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U.S. AMATEUR FOUR-BALL CHAMPIONSHIP

May 5, 2015

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA

MIKE TROSTEL: Nathan Smith, Todd White, congratulations, a 3-2 win over Jason and Ryan Higton. No bogeys since the second hole of the first match for you guys, 46 consecutive holes. Todd, can we just start off talking about just the consistency you guys have had? It seemed like putting a lot of pressure on the other teams making pars and a few birdies?

TODD WHITE: Well, today, a lot of that was Nathan. He played incredibly well today. Yesterday I played well, and today he played incredibly well. That is the nature of Four-Ball, I hope. It helps to have two people in play and two people on the greens, as you said. It puts pressure on your opponent to play well, and that's what we've been able to do.

Q. Nathan, you had it working today in the afternoon rounds. Halved the first seven holes, get a birdie on 7, and then FOX comes on with it's coverage on the 8th hole, and one of the first shots we see is you hit one in there tight, and Todd you knock in the birdie to go 1-up and you guys took off from there. Talk about, you didn't lose a hole in your afternoon match. Talk about some of the key shots and key holes out there?
TODD WHITE: Well, I think Nathan's putt on 6, excuse me, Nathan's putt on 7, and then my putt for birdie on 8 really got us going, and as I said, Nathan played really well on the back side. I was able to throw a couple birdies in there to help out, so that was basically my role today.

Q. It's been a long championship, fatigue can be part of it. We've seen guys in here with no shoes on, guys talking about going to bed at 7:00 o'clock. How about you guys? You took some caddies in the afternoon. How are you holding up, Nathan?
NATHAN SMITH: I think we're holding up okay. I think we're pretty numb right now. We're probably going to hit the bed as soon as we can. It's a tough course, and it's a challenging course to walk and physically it takes a toll. So it was nice to have some caddies this afternoon. Right now we're flying high, but I'm sure we'll crash pretty soon.

Q. You guys have a lot of experience here, 49 USGA Championships between you, and a lot of the other guys who advanced to the semifinals, same thing. Guys in their 30s and 40s. Talk a little bit about, Todd, what that experience playing in these championships and advancing far on an individual level has carried over to this championship?
TODD WHITE: I think in a USGA event, patience prevails. You saw that out there this afternoon if you looked at some of the television coverage, I have no idea, but you see the ball bouncing on the greens. It's a perfect USGA set-up. Patience prevails. Perhaps having that experience does help out quite a bit.

Q. And Nathan, you guys beat some good young players from SMU this morning in a tight match. And tomorrow you're playing against Sam Burns and Austin Connelly from LSU and Arkansas, a couple great young players, 18 years old. What do you think you have to do tomorrow against these young guns who are playing in college?
NATHAN SMITH: I have no idea. That is a great question. Yeah, the guys we played this morning from SMU, you know, they're great players. Everybody is a great team. Todd and I seem to be teaming well, so hopefully we'll be able to somehow hang in there with them.

Q. I asked Scott and Todd the fact that they've been successful on the USGA stage and how much preparation individually when you're in the moment and the pressure, how does that help that together you guys have had the Walker Cup factor as well? Is that a bonus for you, or am I making too much out of it?
TODD WHITE: Well, for me, I know that Nathan's been through so much USGA-wise, so nothing's going to faze him. It's a trust level that you've got that partner there in this event. Like Nathan said yesterday, it's nice to know that you have to go out and you play the beast, and you've got somebody at your back.

NATHAN SMITH: I think there is a real familiarity with Todd and I off the course and on, which has worked well for us, and definitely playing a bunch of USGA Championships helps, and playing better Four-Ball helps, so, yeah, that's all contributed this week.

Q. So you each have played in more than 18 USGA Championships, correct? If we add them together, you've each played in I don't know how many. The kids you're playing are both 18 years old, you've played in more USGA Championships than they are if you add up their ages. They're both 18. It's kind of remarkable that in a championship you can have two incredible veterans, experienced, play against two 18-year-old kids. You don't have time to appreciate that right now, if you're tired, but isn't that remarkable in a championship like this?
NATHAN SMITH: It is remarkable. That's what I think is so great about this. It's a great event that they started, the USGA started. I think you're going to see a lot of cool things like that throughout the years. That is the fun of it.

TODD WHITE: Yeah, this morning I was joking around with Bryson DeChambeau, their two ages combined were six less than me, and tomorrow it's going to be even more. But I've maintained, and maybe it's my way of thinking that the golf ball and Golf Clubs, they don't know how old someone is that's swinging it and hitting it, so you just play the game. Like you said, it's great to know that here we are, and Nathan's 37, 36, and I'm 47, and tomorrow we'll be competing against two kids. But that is the beauty of the game of golf.

Q. (Indiscernible)?
TODD WHITE: It's always nice to draw on past experiences, especially in an event like this, or any USGA event, to draw on past experiences to help you out.

Q. Speaking of past experiences, I know one of the things that Sam and Austin said over and over again is this week is new and there is no precedent. So why not come out and take chances and things? Do you think that those past experiences that the guys have had, even though this is a new event, plays more into this given the experience factor there?
NATHAN SMITH: I think that the experience is good, but if you're in Match Play, usually whoever plays better is going to win. I think that can be a bonus, but if you're playing two really good players, and whoever probably plays better is going to get through.

Q. As a follow-up, it seemed you guys hit a couple great shots in there off 8. What did you hit off the tee? And Todd, your putt like 10 feet or something like that. What did you hit in Nathan?
NATHAN SMITH: I hit 6-iron.

TODD WHITE: I had 5.

Q. Did you guys think anything about being on TV, being on FOX? Right when we tuned in you guys were the first ones on there.
NATHAN SMITH: I was hoping. I saw a lot of cameras today. I've never seen so many cameras before. I mean, there were cameras everywhere out there. There was a camera on 16 that was coming at me. It was moving itself around. So hopefully we've made TV somehow, you know.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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