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THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIPMay 12, 2012Matt KucharPONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA CHRIS REIMER: We want to welcome Matt Kuchar here, final group heading into the final round at THE PLAYERS, one shot off the third‑round lead. Solid round today, a lot of birdies, a couple bogeys, but you finished off, I think, with an important par putt at the 18th hole. Maybe go through the day and that putt at the end. MATT KUCHAR: Yeah, today was a different day for me. I think normally I'm a guy that makes a lot of pars, stays out of trouble. Today there was a lot of bogeys on my scorecard. But that being said, I knew this morning that this golf course was going to be really difficult today. The wind was up. There were going to be a lot of hard holes; that bogeys were going to happen. I'm real pleased that I was able to bounce back so well after bogeys. It seemed like when I made a bogey, I'd bounce back, make a birdie. It happened a couple times out there today, twice today. Bounced back after a bogey on 11. That's a hole you're generally looking to take advantage of that par‑5, made bogey. Birdied 12 and 13; bogeyed 14. Bounced back with a birdie on 15. Unfortunately wasn't able to get up‑and‑down on 16, kind of too bad to play the par‑5s on the back side 1‑over. I hit two great shots into 16, and just a tough chip. You get in this Bermuda rough, it's difficult to judge just how it's going to come out. So made par on 15. Hit it in the water on 17, had a yardage that was a full 52, wasn't a whole lot of margin for error. It was the right club. I knew with a good strike it was going to be good, I just mis‑hit it and came up short in the water. To take a drop from that yardage, 72 yards, is a funny number. And to get that up‑and‑down was a big save. It was one of those ones where awkward number but had the wind working kind of into us, had the back slope to work with. Hit a shot that landed just perfectly up on the slope, spun back down to about four feet, made that. And then 18, hit a great drive, a lousy wedge shot, missed the green, and hit a good chip to about 12 feet, and to make that was a great save. It was not going to be a fun way to finish off a round, finishing bogey‑bogey. I was real excited to have that putt go in on 18. Q. You were right in the mix there at the Masters, and it seems like guys learn a little something about themselves every time they get into that situation, and just curious sort of what you've learned about yourself and the heat there. MATT KUCHAR: It was awfully exciting to be there, to play late on Sunday at Augusta National, the roars, to be in contention, to be there late on Sunday was really a thrill. To pull off some great shots was exciting. Kind of felt like, man, I can do this; I can win this. Now to be a month later here at TPC is awfully exciting to be in the same position. Knowing that I've been there recently, played some great golf, and excited about the way I'm playing right now. I'm looking forward to playing some great golf tomorrow. Q. Going back to No.1, what kind of advice did you give Harris after he hit the fan? He said you were really supportive. MATT KUCHAR: It's such a hard thing as a player. You've got guys out there, fans. This was a volunteer, a guy that is out there supporting us there, helping the tournament out. It's so great to have them out, and to have a guy there helping us, to get injured is a hard thing to see. When you see a guy get hit in the head and blood, it's not pleasant. It's hard to shake off. There are a couple things‑‑ and I don't know who started it: Give the guy a glove; apologize; try to get any sort of help you can his way. It just seems like the standard. And Harris English kind of gave him the typical policy of what you do. It's shakes people up, seeing a guy getting that you injured due to an errant drive; it's tough to see. But it's just one of those things that you hope doesn't happen. The likelihood is it is and you do your best to make peace with it and try to keep playing. It's really hard, the first hole of the day. He's got 17 more holes on his conscience with it. It's a difficult thing, but you do your best to make peace with it. Q. What's your standard mindset when you're playing with somebody who has a much more deliberate pace than you do? Was Kevin's situation, his nervous‑‑ whatever, noticeable to you? Were you wrapped up in your own game a little bit too much to worry about that? And do you foresee that being a problem tomorrow? MATT KUCHAR: Yeah, he was in the group behind me today. So I didn't really see what was going on today. I've just only recently learned they were on the clock, and he did a number of backing off and kind of talking to himself. Part of the deal about playing out here is you kind of learn to play slow, unfortunately, particularly when you play late. You're going to have‑‑ it just takes one person to slow the course up. You play late on Saturday, late on Sunday, the pace of play is not going to be that fast. So you kind of learn to go slow. For me, having a guy that plays slow will kind of help with the pace of play I imagine. I imagine we're probably not going to get too far behind. I'm always amazed to see a last group get on the clock. I never find that much fun when you're playing golf, to be on the clock. But I hope that doesn't cause any problems. I don't foresee it. There's a lot of slow guys out here that we play with on a regular basis, so it's part of the deal. Q. Are you represented by Mark Steinberg now? MATT KUCHAR: Yes. Q. Of course his most famous client, Tiger Woods, personality so different from your own. But have you picked up anything from maybe spending time with Mark about Tiger's approach to the game that you're using yourself? MATT KUCHAR: I've been so pleased with what's gone on with Mark Steinberg. He's just brought a whole 'nother level of professionalism to what I know as far as golf, the game; the business side of it has been fantastic. At the Masters he kind of pulled me aside a few times, said listen, you only get so many times to really have a shot at winning a major championship; go for it. This is one of those times. And there's so much nerves involved with being in position, that having that sort of mentality‑‑ and that was something that he got through Tiger Woods. Gee, you get X number of times to really have a chance; you've got to go for it. And just that little bit was helpful, having that mentality; having a little more aggressive mentality instead of just hoping you play well or trying to play well, just really going for it was just some great advice; and to have it come from a guy like Tiger Woods that's been there, that's gone for it, that's done it. Q. Have you spent more one‑on‑one time with Tiger as a result of being with the same‑‑ MATT KUCHAR: No, no, I have not. Q. The deliberateness that Gary was talking about with Kevin Na, have you played with Kevin before? MATT KUCHAR: If I have, it's been a long time. Q. And secondly, you talked about Augusta and what you learned, but how long did it really take you to process what happened at Augusta? MATT KUCHAR: It was pretty easy. It was pretty quick. There I was, 16, hit an amazing shot in. Tied for the lead for a moment. Knew that the guys behind me were going to make birdie. So momentarily, I was tied for the lead at Augusta. Knew I had to kind of keep the pedal down and keep making birdies. I hit a not great shot on 16. Played great holes on 17 and 18 coming in. All in all, I was pretty pleased.  It was one of those chances I had to win a major championship. Felt like I played some great golf. I was pleased. I put it out there. I went for it. I played some great golf. We all could say if only I had a shot back. But I was‑‑ I played great and was very happy, was very comfortable with that, and hoped that I was going to get in that position again. Here I am a month later at TPC with a great chance to win tomorrow. Q. I think you played junior golf with Jeff Klauk. I was just wondering how much he's on your mind this week and whether you've had any contact with him. I think he was out here the other day. MATT KUCHAR: Yeah, I saw him Friday for a moment out here. He came for just a little bit. Talked to him on Thursday. We've kept in contact fairly well. It's a difficult situation. I'm always amazed at what people can do as far as our doctors, our surgeons can do, for them to go in and put a bunch of sensors inside his brain, to then have a couple‑step process where they hope to be able to fix the seizures is an amazing thing. Jeff has had a great attitude about it. Talking to him, I couldn't imagine going through what he told me that he went through. It seems like that sort of thing just makes you stronger as a person, and it seems like Jeff is going to come out of this stronger. I'm hoping and praying that that is what happens. Q. As you know, so many of us were introduced to your father when we were introduced to you as your caddie on your bag when you played the Masters so well as an amateur. The U.S. Open is associated with Father's Day but now we've got a big tournament that concludes on Mother's Day. I don't know anything about your mom, but can you tell us something about her and how she figures into this whole thing? MATT KUCHAR: I think there's an interesting makeup that I may have from my father and my mother, my father being the very competitive one, and feel like I have that inner competitive drive that was kind of instilled in me through my father. And my maybe attitude and nature maybe is more from my mom's side. I think that she was one if I showed a temper on the course or misbehaved, she was going to make sure that there were punishments, taking my clubs away. I hated having my clubs taken away. I didn't know what to do without golf courses around. So I learned pretty quickly from some of the few punishments when I misbehaved and learned that attitude was such a big thing. That was something she instilled, making sure I conducted myself in a proper manner and learned pretty quickly that the more fun I had on the golf course, the better I played. I think that part comes from mom. So yeah, it's pretty cool that tomorrow, having a chance, being Mother's Day; now having two kids, having a wife that's a mom to two kids is special, as well. But I think all sons have a real special place in their heart for their mothers. CHRIS REIMER: Going back about Mark's advice about getting it, after your win at the World Cup you also recalled watching how Phil approached a final round and went out and kind of demanded a victory. Taking both those things, it sounds like you'll be looking for that tomorrow, going out and getting it and not waiting for it to come to you. MATT KUCHAR: Yeah, that's something I learned talking to Gio Valiante a couple years ago: In pressure situations if there was a tendency of mine to maybe play a little tentative, maybe come up a little short on putts. And through talking with Gio, figured out that a strategy for me was to try to be a little more aggressive when it got to be a pressure situation. It may just be a conservative play, but trying to make it an aggressive play. It seemed to really help. And then watching Phil Mickelson play. He goes out, and it seems like second place means nothing to him. He's going to try to birdie every hole if he's got a shot at it, and that sort of mentality has helped to watch and use some of that same sort of attitude on the golf course I found was helpful. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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