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U.S. AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

August 22, 2015

Sean Crocker

Olympia Fields, Illinois

PETE KOWALSKI: We welcome Sean Crocker who was defeated by Bryson DeChambeau bow four and three.

Sean, I guess you're short of your goal but tell us what your week experience here at the U.S. Amateur was, to make it to the semifinals and what that means to your career?

SEAN CROCKER: It was a lot of fun. Like I can't complain. I played great this whole week. Hit a lot of good shots and had a couple bad ones but got really far in the tournament. You guys, the USGA, ran the tournament great and I had a lot of support out there which means a lot to me.

Obviously I didn't perform today exactly how I wanted to and didn't win my match but Bryson is one heck of a competitor. I hope he goes out there and wins it tomorrow, or he has a great match tomorrow with the person he's playing. But he's a heck of a player and he deserves to go as far as he did and keep on going.

Q. What did you feel -- can you cite a turning point where you felt things were -- you came back from 2-down, got back into it.
SEAN CROCKER: Yeah, I would say probably when I got back to even and then I gave him 8 and 9 back, I knew -- everyone knows he's a great player.

So to go into the back nine, which is pretty much where match play really starts is the back nine of the round, to go into that 2-down, and I ended up making a birdie on 11 to go back to 1-down, which I thought it was like, okay, let's go, and he made a great birdie on 12. And it's tough to come back from 2-down against a player like that.

And then obviously the next hole, I gave that away. So 3-down with five to play or something like that, that's pretty tough with somebody like that.

Q. You made a big putt on the back side, I was going to say maybe, I thought it was 12, you made the putt there to get it back to one -- on the hole with the elevated green there.
SEAN CROCKER: I think 11 was the hole I birdied on him I think to get back -- the dogleg right was the one where I made that pretty big putt.

Q. The one that goes down the hill and goes back up to the elevated green.
SEAN CROCKER: No, I hit a wedge shot, like a chip shot on that hole to like gimmie range and he made birdie still, so I lost that hole. It was the 11th hole where I made a pretty big putt to go back to 1-down. But gave it right back the next hole, so it didn't really mean much.

Q. Back to 8 if we could. He was way over on the left and you were way over on the right and had an awful stance and that's the first of those two in a row that you bogeyed. Was it something in your swing today?
SEAN CROCKER: My driver just kind of let me down this week. It usually doesn't. It's usually the best part of my whole game.

I mean, I hit some really good drives today. I just kind of got a little bit wayward. I think being such a long week, I probably got a little tired and didn't hit the ball as hard as I would like to and keep up with it. But it's a learning experience from there. Got to get fitter and stronger so I can last longer.

PETE KOWALSKI: After you left us yesterday, you said you were going to go to the range and see what you could do to square up your driver. Did you find something?

SEAN CROCKER: Yeah, it was just alignment, and I was hitting the ball perfectly. I honestly drove the ball really well today, other than like three or four holes which put me in trouble -- well, not like little trouble.

It was a bad drive to where it made me really struggle to make par, and Bryson, on those holes where I missed the fairway, Bryson was in the fairway. So he was going to make par or birdie, and for me to have to try and scramble and make a par when it didn't happen, he's going to win the hole.

PETE KOWALSKI: And as a guy who has only played golf since he was 13 years old, this experience probably more of a learning experience than anything else for you I would expect?

SEAN CROCKER: Yeah, I obviously learned a lot. I still believe, even though I haven't been playing as long as some of these guys, I still could have gone out there and defeated Bryson, if I had my best game and hit the shots I wanted to. But that's golf. You're not always going to come out there and perform the way you want to. I'm still very happy with the way I did and how far I got.

Q. Do you just foresee yourself going back and playing this year at USC and playing summer tournaments again and maybe taking the U.S. Amateur, another shot next year?
SEAN CROCKER: Yeah, definitely. I'm going to back to school. I think school starts Monday, so get back home, pack up and go move in. I'm definitely going to be out there and I'll be back next year and hopefully can do a little bit better.

PETE KOWALSKI: Sean, well played, congratulations on your great play this week.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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