Atlanta Drive GC 6, New York Golf Club 5
THE MODERATOR: We welcome New York Golf Club to the media center. Incredible matchup out there tonight. Just some opening thoughts about what you felt out there, the crowd seemingly a New York crowd out there tonight.
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, I don't know who flew those guys down, but it probably would be nice to have them tomorrow night, as well.
CAMERON YOUNG: I think we played really well. I think a questionable hammer decision, and the golf was plenty good enough to have won the match tonight.
Q. Xander, did you feel like you dropped that hammer in time with JT's putt there on 13?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Derek the ref, I didn't see his fist at all. Billy was to my left, but everyone on our bench was saying he never had his fist out. Probably threw it too close; it's my second time doing that now. But just trying to think it through in my head, and the one I'd like back is probably -- Cam did a lot of the dirty work to win us two points, which is a hard thing to do against them, and for us to give it right back, that's probably my biggest regret was accepting that hammer where Billy made that putt. Just protect our lead.
Q. One-point match, guys; two hammers left --
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Another mistake.
Q. Not to play Monday afternoon quarterback, but you've got another chance tomorrow. Does your strategy change with the hammers?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, we'll just throw them out on the first three holes. (Smiling).
CAMERON YOUNG: We didn't have that many good chances to throw it tonight.
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, you kind of have to earn your spot. I was telling these guys, they're never going to throw -- I got baited into my own situation there where I was like, any hammer they throw, they always have an edge, so we should probably decline it. And here we are, here I am, I accepted that hammer when Billy was putting.
But those are crucial points and edges that were given up. We probably should have ended with one hammer. I thought I threw that out in a decent time, but that would have gotten us down to one, and throwing one the last hole probably wouldn't have mattered.
But maybe we would have had a one-point lead going in versus being tied. It was a big sort of coaching error that I can take a lot of responsibility for since it's in my back pocket.
Q. On 14, Rickie, were you guys playing the percentages there, or you didn't like the putt you were looking at?
RICKIE FOWLER: Our team was off on the hammer. It's kind of a tough spot to be in. Obviously, as a player, you want to accept, but you have to think through things, and sometimes when people on the side looking in, it's a little easier to kind of weigh the situation versus me being in there and wanting to hit that putt.
It's very different in here than playing a hammer game at home with your buddies. Hammers are flying, they're unlimited, and out here you're playing to win.
It is a very different strategy. Obviously you hear a lot of different people yelling, "Throw the hammer." You have to pick your spots. They do a good job, Atlanta. Well, PC, he's a little bit more the numbers guy. Like Xander said, when they throw it, they're definitely feeling like they're in a very good spot.
So yeah, it's just a different situation than playing at home.
Q. Obviously, great golf tonight. I can't imagine there's a lot of thoughts flying around for changes on that side. Xander, I'm going to throw it to you. Maybe some game play strategies in terms of trash talking? Maybe there's something like that that could turn the tide tomorrow? Have you thought about anything like that yet?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Not really, to be completely honest. I'm just trying to get in a good spot to throw the hammer. This was probably one of the more serious matches that we've played. You can tell everyone was trying to win, and them being up one is a big advantage, but in my eyes and I'm sure these boys and our team, we lost our first two matches, so this technically isn't something that we've haven't already faced this exact season. It'll be a fun go tomorrow.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports