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May 17, 2012
CASARES, SPAIN
Q. How happy are you with the victory in your first match?
GRAEME McDOWELL: Yeah, I'm very happy with that, 1‑down with three holes to play against a great player like Robert Karlsson, I mean, I feel very fortunate to win. I made a great birdie on 16 and hit probably one of the better 3‑woods I've hit in a long time into the last. Robert played very solid today. I was very surprised he missed that putt on the last there. You're never rooting against someone but I feel very fortunate today.ÂÂ
Q. The three birdies in a row?
GRAEME McDOWELL: That was big for me. I got off to an awful start today. I 3‑putted 2 and I 3‑putted 4. I really could not get my speed on the greens going at all. I made nothing. I thankfully managed to birdie 9, 10, 11 to get myself back in the game. I thought I was in control and Robert made a great putt on 14. It was great. We don't get a chance to play match play very often. It gets your attention, and it's a lot fun and especially when a guy plays solid, you have to play better to beat him.
Q. Thoughts on tomorrow?
GRAEME McDOWELL: Tomorrow I'll just be going out trying to win my match and try to get my speed on these greens. They are very fast down the hill and quite slow uphill so you really have to adjust on the greens. I didn't putt well and I need to putt better if I'm going to compete better this weekend.
Q. It looks like to me on the 18th green that if Robert Karlsson had knocked that putt in, all square would have been quite fair; is that how you gauged it?
GRAEME McDOWELL: Yeah, I was chatting with my caddie before he hit the putt and I was fully accepting of the fact that he might make that putt. A halve match was a good result for me, 1‑down with three holes to play against a player of Robert Karlsson's quality, I'll take that and run. You never want to root against a guy, but he missed that putt, and it's a great win for me and I feel very, very fortunate to get a point on the board.
Q. How is the game at the moment? Are you feeling close?
GRAEME McDOWELL: Yeah, it's very close. I just need to get a bit of momentum, get myself into the mix coming into the weekend. Match play is a great test. You go out and play a guy like Karlsson who plays as solid as he did today; I had to dig deep coming down the stretch and hit a couple of quality shots and it's great for the confidence bank.
Q. How much do you draw on the game at Celtic Manor against Hunter Mahan?
GRAEME McDOWELL: I've always believed in my good match play. You look at my results, but the WGC Match Play, you wouldn't believe that I'm a good match‑play player but I've always believed in my match‑play ability and it's all nice to grind out a game like that. I wouldn't say I enjoy pressure, but it certainly focuses my attention and I've certainly played well under some pressure in the last few years. Like I say I'm a good match‑play player and here to do a job this weekend and that was a nice little victory to carve out.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
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