BAY HILL INVITATIONAL PRESENTED BY COOPER TIRES

March 13, 2002

Matt Kuchar

JOHN BUSH: Matt, we appreciate you coming back. Congratulations, once again, on your win last week. Talk to us about how your life has changed the last few days.

MATT KUCHAR: It's been a whirlwind. It feels similar to times after the Amateur or after the Masters, where the Monday after the tournament, I left the cell phone off. I went out on a boat and just kind of tried to disappear from things and really enjoy what had just happened, what a great week it was for me to win the Honda.

I remember looking at the phone on Sunday night when I finally finished all the interviews and signed all the autographs, and there were 40 messages, and that just -- it intimidated me. I was really excited by it, but it also intimidated me.

So I didn't do anything till that Monday night. I left them Sunday. I left them Monday, kind of went out on the boat. By the time I finally had to come up to Orlando for a commitment for a segment on CBS, I listened to all of the messages on the way up. Normally with my messages, I'll listen to who it is and erase it before they totally finish, I figure out the general gist.

But I decided with these messages, I should listen to them all in their entirety. So it took well over an hour to listen to all of the messages, but it was fun to hear what everybody had to say and to really kind of let things soak in. It was kind of an hour that went by very quickly.

JOHN BUSH: Questions?

Q. When did you find out you were in the Masters?

MATT KUCHAR: Dad called Monday morning. I guess Tim Rosaforte called him on Monday to talk and to tell him that he had found out we were in the Masters. That's how dad found out Monday morning. He called me and says, "Guess what?" The first thing that comes to my mind, I was thinking that he's going to say I got in the Masters; and sure enough, he says I got in the Masters. But I didn't believe him. I wasn't going to believe him. I figured it was probably true, but at the same point, I figured, there's no way that what I did had gotten me in the Masters.

It took about three or four more phone calls telling me I was in the Masters before I finally said, "Holy cow, I think I'm really in the Masters."

Q. Your dad kept calling back?

MATT KUCHAR: It was other people.

Q. Was Hootie one of them?

MATT KUCHAR: Hootie?

Q. Hootie Johnson.

MATT KUCHAR: No. I would have believed him. (Laughter.)

Q. Do you appreciate how close it was to get in the Masters, all the math that went behind it?

MATT KUCHAR: I didn't watch all of the reports or do much reading, either. I was told that a couple of people missed some putts that allowed me to sneak in instead of them sneaking in. I think -- you guys know who it was better. There was two people, one in Dubai.

Q. Fulke in Dubai and Billy Andrade right behind you.

MATT KUCHAR: That's hard to believe; one shot can make the difference. You feel bad for guys. It's everybody's dream to play in the Masters. And for me, it's been something I've wanted badly ever since I had a taste of it. I wanted to go back.

Q. Did you even know what your World Ranking was? Did you ever pay attention to that?

MATT KUCHAR: I had no idea if I was even ranked in the world prior to this last tournament. (Laughter.)

Q. Would this be a good time to tell a lot of people, "I told you so"?

MATT KUCHAR: Well, I'm not one to ever say "I told you so." I may tell some of my close friends, like my father or some of my college buddies, "I told you so," just to kind of rub things in. But as far as media, you never want to say that. You let your actions kind of speak for themselves and people make their own generalizations after.

Q. But at a time when society seems to be so against the grab-the-money and-run-mentality, were you confounded by their reaction, everybody second-guessing you for staying in school?

MATT KUCHAR: I never have felt or think that you make decisions solely based on money. You make decisions based on happiness. I knew staying in school was the right decision. I knew that was a decision that was going to make me the happiest.

It did hurt that people or agents may say, and used me as an example, saying, "Look what happened to Matt Kuchar, you don't want to be like that. You've got to take the money now, strike while the iron is hot, take advantage of this opportunity white it's right here, because it will not be here later."

And to use me as a negative example, I didn't much care for. I think that always kind of hurts you.

But, now maybe they will use me as an example in a positive way. Maybe some kid will decide that he wants to do it like I did it.

Q. Was there ever a point when you could have turned pro and made a lot of money that you came close to saying, "Geez, I'm going to do it" or were you on the brink?

MATT KUCHAR: No, I was very close. I even made out a list of all of the pros and cons for turning pro, staying in school, and vice versa. I made just a big list trying to weigh everything, because it was such a tough decision. There was a point where I was very close. I thought my game was ready, I thought for me to take the next step for my game, the best thing for me to do would be to turn professional.

But I kept on having this inner struggle, this inner battle, and finally I wrote one out that says, "the PGA TOUR is going to be here forever, it's not going anywhere." And I saw myself, had I turned pro, being two years down the road, five years down the road, even if I was successful in winning out here, wishing I had two years over again to be a college kid and I didn't want to have that regret. I knew getting a degree was important and having that college experience was an experience you'll always remember.

Q. Could you ever have imagined at 17, doing what Ty is doing?

MATT KUCHAR: That was prior to me going to school. I was just a good high school player at the time. That was about it. I wasn't even the best high school player in the State of Florida. I think there were several other kids who were better than me. The PGA TOUR was a long way away from my game at 17 years old.

Q. You had a tour guy on your high school team.

MATT KUCHAR: Right, Jeremy Anderson was on the same high school team as me. You're exactly right, where I may not even have been the best guy on my high school team; so how could I even be thinking about playing on the PGA TOUR.

Q. You've been second-guessed for what you did and Ty is second-guessed for what he does. Is there a right way to do this?

MATT KUCHAR: No, there is no right way to do this. I think each case is different. I think with Ty and going back to like Justin Rose even, a lot of people knocked Justin Rose for turning pro early. I think the situation is totally different for him overseas, over in Europe; college isn't such a big deal. Most people go to work right out of high school.

So for him to turn pro, I thought that was the proper thing for him to do. And then he was able to support his family, financially taking care of his family after turning pro.

So each case is different. I think Ty, you know, I'm happy for Ty. I would even like to see Ty playing out here full-time now. I feel bad that I went ahead, he qualified for the PGA TOUR. Now he's got to wait.

But I also think the PGA TOUR has done a good thing. They had to draw a line somewhere. I think that's a reasonable thing, drawing the line at 18. So Ty has definitely got his work cut out for him. But he earned his stripes, so you've got to say, get it going.

Q. You had such a good time at the Masters. What are you most looking forward to going back this year?

MATT KUCHAR: The thing that is the most fun, I draw the most memories from is having basically my entire family there. We all rent a house. Going back to the house and hanging out with the family, telling stories. And they will always tell me about people that they overhear people's conversations and how people, you know, talk, "What a great kid Matt is." And to have my grandparents and my aunts and uncles hear these nice things, and they get so excited to hear these great things, just overhearing people's conversations; and go back and have these big dinners of 10, 15 people all around. My grandfather and I would always play a game of gin rummy before night's end.

Those are probably the best things that brings kind of my whole family together for those events. Not everybody can make every PGA event, but for a time like the Masters, everybody makes time and kind of -- we all just really enjoy each other's company and enjoy the time there.

Q. Your situation this week, you're coming off a victory, you're playing a tournament where you had a lot of family and friends, and next week will be the same case, to a lesser extent, can you imagine pulling off a victory and feeling any more relaxed than you might be?

MATT KUCHAR: It's never all that relaxing because there's always that one family member that gets lost some where. And trying to get everybody together tends to be a bit hectic.

So there's events where you have so many people there, it's fun, but it's also hectic at the same time. But it's stuff that we look forward to. And that one uncle we tend to let him fend for himself. (Laughs).

I'm very excited now, coming off of a win, you always have a lot of confidence. So I'm hoping to continue good play and hopefully being in contention for the next couple of weeks. You know, you want to have a chance, and that's what really makes golf fun is being put in the opportunity to win a golf tournament is exciting; that's kind of what we play for.

Q. There was a couple times last week down the stretch where it looked like you would back off a shot, close your eyes, kind of take a deep breath. Was that nerves or was that just a technique you're using?

MATT KUCHAR: I do visualize the shot. I do close my eyes. I was nervous, though, so yeah, it's a technique and it was nerves.

Q. Have you done that quite a bit or was that something you've always done?

MATT KUCHAR: I only back off shots if I'm not ready and I backed off shots before. The visualizing I do quite a bit.

Q. You played on Golden Bear, BUY.COM, what else last year before you finally -- wasn't there South America?

MATT KUCHAR: There's the Canadian Tour, there's called the Tour De Las Americas. I played in Australia, and that sums it up, PGA, BUY.COM.

Q. Where was the South American?

MATT KUCHAR: There were two tournaments in Mexico I played in.

Q. Was there a particular point where you asked yourself or second-guessed yourself, in Mexico, thinking, did you actually make the right decision, or is it working out?

MATT KUCHAR: I went from Pebble Beach last year -- I played Hawaii is he my first tournament, missed the cut. Went to Pebble Beach, missed the cut, putted terribly at Pebble Beach. I go down to Mexico the very next week and hop on the plane on Sunday and go down to Guadalajara and I end up going into a playoff in Mexico. It was one of those things where the putting came around. I just went from one week of being just terrible with the putter and the next week in Mexico, I putted brilliantly, went into a playoff and I had that great feeling about golf again.

It was a really neat experience in Mexico, because everybody was pretty much in the same situation. We actually, the second tournament after Guadalajara, I forget where it was, it was a four- or five-hour bus trip. We packed a bus full of 40 or 50 kids; everybody is in the same situation. Most of them are staying two, three, four people to a room just to save money, and you're all kind of helping each other out. And those that don't know Spanish are hooking up with guys that do and kind of act as interpreters. It was just such great camaraderie. It's different than the PGA TOUR or the BUY.COM where people have made a lot of money and can travel on private airplanes or use their own airplanes, where, at the Mexican event, everybody is just trying to scrape by, and it was really fun to see how everybody worked together trying to help everybody out.

Q. When you won the other night and you didn't have any idea you would jump 99 spots, did you find yourself thinking, "Boy, under the old rules, I would be in the Masters now"?

MATT KUCHAR: I had wished. I said, boy wouldn't it be great if it was the rules like they were two years ago. I thought those were neat rules. I thought this time of year in particular, what a great thing, for a guy to win a tournament and win a bid to the Masters.

So I really was certain that it was going to take a win at TPC for me to get into the Masters. And when I finished, I wish, I really wish, that it was the old rules and I would have gotten in.

But to have jumped so much in the World Rankings the way I did was thrilling.

Q. You've made an impressive amount of money in a really short time. Have you afforded yourself many luxuries like a hot car or something fun in particular?

MATT KUCHAR: I bought a townhouse up in Atlanta. I am building a guest house alongside my folks. I did some furniture shopping. It's amazing how fast you can spend money on furniture. So I'm just trying to take care of the little things at the moment.

But having a house, having a car, those are great things for a 23-year-old kid to already have. To be a homeowner at 23 is kind of cool. So I'm just happy to be part of that.

Q. As far as your goals as a professional being in the Masters, have your expectations changed?

MATT KUCHAR: I don't think they will be any different. I think there are a few kind of, maybe, magical places in the world, and one of which is this place we go every summer in New Hampshire. It's a camp that my dad started going to since he was 16, and it's a family place; our whole family goes there. I worked four summers up there from the age ever 13 to 17, spend my entire summers working there.

And when you go there, it's amazing, you can be whatever age you want to be when you're there. And I think my dad turns back the clock; he's 21 years old when he's there, and I feel that I'm just still a 17-year-old kid. You remember those great times and you kind of relive those great times you've had.

I think the Masters is a similar thing and I'll always be that 19-year-old kid kind of just happy to be there, just kind of living the dream, is the way that I foresee the Masters going for me. Not really expecting anything, dreaming about winning, but still being that 19-year-old kid just happy to be there.

Q. How has your outlook changed, or has it, since being a winner, having won a tournament? Do you notice a difference?

MATT KUCHAR: Of course, this week, the week after a win, is a whirlwind. Everybody I see I shake hands with and they tell me congratulations. It really feels great. You just want to talk to everybody.

My outlook on things, I don't think is a whole lot different. Of course, you have a lot of confidence after a win. But when it comes time Thursday, I think being just one of 125 guys in the field here, how we are all taking it a shot at a time and we are all kind of back to square one when we tee it up on Thursday.

Q. Everyone remembers your first year at Augusta, but your second year, you were sick; how did you feel leaving there, thinking that you were not 100%?

MATT KUCHAR: I always thought I would be back. It was a real shame that year to be sick. I think the one week a year where you'd like to have good health. You can be sick the rest of the year, that one week a year you'd like to be healthy would be that week of the Masters. As bad luck would have it, I was under the weather. It was unfortunate.

It was nice to make the cut. I made a hole-in-one that week with my grandfather on the bag in the par 3 contest. I made an eagle on 13, and then I think birdied 12, eagled 13 and birdied 14 for a stretch on Friday; that helped me make the cut. So there was a little bit of magic in that week.

But it was still tough on me, being as ill as I was.

Q. Don't take this the wrong way, but when was the last win for you before last week?

MATT KUCHAR: It had to be in college.

Q. Like sophomore year, maybe?

MATT KUCHAR: I think I won two events as a senior.

JOHN BUSH: Matt, we appreciate you coming by, and good luck this week.

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