What they said: Zach Johnson

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MORE INTERVIEWS: The Presidents Cup transcript archive

Q. Tim was playing pretty well out there.

ZACH JOHNSON: I think that would be the understatement of the day, as far as I'm concerned. He was 9-under through 15 holes, and really didn't have many opportunities for a bogey. So it was really impressive. I missed one fairway, and I actually made birdie on that hole. Missed one green in regulation. So I'm 5-under and I don't even get to see the last three holes.

So it was fitting the way it ended. He just out-played me early on, especially, and that's really all it took.

Q. You ran into a buzzsaw today; but great week for you and great week for the U.S. Team.

ZACH JOHNSON: That's what it is. I'm upset I didn't win, but I'm happy for my team and certainly Captain Couples and Haas and Michael Jordan and those guys did a great job, and my hat is off to all of my teammates.

Q. How did Fred do as a captain?

ZACH JOHNSON: Fantastic. I hope he does get another opportunity. He's great. He's easy going. He's likable and fun to be around. But at the heart of him he's still a player with a lot of fire and that's what you want.

Through 11 holes, I'm 1-under, he's 6-under, and I think he made three or four putts outside of 30, 40 feet. So you know, it's match play. That's what it takes. He also hit it good. He didn't do anything wrong. I mean, you know, there's times when I was hitting my approach shots into greens and I could have maybe hit a little bit closer, but we are talking 5-irons and 6-irons. It's not like I'm stuffing flags down with those. It was just really, really impressive and my hat is off to Tim. He was really good.

Q. You showed what a good sport you were with your reaction at the end.

ZACH JOHNSON: My knees gave out. It wasn't an act. I was just like, are you kidding me?

But yeah, it was fitting. He played great and deserved to win.