FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sunday, May 14th, 2017

NOTABLE QUOTES: THE PLAYERS (FINAL ROUND)

NBC Sports Group Notable Quotes
THE PLAYERS (Final Round)
Sunday, May 14, 2017
TPC Sawgrass (Stadium Course)
Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.

On Si Woo Kim (10-under, winner)
Johnny Miller – “Usually this course is sort of for the wise, experienced player… You could hardly have predicted it… He’s wise beyond his years at 21-years-old.”
Miller – “He could be the next in this flood of great players we’ve had lately.”
Notah Begay – “He came out here and he was resolute in his approach and executed the shots and played himself out of trouble when he had to. Pretty impressive.”
David Feherty – “He has shown remarkable maturity today while many older, supposedly wiser heads have fallen around him.” 

Ian Poulter (7-under, T-2nd) speaking with NBC Sports’ Steve Sands following his round
Ian Poulter – “Obviously a time and a place to have a shank. But to have that shot right there, it was actually a good number. It wasn’t good dropping it on the pine straw. There was a tree in front which I kind of had to get it up over pretty quick… But to land it where I had to land it, for it to kind of check-up… Had a chance to go in. It was one of the worst shots you’ll ever see to a pretty good one.” 

Poulter – “I felt more pressure on the front nine. I was nervous out there all day, probably understandably so being in a situation I haven’t been in for a little while. But I got real comfortable around the back nine, felt good, and felt real comfortable on the last few holes… But that shot just comes out of nowhere.”

Poulter – “The last month’s been extremely stressful. I’m pleased I’ve played well today. I’m pleased I’ve played well this week. Being given the opportunity, you know, Brian Gay, huge big up by the way for looking into obviously finding the calculation error. But it’s been a good week. I would loved to have won. And congrats to a fine young player who’s obviously gone and won THE PLAYERS Championship. But it’s been a good week.”

On Poulter
Dan Hicks – “[No. 18] is just another example of this guy’s grit, never say die. He just hit that poor second shot that cost him any chance to win, but battling until the end.” 

On Louis Oosthuizen (7-under, T-2nd)
Begay – “He has an uncanny way of hanging in there despite the mistakes he makes.”

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Golf Central Live From THE PLAYERS

On Si Woo Kim
Brandel Chamblee – “This is from a statistical standpoint perhaps the greatest upset you’ll ever see. In terms of upsets, this is Great Britain voting to leave the EU. This is Trump winning the presidency. In an era of big data, when you look for data to give you some idea of who might have a chance to do what, where and when… You’re talking about a guy in the ‘All-Around’ statistic that measures pretty much everything that was dead-last on the PGA TOUR. He was basically near the bottom of every single statistical category. Yet, because of the distance constrictions of this golf course, the very best players cannot play their best game. It’s not Tiger proof, it’s superstar proof, it really is. And so it turns into a scrambling contest. And who won the scrambling contest? Si Woo Kim… [This course] puts everybody on edge, pretty much turns it into a scrambling contest, and he won it.”
Frank Nobilo – “A 21-year-old came of age. He is now in this elite group. It’s bizarre. There is no way you would have predicted this. There is not a single top-10 player in the world in the top-10 this week.”
David Duval – “All of the past 8-10 months have rolled off his back and he’s started feeling okay and he started playing. I always think that you have to hit it beautifully around this golf course that demands such precision. But you’ve got to scramble, and you’ve got to get it up-and-down. And that’s what we saw.”
Chamblee – What we saw today was old-school golf with a very old head on young shoulders I thought.”

 

-NBC Sports Group-