FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sunday, March 25th, 2018

NOTABLE QUOTES – WGC-DELL TECHNOLOGIES MATCH PLAY (CHAMPIONSHIP & CONSOLATION MATCHES)

NBC Sports Group Notable Quotes
WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play (Championship & Consolation Matches)
Austin Country Club, Austin, Texas
Sunday, March, 25, 2018

Championship & Consolation Match Results:
Championship Match: (35) Bubba Watson def. (32) Kevin Kisner 7&6
Consolation Match: (13) Alex Noren def. (2) Justin Thomas 5&3

Bubba Watson (winner) speaking with NBC Sports’ Steve Sands following his win
Bubba Watson – “I got off to a hot start and I’m just focused on golf… So focused on committing to shots. About four or five shots for the week where I wasn’t committed, where I kind of blanked out. So that’s pretty good over 100-some holes we’ve played.”

Watson – “You’ve got to have confidence in yourself, knowing that I can hit certain shots and do certain shots again. Getting the strength back to hit the hard bomb or the big slice off the tee. Things like that. And then making the putts. Like I said, I got a new putter. First week I used it was L.A. They took two putters and milled it together, or welded it together. Whatever you want to call it. So I’m using this putter that’s two putters in one. It’s worked out perfectly and the stroke looks good.”

On Watson
Johnny Miller – “There’s two Bubbas. There’s one that sometimes can get a little cocky out there and a little bit negative – complain about this or that… a course that doesn’t fit his eye. And then you’ve got good Bubba. And when good Bubba is around, watch out… It was a real, real clinic.”
Gary Koch – “Bubba Watson’s putting when you look at it statistically this season is the best it’s been in his last three seasons. So that has made a huge difference. It got him back into the winner’s circle earlier this year, and it’s certainly put him in good position here.”
Koch – “The thing that impressed me the most was his putting. I’ve never seen Bubba Watson putt any better. We’re seeing Bubba putting with a renewed confidence. We’re used to seeing him hit a lot of putts short. And that’s just not been the case this week.”

Kevin Kisner speaking with NBC Sports’ Roger Maltbie following his loss
Kevin Kisner – “It’s just one of those deals. Every time I looked up, [the ball was going] nowhere near where I was looking… I guess I need to figure out what happened this afternoon and work on that. Get back to what I was doing earlier in the week and continue working hard on it.”

On Kisner
Roger Maltbie – “You can’t make excuses for him. He’s not played well. But what could go wrong, has gone wrong. If he’s hit a marginal shot, it’s been no good at all. What few good ones he’s hit haven’t been particularly good either. Just a bad, bad day for Kevin Kisner.”
Peter Jacobsen – “Let’s not forget about who he beat this week. He beat Dustin Johnson, Matt Kuchar, Ian Poulter and this morning he beat Alex Noren… He wasn’t playing well admittedly so coming in, but he’s going to take a lot of positives out of this.”
Miller – “I’m shocked. I feel really bad for Kisner that he didn’t put up a better match… He was hitting it all over the lot.”

Alex Noren speaking with Sands following his win
Alex Noren – “Especially when I lost in a playoff [this morning], the energy kind of gets out of you. But I’m happy with the way I played this afternoon too. The game is better and I’m looking forward to the Masters now… I think it’s more pressure. I feel a bit more tense… I think every hole means more somehow and it probably shouldn’t. It’s kind of a playoff feel for five days in a row… My tee-to-green has been so much better and that’s what I’m happy about.”

Justin Thomas speaking with Sands following his loss
Justin Thomas – “I couldn’t stop thinking about [the potential of World No. 1] last night. It would have been a good night to put my phone away and not read anything, because I couldn’t pull anything up without it being right there. But it’s just a learning experience. I need to handle it better. You know, in the end it might be a good thing going into Augusta without that. I get to go do what I was going to do, and let DJ have all that pressure.”

Thomas – “Definitely pretty tired. It’s so hard to keep it going this afternoon when you know you don’t have a chance to win. So much adrenaline goes by this morning… I definitely wasn’t very hard to beat this afternoon… But I was glad to finally play well here. This is a tournament that I’ve really struggled in the last two years. The golf course I hadn’t played well… I definitely didn’t play my best by any means. I had two good rounds, but got by in the other ones… But Bubba was tough to beat this morning, that’s for sure.”

-NBC Sports Group-