NBC Sports Group Notable Quotes
WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play
Sunday, March 26, 2017 (Semifinals)
Austin Country Club, Austin, Texas
**Coverage of the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play continues at 3 p.m. ET on NBC with the Championship and Consolation matches.**
WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play Semifinals Results
(1) Dustin Johnson def. (54) Hideto Tanihara 1up
(21) Jon Rahm def. (42) Bill Haas 3&2
WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play Championship & Consolation Matches:
Championship – (1) Dustin Johnson vs. (21) Jon Rahm
Consolation – (42) Bill Haas vs. (54) Hideto Tanihara
Jon Rahm speaking with NBC Sports’ Mark Rolfing following his 3&2 win over Haas
Jon Rahm – “I really made a couple of clutch putts. The front nine we went a little bit back and forth... And on the back nine…we just weren’t making the putts until I made that one on 13 and that gave me confidence…
Rahm – “I want to play who is playing the best right now. But honestly it would be great to play DJ. Ever since Mexico I’ve been wanting kind of that rematch. I’ve put it on social media and I think it would be a great match. Just for how great of a player he is. Everybody who’s made it this far is obviously a great competitor. It will take my best, and that’s all I’m focused on.”
Dustin Johnson speaking with NBC Sports’ Notah Begay following his 1up win over Tanihara
Dustin Johnson – “It was a tough match... I felt like I played really well. Hit a lot of great putts on the back nine, just, I hit the hole on 10, 11, 14, 15, 16. You know I hit great putts just nothing would go in, and I finally made two putts on 17 and 18, but man it was a tough one.”
On Johnson
Nick Faldo – “It’s a little like playing a stroke play event when everything is just going your way after three rounds, and then suddenly the opening six holes on Sunday it’s not going your way. You can go into panic mode really quickly. But just as long as you get through it… it’s a little bit like this match. How do you react?”
Faldo - “He’s been dialed in all week, but now he’s just mishitting it a fraction.”
Begay – “Dustin maintained a pretty steady approach despite the ups-and-downs.”
Terry Gannon – “On some level, Dustin Johnson feels the pressure, even if he isn’t outwardly showing it… It has been a climb today.”
On Tanihara
Begay – “When you’re an underdog and you’re still in the match and you get close to the finish line, you almost feel like it starts to swing in your favor a little bit.. You almost feel like you’ve got a fighting chance.”
Faldo – “You feel like you’ve survived all the nerves of the day and you’re just looking at the finish line thinking ‘I really could do this, I really could win.’”
-NBC Sports Group-