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RBC HERITAGEApril 20, 2014Matt KucharHILTON HEAD, SOUTH CAROLINA JOE CHEMYCZ:  We welcome the 2014 RBC Heritage champion Matt Kuchar. What a phenomenal day for you. Let's just start with the round and the progression as the day went on, and then we'll get to the last hole and open it up for some questions. Let's start with No.1 and getting off to a hot start. MATT KUCHAR: I got off to a good day. I felt pretty good about my warmup session. I've been playing some good golf. No.1 sets up nicely for me, I want to be down the right side of the fairway. My normal tee shot is a little fade. Hit a great tee ball down the middle. Wedge into the green. 1 is typically a little firmer than the rest of the greens. Landed it just over the bunker and skipped down 10 or 12 feet short of the hole, and made the putt, and got off to a nice start for birdie. Played the second hole really well. Driver down the left side of the fairway, best side of the fairway, and have a good angle in. Hit a hybrid straight up in the air, landed softly towards the back of the green, 20 feet for eagle; got down in two. So birdied the first two. Great shot on the 4th hole, par‑3, just over the pin, probably 20 feet down the hill. And when made that putt I knew it was going to be a really good day. 5 gave me a bit of a struggle. I hit a fantastic drive, caught the edge of the bunker, from there I made a bit of a mess of things and made kind of a scramble for par. The 6th hole, again, great drive. A little dogleg right. Great drive I think 130 yards to the pin, 128 yards to the pin into about a 15, 20‑mile‑an‑hour wind, hit a little 9‑iron to eight feet, probably, and made that to go 4‑under for the day. Nice shot on 7 that I thought I was going to 5‑under; just missed 20 feet up the hill. 8 was a fantastic birdie, one of the hardest out here. Driver, 5‑iron as good as I could hit it to about 16 feet up the hill. Make that putt, things are really going good. A birdie at 8 is a hole you just like to get away with par there, so making birdie was a great, great birdie on the 8th. 9 I played aggressively every day. I hit driver. Again, I hit a great drive down the middle of the fairway. Only had like 44 yards to the hole. But I think in some years the greens were really firm, the wind wasn't right. The driver would be playing to the front of the pin. That was a tricky one. I decided softer greens. The wind was hurting just a little bit, so I thought 44 yards, I can still put enough spin on it with softer greens, a little into the wind. Great wedge to two feet there. 10th hole, 3‑wood, 9‑iron to probably 15 feet. I got a good read off Brian Harman. Made the putt to go 7‑under for 10 holes. Things were really going well. Scrambled a little bit on 12. 13 I had a good look at birdie. 14 was one of those critical holes. Tee was up, which was helpful, but still nerve‑wracking hole. I was able to find the middle of the green. Knew that was a good shot. Nice two‑putt there. 15, scrambled a little bit. Ended up plugging a wedge shot into the bunker. Still not that hard of a bunker shot. It was an uphill lie. A little green to work with. Hit a bunker shot to about four feet. That was a great putt to make. It was kind of a tricky downhill putt. 16, my drive slid a little off to the right underneath, behind the trees. Hit a great recovery shot onto the green. I thought I'd made that putt, so I was surprised it didn't go in. 17 was a fantastic approach. Landed in the middle of the green. Trickled down to four or five feet away. Tough thing was wind was blowing, gusting not much of a problem here, but saw Brian Harman's putt pull left. I thought it would pull right. I compromised, played it straight. Felt like I got a bit of a gust, missed it about two and a half feet by. Figured no problem, straight up the hill. When the wind is blowing as hard as it does, it feels a little unsteady. Missed that. A little shocked that that missed. But I think I did a great job of shaking it off on 18. Hit my best tee shot of the day‑‑ of the week there on 18. Had my closest number, I think I was only 185 away from the pin, maybe 180. I figured that was a full 5‑iron. My 5‑iron just got caught up a little bit in the wind. Came up on the front bunker, and there are a lot worse places on 18 to be than the front bunker. I knew it was at least an easy par. Bunker game is good. No problem. I actually thought I made a bunker shot, hit it close, it would be nice to make that one. Hit the shot that I wanted to. I went up and took a good read, knew it would release and break right to left. Played it just right of the hole. Watched it roll. I heard the crowd go crazy when the thing disappeared. I went crazy myself. It was just an incredible feeling. Q. Did you see the scoreboard when you were in the bunker on 18? What did you know about where you were? MATT KUCHAR: I knew, I looked at that time it when I walked up to the green, I was tied with Luke Donald. I knew where I stood. Still felt pretty happy with my chance to get up and down and my chance to make a shot. Q. You've had some Sundays lately where it didn't really turn out the way you wanted to. Played well but it didn't work out for one reason or another. Could you walk through what was going through your head as you missed the three‑putt there on 17, sort of what's going through your head and then obviously the emotions walking there to the 18th tee? MATT KUCHAR: A little bit of shock, but I think I do a really good job of shaking things off. I think I do a great job of accepting there's not much I can do about that, because it's now behind me. I have to now go play the 18th hole. And I think when I missed it, I figured now I have to go tap this one in for bogey, tap that one in for bogey. And I did a great job of shaking it off really quickly. I went to 18, and18 requires your full attention. 18, the wind is blowing at least 25. You have to get it out there ‑‑ and the wind picks up, the temperature drops, it demands your full attention. It's one of the hardest holes this week. The green is so small sitting out in the marsh that I think most people would find themselves not even making it to the green. I think the shot came off pretty good. But just came up a little short and actually one of those positioning things that's not that a bad place to be. Q. Do you remember the last time you holed a bunker shot? MATT KUCHAR: It's probably been a couple of weeks, but I don't remember exactly where I was. I feel my bunker game is pretty good. It could be longer. I had a chip shot at Augusta, I can't remember. Q. How sweet is it to be sitting here with the trophy? MATT KUCHAR: It really feels awfully good. I thought Houston I was in control, I thought that was a tournament I was going to win. But that didn't work out. I played some really good golf at Augusta last week, and I thought this is where it's supposed to work out. It's awfully sweet to have a chance. I kept wanting after things didn't work out in San Antonio, just give me another chance. Give me another chance. And amazing to have four straight weeks of chances on four completely different golf courses. I take a lot of pride in playing good week in and week out. This has been some excellent play. I'm amazed at the difference fromjust last week to this week. I mean, completely different golf courses. And to have chances Sunday afternoon basically four weeks in a row has been great. Q. Just the fact that it's Sunday, you probably believe there is a golfing God now? MATT KUCHAR: I always believe in a golfing God. I all believe that if I keep plugging away, things are going to go my way. You get some good breaks, you get some bad breaks. But as long as you accept it, and look forward to whatever is next. I think things tend to go your way. Q. On 17 how much harder is it to not allow disappointment and doubt to creep in when you add on those three previous weeks of not being able to get that championship and then having that happen to you? It's not just like a single incident? MATT KUCHAR: That didn't cross my mind. I didn't go, man, this is four weeks in a row I might not win a tournament. That's not part of the deal. I've got 18 to play. So I think just having had the 18th hole still out there, my focus went solely to that. Q. Everybody knows how grueling Augusta can be. You came out here and started strong, and then on Friday you struggled early on. Did the rain break kind of, I don't know, reenergize you or reset things? Because after that you seemed to come out Saturday and play great Saturday and then today. MATT KUCHAR: The rain break was a big bonus for me. I came out Friday and conditions were just nasty, and things weren't going my way. I seemed to make mistakes that I wouldn't normally make. It felt like double bogeys were popping up all over my scorecard. It wasn't a normal thing for me. I was really grateful for the horn to go off and to get a chance to regroup. And came back out and played some pretty good golf. It was that small a window, I can't remember how many holes we played, six holes, where it was just not going my way. And it certainly helped. The conditions were so difficult, it was hard to play good golf. A handful of guys were doing it, I was not one of those guys, though. JOE CHEMYCZ:  Thank you. MATT KUCHAR: Appreciate it. Thanks. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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