U.S. AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

August 23, 1996

D.A. Points

D. A. POINTS: When you're playing the No. 1 amateur in the world, it's always going to be hard. But I knew I didn't really have anything to lose. I was looking forward to going out and playing. I had been playing well. Shot 6 under in my second match yesterday. Got a lot of putts to fall. Shot 1 under in my match earlier that day. I didn't hit the ball as well as I'd like. Had to scramble a couple of times, which never has your opponent too worried. But I was one under basically on my match today. So I'm really not too upset with the way things came out. My game plan was to make a lot of pars and make birdies when they came and make him make birdies to beat me, and he did, and he's a great player for this.

D. A. POINTS: Basically that's my nature. I've always been kind of a loose, happy-go-lucky person. It keeps me in a good frame of mind. As soon as you get angry and upset it reflects on your game. That's something I've been working on a lot of this summer, and it paid off here.

D. A. POINTS: No, I never really worried about it. I just knew I had to give myself a chance. When he hit it close, he was probably going to make 3. And I had to try to get it up-and-down to force him to make 3. And I didn't make it, so that was unfortunate. But I came back and had a couple good holes. I had a good shot into 11 and it bounced and went long over the green, and had kind of a touchy chip. But I really, really can't complain. I'm going to miss a green here and there. I'm going to make a bogey. This is a hard golf course and to play like I did, that's about as well as I can ask.

D. A. POINTS: Yeah, that was a 1-iron.

D. A. POINTS: As far as 3's go, probably not. I've made some good 4's this week, even.

D. A. POINTS: I thought about it, but I knew if I hit it through the tree -- I wasn't worried about hitting the tree. My whole worry was about I guess getting it to stop. If I would have had a little better lie I think I could have gotten it close. Hitting it into the bank you really have no control over.

D. A. POINTS: Yeah, I suppose. Maybe not so much playing against Tiger Woods as maybe making the final 8 at the U.S. Amateur. It ws 312 people to start out this week, and to make the 64 was the first goal. And then my second goal was to make the Elite 8 so I could be exempt for next year, I think that's correct, so I don't have to qualify, which I think is a plus. That's what I was looking for.

D. A. POINTS: No, I'm not even sure who I heard this from, but I was watching like I believe it was the Ryder Cup and they always say in match play you've got to think your opponent is going to make everything. When I made it, I was trying to make it because I figured he was still going to make it and I thought if he didn't, that was going to give me a little extra help, if not I had to go and try to make something up on the next three holes. It was a great putt he made.

D. A. POINTS: No, it's a long way, and he hits it good. And I was just trying to take my length and use it to how I play my game. And I really hit two good shots there and couldn't ask for anything more.

D. A. POINTS: Right. My problem is I didn't allow for -- when I was taking the club back, there was kind of a little hill behind me, and so coming into the ball was going to make it kind of a shallow, and I couldn't get it up in the air and catch it solid. I needed to take less loft and that was a mistake on my part.

D. A. POINTS: No, I tried to talk to him a little bit. I asked him about where he was staying and who he was staying with. And he told me, he was very pleasant. I just really -- I guess I just really didn't have anything to ask him.

D. A. POINTS: I've played probably half a dozen tournaments with him, not in the same groups, but in groups around him. I knew he hit it good and a long way. I knew he was a good putter, his putting gets overshadowed by his ball-striking. He's a good putter. I knew I was going to have to get a few good breaks and hit a few good putts, and hopefully catch him on an off day.

D. A. POINTS: I think it's some advantage. Like I said, I've always kind of -- I kind of like to show off in front of like when I'm at home I've gotten some pretty good coverage, and pretty good stuff at home, and so I'm not totally uncommon to this. But it's also kind of hard when it feels like you've got 24 hundred people rooting for Tiger, and you've got about 30 people rooting for you. But that's to be expected. And I was just glad to be here.

D. A. POINTS: I was in between hitting a 4 and a 5. And I thought I could hit a high kind of a cut 5-iron that landed soft and it came out low. I couldn't understand it and that's why it shot back through the wind.