots behind Ireland but in great shape. GARY WOODLAND: Today was a great day. We ham‑and‑egged it pretty well. Matt really got us going early. I was kind of all over the place, and he made a birdie on the first hole, got the edge off and then made three or four in a row there. It was nice when I was struggling that he picked me up and fortunately I made some putts on the back nine. He had a huge up‑and‑down on the last hole that really kept the momentum going, and hopefully gives us a lot more momentum going into tomorrow. MATT KUCHAR: It was nice for me to help Gary out. I think he's been playing better than anybody in the field this week. Gary has been just dragging me along for a couple of rounds and today I made a few birdies and was able to help out, and felt like I was part of the team today (chuckling). It was nice, nice to help out. Really fun to finish with that up‑and‑down on 18. Gary hit one just through on 18 into the water, and there I was back 225 yards out trying to help the team with a par, and looking like I was in trouble after my second shot and made a nice up‑and‑down to save par and saved a stroke there at the end. Q. It's been 11 years since the U.S. has picked up the World Cup trophy. Now, you are two strokes back. What's your strategy going into tomorrow's foursomes? MATT KUCHAR: We have a chance. It's going to be an exciting day tomorrow. Alternate‑shot is an exciting format, and all of the teams at the top are fantastic teams with great players. Alternate‑shot you generally try not to make mistakes, and I think tomorrow with as many good teams that are up there, we are going to have to try to be aggressive and make some birdies. I think as good of quality as the top teams are, it's going to take a good score tomorrow to win. Q. In the past, not a lot of the players from the U.S. are willing to travel way overseas and play, especially to Asia, but the last few years, we have seen more and more top players from the U.S. coming over to play. Is there something like a trend going on? Do you go back and tell your friends; are you both willing to come over and play more? MATT KUCHAR: We see golf being really a global game. In the States, we have a lot of great things going on in the States, but there's certainly a lot of excitement going on over here in Asia, particularly in China with the growth of the game; it's fun to be a part of. A tournament like this is really a neat opportunity and it's a fun opportunity to represent your country and to play in a World Cup and have a chance to win a world title. It's a great honour. I know when I asked Gary, it took him all of two seconds to say: Yes, I would like to play in that and love to be a part of it. I think we are seeing that trend of guys being a lot more anxious to come over here, and particularly with the events gaining notoriety like they have, this event has such great history that I think it's an easy yes. Q. For Matt, you are higher‑ranked in the World Ranking, does that putt more pressure on you representing the team with Gary Woodland? And also, the U.S. Team performed really well last week at The Presidents Cup and in the past on the foursomes, so is that a big advantage for you, just finished playing The Presidents Cup, and tomorrow teaming up with Gary and getting into the final round tomorrow. MATT KUCHAR: I don't feel any more pressure being the higher‑ranked player. I think this is an event where I try to convey a little bit of advice that I've learned through the couple of teams I've played on to Gary and I think that will come into play a little bit with the alternate‑shot, some of the strategies. But for the most part, you've got to play well, regardless of how much you've played that format in the past with the alternate‑shot. It's just it comes down to who is playing the best. The strategy is a very, very small part of the equation there. It really comes down to who is playing the best golf and I feel awfully lucky to have Gary being the other guy on my team. Q. In China we have a lot of beautiful and world‑class golf courses now available for tournaments like this, but the calibre of the Chinese players is still‑‑ there's still a gap between the top Chinese player compared to the world‑class players. Do you two have some suggestion to China on how to produce better players so that they can compete in a world‑class, top event like this? GARY WOODLAND: Well, I think it's only a matter of time. Like Matt said earlier, this game is definitely becoming more global, and over here it's really growing. You've got facilities like this, you're going to produce better players. So I think with time, you're definitely going to see more and more players coming out of here. So I don't think it's far off. MATT KUCHAR: I think it just really is going to take one guy. You get one guy to become that star, and I think you'll see a huge following. I think there's already a big movement in the game of golf, but I think once you get the one kid, the one Ryo Ishikawa to come out of China, that's really going to grow the game over here. Q. Tomorrow it's alternate‑shot, who will be teeing off on the odd numbers, who is the even number, and who has the final say? MATT KUCHAR: It's a pretty simple formula for us. It works out very well that I tee off on the first hole and on all of the odd holes. It just works out very well that a lot of the par 5s, a lot of the holes that Gary can really take advantage of his length, happen to be the even holes. So it's a very easy strategy for us. Q. And who has the final say, if there is something‑‑ who is the captain? MATT KUCHAR: I don't know if there ever needs to be a final say. I think we go on pretty good agreement. I think we trust each other and the decisions, and if there's a sticky situation, we'll just have everybody involved, caddies included, and figure out the best strategy from there. JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Gary Woodland, Matt Kuchar, thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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