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NCAA MEN'S GOLF CHAMPIONSHIPSJune 3, 2015Stewart JollyBrandon PierceEric RicardBenjamin TaylorChuck WinsteadZach WrightBRADENTON, FLORIDA Q. Guys, introduce yourself and tell us where you're from. ZACH WRIGHT: I'm Zach Wright, and I'm from Phoenix Arizona and I'm a junior. ERIC RICARD: I'm Eric Ricard, I'm a sophomore, and I'm from Shreveport, Louisiana. BRANDON PIERCE: I'm Brandon Pierce, I'm a sophomore, and I'm from Covington, Louisiana. STEWART JOLLY: I'm Stewart Jolly, I graduated three weeks ago, and I'm from Birmingham, Alabama. BENJAMIN TAYLOR: I'm Ben Taylor, I just graduated, also, and I'm from England. GARRETT RUNION: Garrett Runion, assistant coach, this is my third year. Q. Coach Winstead, Chuck Winstead, you've been there how long? CHUCK WINSTEAD: This is my 10th year. Q. 10th year, and we just saw it's the first national championship in 60 years. Give me an idea of the emotions that are running through your body now, now that this group was able to get you to the promised land. CHUCK WINSTEAD: Well, there are a lot of people at LSU that care about men's golf and really the athletic department, so having graduated from LSU and being a Tiger, it's very special. Q. Benjamin and Zach, a perfect 6‑0 this week in match play. You guys really carried the club, refused to lose, if you will. Did you think this was possible? ZACH WRIGHT: I mean, obviously, yes. We came here on a mission to try to win this. Q. Match play the last two years you've gone undefeated. Is there something about match play that seems to make you play your best golf? ZACH WRIGHT: Absolutely. I mean, I can be more aggressive, so it definitely is not like a fear of losing because you only lose one hole, you don't lose multiple strokes to the field. Q. Let's talk to Ben. Obviously you're going to be‑‑ that shot on 17 is the shot we're going to see for years to come. You make eagle there and you were down in your match. Tell me on 17 that second shot, how were the nerves? BENJAMIN TAYLOR: Surprisingly not too bad. Before I hit my shot, Coach asked me, are you having fun, and it was hard to say no because it was a lot of fun because it was a perfect club, perfect yardage, and we knew it was going to be a good shot. It was destiny. We worked too hard all year, and to see it run up that tier and go to the back of that green by that back pin was pretty special, and it was a great way to end a great match. Q. Stewart, you're a senior. Obviously this will be the last time you get to stand here with these guys and play in a golf tournament, and you go out at the absolute tops. You take home the 43rd national championship to LSU, a school that is so proud of their athletics. As a senior, your last time with these guys on the field of battle, what does this week or these couple weeks mean to you? STEWART JOLLY: It means a lot. I'm out there playing with my brothers, and just couldn't be more proud of them. This is what we worked for all year long. We've worked so hard for this. The semifinals last year definitely stung a bit, and came out here with a chip on our shoulder and got it done this year. Q. SEC wins their third national championship in a row. What is it about this conference that seems to prepare the teams to get here to match play, to get here when the competition is its stiffest? STEWART JOLLY: The SEC is just very competitive. There are a lot of great players and a lot of great players that want to come play for the SEC, so it's just really challenging, and it's great. Q. Coach, what do you think this means to LSU? What does this mean to the faculty, the athletic department, to bring home not just a trophy but a national championship? CHUCK WINSTEAD: Well, the supporters at LSU as well as the administration have supported us for these 10 years. We didn't do this by ourselves, so I think it means quite a lot. They've invested‑‑ I'm just so proud of these guys. It's hard to get in a position to even have a chance to win this tournament, and then when you show up out here today and you still have the resolve to play the way they did, I'm very proud of them. Q. In 60 years when they show a picture of you guys holding the trophy like we've seen with the last LSU team, what do you want people to remember about what this squad was able to do in 2015? CHUCK WINSTEAD: That's a good question. I mean, I'm just proud of the fact that from my perspective they just have continued to improve. That's really our mainstay. That's where we go. From where we begin to where we end, we just always want to improve. They hear it a lot, but I mean, that's really all I feel like you can control. If you're constantly trying to chip away at the small things and continue to improve, then whatever the results are you can live with. Q. Who wants to tell me just how tough this golf course was because on television it looked like a monster. How tough was it? BENJAMIN TAYLOR: Very hard. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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