THE HONDA CLASSIC

March 10, 2002

Matt Kuchar

JOE CHEMYCZ: Champ, congratulations on a great week. Just talk a little bit about some of the emotions you've been going through today.

MATT KUCHAR: What a great feeling, to come out on top, to play all week, and to come out as the champion of a tournament. It has not happened to me a whole lot, and so the times it does, it's outstanding.

It's so rewarding, to put in the work that we do. I never think that the work that golfers or professional athletes is quite seen. Everybody thinks, you know, we play golf or you play basketball, and it's fun, it's easy, they are games. But we put effort into it, and for those things to pay off, it's extremely rewarding.

And for this, to win a PGA TOUR event, I wasn't sure if it would happen as soon as it did. I knew it would happen. I always dreamed and knew that I would win and that I would win a lot, but I wasn't sure that it would happen this soon. I'm a 23-year-old kid, hardly just two years out of school, and now here I am, Champion of the Honda Classic. It's exciting for me. I'm thrilled.

JOE CHEMYCZ: Take us through the emotions of the day when you started the final round. You had Joey in front of you and Mike Weir, and you knew it was going to be a shootout today, didn't you.

MATT KUCHAR: I wasn't paying much attention to my of that. To win the event, I was sure I needed to go low. But I never put a number in mind. I never paid attention. I didn't really look at what scores the leaders shot, how many back I was. I went out there to the first tee, hit the first tee shot. I didn't look at a leaderboard and didn't know how I stood, until the 17th green is the first leaderboard I looked at.

Some good memories were brought back, talking some golf psychology earlier this week, and I remember talking about my first real national victory was a collegiate event my freshman year. And I had talked to my coach, Bruce Heppler, at Georgia Tech just prior to the round, or actually the evening before the last round and said, "Coach, I haven't really won before. What do I need to do to win? I thought you had to do something different."

He said, "Matt just put your head down. Don't worry about where you stand. Don't worry about how somebody else stands. Go play golf, add it up at the end, and if you win, that's great."

And today, I didn't look at a leaderboard until 17, and I actually -- I got in the scorer's tent and I'm adding up my scores, and, of course, you go hole-by-hole. And I add up my scores, compared to what the score card says on each 9, and I see a shoot a 35 on the front. And I add up the back nine on the little marker's scores of my notes, and I see, "1-under, 2-under, 3-under, 4-under 5-under? Is that right?" I had to triple-check that I shot 5-under on the back side. I didn't even know that I went that low on the back. I must have triple or quadruple checked that; that was the proper score. And sure enough, going about it just like Coach Heppler said my freshman year, six years ago. And I came out with a victory. It was exciting for me.

Q. In all of the confusion, when did you last, from 18 back, when did you last have a 2-putt out there? I've got 11 through 18 as 1-putts. Can you remember?

MATT KUCHAR: I count 18 as a 2-putt, but I know stats don't count 18 as a 2-putt. I was on the fringe -- I was almost on the fringe twice, so it's almost a no-putt.

That stuff, I'm so bad at remembering things, like going through the round, I hardly can -- I'm sure if I went through, I could remember, but there were a lot of 1-putts. I know I was telling my caddie, Bussie, that I owe Rocco Mediate a debt of gratitude as well.

A few weeks ago, he helped me out with by bunker game, and I got in bunkers and just few I was going to hit good shots. The bunkers here were great when I got in. And using this tip that Rocco gave me, I knew I was going to get up-and-down. I knew I was going to come close to holing bunker shots; I did on yesterday's round. I holed a bunker shot on 8, my 17th hole, and today I kept just getting it around the hole out of bunkers; and when I was in the rough I was chipping well, so I can't remember the last 2-putt.

Q. What was the tip?

MATT KUCHAR: He just told me I was standing a little too close to the ball. And the face of the club was aimed too far right of the target, and so when he got me kind of positioned right, everything just fell into place. I've been hitting great bunker shots since.

Q. What were you thinking on 18, before you chipped, and then when we saw you had a couple of expressions on your face on the TV replay, what were you thinking about over that putt, that last putt?

MATT KUCHAR: There were a lot of things going through my mind, as I am lining it up and watching Brett hit his first putt. I'm thinking that putting is the proper play. I was a good putter from the fringe. I knew my speed would be good. So I thought, you know, the worst thing I could do was bring out a wedge and skull it over the green in the water.

I was thinking, I'm looking at the fringe behind the green and wonder if I hit it too hard, will it roll all the way down in the water. And so I'm thinking these terrible things, but finally when I get over it, the nerves went away and I thought I hit a decent putt. But it goes ten feet by, almost hits the collar of the fringe on the far side.

And from there, I never quite like being up against the collar because you can't always get a clean strike on it. You try to lift your putter up a little higher on the takeaway and you would normally come up short, because I catch the putts a little thin; I would hit it on the bottom of the putter head. So I reminded myself to just go ahead and hit it and make a good stroke like I've been doing. My putting was beautifully this week, and kind of like I've been doing all week. And sure enough, it held its line and went in.

Q. Can you compare your first pro victory with your 97 Amateur title?

MATT KUCHAR: They are similar. This week was an exhausting week. I think I was extremely lucky last night that I finished. I think that was a big help to me. I didn't have to get out here at 6:30 this morning to play one or two holes at 7:30, and then have a three-or four-hour break in between.

So, finishing my round last night, I think was a huge help; that I was able to sleep and have a normal morning, come out and treat it as just, you know, one round of golf. All I had to do was play Sunday's round of golf. That was helpful.

The week was a bit exhausting in that Thursday I come out here and you spend most of the day out here, but we waited around in the rain delay, I only hit two shots. Friday I played 36 holes. I had not done that in quite some time. So that wears you out. And then yesterday running around the course as we did to finish 18 holes. It was sort of like the U.S. Amateur was. You get there on a Saturday, you play a practice round Saturday, Sunday in the U.S. Amateur. You tee it up for real on Monday, to qualify. You play qualifying rounds Monday, Tuesday. And then match play, it's matches Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. And it just -- when I won, I was -- I was kind of relieved to be done. I was a bit exhausted.

This week I wasn't nearly as tired was I was at the end of the Amateur, but still had that same feeling of excitement. When that putt went in, I didn't have one drop at the last hole at the Amateur, I cozied one up and Joel gave it to me and I didn't see it disappear. But to see this one, to have this one disappear, there's not many better feelings, when you just see the ball going in the back of the hole, going to the bottom of the hole. I can't think a whole lot of better feelings to have.

Q. After 11 you started the birdie string, talk about that, 5-under on six holes.

MATT KUCHAR: It started slowly. I made a couple of good putts. It was nice to birdie the first hole, and then missed a little putt on 2. It was about the only real key putt that I missed all day. Other than that, I made every putt that I had to make that was what I thought, a makeable putt.

I get to - I can't even remember what 11 is. Oh, yeah, I think it was playing relatively shot, but it was a big crosswind and I hit just a very easy 6-iron to hold it up against the wind, and it turned out to be just a perfect shot to about five feet left of the hole. It was a nice putt, because you're putting into the wind. I think putting downwind, you're always a little more scared because you know if you miss it, if you miss the hole or catch an edge, downwind, you're going to have a big comeback.

And putting into the wind being you can a little more aggressive, even if you're putting downhill, but I had a straight putt into the wind, and to make that, that was nice.

Q. You had a bomb on 12, too.

MATT KUCHAR: Yeah, 12, I never would have figured to m ake birdie there. I hit a great drive and I think I'm 130, from the pin -- I'm sorry. 230 yards from the pin, and I hit a little 3-wood. And I hit driver, 3-wood into a hole, into a par 4, you don't do that often. But I hit the green and was probably 30, 40 feet away and I had an uphill putt that broke about two feet. That one hit the back of the cup. That was an unexpected birdie, but it's one of those where I've been putting well, and a lot of long putts looked like they were going in this week, and I put a lot by the edge. It's just one of those weeks where you can stand over it and feel so good, because you know every one has a chance, and that one dropped. A few others came close that didn't drop.

So I made three straight birdies, birdied 13. Hit a nice drive over the left bunker there. That hole gives you several options and I went ahead and hit driver over the left bunker, and from 103 yards I had to the pin on that one, I hit a 9-iron. The wind was blowing quite hard at that time and just hit a little 9-iron it keep it under the wind and put it ten feet right of the hole and barely got that one in, just barely got to the hole.

I made four straight birdies? That's called an Alligator. That's pretty good. (Laughter.)

14, I remember yesterday, I decided to go for the green. I had the previous two rounds laid up. I decided to go for the green yesterday -- in the dwarf fakahctchee bushes is the name of those bushes. So I get stymied yesterday by those bushes, didn't even know they were there. Today, I knew to avoid those. I knew if there was ever a place to miss it was right, because the bushes were left and the pin was left, and I missed it in the right green-side bunker I was quite happy to be there, actually. I thought that was a pretty good place to be.

And with Rocco's tip, made a great up-and-down there, and that -- I remember, I started getting nervous on 12. That was the hole I made the bomb. That was the hole I made about the 30- or 40-footer. I remember my nerves were getting, I even told Bussie, my caddy, started to get nervous. He kept talking to me and really helped me along to ease my nerves. Always made sure I drank some water and just kind of kept conversation going so I would not pause and think too much about what was going on.

On 14 when I made that putt, that was the first time you thought, you, "You know, I've got a real chance now." So to make that putt, it was only a 4-footer, but to make that in a key situation was important to me.

15, I had a good up-and-down out of the green-side bunker. Again almost scared the hole with the bunker shot.

16, I played that hole well. What was the other par 5? I think I played 9 4-under this week and 16, I played I think 3-under this week. I had only a 3-putt there one day. But I hit a good drive, and then had I think 220 to the front, 230 to the hole and I hit a 4-iron to the green-side bunker. I knew in the practice round, I hit a beautiful 3-iron into the green that landed the middle of the green, and I hit a little fade; so the ball rolled a little right and it ends up in the water. I knew that front left green-side bunker was the place for me to be about all four days. I would have been happy there if I was there four days in a row, and to put it there with the 4-iron, I was pretty pleased with my shot. My bunker play has been good and sure enough, I hit another good bunker shot, to make about a 4-footer there. That putt was another key one.

I was pretty nervous when I got over that, and when I got over it, just was scared. I wasn't sure I was going to make it, so I backed off, kind of regrouped, and I did that in the fairway, as well. I wasn't quite positive over the shot, and I did -- did I so well this week, really being positive over golf shots, really thinking that I was doing to hit good shots and backed off the -- pretty easy 4-footer, but at the moment, so many things go through your mind; I wasn't quite ready but I backed golf, got back over it, can got ready and made a good stroke.

Then 17, made a great up-and-down. I hit a wonderful drive. 17 and 18 are tough driving holes, and to put it in the fairway there each time was key. I still had a 3-iron in from, I think, 205 to the pin and it was into the wind. I figured 3-iron was a perfect club and it was the perfect distance for me. I just pulled it a bit left.

Drew a better lie than it looked. There was a lot of grass around and it didn't look like a nice lie, but I knew the club would slide through the rough better than it appeared, and I think the shot to play was the shot I played, running it through the fringe. Where I think if it was not such a good lie I probably would have had to throw up a higher shot that landed on the green.

From there, some of these greens are firmer than others and I wasn't sure exactly how to play a couple pitch shots. So I was lucky in drawing a decent lie in the rough on 17.

18, to hit a drive in the fairway there is key. There's so much trouble right of the course, you don't want to be in the hazard, and I had put three straight drives right in the middle of the left bunker. It's not the most pleasant place to be. I hit 4-irons each day out of the left green-side bunker to that hole. So I really wanted to putt a driver in the fairway it hugged the right edge of that bunker before it finally just missed right. Then I had an 8-iron instead of a 4-iron and it came up just short. Always thought if you want to save par, you put those. And I've been good at putting. I putted from the fringe from years. My father can't chip for a lick, and he putts -- he'll put -- he and my grandfather, the two of them will putt from anywhere they can get a putter. From bunkers, they will put the ball. I'm sure they were like, "Good decision, Matt, good decision" as they were watching at home. I assumed it was the proper decision. I thought too many bad things can happen with the chip, even though my short game had been so good this week. I thought it was a good decision.

But once I hit it and saw where it ended up I was thinking, "Maybe I should have chipped." Had a 10-footer that was a right edge putt and I hit it there, it snuck in the left side of the cup and here we are.

Q. After that second shot on 18, were you aware you had a two-shot lead, not a one-shot lead before you hit your first putt from the fringe?

MATT KUCHAR: I don't think so. I thought -- you know, I thought Joey Sindelar was for sure at 18 (-under) . I didn't pay a whole lot of attention. I saw that I was at 19 (-under) on 17 green, and I knew Brett was 18 (-under). I thought I saw Sindelar at 18 (-under). Did he bogey 17?

Q. Yes.

MATT KUCHAR: I didn't know on the second shot. I knew it was just a middle-of-the-green shot. Always, unless you're behind, I think every day you're going to play to the middle of that green, for that pin. It's a silly pin to aim at. I knew much better than to aim at that pin. I thought I hit a good shot and just barely came up short.

Q. At 14, you talked about being nervous, fairway shot, as well as the putt. But yet, you said earlier, you didn't know where you stood because you had not looked at a leaderboard.

MATT KUCHAR: No, I didn't know where I stood. But, I knew that I was doing well. I knew that I was in pretty good shape.

So, when you're playing like that, you have a good idea -- and you're going to be nervous, just to finish well. Of course, you want to win, but you also -- I don't know, it's the last round on Sunday, and I'm in the second to last group. I know I'm playing well. I don't know exactly where I stand, but I know it's an important shot. And so that was -- I was nervous over several others. That one, I just happened to not be thinking and backed off. I think it was 16 that I backed off. 16 was the hole I backed off a shot.

Q. Part of your story obviously is college and staying in college. Can you talk about what college gave you, what you did in college that you wouldn't have done when everybody was wondering why you didn't come out?

MATT KUCHAR: College is great. I had such a wonderful experience at Georgia Tech. We had -- just the golf team in general was like my best friends. And then I developed friendships with so many other of the athletes and students. But I had a core of like four or five other -- probably six on the golf team, of like my very best friends. And to live with these guys, to travel with these guys, those were great days. I still miss those days.

Actually I was thinking, Bryce Molder finished second this week, just finished up this morning. He was in Australia playing a BUY.COM event and he's one of my best friends and he broke all of my records at Georgia Tech. Everybody thought we would kind of be rivals, but we were roommates, we were best of friends, we pushed each other to do better. I was really cheering for him to win. I was hoping it would be a sign that if he won this week; that I was going to win this week. So I was really hoping that I was going to wake up this morning and see that he had won.

But he played great, finished second in the tournament. I was hoping that that wasn't a sign that I was going to finish second this week. (Laughs).

Q. Did you guys live in dorms?

MATT KUCHAR: Yeah, I lived in a dormitory two out of the four years, and one of those years was with Bryce and two other players.

The experiences I had in college were terrific. I hear everybody else -- his best days were his college days and awful his friends talk about his college days. Everybody, they wished they were a college kid all over again. It made me grow up. Georgia Tech was tough as well as fun. I had to go to class. I had to study. It wasn't that I was just give get given a degree. I did have to work for the degree. I had to learn how to manage my time in school. I had to learn how much I can devote to golf, how much I had to devote to school, and then still hopefully have some time for a social life, and so you learn to juggle these things.

I grew up a lot going to Georgia Tech. It was very much helpful to me. I don't know if, if I had left early, if I would have played this tournament any differently. Probably not. I probably would not have hit any different shots. But just the time that I have, I did it the right way. Everybody has their own way that's right for them. I think Charles did it a great way, you know. By no means will I ever knock Charles Howell for leaving school or Tiger Woods or David Gossett. I think they have all done what's well for them. And for me, to say in school, it was the way it was kind of always meant for me to be.

And now, to be here -- it was hard for people to second guess that decision. I mean, here I was, I stayed in school. And people were saying, "Boy, don't do what Matt Kuchar did. This is the wrong thing. You don't want to be like him." And that was hard.

But now, to have done it this way, hopefully maybe there are kids out there that say, "You know I want to do it that way. I think that's the cool way to do it."

Q. Who was saying that?

MATT KUCHAR: It was agents. Talking to the younger guys, trying to get guys to turn pro early, because you strike while the iron is hot. So agents would use me as the example of what not to do. I always thought that was silly and kind of hurt. But now, it may be a different thing. Maybe a kid will think, "I want to do it like Matt did."

Q. With the win do you think all of that talk gets put aside?

MATT KUCHAR: I think most of it got put aside. Everybody talks about it -- of course it's the same story every time every time I come in here I get asked the same questions, but I think it put aside when I qualified for the Tour last week, through my sponsors' exemptions, it's never an easy thing to do. I go ahead and play well enough to earn a card; and maybe he's done the right thing. Here he is, he's on the PGA TOUR like he should be. I think most of those criticisms will cast aside when I did qualify for the Tour last year.

Q. Is this the clincher?

MATT KUCHAR: This will be the clincher, for sure.

Q. You mentioned Payne Stewart on the 18th green, can you talk about his influence in your decision to stay?

MATT KUCHAR: It was such a hard decision for me, and almost for everybody. I remember asking so many of the pros and so many friends and family members. And almost every time, I got, "Boy, Matt, I don't know what I would do if I was in your shoes. That's tough one."

And I got some people saying, "You should turn pro. It's great."

Very few said say in school, but almost everybody added to my confusion. It was almost, "Boy, I really don't know what I would do. That's a tough one."

But Payne Stewart came out and said, "Matt, PGA TOUR is going to be here for forever. It not going anywhere. School is great." He said, "Live it up, have a great time, stay in school. I don't want to see you out here too soon."

That meant a lot, for somebody to actually say something instead of saying, "Boy, I don't know, to come through and say something with conviction."

He said, "Stay in school. Have a good time." I did. I really did have a good time.

Q. You followed the tradition of Bobby Jones in going to Georgia Tech and then when you stayed in Amateur golf. Was Jones large in your consciousness when you were at Tech and even after that?

MATT KUCHAR: He was. Especially winning the Amateur, being from Georgia Tech, bringing back the Havemeyer Trophy. I saw a lot of correlations -- or I didn't see them. Correlations were kind of put together for me.

One of the school things for me was bring the trophy back to Atlanta, back to Georgia Tech, the Ames family is a big supporter of Georgia Tech and a huge influence of amateur golf. We re-enacted Bobby Jones coming back from the train station with the trophy and I'm talking older Charlie Yates, and I are walking side by side, and I've got the trophy in my hand and we are just strolling back. Because Charlie was there, and greeted Bobby Jones when he came back to Atlanta. Charlie is also the kind of master of the Amateur dinner at Augusta, at the Masters.

And so, Charlie was, I think at the time, 81 or 82 when I had won, and he's telling stories of the Amateur, and he's actually citing off names, dates and places, who won the Amateur in '27, '28, whatever it was. And just for kicks, I got the trophy here, so I've got evidence of who did what where and when and I kind of scroll it around and check them out. And he's dead on every one.

Even I saw tears come in the eyes of and he his brother, seeing the trophy for the first time, they actually teared up to see it, and that's when I felt kind of a special bond with Bobby Jones.

Then I was given a great opportunity to go into work, something that always interested me was going to the business field. I've always just had an interest. And I was given a great opportunity with a company here, Liberty Associates, to be part of this investment banking firm, and to chase amateur golf, I was given the chance to be as competitive as I could in golf, as well as work. I thought, how cool would it be, to kind of chase what Bobby Jones did, to play 10 or 12 tournaments a year, and to how good you can be play a few U.S. Amateurs and hopefully win a few more U.S. Amateurs hope play few more Masters due to that, hopefully qualify for a few U.S. Opens. I thought chasing it as an amateur would probably be pretty cool and ten tournaments a year is a good life.

But when I came to the Texas Open a few years back, I missed the cut, and I wanted nothing more than to be out there the very next week, and that's when I knew, you know, to see how good I can be, I needed to be out on the PGA TOUR. I had to tell them at Liberty that I wanted to see how good I can be, and to chase that dream, I needed to go full-time, try to be on the PGA TOUR, see if I can be around week-in, week-out with the best players in the world.

Q. Do you still have a residence in south Florida?

MATT KUCHAR: No longer. I let my apartment go. I lived in Boca for a while and then in Jupiter for a while and now I call Ponte Vedra home.

Q. Are you still a member at Medalist?

MATT KUCHAR: Still have my membership at Medalist.

I got a note from Greg Norman, and I think I have it somewhere. It's pretty cool. Greg was hugely helpful to me back last year and the year before and I've always considered him like one of my idols in golf. I always thought he was just as cool as they come. And he says, "Matt, congratulations. About bloody time. Welcome to the club." (Reading letter from Norman).

That means a lot. I got a warm congratulations from Phil Mickelson, who is also like a boy hood idol to me growing up, and to have those guys say congratulations, you know, well done, way to go, and welcome to the club, you now feel a real special bonds with those guys. That means a lot to me.

Q. What will you do with the note and the score card?

MATT KUCHAR: I've got to kind find a cool way to display some of these things. I'm not the most creative. I've have to have mom jump on that for me. She's been great in making little scrapbooks and stuff like that.

Q. When did you get the note from Greg?

MATT KUCHAR: Walking in here.

Q. He called and left that message for you?

MATT KUCHAR: Yes.

JOE CHEMYCZ: Matt, congratulations.

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