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U.S. AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

August 15, 2016

Nick Carlson

Bloomfield Hills, Michigan

Q. You bogeyed the last hole?
NICK CARLSON: Yeah, unfortunately, but hey, it happens.

Q. That's a pretty good start in front of a lot of family and friends.
NICK CARLSON: Yeah, home crowd. It's pretty cool. I got some high school buddies out here, an old teacher, lots of family. It's just a cool experience to be able to play two hours from home. It's one of those where you've just got to have some fun.

Q. You had I guess three birdies in your first nine?
NICK CARLSON: Yeah, three birdies and a bogey. I hit one close on the first hole. I was super, super nervous on the very first hole. To make birdie there was pretty cool.

Q. How close?
NICK CARLSON: It was about five feet.

Q. What did you hit?
NICK CARLSON: I hit a pitching wedge from 144, and it was just a great little shot to start off my day. Then I birdied No. 12, par-5. I hit it on in two. And then I birdied 16, hit a really good birdie there out of the left-hand rough. Front nine was good, and then we went to the back, made eagle on 2, and all pars until this last one.

Q. What did you hit on 2?
NICK CARLSON: On 2 I hit a 5-iron from 218 to about 10 feet behind the hole. Just a really good shot, good solid shot. And then of course the bogey on the last.

Q. To shoot 67 on what's perceived as the tougher golf course has to feel good.
NICK CARLSON: Yeah, I mean, a golf course is a golf course. You've just got to hit your shots and make sure you're hitting the fairways and the greens, and whatever happens after that, you just kind of go with whatever happens and make some putts. But the other side is the other side, so you've got to hit some good shots over there just like I did today.

Q. How much have you played these two courses before?
NICK CARLSON: I've played the practice round, marked No. 3 on the South Course, and then I played two and a half times on the North. I only played nine holes on Sunday. Just felt comfortable with it, and I felt comfortable with my game, so I just called it good.

Q. You ventured over to play during college last season?
NICK CARLSON: We did, yeah. That's the only times I've played it, yeah. We got a couple practice rounds in with one of the members out here, and it was basically preparation for regionals, but it was a lot of fun. Good to see this golf course and then good to come out here and play well.

Q. That was in May?
NICK CARLSON: Yeah, we played in May and then last October.

Q. How many friends and family did you have here today?
NICK CARLSON: Oh, gosh, let's see, four high school buddies, a couple golf buddies, two teachers, and a youth pastor of mine. So about a dozen probably family and friends.

Q. Did that make you feel more relaxed?
NICK CARLSON: Yeah, I can look over at people and I can just laugh and smile, give a thumbs up, yell out a joke from 50 yards away. It keeps me loose. I knew I was loose the whole entire time. Just got to have a lot of fun with it.

Q. Who caddied for you today?
NICK CARLSON: A buddy of mine Chad Kamphuis from Hudsonville.

Q. Does that count against your four high school buddies? Is he one of the four?
NICK CARLSON: No, he's just a golf buddy from back home. He's just a caddie. The caddie is the caddie.

Q. Are you commuting?
NICK CARLSON: I am not, no.

Q. This is too far from home?
NICK CARLSON: Yeah, it's two hours, two and a half hours, but 45 minutes from Ann Arbor and get some media guys to come out like this guy.

Q. Did you kind of have this circled on your calendar all summer knowing that you've got some support here?
NICK CARLSON: Yeah, even before the tournament started -- before I even qualified I just told a lot of people that I wanted to make it so badly because it was so close to home, and to do it, and to do what I did today, it's pretty special. I'm having a lot of fun out here.

Q. This is your first USGA championship, correct?
NICK CARLSON: Correct, yeah.

Q. Is it what you expected from a USGA championship?
NICK CARLSON: Yeah, just a brutal golf course, you know. Just long rough, tucked pins, a long golf course. Everything I expected and probably a little bit more. When I got out here on Saturday, I was like, holy cow, this is going to be tough. First USGA event. Just have fun.

Q. Do you like long, tough, difficult layouts? Some guys prefer that because you don't have to make a ton of birdies?
NICK CARLSON: I don't know, I don't look at it that way. I just look at it as another golf course. Like I said earlier, I pluck my way around and hit my shots, and I was hitting the driver really good today. You hit it in the fairway, you're going to be able to make some scores, and I found some pins that I liked and went after those, so it was one of those days.

Q. How much match play experience do you have?
NICK CARLSON: Great one. Big Ten Match Play we have a tournament every year for Big Tens. All the Big Ten schools are out there. I played three matches there, and then I played --

Q. Go 3-0?
NICK CARLSON: Gosh no. 0-1-2, so it wasn't very pretty, but I learned a lot.

Q. A halve is a better than a loss?
NICK CARLSON: Exactly. I mean, I learned a lot, and I played the Michigan Junior, which is a match play event, back when I was in eighth grade, so I got a little experience from that.

Q. So the state am is not a match play event?
NICK CARLSON: The junior state am is.

Q. But not the regular state am?
NICK CARLSON: Correct.

Q. That's stroke play?
NICK CARLSON: Yeah.

Q. What does it mean to you to spend most of the morning leading this event?
NICK CARLSON: I don't know, it was pretty cool when I walked over on 3, they had a scoreboard over there and I saw my name, and I was like, this is awesome. This is the kind of -- it was just one of those, holy cow, that's my name right there, and I told all my buddies, I was like, go look at that. That's so cool. My dad took a picture. I'm sure other guys took a picture. It was really cool.

Q. I read on your bio, you like to sing in the car?
NICK CARLSON: Yeah, unfortunately I do like to sing in the car. I had my dad and my caddie in the car, there was no singing.

Q. Do you still eat the same breakfast and the Snickers at the turn or is that just a college bio?
NICK CARLSON: No, it's usually around the same breakfast. I actually had exactly what I ate in college today. That was kind of cool.

Q. What was that?
NICK CARLSON: Just potatoes and some fruit.

Q. Wasn't it like 5:30 in the morning when you got ready?
NICK CARLSON: Yeah, it's a pretty crappy breakfast, I'm not going to lie. But that's just what I do. I'm not a big breakfast guy. I should be, and yeah, Snickers at the turn. My dad got one for me. It's just what we do.

Q. Did you have a lot of good par saves out there?
NICK CARLSON: I did. I parred from 80 yards out on No. 5, made like a 10-footer there, and that was probably my best par save, then made a couple five-footers if I hit a bad chip or hit a bad putt.

Q. Obviously you had some nerves on the first tee, but was there a point early in the round where you felt like, all right, I'm good to go, I'm fine?
NICK CARLSON: You know, I felt really good when I knocked in my one-footer for bogey on 9. I'm not going to lie. That's when the jitters went away. Just one of those days where you're just kind of like on cloud nine and you don't think about the jitters but they're there, and I knew it over some putts, but it's just like, hey, hit good speed and the putt is going to be good.

Q. What did you hit off the tee on 9?
NICK CARLSON: I tried to hit a 5-iron from 214, but it didn't work out.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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