U.S. AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

August 26, 2000

Jeff Quinney

JEFF QUINNEY: Feel's great. But I guess the job's not done. You know, I feel -- it's amazing to make it this far but I still got work to do, and it was a tough match today and I had to play well.

JEFF QUINNEY: I just got off to a better start today than I had in the past couple matches. I made a bogey on 3 but then I birdied 5, 7 and 8. And I missed a couple short putts on 9, 11 and 12. I was hitting the ball really close, was putting it well early. I made some good putts that just didn't go in. I misread them a little bit. Then Mr. Eger was -- he made three birdies on the back side. So he was making a charge back at me. I had to fight him off.

JEFF QUINNEY: Sure. But I said -- well, you've gone to yourself. Somebody else, it's capable of doing the same thing. I just got regrouped and I -- it didn't bug me too much, I don't know why. I was trying to focus on my chip and, you know, I still had a chip and I could still tie him there. I knew I had two-up lead with two holes to play and that's a good position to be in, I thought. But I just wanted to regroup and just remain calm.

JEFF QUINNEY: Probably. It's kind of gone in spurts. You know, I've played well in stretches of holes, then I didn't play the back as well as I did the first -- the two matches yesterday or the two previous matches. I didn't make as many birdies and I played the front better. But my game's getting better, like, every match. I feel better with the ball, my putting feels better, I'm starting to get a feel for the greens more and more, my wedge game was better today, too, I was hitting balls closer.

JEFF QUINNEY: I haven't. I never played with him before. But we just competed in the same tournaments, but never were paired together.

JEFF QUINNEY: Yeah, I mean it's one of those putts you're trying to lag up there. He hit a great bunker shot, he had already made par. You don't want to hit it 4 feet and have something coming back. It ended up getting a great lie, looked great from the start. I started walking towards the hole, it was 5, 6 feet away, I knew it was going in. Yeah, that was a big momentum swing I think.

JEFF QUINNEY: It's amazing. Win or lose I guess I'm there in April. And, you know, hopefully I get the two other ones with it by winning tomorrow. But, I mean I would have never thought of going to Augusta. This is pretty much the only way you're gonna get there at this age or you'll probably have to wait a couple years to get there. But it would be a lifetime experience.

JEFF QUINNEY: Maybe just making it this far. Not the way I'm playing. I think I'm playing within myself. Every round I've been playing great this summer. I've been shooting -- I think I've been under par every match this whole week. I don't think so. I think I belong here.

JEFF QUINNEY: You just never know what kind of game he's going to show up with. I thought Mr. Eger was going to be steady today and he missed a couple fairways. You don't know what type of game they're going to show up with that day. If he's steady, I think I consider myself a steady player, too, so it's going to be a real grind. Maybe we won't give each other easy ones where we're going to have to make birdies, you just have to get a feel for the situation.

JEFF QUINNEY: I played with him a couple times. He came down to campus a lot more last year than he had ever. And I played -- we played like an alumni tournament against him. Me and Paul Casey beat him and his partner in a best ball. Then I tied him, I played him individually and tied him.

JEFF QUINNEY: Larry Barber. He actually -- well, me and Paul made three eagles on him. So...

JEFF QUINNEY: I think it was about 3- or 4-under at the Karsten course there in Tempe.

JEFF QUINNEY: Dinner. The alumni lost, so they had to buy us dinner that night.

JEFF QUINNEY: It was last year during school. I think it was in the fall or spring; I can't remember. But I mean he's been great. Like we played flag football or touch football one weekend, he and a couple of alumni were out there playing football at a high school one weekend, like eight-on-eight. He's great. He's a pretty fun guy to be around. He's really competitive, too. They actually beat us in football, though, so they got us back after the golf.

JEFF QUINNEY: Yeah. They weren't happy with us beating them at golf. They had a lot of good players, Todd Dempsey and all those guys were playing on the alumni and we kicked their butts.

JEFF QUINNEY: Yeah. My dad's over there, my caddie.

JEFF QUINNEY: I guess they're eating lunch.