The Bay Golf Club 6, Jupiter Links GC 3
THE MODERATOR: We'll welcome Jupiter Links GC. Tough loss, but I think y'all played well. Just ran into a team that made the first match with two eagles, but you're still in it, still in the playoff hunt. Need some help from Boston, and then you guys take care of business with Atlanta, you're in the playoffs. Opening comments about the match and then looking forward to next week.
MAX HOMA: I'm from Los Angeles and I hate rooting for Boston, so this is going to be really difficult.
KEVIN KISNER: I'm going to be a big Keegan Bradley fan next week.
TOM KIM: I do love Keegan.
KEVIN KISNER: Let's go USA.
Q. Kis, you've got to root for Florida and beat Georgia next week. That's got to feel a little weird.
KEVIN KISNER: Yeah, Georgia can take an L next week. I'm good with that. Florida is tough.
Q. Tom, just thoughts on the match tonight, how you guys played and then how The Bay played?
TOM KIM: Yeah, I feel like we played great. I think the biggest thing was the bounce-backs after some tough shots, and we really hung in there, and our first point won with a par and all our birdies were tied and lost. Just shows you how good they're playing. We're playing pretty good, we just need a few things to go our way, and hopefully the next match Boston can take a dub, and me, Max and Tiger can show up and make some putts.
Q. As sports fans, you know what it's like to be in a must-win situation but you've never really experienced it in a golf team setting. What's the mentality heading into next week?
MAX HOMA: Yeah, win. If it's must-win, you've got to win. Stuck between a must-win and can't-lose type situation. But yeah, I don't know. I thought we played really well. Obviously this is only my second match. The first one we played awful. It was fun to at least come out here and see that we could hole some putts and make some birdies and do some good things out there. It sucks to take an L, but at the same time, at least on my end, I know these guys all have a win under their belt, but we do get another shot at it next week with some golf momentum, not necessarily in the win column, but some golf momentum.
Q. Kis, can you talk about the hosel rocket or maybe half hosel rocket --
KEVIN KISNER: You mean the hole we won?
Q. Max, great angle into the pin there, but could you talk guys talk about that?
KEVIN KISNER: It's all about angles in golf, and mine got a little too close angled to the hosel on that one. But I was telling them that I stood over it, and it's so weird because you don't hit shots forever and then you get in these weird rhythms, and I was like, man, this doesn't feel right, oh, I'm good, hiyaah, and then I was, man, I wonder where that is going to end up. Then Max has this beautiful angle 45-yard shot he's just been dreaming about hitting and they have a 12-foot pitch, and I'm like, damn, we've got another loser, and it's the only hole we won early on.
Q. Max, what did you think when you had that shot in?
KEVIN KISNER: I've put him there before.
MAX HOMA: You always pick up your teammates. Kis is one of my best buddies. I was never going to let him down. He gave me a number I could spin, which was very nice, no hill in my way.
KEVIN KISNER: It's nice to know Tom is putting after.
MAX HOMA: If I just got it on the green --
TOM KIM: Thank you for saying that.
MAX HOMA: If I just got it on the green, I felt quite comfy. Yeah, it was fine. It's just a lot of walking. I got a half a jog in there.
KEVIN KISNER: I kept you in the fairway.
MAX HOMA: I was in the fairway. That helped a lot. I was just terrified I'd hit it into the screen again, so glad to just get to chip to a green like we're used to, but obviously Tom played awesome, especially on the greens. So it was fun to just be able to hit a shot and have him make me look good.
Q. Not many of these -- you've not been in many of these. What have you taken from the first one or learnings that you've picked up?
MAX HOMA: Yeah, there's definitely some little nuances. They've changed the green a bunch since I was here last, which I think helped a lot for every team and for the entertainment. Just seeing putts go in is cool.
But I was actually surprised. The thing I learned the most is that I think our competitive nature is innate because the first one was fun; it was funny and we got killed, but we went home, told stories, whatever. Then flying out here for whatever reason, realizing that this was potentially to make the playoffs, it got a lot more competitive.
Yeah, I guess hopefully that seems to be the sentiment I'm hear from a lot of the teams, so it's cool to feel the rush. We all talked about our heart was racing a little bit more than normal today, so that was cool.
Q. Guys, six weeks ago this whole thing was a bit of an unknown for all of us. I'm curious what the reaction has been like when you go into a locker room at a PGA TOUR event from fellow players or friends? Are people talking about wishing they would have played? What has the locker room feel been like?
KEVIN KISNER: My experience is every player I see asks me about it. First question is what do you think about TGL or some shot or asks about the green or the bunkers or whatever. They want to know, so they're obviously intrigued and watching, which is great for the sport.
If we're going to expand and continue to grow this and continue to add players, then you want the hype and you want guys to feel like they're missing out. I think we're achieving that.
Q. Tom, how does the shot clock impact your pace of play?
TOM KIM: It's nice. I think I'm comfortable over the shot clock. I've struggled with pace of play due to a lot of fighting with some mental stuff, but it's getting a lot better. Torrey was a really good week for me. My pace of play got really improved starting from Waste Management, too. It's something I've been working on. It helps when I feel like over the shot clock here, I know I'm comfortable over it, so I know I'm not struggling; it was just a matter of going out in tournaments and consistently doing it and beating that mental barrier.
Q. Was there any pre-match pep talk from Tiger this week?
KEVIN KISNER: Pre during -- post I haven't looked at my phone yet.
MAX HOMA: He was pretty adamant that we should win.
TOM KIM: We did not.
Q. Max, your game is not where you want it to be right now. How does that translate into this kind of golf? And just talk about how you think you played tonight.
MAX HOMA: How does it translate?
KEVIN KISNER: I thought you hit it nicely.
MAX HOMA: I'll answer the second part. I thought I hit it well. I thought I played good. I'm not sure. I don't think it does. Obviously you're making golf swings, but it's not like I make a lot of terrible golf swings all the time.
Yeah, I don't think it translates really much at all. It's fun. It's definitely looser.
Kind of what Tom was saying about pace of play, it's like you aren't as uncomfortable. It's new but it's not -- the golf club is the same but it's new and fun, and you're just kind of getting up there and whacking it. Probably some things to be learned from that, but also it's not like if I hit it badly today, I wasn't going to go home and mope about it, and same as if I hit it great today, I wasn't going to go home and cheer about it. It's just fun to play with these boys and compete and get the juices going a little bit.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports