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U.S. AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

August 18, 2016

Jonah Texeira

Bloomfield Hills, Michigan

JONAH TEXEIRA: Started in the morning, you know, got off to a good start, birdied the first hole, got a quick 1-up. Played against Dawson, who's a really good player. He got second in the stroke-play event. But he's really cool. He's such a great guy. But I just played my game out there. I think I only had like one bogey that round, so I just played pretty consistent, played smart out there, had a good caddie, and got the win against him and just -- afternoon round, it was good again. Again, I got par on the first hole, so I got 1-up, and then September going steady. Any time he got a birdie, I matched him. I was fortunate to keep it going. Every time he would make a mistake I would still just be consistent and not make bogey or anything, and fortunately got a couple of 1-ups in there.

Q. What happened at 6? Was that an eagle or a conceded eagle?
JONAH TEXEIRA: Well, I drove the green, and then he hit it in the thick stuff on the left, and then he punched it over the green and then chipped it to about like 20 feet, and he's like, pick it up.

Q. How far do you think you had?
JONAH TEXEIRA: It was like 15 feet. But I drove -- I actually hit it closer on the first round. I hit it to like eight feet for eagle. That was a pretty good hole for me.

Q. How fresh do you feel?
JONAH TEXEIRA: I'm pretty fresh. Second round was kind of tiring. I took a little nap in there in the locker room for 30 minutes because I was pretty beat. But I just got my mind straight back on it because I knew I had another 18 holes to go. I was glad to pull it off today.

Q. Is there something in particular clicking for you this week where you feel really comfortable?
JONAH TEXEIRA: Yeah, just because I'm in the U.S. Am, the biggest tournament in the country. But today I felt really calm the whole time. I have no idea, just blessing from God maybe. I don't know, I won my first match yesterday. I felt pretty good. And then when I beat Dawson, I was like, man, I think I can keep it going, you know. It was icing on the cake to play against Kyler, who's also a really, really good player. He hits it like a mile. Like he flew my ball by 20 yards every hole today, so that was pretty crazy to watch.

Q. You were an alternate in qualifying. What was your expectation coming here?
JONAH TEXEIRA: Honestly, one of the guys from the SCGA said I have a good feeling you might get in still. Apparently Tim Hogarth pulled out, so I got the call on Tuesday, last Tuesday. They were like, you got in the Amateur, and I was like, no way. But I was still practicing just to make sure. And when I got the call, I was like just jumping for joy, and I just couldn't imagine -- like going to the Am, this is my second year in a row because last year I didn't make match play.

Q. How long was the playoff, because there was a playoff for the first alternate.
JONAH TEXEIRA: I actually played with Guan Tianlang, the guy who played in the Masters. It was like 8:30 at night, you can't even see the golf ball, you've got to hit it up to like an elevated fairway, like right is just trash, like thick stuff, and then left is OB, and I like -- I don't know, I know it was for first alternate, but I was like, I'm not going to get it. So I piped my drive, and he hit it right and kind of struggled, and then he kind of said, just pick it up, it's fine. So I was getting the first alternate.

Q. So it was just a two-man playoff?
JONAH TEXEIRA: It was a two-man playoff at like 8:30 at time.

Q. Do you know Tim Kober (phon)?
JONAH TEXEIRA: I know of him. I've met him a couple times. He's really cool. He killed that TPC because that was my old country club.

Q. Were you anxious to get the call that you had gotten in, or were you just --
JONAH TEXEIRA: I was kind of -- I was most likely disappointed because I've been first, second alternate before and never got the call, and then again, the SCGA guy was like, hey, don't have doubt yet. I really think you could still get in. And then a couple days later I got the call, so I was just pretty stoked about it.

Q. How many USGA events have you been in?
JONAH TEXEIRA: I played U.S. Junior once, and this is my second U.S. Am.

Q. How did you do in the Junior?
JONAH TEXEIRA: I made the match play. This was when Spieth won at Gold Mountain. So I was like 15 when I made it. I played against Scottie Scheffler in the first round, and it went to 21 holes, and he made like a 15-foot par putt to beat me. But still, when I was 15, I was like, I've never experienced such a great run event before. The U.S. Am is like icing on the cake, like 10 times better than the U.S. Junior, especially this year. They're like honestly -- just everything here, all the workers, the rules officials, the buffet upstairs. Apparently my mom said the owner is a woman here, that she knew it was going to be here, and she was planning this for five years. She did an amazing job. I have no complaints. There was nothing wrong with this week.

Q. What year was your first Amateur?
JONAH TEXEIRA: Last year, Olympia Fields.

Q. What were you working on, anything in particular?
JONAH TEXEIRA: Well, I just played nationals, wasn't playing great, got like 70s or something. Then I switched to this coach named Adam Porzak. He's Beau Hossler's coach, and I'll tell you, he's the greatest thing that's happened to me in my career so far. It wasn't even that big, just a little change to the swing, a little tweak at the start, and ever since then I've been hitting it straighter, further, and also his assistant teacher who's a putting guru taught me how to putt, and it's worked out pretty good so far.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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