FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, December 13th, 2019

NOTABLE QUOTES: PRESIDENTS CUP, DAY 3 FOUR-BALL MATCHES – INTERNATIONAL LEADS U.S. 9-5

GOLF Channel Notable Quotes

Presidents Cup – Day 3 Four-ball Matches

Royal Melbourne Golf Club

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Friday, Dec. 13, 2019 (Australia – Saturday, Dec. 14, 2019)

 

** International team defeated the U.S. team in the Day 3 Morning Four-ball matches 2.5-1.5.

** International team leads the U.S. team 9-5 overall after Day 3 Four-ball matches.

** Live coverage of the Presidents Cup Day 3 Foursomes matches continues today until 2 a.m. ET on GOLF Channel.

** Golf Central Live From the Presidents Cup will recap all of today’s action at 2 a.m. ET.

 

Day 3 Four-ball Matches Results (International leads U.S. 9-5)

Rickie Fowler/Justin Thomas (U.S.)  3&2     Marc Leishman/Haotong Li (INT)

Sungjae Im/Abraham Ancer (INT)     3&2     Xander Schauffele/Patrick Cantlay (U.S.)

Hideki Matsuyama/C.T. Pan (INT)    5&3     Patrick Reed/Webb Simpson (U.S.)

Tony Finau/Matt Kuchar (U.S.)         TIED   Adam Scott/Byeong Hun An (INT)

 

Day 3 Afternoon Foursomes Matches

Dustin Johnson/Gary Woodland (U.S.)          vs. Adam Scott/Louis Oosthuizen (INT)

Rickie Fowler/Justin Thomas (U.S.)              vs. Abraham Ancer/Marc Leishman (INT)

Patrick Cantlay/Xander Schauffele (U.S.)     vs. Sungjae Im/Cameron Smith (INT)

Tony Finau/Matt Kuchar (U.S.)                     vs. Byeong Hun An/Joaquin Niemann (INT)

 

On the Day 3 upcoming afternoon foursomes matches

Justin Leonard – “Shocked that Tiger Woods is not playing, as well as he played the first two days. But it is hard to break up the combination of Rickie Fowler and Justin Thomas. They played so well today. They play a lot of golf at home. That had to have been a difficult decision for Tiger Woods.”

 

On the Day 3 morning four-ball matches

Justin Leonard – “These International rookies have embraced the atmosphere. The crowds have certainly embraced them, and they have leaned to the players with experience.

Curt Byrum – “The Internationals have played looser. They haven’t played afraid-type of golf.”

 

On Rickie Fowler/Justin Thomas defeating Marc Leishman and Haotong Li 3&2

Jim “Bones” Mackay – “Justin Thomas loves being on this big stage.”

Terry Gannon – “How good is the week going for Justin Thomas?”

Justin Leonard – “Li is a little out of sorts today. Looks like he is not quite comfortable yet in this atmosphere.”

Jim Mackay – “It has been that kind of day for Leishman. Not only has he not made putts today he really hasn’t scared the hole at all.”

 

Justin Thomas speaking with GOLF Channel’s Steve Sands following his match

Justin Thomas – “It is really all of us. That is why we are on this team. It is why we play, why we chose professional golf as our career. We want that putt. We were fortunate that was for the match instead of keeping going. We did what we needed to do today.”

Rickie Fowler – “I was ready to go. It was a little bit of an early morning. We both had 3:50 a.m. alarms, that was probably the least fun of it. But I knew the two of us were going to go play however good we needed to do. We obviously play a lot together. We ham and egg it well. Got the job done. That is what we needed to do.

Justin Thomas – “We just need some putts to go in. That is how these team events go. It is usually the teams making the most putts. We have a lot of really good putters on our team when the ball starts falling, and hopefully that does soon.”

 

On Sungjae Im/Abraham Ancer defeated Patrick Cantlay/Xander Schauffele 3&2

Curt Byrum – “Ancer hasn’t made many mistakes this week. He has been playing some great golf.”

Notah Begay – “The Internationals really have fed off of each other and have embraced this team competition.”

Curt Byrum – “Ancer is the MVP of the International team thus far. He has been rock solid.”

 

On Hideki Matsuyama/C.T. Pan defeating Patrick Reed/Webb Simpson 5&3

Curt Byrum – “The rookie C.T. Pan has been so solid this week.”

Jerry Foltz – “This International team has been in control on just about every single hole. They have been in the drivers seat.”

Terry Gannon – “This duo has been sensational today.”

Justin Leonard – “These two look so comfortable in this atmosphere. C.T. Pan is having the time of his life out here.”

 

On Byeong Hun An/Adam Scott TIED Tony Finau/Matt Kuchar

Curt Byrum – “Kuchar has been money all day. He has made some huge putts to keep them in it.”

Justin Leonard – “For the Americans, that half point is pretty critical when they are this many down in trying to bite into that big lead of the Internationals.”

Leonard – “We talk about making putts down the stretch is like winning golf tournaments. That half a point may give the Americans momentum going into this afternoon’s matches.

 

Byeong Hun An and Earnie Els speaking with GOLF Channel’s Steve Sands

Byeong Hun An – “It was very tough. We knew that it was going to be a tough match but we were in great form and holing a lot of putts. We just got unlucky and tied on the last hole. We still played great golf and we have a lot of golf left today and tomorrow. We just need to go grind hard again.”

Ernie Els – “They have played great. They have played tough golf, good golf. The U.S. team has done well on 18 in a couple of matches. The guys have really hung in there. They have played the course well, stuck to our game plan. I cannot be more proud of our guys the last couple of sessions.”

An – “We were all ready to go by Wednesday. We all prepared and know what our game plan is and we are sticking to it. We are playing to game plan and it all has been working great. We had some unfortunate breaks yesterday but we just have to keep going and doing what we have been doing. We know what we are capable of and that is what we keep telling each other. We are good players if we can play the right golf and hard golf. It is not going to be easy. But we have to grind out and try to get points.”

Els – “It was a cold day, cold morning. We have all been up since fairly early. When I saw Tiger walking this morning he was a little bit stiff, a little bit tight.”

Els – “Surprised but not. It must be a little bit of a setback for them because Tiger has done so well in the last couple of sessions, but Rickie and JT have a pretty good combination too.”

 

Tony Finau and Matt Kuchar speaking with GOLF Channel’s Steve Sands following their match

Tony Finau – “It was gigantic. We had all of the momentum on 15 and Kuch and I both had unforced errors. And the momentum kind of switched. Pleased with the half coming down the stretch there. I made a couple of clutch putts. Huge for our team. Points have been pretty scarce early. You never know how it is going to fair out but I’m happy to put half a point up on the board.”

Matt Kuchar – “We both played some great golf. I have got to give so much credit to Tony, what a stud. What he did coming in. It is just all day. Steady. Both of us played some great golf. I was heartbroken, the wind came out of my sails there with missing the putt on 15. For Tony to birdie 17 and 18 like he did. I watched this guy last week at Hero. Struggled that first day putting. I can’t tell you about his work ethic, the desire to improve. He spent hour upon hour until the sun went down and he was still out there. That hard word came through and it was incredible to see. I was proud to be partnered with him.”

Finau – “It is what is inside both of us. Like Kuch said, we made a great team today. We played some incredible golf. I don’t know how many birdies were made out there between the two teams. They were a tough team to beat. Kuch made some huge par saves on 12 and 13 that got me going and I was able to make a couple to cover him coming in. We’re a nice team and we’re looking forward to this afternoon’s match.”

-NBC Sports Group-