Golf Channel Notable Quotes
Golf Central Live from the Presidents Cup
Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2015, 7-11 p.m. ET
Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea
Incheon, South Korea

On Day 1 foursomes Match #1 between Watson/Holmes vs. Scott/Matsuyama
David Duval – “To send out the bombers first, I love it. The guys play similar styles so they’re used to playing from the same positions.”

On Day 1 foursomes Match #2 between Kuchar/Reed vs. Oosthuizen/Grace
Brandel Chamblee – “The combative nature of Patrick Reed seems to match up nicely with match play.”
Paul McGinley – “The Ryder Cup was great for the brand of Patrick Reed. Among his peers as well too, people see him in a different light.” 

On Day 1 foursomes Match #3 between Fowler/Walker vs. Lahiri/Jaidee
Chamblee – “You could make an argument that [Lahiri/Jaidee] is [the International’s] strongest team… I look at this at probably the best matchup.”
McGinley – “If it was a typical Asian golf course with Asian greens and humidity, somewhere like Malaysia or Thailand I’d back them every day of the week. But they’re playing in South Korea in 66 degrees of heat with bent fairways and bent grass. It’s going to be a challenge for them.”

On Day 1 foursomes Match #4 between Mickelson/Z. Johnson vs. Day/Bowditch
Duval – “[Mickelson/Johnson] seems like a pairing of opposites. One is reckless abandon and one is very calculating moving around the golf course. I kind of like that in the foursomes play as long as you’re communicating about where you want to be and how you want to get around the golf course.”
Chamblee – “I look at a guy like Zach Johnson as a player that elevates everybody. He can mix up with anybody. He’s fabulous at a four-ball format. He’s fabulous in a foursomes format. You can count on him. Phil Mickelson is a little bit of a wild card.”

On Day 1 foursomes Match #5 between Spieth/D. Johnson vs. Lee/Leishman
Chamblee – “If you’re looking at the form of the 24 players, no one comes in here worse on form than Leishman. He’s missed his last three cuts… On paper I doubt that anybody is giving this match to anyone other than Jordan Spieth and Dustin Johnson.”

On the format change this year moving from 34 to 30 total matches
Duval – “Each team is going to have players that aren’t exactly on form. But if you can hide [those players] more than you have in the past, then you’re going strength vs. strength and you’re not exposing weaknesses.”
McGinley – “It brings more strategy into it… Stepping a guy down is a very difficult thing to do and it’s the man-management of that which is very important as well. It brings a whole new dynamic into it and I think it’s a good thing for the Presidents Cup.”
Chamblee – “I do believe that Nick Price has already won a considerable concession with the new format. To some extent, he’s already won it…”

On the potential for International competitors to drop the Presidents Cup from their schedule if they do not win this week
McGinley – “What they’re doing by saying ‘if we don’t perform well, we may walk away’, they’re putting themselves in a no-win situation… This positioning is a little unclear to me.”
Duval – “It’s a little disturbing, a little unsettling for the long term health of the event itself… It’s imperative that the International team competes strongly if not win this Presidents Cup.”
Chamblee – “This is the closest that golf gets to a team sport. It’s the closest that golf gets to a combat sport. The golf itself is pretty compelling, but the format makes it even more so.”

Jack Nicklaus speaking with Golf Channel’s Todd Lewis on the golf course and the competition
Jack Nicklaus – “The greens have got a little spice in them, we’ve softened them a little bit. The golf course is in great condition, and I think it will be a great event.”
Nicklaus – “I think the Presidents Cup teams are stronger than the Ryder Cup teams on paper. Yet we seem to lose the Ryder Cup and win the Presidents Cup… I think that all events go through a sort of ebb and flow. Right now I think the International team will have a very good chance to win. The format has changed a little bit… I thought that the beauty of the Presidents Cup is that you couldn’t hide anybody.”

-NBC Sports Group-