The Bay Golf Club 5, New York Golf Club 3
THE MODERATOR: We'll welcome the New York Golf Club into the media center. Not the result that you wanted. You've got another one right after this, but give me your thoughts on the first match, what you think went well. It was pretty close right until the end.
RICKIE FOWLER: I think we did a good job of clawing ourselves back into it and obviously got behind the 8-ball early. Had a couple opportunities that we weren't able to take advantage of. That's the basics of it.
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Pretty much, yeah. I kind of messed up my second single hole there at a pretty bad time. A lot to overcome for these two boys after a little hiccup there.
Yeah, I think if we made it -- they had some good looks. We had some good looks. I don't think anyone putted extremely well. They probably had a slight edge on proximity to the hole.
But other than that, I think we were just in a couple tight spots, and it was just an overall close match that we lost.
Q. You guys are clearly on the outside looking in of the playoff picture. Would you compare it to being a few back on the cut line on a Friday afternoon?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: I mean, different, just because it's a team deal. I think when you're outside looking in, you're really in your own head. Right now we're just going to try and lean on each other. I think we all can speak to the fact that when momentum is going and you're starting to hit shots collectively and hitting it close and making putts and having fun, you can kind of get a wave of momentum, and we didn't really have that today, and hopefully we can kind of spark that in the second match.
Q. Xander, a little bit of controversy there on 13 with the late hammer throw. What did they tell you, and did it affect your mulligan shot?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, it netted out terrible for us. We were going to decline it anyways, and then I hit such a bad shot, they didn't even have an opportunity to throw a hammer, so it actually worked out worse. Maybe if I hit it a third time, it would be better.
Q. Fitz, do you practice the stinger shot? You seem to have it pretty dialed in. If so, how often do you practice it?
MATT FITZPATRICK: I just naturally hit it really low. I do hit that in tournaments, too. Not that low, but yeah, hit it really low normally.
RICKIE FOWLER: He hit that one a little high today though.
MATT FITZPATRICK: That was a bit high. I was disappointed with it, to be honest.
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: 2.9.
MATT FITZPATRICK: Yeah, I practice it a little bit. I've got lower than 2.9. I've got .1, I think, launch. Just enough.
Q. What's your takeaway with another match still to come? Can you build any momentum off -- what have you guys been up to?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, Rick and I. Fitz is going to root us on, eat dinner for us, and he's going to bring us dinner. What a nice guy. Rick and I have kind of seen how the greens are going and how bunker shots are reacting and things of that nature. I think that's definitely an advantage versus not playing. Try and use as much of that as possible.
Q. Rickie, how were you reading the green for the last putt, and how would you approach it a little differently?
RICKIE FOWLER: I don't think we would have approached it much differently. What we saw, it's kind of a -- it's hard to see unless you're up there, but there's a bit going on, some knobs and different things. I had kind of a finger coming off that slope there in front of me. It just happened to go kind of straight in the middle where we thought it would just kind of continue breaking once it got over the knob. Not what we saw.
Hit a good putt. Had to give it a chance. But yeah, sometimes it'll do different things than what you are kind of visualizing or hoping for.
Q. With the Playoffs right around the corner, how would you describe the urgency inside your team right now?
MATT FITZPATRICK: Find out in a few hours, I guess.
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Play better, yeah.
I take a lot of responsibility for that loss there. We were grinding all together, piecing our way back, and then to lose one of the last three holes there is a no-go with iron in the fairway. The urgency is just to take care of your shots, and if you can, kind of make some putts and pick up your teammates.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports