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U.S. AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIPAugust 15, 2016Dawson ArmstrongBloomfield Hills, Michigan Q. Great round so far, round of the championship so far. You're in the lead. How does it feel? DAWSON ARMSTRONG: It feels good. I'm actually a little more excited about just a personal goal. I've shot a lot of 65s but I've never shot 64 in a tournament, so it feels really good to finally reach that hump. Q. Tell me about how you felt today out on the course. DAWSON ARMSTRONG: You know, I felt really good. I felt really at peace today, just relaxed, really just went out there with a calm mindset and just kind of took it a shot at a time, didn't try to get ahead of myself, and it worked. Q. The 64, that's a personal best? DAWSON ARMSTRONG: It is. Q. In a U.S. Amateur it's got to be a bonus. DAWSON ARMSTRONG: Yeah, it's a big bonus. I played in the U.S. Amateur two years ago at Atlanta Athletic Club, and the game was on then, just didn't quite make match play. You know, I was hoping the game would be on. This is kind of a tournament I've been looking forward to all year. It's just been constantly people telling me, hey, look, you're preparing yourself for the U.S. Amateur up in Oakland Hills, and it's a great opportunity to show how the hard work is going to pay off. Q. You're no stranger to success in the Midwest, either, winning the Western last year. DAWSON ARMSTRONG: Yeah, that was a lot of fun. Probably, what, four hours away from here, something like that. Yeah, that was a lot of fun. Match play experience is very high. If I get there, I'll feel confident in my game, but I've still got one more day to take care of some business. Q. Tell us a little bit about yourself. What do you consider highlights for yourself? DAWSON ARMSTRONG: Well, I consider highlights being the Western, obviously; last year's Dogwood in Atlanta and this year's, being champion last year and runner-up this year. You know, just not the best summer so far, but I mean, I've just kind of been hanging in, trying to mentally prepare myself for weeks like this and opportunities like this. I feel prepared. I feel the -- I don't know what to say. Q. The fact that you're sniffing the lead here, what does it do for tomorrow? You said you were at peace; some more peace because now you've got to play the monster tomorrow? DAWSON ARMSTRONG: I mean, I've got to stay just as patient as I did today. I didn't really make any long putts, so I mean, it wasn't really a matter of patience, it was a matter of just confidence on the course, but tomorrow is definitely going to have to be a lot of patience, just working it in from 30 feet on the greens, unless I'm feeling really good within 15. Yeah, tomorrow is going to be a big challenge trying to stay patient, trying to stay even more within myself and at peace with myself. This is a USGA event, but it's not the end of the world. Q. Do you look at being a seed as a goal, or because you didn't make match play in '14 say -- DAWSON ARMSTRONG: Just making it to match play? You know, I think that's something I did poorly two years ago. I think I went into the tournament prepared, but my level of success was match play. Obviously the level of success has changed over two years having experience in winning, but I could feel myself last night and the night before just telling myself, all right, if we just get to match play, if we just get to match play, but I just kind of stood back and said, let's try to play well and try to win stroke play. It's tough to do, obviously, but you know, you've got to take care of your own business. You can't worry about what other people are doing, because you can finish 60th or 80th, and if you don't make match play, you're out. The goal is just to do as well as you can, and if you finish top three first, that's all you can do. Q. Did you feel this round coming when you were hitting balls or did you start to feel it at a certain point of the round? DAWSON ARMSTRONG: I really didn't feel it much. It was just staying in it. I remember a shot today, I think it's No. 5, the par-5, I went down another fairway, and for some reason I didn't wait on a group, and at this point I wasn't really that much under par. I was like two maybe. I hit this like skull 3-wood through the green. It was like 15 feet away from just killing someone. So at that point, I was like, this is going to be a weird day. So about halfway through the round, going to the back nine, just feeling the game being there, the swing feeling good, good speed on the greens, that really helped a lot. But it was just the constant idea of you can do this, you can do this, just keep on pressing forward, and it's working. Q. Is your caddie your friend? DAWSON ARMSTRONG: He's actually my host this week. Yeah, we showed up, and he said -- he got on the bag, I said, do you want to caddie for me? He said, sure, I don't have anything going on. Yeah, it's a lot of fun. Q. And he's a member here? DAWSON ARMSTRONG: He is. He's given me a lot of good advice. It's awesome. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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