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WGC CADILLAC CHAMPIONSHIPMarch 7, 2014Matt KucharMIAMI, FLORIDA KELLY BARNES: Please welcome Matt Kuchar to the interview room. Matt, despite the tough conditions today, you pulled out a 1‑under. Talk about the round and conditions. MATT KUCHAR: A long day. We started at 8:45. Only had three holes to play. Makes for today‑‑ it feels like a really long day. It started this morning and was blowing hard and kind of kept blowing hard all day. Conditions were really difficult. This course is hard without wind, and you throw in 25‑mile‑an‑hour winds all day, it's pretty tough. I'm pretty pleased to be at 1‑under total for 36 holes. Got off to a nice start today with a birdie on my first hole. Got it to 4‑under total and then quickly saw that slip away. It was a thing where I think a day like today, you could easily shoot six, seven, 8‑over par without blinking an eye. You could play some decent golf and shoot 6‑over par in conditions like this. We knew it was going to be tough and had to keep grinding away, pars were good scores. Overall 2‑over in the afternoon is pleasing golf. Q. Are there any similarity between weather like this and match play and what it requires from you mentally? That might be a dumb question, but is the focus in any way‑‑ MATT KUCHAR: This golf is really difficult. I don't see it much like match play. But you kind of have to understand that things are going to be really hard and that pars are good numbers and you're not going to make many birdies. You've just got to avoid the mistakes and avoid the big numbers. Q. There were over a hundred balls in the water today. What do you make of that? MATT KUCHAR: That's a lot. There's a lot of water out here. Greens are slick and firm, and conditions are really tough. The Blue Monster certainly showed its teeth today. Q. So following up with that, did you hit any more today? MATT KUCHAR: The 8th hole. I was pretty bummed, I played smart hitting 3‑wood off the tee and perfect position and a little over 200 yards to the front the green and thought if I could just‑‑ wind was hard off the right, if I could cut a 5‑iron, I could hit it short of the green and run it up. The wind just took it and went in the left water. It was an okay shot. It was just one of those, you kind of have to just miss it in the bunkers than try to hit a perfect shot. Q. This is sort of an abstract question but you said earlier that it's easier to shoot 8‑over par on a day like today and a lot of people did. When that part of your brain comes in and it's the part that wants to concede or get frustrated to the point where there's a mental breakdown, how do you combat that and fight it and stay sort of steady? MATT KUCHAR: I think that you have to kind of embrace the challenge. I think that you have to look forward to seeing what sort of shots you can come up with. It's going to be hard. There were a handful of holes today that I felt like I didn't have the club necessary to hit the shot. The 13th hole, the par3, it was between a hybrid and 3‑wood and I thought, 3‑wood is too much, hybrid is not enough; I don't have a club for this shot. That happened a couple times, and then you figure, what is my best chance to get up‑and‑down. And the next hole, 14, I had almost the same number, really just trying to hit a shot where I can get up‑and‑down from. A lot of times you do that, you're not trying to hit a shot and make birdie; it's how can I best make a par in this situation. Q. Is there anything fun about the challenge? MATT KUCHAR: Yeah, it's something different. The game of golf is challenging. You throw in winds like this, it's really challenging, but that's why we all play. I think that's part of the reason that all of us out here play is because we enjoy the challenge. Q. When it's like this at Sea Island do you stay inside or go out and practice in the wind? MATT KUCHAR: Some of both. Some of both. I definitely find myself out in funny conditions, but it kind of depends on where I am in my off‑time. If I'm just starting to get back into it, I may take a break from it. If I'm in a practice round, I'll go out and do it. Q. Is there anything that you can compare this to in recent years, like this is the toughest day since, whatever? MATT KUCHAR: No, I'm sure there are but we have plenty of tough days. I think those guys that played Pebble Beach this year would say that was really difficult. I just watched from home seeing what those guys went through and looked like‑‑ it was fun to watch but didn't look like guys had a whole lot of fun in those conditions. KELLY BARNES: Thank you, Matt. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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