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THE PRESIDENTS CUP MEDIA CONFERENCE

August 18, 2019

Matt Kuchar

Q. I guess my question was a little bit Royal Melbourne related, as well. A lot was made in 2011 because of the history of the internationals winning there that Royal Melbourne would sort out the Americans' home course; home soil made a huge difference. Did you get a sense from the way the Americans performed so well that it doesn't mean as much as people make out, and the Americans basically said we can win anywhere, doesn't matter what course you throw at us, we can fish anywhere?
MATT KUCHAR: Yeah, it's interesting, that home‑course experience. I know Ryder Cup there's definitely something to the setup, something to the fans. When it comes to Presidents Cup, I know the Aussies have the fanatics which are just awesome. They're fantastic for the game. They're fun to have out there.
But I'm not sure that setup would really favor international versus U.S. side. I'm not sure how you'd go about what you'd go about. We have a lot of similar players. You look at some of the international top guys and just through history you think of Adam Scott, Jason Day, they play a similar game of golf to some of our Americans.
I'm not sure that setup will be different. You know, the way it's looked the past couple years, though, you're right, from history, U.S. has done awfully well in the States when we've been at home, but what we did at Liberty was just unbelievable. I really thought the U.S. was going to be on a run for years with the guys we've got, kind of the young guys coming out, the Justin Thomases being on the team. But they're such great players, and figured we'd be on a long run of huge success for Team USA. But it didn't work out that way in Paris at Ryder Cup.
I think a lot of guys from Team USA will understand the difficulty of going overseas and playing a squad on their home turf. It's not an easy thing to get a win on foreign soil.

Q. If I could just follow up by asking, did you sneak out to Royal Melbourne last year when you came for the World Cup at Metropolitan?
MATT KUCHAR: No, I had intent to, and the weather wasn't very accommodating, so I did not end up making it out. I was very impressed with Metropolitan, though. I certainly enjoyed my experience at Metropolitan. I was glad to play there because it was my first look at Metropolitan and always heard it was a great course, and it lived up to everything I had heard. It was a fantastic course and was sorry not to make a visit back to Royal Melbourne, but awfully impressed with Metropolitan, as well.

Q. We heard in the intro about you being the most experienced player on the U.S. Team when it comes to Presidents Cup. Has there been something that's been set up in the team to get communication and banter going a little bit? We've heard Thomas Björn in recent times talk about the Ryder Cup setting up a WhatsApp group. Has there been something similar with the Americans and have you taken on responsibility as the father figure of the group if you like?
MATT KUCHAR: It's hard to believe it's at that point to be the most experienced of the top eight. Like there's so much excitement still that I feel towards qualifying for the Presidents Cup team. I still feel like I'm a rookie. I still have that excitement, that joy, that buzz to just be a part of this team. And so to think I'd be the most experienced, it doesn't feel like, oh, this is old hat at all. This is something I'm hugely excited about. It still is funny for me the process, that I'm the veteran here.
Tiger did have a dinner last week in New York at the Northern Trust, and a bunch of good stories were told around the table with Tiger and Phil and a lot of new guys, a lot of potential first‑timers, a lot of guys that aren't quite in the top eight and hopefully will make the top eight, and it was just a fun night, as the team events are. There's great storytelling, there's great bonding, and it was so much fun to be part of. I was able to tell a handful of stories that I think some of the younger kids, some of the guys that hadn't qualified were kind of surprised to hear about just how much fun goes on, all the kind of great behind‑the‑scenes stories that happen at these Cups. So it was fun to share those stories.
I had a couple guys come up to me the following day after that dinner and say, I had no idea that that sort of stuff went on. Everybody is just so keen to make the team, to be playing for Tiger, to make the trip to Royal Melbourne. It was a great event, and kind of always fun when you get all those guys together to bond, as we all do.

Q. Anything outside of golf in leisure time in Australia that you're looking forward to? I'm not sure if you're much of a surfer, but the golf courses aren't far from the beaches. Is there something you're looking forward to doing away from golf when you get an hour or two off?
MATT KUCHAR: Yeah, when we were down for World Cup just this past year, the kids went out to Bondi Beach and did some surfing. That's something during the Cup‑‑ we're family focused. It's tricky. There's enough things scheduled in our time there that it's hard to break away to do too much. It's mainly about hanging with the people, hanging with your teammates, and just enjoying the atmosphere. These Cup events have such great atmospheres, so many great fans turn out. It's just a fun bond amongst the teams, amongst your own team and even amongst the opposing squad.
But we really, really enjoy just the team bonding is the best thing about these teams.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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