FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Saturday, September 30th, 2017

NOTABLE QUOTES: 2017 PRESIDENTS CUP, SATURDAY AFTERNOON FOUR-BALL MATCHES

NBC Sports Group Notable Quotes
2017 Presidents Cup, Day 3 Afternoon Four-Ball Matches
Saturday, Sept. 30, 2017
Liberty National Golf Club, Jersey City, N.J.

**Coverage of the Final Day of the 2017 Presidents Cup begins at Noon ET on NBC featuring the 12 singles matches.** 

Saturday’s Four-Ball Match Results (United States lead the International team 14 ½ – 3 ½)

Patrick Reed/Jordan Spieth def. Jason Day/Louis Oosthuizen 2&1

Daniel Berger/Justin Thomas def. Hideki Matsuyama/Jhonattan Vegas 3&2

Si Woo Kim/Anirban Lahiri  def. Kevin Chappell/Charley Hoffman 1up

Dustin Johnson/Brooks Koepka def. Branden Grace/Marc Leishman 3&2

On the formality of the United States winning the 2017 Presidents Cup

Johnny Miller – “The U.S. team was definitely heavily favored going into these matches, but this was out of control… As they would say, ‘get used to it.’”

Dan Hicks – “Maybe as genuinely a close-knit a team as we’ve ever seen.”

Peter Jacobsen – “Everything has just gone in for the United States. It’s just been their week.”

Jordan Spieth speaking with NBC Sports’ Steve Sands about the ruling on the 12th hole

Jordan Spieth – “It’s a bad rule, we all agree. The Internationals were trying to concede the 13th hole [because] they felt so bad even though I was a good 12-15 feet away from the hole. They handled it so well. Obviously we were trying to do the right thing. A rule is a rule. We wanted to play on and it was unfortunate. But yeah, I was fired up. I hit my next putt on the next hole about eight feet by really trying to throw it down the throat. Fortunately we both were able to come through and ham-and-egg it nicely coming in and make another comeback.”

Berger/J. Thomas speaking with NBC Sports’ Jimmy Roberts following their 3&2 win

Daniel Berger – “I was feeling a little left out having been the only guy on the team to not get a point. It was nice to contribute today.”

Justin Thomas – “We had so much fun out there and we’ve had so much fun all week. It’s unbelievable how much of a team effort this is… I legitimately thought we were going to have to get another captain out here to carry [Berger’s] stones around on the end of that front nine. That was unbelievable the golf he was playing… We’ve been playing a lot of golf [together] since we were little. And to get a point at the Presidents Cup [together] is awesome.”

Johnson/B. Koepka speaking with Sands following their 3&2 win

Dustin Johnson – “We know you can’t take anything for granted. These guys are really good players. So we know coming in that we’re going to have to play really well if we want to win. We knew that in every match. Even after we won the first day and second day… You know, the team played great today and we’ve put up a lot of points on the board.”

Brooks Koepka – “These pin locations have been pretty tough and obviously the wind is blowing. You’ve really got to strike the ball, otherwise you can look kind of silly. We played really well today – happy to put up a point.”

Rules official Stephen Cox on the ruling of Spieth’s disqualification on the 12th hole

Stephen Cox – “Andy McPhee, who is a very experienced referee from Europe was assigned to be with that match. If he wasn’t’ assigned with that match, I think you probably would have seen a situation where nothing would have happened. But as he has been assigned by the committee to accompany that match, if he spots a breach of the rules, unfortunately – as innocuous as it may seem and not necessarily in the spirit of the game – unfortunately he has got an obligation to act upon that. And unfortunately that’s the way it’s played out.”

Ernie Els, assistant captain for the International team speaking with Sands

Ernie Els – “We’ve got a young team. These guys are getting a good slap. This will hold them in good stead. I think going forward a lot of these players are going to be on this team for a while. And they’ll remember this week. So it’s something to build on.”

-NBC Sports Group-