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U.S. AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

August 21, 2004

Luke List

MAMARONECK, NEW YORK

CRAIG SMITH: The crowd missed something pretty good. Let me just ask about 18, first of all. You can tell yourself that you're supposed to pretend that your opponent is going to make everything, but did you have any idea? Tell me your emotions.

LUKE LIST: I really did. I told myself he was going to make that. I went through that drill. Every person I've played I've had that, where it's a chip-in or something like that.

Chris, he's a great player, so he just dug deep and he made it. You've got to give him all the credit in the world for that.

I put it on the green thinking that would be good enough, but we had to go to extra holes.

CRAIG SMITH: Take me back out to 17.

LUKE LIST: I felt good. I felt good on 18. I was a little shaky on 16 and 17, and I got to 18, I felt fine. So I said, "Hey, that was a good hole you played, so let's just go play another one." Hit a great 3-wood down the middle. Had about 163 to the hole and hit a little smooth 8-iron right up there. That was good enough.

That's all I could say. It just kind of happened so fast. Next thing you know, I'm walking off and I've won.

CRAIG SMITH: Was it the toughest 3-footer you've ever made?

LUKE LIST: You know, I knew that if Chris didn't chip his in, then it would be to win and everything like that. So I kind of said, "Let's just focus on this, let's not think about anything else but this putt." I was able to do that, I really was. I felt fine.

Of course you're nervous, but just tried let my nerves help me in my favor and just acknowledge them and accept the fact that you're going to be nervous out there no matter what. So just go ahead and knock it in the back of the hole.

Q. What did you do during the break?

LUKE LIST: It was a long time. I wanted to kind of get away from everybody for a while. I went up to the locker room and actually took a little nap, 15, 20 minutes and just kind of laid down for a while, kicked my feet back. Watched a little of the PGA TOUR event, Firestone. Just got some lunch. We waited for a while. There was some concerns if we were going to get out or not and when. The USGA did a great job just to get us back out there.

Then we got to warm up a little bit and went back out there.

Q. How important, how crucial was it, you hit that birdie putt on 15, the next thing you know, they call it and momentum --

LUKE LIST: Exactly. I tried not to think about that because I did have some momentum there. You just have to throw that out the window.

It's golf; it happens. The weather, you can't control it. I did my best. I hit a good tee shot anyway when we came back out and just pulled my iron. I missed some irons all week, and it just so happens I pulled it; it hit the tree. I don't think it got a very good kick, but I hit a great chip shot. The only play I had was bouncing through the rough and I got a good kick and gave myself a putt at it.

Chris, he had a fabulous second shot from over in the trees. He had a great up-and-down there. So I've got to give it to him. He put a lot of pressure on me there.

Q. You said before that when you make the cart ride to the 17th tee after he makes the putt, you're kind of going through that charade of just getting yourself back into the frame of mind. Were you at all deflated or dejected after he made that putt?

LUKE LIST: On 18?

Q. Yeah, when he made the putt on 18 and you're going back for the first extra playoff hole.

LUKE LIST: I just told myself, let's just put yourself in perspective; that you made the putt and you had the momentum. And I just tried to realize that I had come back from being behind, just anything to tell myself that I had not given it away, and I did my best and everything. [] I just regrouped and got shuttled back out there. I felt fine, so I just stepped up there and was confident in my ability and just kind of let it happen.

Q. Speaking of regrouping, on 15, I don't know if you remember because it was so far back, but 15, you stood over your putt and then you pulled off it before you hit it.

LUKE LIST: Yeah, I just didn't feel right. Sometimes I made the mistake of going ahead and hitting the putt in the past where I didn't feel that good over it.

That was a big putt. I really was confident over it, and when I got over it, it just didn't feel right. So I backed off and looked at it again, and same routine, same confidence. I got back over it and knocked it right in.

Q. How long was that?

LUKE LIST: On 15, it was probably about 15, 18 feet downhill.

CRAIG SMITH: Take me back to the fourth hole. It seems like a day ago, pitching wedge from 150 in the left rough.

LUKE LIST: Right. That was just one of those things. Whenever you knock it in from the fairway or a hole-in-one, you can hit a good shot. But I've hit plenty of good shots, better than that. I actually pulled that. I was trying to run it up there and I pulled it a little bit and I pulled it right on-line. It was tracking the whole way and took two hops and went in. It was great. It was fun.

Q. You're in at Augusta; how does it feel?

LUKE LIST: I tried not to think about that. It was tough, especially after the rain delay, to not think about that. That's every amateur's dream is to go there. It is mine. I've only been once and I've been there to watch, I haven't played. It's just heaven. It's the greatest golf course in the world. Winged Foot's right up there, but Augusta is just a sacred place. I'm thrilled to death just to get the opportunity to go play.

Q. To play the "What If Game", going back to 17 when Chris missed the 3-footer.

LUKE LIST: That was huge. I hit two bad shots. I really hit a poor shot on 17 fairway and kind of opened the door again for him. He hit a good chip shot and he could have easily took it to all-square there and he could have won the match on 18, but that's just the[] way golf goes. I was lucky enough to have that 1-up edge going into 18.

You can say "what if" about everything.

CRAIG SMITH: You've had a run this week where you've been behind only three holes in five matches. So you've been a wonderful front runner.

LUKE LIST: Right. I've been able to get up early, get going, get some momentum early, all square, 1-up, just get the good vibes going early and that's been well. It's worked out and being down is a different ballgame. You really have to bear down. If I get down tomorrow, I'll just have to hang in there because it's such a long day tomorrow.

Q. Speaking to follow up on that, what do you know about Ryan? He said he doesn't think you've ever played together.

LUKE LIST: No, we've never played together. Everybody knows him here. He's the No. 1 Amateur in the country. He's had an incredible summer. He's a great player and a great guy. Not much else you can say.

It will be fun tomorrow. It's going to be a great time. He's already had a great summer, a lot of victories, so hopefully I can go up there and give him a great match.

Q. Do you consider yourself an underdog?

LUKE LIST: I've been an underdog in every match I've played. So, yeah, I'll go ahead and say I'm an underdog again.

Q. You've played against a lot of good players this week; does that help you at all in terms of going into tomorrow?

LUKE LIST: It did. I played Sihwan Kim in the first round; he's great and won the U.S. Junior. I didn't feel like an underdog in that match, but he's a great player. I was confident in that match. Trip Kuehne, I saw the bracket and it was just like, either way you're going to get a lot of experience this week no matter what you do.

After that win, I just kind of built from there. And if you can beat him, you can beat the next guy.

Q. Does that help going into tomorrow?

LUKE LIST: Definitely, it sure does. I'm playing well and my confidence is high. So I can just relax and go out there and enjoy the day and have fun with Ryan. It will be a great day.

Q. Along those lines, you're supposed to be a little too young to be doing this, to knock off all of those good players. What do you attribute that to?

LUKE LIST: You know, people say youth is a great advantage I guess. But I'm 19, 19-year-olds still get nervous and they still think about everything. It's not like I'm a seasoned veteran out there and know everything.

I just try my best to just focus on one shot at a time and just go through the motions and go through my routine and everything. Just trying to stay in the present. Everybody says that, all of the great players say that, just it's so hard to do, and if you can do that, then you can really become a great player. So I'm just doing my best to stay in the present and just play one hole at a time.

CRAIG SMITH: How about your expectations this week, have you met them yet or do you have one more?

LUKE LIST: I came in, I've worked hard all summer. So I expected to come in here and do well, but I guess I didn't expect to come this far. Now that I have, it feels great. Why not, see if we can go all the way.

CRAIG SMITH: Thanks for showing a good afternoon. It was worth waiting for.

End of FastScripts.

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