U.S. AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

August 22, 2002

D.J. Trahan

DJ TRAHAN: Well, I guess neither of us were doing anything too impressive on the front. I managed to get three up there, on the front nine. I don't even know how many holes we had on the front. It couldn't have been. We were going back and forth the whole front nine. I turned at 3-up and then on the back nine it wasn't much different than the front. But I just -- my timing was off and I wasn't hitting fairways and when you're playing somebody like Bill, he was hitting his driver really good today. He was in play all day. I don't know how many fairways he missed, but it wasn't many. And he was doing what he had to do, hitting fairways and putting himself in good positions. And I was struggling and hitting it in the rough and just one of those things I just never could get myself comfortable out there this afternoon. My swing was just a little bit off and the result was a lot of shots in the rough and out here and that just takes its toll after awhile and unfortunately, it ended up working me over.

Q. Is there such a thing as momentum? On the back nine you didn't win a hole?

DJ TRAHAN: No, I really don't think there was much momentum either way. The holes that were won were -- Bill made a pretty easy win there on 12 by hitting the green in two. And it took my birdie and I missed my birdie. But 10, for instance, we were both in the left rough. He just happened to have a little bit better shot than I did. I had to try to go under the tree and shoot it over the green, which I drew a horrible lie back there. When you think about a golf course like this, momentum definitely can be there. But I didn't really consider it to be either way. More or less it's positioning out here. I think position is more important than momentum; being in the right place.

Q. There were a couple distractions out there. The cell phone on 14. Did any of that play into your game? You seemed to lose your composure after that.

DJ TRAHAN: No, about the best shot I hit all day was after that cell phone rang. I piped that drive. To be honest with you, I haven't -- they say amateur golf is the best because people can just run around and everybody walks down the fairways and I think that's all fair and great and everything, but sometimes it's also distracting. Those were the distraction for me, cell phone. I regrouped and I ended up making a good swing there. Sometimes it's hard to deal with the big crowds like that and I really think, I love to play in front crowds like that. But sometimes like I said, with people everywhere and a lot of times you're trying to hit your shot and there are still people trying to move to get into position all over the place. And that's where I get distracted out there.

Q. On 17, was that the case on 17? You saw those people down there?

DJ TRAHAN: There was a cart driving by and so I just tried to back off and regroup. I'm going to be honest, I'm a very laid-back person. It doesn't tick me off or anything. I'm not going to start complaining and cussing or something like that. But it's just something you know it's going to be out there so you have to try to find a way to prepare yourself for it, so that you can get through it. And I think I did an okay job today but as the round goes on, it was like, why can't I win six and five. So I don't have to deal with this for 17 or 18 holes.

Q. Even when you were three up at the turn, did you get a feeling he was going to make a run at you?

DJ TRAHAN: I'm good friends with Bill. We live 15 minutes from each and I know how good he is. I knew he wasn't going to sit down. He's a first team all-American. He's a great player. He knows how to win. And when you're playing somebody like that, you -- when you're playing anybody for that matter you can't expect them to bow. Bill was going to hang tough and I knew I would continue to have to make pars or birdies or whatever and I wasn't able to do that because I couldn't get it in the fairway. My hat's off to him. He played great golf on the back nine. He did what he had to do and he put the pressure back on me. And like I said my swing just didn't feel that great this afternoon and it just really was never there.

Q. Do you know what it was with your swing?

DJ TRAHAN: I'm sure it's something that -- I just have to be honest with you, I guess sometimes when your timing is a little bit off and you don't feel comfortable when you're getting to impact and it just doesn't take much as far as timing is concerned to be enough off where you're going to be missing fairways out here. And it's just one of those things where it's just a little bit and a little twitch here and there and it makes all the difference in the world.

Q. You said Bill lived so close to you, do you guys hang out, play golf around together normally?

DJ TRAHAN: No, you know Bill and I really don't play that much when we're home because I think our schedules are very different. And he's at Wake and I'm at Clemson. But we live close to each other, we both grew up in South Carolina so we knew each other for a long time and I consider us to be good friends. And I wish him all the best. I told him if he was going to beat me he better win the damn tournament. That's what I told him. And I told him, hell of a comeback too. And I can honestly say, I don't like losing, but it's better to lose to a good friend like that somebody who -- for me it was, it's not great, it's not good to lose, but I wish him the best.

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