WALKER CUP

September 6, 2025

Nathan Smith

Preston Stout

Jase Summy

Cypress Point Club

United States Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We're here with Team USA, Captain Nathan Smith, Preston Stout and Jay Summy. Captain, what was the message at lunch after coming out and being behind a little bit but then charging back this afternoon?

NATHAN SMITH: I mean, I can't really say there was much of a message. I think the guys knew what they had to do. There were a lot of points -- long way to go. There's still a long way to go, and there were a lot of points out there this afternoon. We just knew we had to have a good session, and they delivered.

Q. Preston, same question for you. Disappointing morning match but you bounced back and had a terrific afternoon. How were you able to do that?

PRESTON STOUT: Yeah, I think alternate shot is tough. We don't play it that much. I feel like it's kind of hard to get on a roll sometimes. You're kind of switching off hitting shots obviously. Yeah, I was able to settle in nice this afternoon on the front nine and string some nice shots together and get some momentum.

Q. Jase, you're the only guy on the team to win two points today. How important was that, especially in the morning match to get one point for your squad and keep you guys within striking distance?

JASE SUMMY: Yeah, it was super important. I thought me and Michael La Sasso had a good thing going this morning, and hopefully we get to go again tomorrow, but we'll see. Maybe Cap changed it up.

NATHAN SMITH: Maybe not.

JASE SUMMY: But no, super important, super critical and just giving everything I've got and everything I can for the team.

Q. I know there's not too many scoreboards out there, but Jackson got the first point on the board early and Stew had a big win too. Can you feel momentum building, or were you listening to roars around the place and knowing that you guys were turning it around?

PRESTON STOUT: A little bit. Whenever I'd see Cap I'd ask him how we were doing, so that kind of helps I guess. But I don't think there's a board until 11 maybe. Yeah, on 11. You can kind of hear. Throughout the course, you can hear some roars, which is always nice to hear. You can kind of see a lot of different fairways from each hole so you can -- I'll be using my range finder looking at the scoreboards on other holes.

But we definitely can feel the momentum, at least for me when I turned on 11 and I saw a lot of red on the board, definitely helps with your particular match too and seeing that your guys are doing well.

JASE SUMMY: Yeah, definitely helps momentum. I peeked at the board on 11, and I saw a bunch of red too. I saw P-Stout was like 5- or 6-up, and that fired me up. Yeah, definitely for sure.

Q. No bedlam rivalry this week between you two?

JASE SUMMY: No. USA.

PRESTON STOUT: No, I don't think so.

Q. Jase, can you take us through, you missed the putt on 17, that amazing scene on 18, you hit a great tee shot, the deer, the whole thing, and Eliot's shot. What was that like?

JASE SUMMY: It was pretty cool. There's so many people gathered around there, and seeing that deer come through there, I hope no one got hit. Just good because that deer was going fast down that hill. But yeah, it was super cool, and to be able to make the final putt and close out the day was pretty cool.

Q. Nathan, I don't know if you've put in your lineups for tomorrow. Have you?

NATHAN SMITH: I have, yes.

Q. Are you allowed to talk about it at all?

NATHAN SMITH: I don't know, am I? Yeah, sure.

Q. Did you make any adjustments based on -- what did you do in the lineup based on what you saw today?

NATHAN SMITH: Yeah, I think we just tried to put our best players out for tomorrow. It's one of those where we haven't talked about it yet, but pretty much three of the four teams will stay the same and we'll make one change.

Q. Jase, when you putted off the green twice on 14, how did you gather yourself walking to 15 tee?

JASE SUMMY: That's a tough question. I gathered myself -- I was kind of some bad self-talk, kind of getting myself together, and then plugged it in the bunker on 15, so it didn't really work, but got it up-and-down. I just kept fighting and grinding, and I feel like I do that really good. Back is up against the wall, I sometimes just -- you've just got to pull it out of yourself, and that's what I did. Just happy to get a point.

Q. Had you seen Bryson before the 18th hole, and what did you think when you saw him? Was that kind of this out of the blue moment seeing him?

NATHAN SMITH: I didn't see him until 18. Yeah, that was pretty special. I'd say my first thought is I hadn't seen him in years and he's gotten a lot bigger. (Laughter.)

PRESTON STOUT: Yeah, I didn't see him until we were sitting on the couch in the team room, and he just walked in. Definitely wasn't expecting that. That was kind of cool. He gave us a little pep talk, which was pretty sweet.

Hopefully this gives him a little motivation and fires him up for the Ryder Cup in a few weeks.

Q. That was on the couch afterward?

PRESTON STOUT: Yes, sir, after we finished we were all sitting in the team room and he walked in there.

Q. Nathan, can you just talk about you worked really hard to come up with your foursomes pairings beforehand and now you basically are staying with three of the four I think is what you said. Did you think that the GB&I played so well and your guys played well too, it's just that they played better, or did you not think there needed to be some mixing up?

NATHAN SMITH: We kind of did with some lineups and different things, but I think they just played incredible this morning honestly. I think we all went through the scorecard, and they just kind of came out on fire. Some of the teams played really well. I think they were just that good this morning.

We feel good about our lineups. Those particular teams have played a lot with each other, feel comfortable with each other, and that's kind of what we're probably going to go with.

Q. There's only one mid-am out here, obviously. Does Stewart play in foursomes tomorrow?

NATHAN SMITH: He does not.

Q. Is there just an idea that you want to make everybody as rested as possible going into singles?

NATHAN SMITH: Honestly, we want that, but we want -- we're going to put our best guys out there. That's not probably the No. 1 priority right now. We want to be rested. We'll get a good night's sleep. But we'll have our best teams out there in the morning.