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U.S. AMATEUR FOUR-BALL CHAMPIONSHIP

May 6, 2015

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA

THE MODERATOR: I'm here with Sherrill Britt and Greg Earnhardt. Congratulations, guys, reaching the final of the first inaugural U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship. Great run to the final. Obviously, you played some really great golf going in. Let's just start with that semifinal match today and playing against someone you know pretty well in Scott Harvey. Just take us through that match a little bit. Greg first.

GREG EARNHARDT: You know, I guess it was some part of it was tough because we're such good friends and we've even joked we have a really good relationship. So it was kind of how serious do we make it? For me, it was, and I didn't want to disrespect him. I try to have a good time anyway. So it was tough to start with because I didn't know is this all, we're not talking and we're having fun. It was great though. He opened up. You know, I look at him and, I mean, he's probably the best player in our state. So it was something that, I mean, it was a challenge to play him. I mean, it was something that I look forward to when I saw that we were getting to play him. He's a great player and great friend of mine.

Q. And Sherrill, maybe you can talk about it. You guys had a lot of success on the front nine. You never trailed through any of the matches, and again, you didn't trail on that match either but obviously got very close. Some really good golf coming down the stretch. You guys halved 14, 17, and 18 with birdies, and then of course won on the 19th hole. Just talk about some of that golf coming down the stretch and some of the shots you guys had?
SHERRILL BRITT: Well, I had a front row seat. I watched my partner cheered him on good. I mean, he clutched it. That's what I keep bragging about him. He's always grinding it out, and I think he's better than he is. Better than he thinks he is.

Q. Greg, just talk a little bit about 17, 18, and then 19. It's such a great way to finish the match, and a really hard-fought match?
GREG EARNHARDT: Well, 17 we knew Todd was going to make birdie, so the putt was really slippery down the hill, but the next one really didn't matter. So just, then 18, I mean, I knew I wasn't going to miss it. I mean, it's crazy, but with the putter that I'm putting with now, I actually pull putts, so I'd rather have a left to right, which is different for me, so it was left to right, and I was okay with that. So I struggle more with the right to left, which I usually never do. I mean, I enjoyed it. Playing in front of the people, playing Scott, I enjoyed it. I thought I'd be nervous, and actually I never was nervous, which is unusual to me.

SHERRILL BRITT: Same here. But one thing we said before we even started, he wanted to play Scott and his partner, and I wanted to play Todd and his partner. Because I played with Todd way back in the Mini Tour days. I thought those were the two teams to beat, and it would be nice to play them, and we did. Unfortunately, one of them got us.

Q. You guys had a great run in playing, Sherrill, in your third USGA Championship, and Greg, your fifth, plus the State Team. Just reflect on the week overall? Expectations coming in and how things played out and how much fun you guys had in this format? Sherrill, go ahead.
SHERRILL BRITT: Well, I mean, I played okay to start off with but I never would have gotten this far if we didn't have partnerships. There is no way. If I had been in U.S. Am, U.S. Mid Am, whatever, I'd have gotten knocked out in the first round if I would have ever got there. It's nice to be able to play in a Four-Ball. I think you're going to see even more entries trying to get into it. If you can get some help and people that can make some birdies, you know, Todd's a great player. Scott is a great player. They can go win U.S. Ams and U.S. Mid Ams, and I don't think we can, but we can compete in this event against them.

Q. Greg, how were some of your memories from the week?
GREG EARNHARDT: Vicky, my wife, she's back there, and she got to come with me. To start with not golf. We got to see Alcatraz, which is pretty cool. We wanted to do that, so we got to go to Alcatraz. And then once we got here, you had always heard of Olympic, I haven't talked to Webb in a long time, but when he was a junior, and when he was at Wake, we played in some tournaments together so to see him win here. So you knew about it, and Payne Stewart, the stuff that happened to him in the divot, and putting it off the green on 18. So from North Carolina, it was what we saw on TV. You know, when you drive in and you see the place, and you see the pacific on the left. I've never seen that. Then you pull in the gate, and it's just simple. It says Olympic Club, and it was just -- I mean, you know, it was really cool. Everything's been first class. I mean, the USGA did a great job, the volunteers, they've been awesome just helping us out, going out of their way, the members giving up their golf course. So it was -- I mean, there is really nothing -- even though we lost today -- I still, everything was just so positive. You know, it's something I'll always remember.

Q. We saw you walk into the clubhouse with no shoes on yesterday trying to get your feet just right. Was fatigue any sort of issue this afternoon?
GREG EARNHARDT: Oh, yeah, it was. I mean, they played great. That's not why we lost. It just got to the point where I really couldn't turn, and my toes, I had blisters all over my toes, and I really just couldn't push off. It was mostly arms and hands and it just, you know, it had something to do with it. They played great. So by no means would I ever sit here and say, hey, the reason we lost is because we're old and tired and bandaged.

SHERRILL BRITT: If we played them ten times, we might beat them twice, but we'd have to be rested to do it.

GREG EARNHARDT: Right. I think it definitely kept us from playing better. I mean, they played great, so I don't think you could sit here and say, oh, if we would have had a caddie or if the USGA would have felt bad for us and gave us a cart and let us ride out there, that wouldn't have made a difference. I mean, they're both great players and great people. So, you know, it did affect, I think the shots that we could hit. You know, just, I don't know, stamina, maybe thinking, mental, just stuff like that.

Q. How big of a turn around, and how do you try to bounce back when you get off to a start like that?
SHERRILL BRITT: I was really tired out there, but I make a lot of birdies, and up until we walked off the 12th hole, that's when I like we ain't going to win. I mean, never did I think -- I was hoping something would click or whatever that my game would turn around, but it was just not going to happen.

GREG EARNHARDT: I think we were used to being up, and so, I mean par is a good score on this golf course, and there are very few birdie holes unless you hit great shots especially as firm as the greens are, as fast as the greens are, as fast as the fairways are, most of the times you're on the edge of the rough unless you hit a perfect tee shot. So when you're up, I think you're just thinking, hey, let's not mess up here. Let's make them beat us. Then you get behind and you start pushing it, and you start trying to be more aggressive, and you start trying to hit shots that normally you wouldn't hit. So I think that was the difference.

SHERRILL BRITT: Then you think birdie, but unfortunately, against them, it takes birdie to do it, when you're behind.

Q. What strikes you about those two? What do you think makes them such a good team?
SHERRILL BRITT: They're both really good players. Nathan's won three Mid Ams? Four Mid Ams? I mean, Todd, you know, I remember even in the Pro Days. He's good.

GREG EARNHARDT: I think Nathan's got such a good short game. You know he's never out of the hole no matter where he is, and he's such a good putter and then Todd hits it so well.

SHERRILL BRITT: Todd really thinks it out.
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