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CURTIS CUP MATCHJune 7, 2014Tegwen MatthewsST. LOUIS, MISSOURI Q. You needed a big surge, obviously, in this last session and it's not looking like you're going to get it? CAPTAIN MATTHEWS: No, didn't get it. Looked so much better this afternoon. The first nine holes, we were taking more command and more control of the matches, which we had not done in the previous time. And feeling good about it; the girls are feeling good about it. Practically every match, on 11, 12, 13, we lost 11, 12, 13, bang, bang, bang, from being all‑square, 3‑down, into that secret little patch that goes down, and it's 3‑down going down through there and you've put a noose around your neck and you're struggling to get it off and that's exactly where we were. So each and every one of them, I just chatted to them and they all said, yeah, exactly what happened. Lose 11, or they birdied 12 or 13, and it seemed to be those three holes in particular. Yeah, disappointing for them, because they are trying their hearts out. They are trying everything they can, and the Americans are still playing exceptionally well and firing at the pins and holing a good number of putts. That's really lacking; we're not holing the putts and that's where we are at the moment. We know exactly what we have to do tomorrow. You know, no one out there is thinking it's like impossible, because it isn't until it's finished. Q. And you said the Americans do well, 11, 12, 13, but once you were able to get to 16, 17, 18‑‑ CAPTAIN MATTHEWS: We seemed to rally again. Yeah, we are rallying again in the match that's still to resume tomorrow and that's a good fillip, because you know these three holes there, anything can happen as we've seen a couple of times. Yeah, they are in this position where they are hitting the ball exceptionally well. We are hitting the ball as well as the Americans, there's no doubt about that. The Americans are firing certainly more into the pins and giving themselves more chances. But I'm not disappointed with how well my girls have played. They just haven't finished off with enough birdies against the Americans and putting pressure on them. If you are getting the birdies in‑‑ we actually haven't put enough pressure on the Americans to see what they would be like over a long period of time by firing a lot of birdies. That's what our aim is tomorrow. We have absolutely nothing to lose. We have to go out there and we know exactly what we've got to do and we know what is the winning game, and that is making birdies. Q. Ellen says a lot of it is home‑course advantage in that they had an extra practice session. CAPTAIN MATTHEWS: I daresay, it's the kind of course you've got to perhaps know very well. I think the girls first when they played it said, oh, it's fairly straightforward, tee‑to‑green. But the greens are really difficult, and that was a good observation, that's absolutely right. But there's a lot more to this course than just saying, tee‑to‑green‑‑ it's not easy. It's very deceptive, really, in that the more you play it, the more trouble you find between tee and green that you didn't think was there before. So yeah, I mean, it's the kind of course you've got to respect from tee‑to‑green, as well as on the greens. I would think that's probably an advantage as you would expect probably from a home team to have that advantage, like we did at Nairn in the same way. We kind of knew every blade of grass at Nairn. So that means you are not second guessing and you absolutely know what's going to happen to the ball on the green and you're not second guessing it. Q. Do you have to go in there and fire these girls up, or are they angry or mad? CAPTAIN MATTHEWS: No, they are disappointed that they haven't closed it out and brought in the winning matches. They know what's got to be done. It's almost so far behind that we know what's got to be done; it's this or nothing now and everyone's got to go for it and everyone has to fire very good golf because we know that's what we need. No, they are up for it. I'm very proud of them. It's a bit like going into The Guns of Navarone; bang, bang, bang (laughter). Q. The Guns at who? CAPTAIN MATTHEWS: And a Navarone. Too old a movie for you to know (laughing). Q. What will you do tonight? CAPTAIN MATTHEWS: There's a reception and we'll go and say hello to everybody and then go back to the hotel and there's food upstairs, as well. So we'll grab something to eat. I'm coming out with the four girls still to resume playing. I'm coming out with them on the 9:15 bus and they will resume at 11:00. Q. When did you have to put your pairings in for the afternoon session? I ask because both Bronte and Annabel‑‑ CAPTAIN MATTHEWS: They had to be in by half past two, an hour before the first tee off time, which was originally 3:30. Q. So if you had known that they were going to make a point and get a full point and have all that momentum, would you have changed it? CAPTAIN MATTHEWS: No, I still already had that in my head. The fact that perhaps when I put the team in they were 3‑down and all of a sudden they won their match and they were 2‑down; I still had it in my head that I had to play Charlotte and I had to play Eilidh, because I need them to see the course more than they already had to give them an absolute fighting chance in singles and that was my strategy on that. Plus, the strategy was that I needed a fresh pair of eyes out there. Those girls, when you've got the same girls playing all the time, you can get a bit, oh, I know what's happening on this hole. With a fresh pair of eyes, that can sometimes help. That was my strategy and seemed to be working until we got to 11. Going to dig 11, 12 and 13 up I think (laughter). Q. Your singles, what do you do? Do you load top‑heavy? CAPTAIN MATTHEWS: There's no point in nobody loading the top. We have to win all the singles. Q. So your strategy, really‑‑ who cares, you've got to win them all. CAPTAIN MATTHEWS: No, no, it's not who cares. It's who I think is going to lead us out. I need someone who is going to lead us out with a bit of‑‑ get it reverberating through the team that we are ahead and have had reverberate through the team. That's who I put out at the top. Basically my strategy is to put out who I thought would do the same, inspire the team, get them‑‑ from the word go, get them out and inspire the team so that everyone else could feel that they could do it. Q. So that's your strategy ‑‑ CAPTAIN MATTHEWS: Got to have something; got to have a plan (laughing). Q. At least you seem optimistic. CAPTAIN MATTHEWS: Well, I'm a very optimistic. So whilst there's life there, there's life. Until someone tells me it's over, we're staying playing. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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