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U.S. AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

August 18, 2016

Brad Dalke

Bloomfield Hills, Michigan

BRAD DALKE: I've gone 18 holes, 18 holes and 19 holes in my three matches, so it's been some grind, so it'll be nice to go to sleep tonight.

Q. Do you feel like that's going to help you in the further rounds? You've never been this far in a USGA championship, you're in the quarterfinals for the first time. What do you take out of this experience?
BRAD DALKE: Yeah, I think it'll definitely help me knowing I've had three matches where I've had to grind it out and earn some wins. Be nice to kind of get one done on 13 or 14 at some point. But I'm still alive. I'm one of the eight left, and can't be frustrated about that. I'm happy about it.

Q. Did Hirsch beat Tommy in an arm wrestling match for the bag today?
BRAD DALKE: No, my brother, he made plans to go to his friend's wedding a long time ago, and we knew he wouldn't be able to -- he'd have to leave Thursday afternoon, so we decided if I made it this far, Hirsch would caddie for me, or if he was still going, I would caddie for him or something like that. Yeah, he did a good job today. He kept me cool out there on the back nine.

Q. What if you guys both made it?
BRAD DALKE: We would have had to figure something out. I might have had to carry my own bag. Yeah, we still have to figure it out. I think we're getting Ãœber or something on the way back because my brother had to leave. Yeah, so he's going to caddie for me as long as I keep going. It'll be fun.

Q. Of all the Junior Amateurs you've played in, does that help you when you get into these tight matches?
BRAD DALKE: I think definitely. Junior Ams, I feel like this week has been kind of different because a lot of the junior Ams, all three of them that I really played, I got to match play. Every time I lost I played pretty well and someone just beat me. I haven't played I would say bad these first three matches, but I haven't played my best. Honestly, luckily I didn't run into anybody that played really well that day, or else there might have been a loss. But I'm not far off. I'm really close to going out here and beating someone 6 & 5 or 5 & 4 if I just kind of keep everything together, avoid the bogeys. I kind of had some bogeys today on both matches. But I think the U.S. Junior definitely helps.

Q. Have you ever played with David Boote before?
BRAD DALKE: Yeah, I actually played with him at the Western a couple weeks ago. It was me, him and Scottie on the 36-hole day. He's a good dude. He's funny. I guess I'm playing him tomorrow, right? Yeah, it'll be fun. He's a good guy.

Q. What's the best part of his game do you think?
BRAD DALKE: That day, just all around. I didn't really notice one great thing or one bad thing. He just had an all-around solid game.

Q. How about this putt here, looked like you made it. Did you think you made it?
BRAD DALKE: I thought I made it for sure. I knew it was a little hard, but I thought it was in about halfway there, and he kind of -- it's a tough putt. I had it in a match this afternoon on the first hole. I kind of had a similar putt. I knew it was tough, and I hit a pretty good putt and he just hit it a little too hard. Yeah, I mean, I thought I made it for sure.

Q. How about the two-putt you made at 16 to give yourself the lead?
BRAD DALKE: Or 17?

Q. 17, sorry.
BRAD DALKE: Yeah, I mean, that was another one of those things. The speed of the greens just got to be slow at the end. I felt like I hit that one pretty far, and it still ended up about six feet short, and I was lucky because I had a birdie putt there in morning match on the same exact line and made it, so I knew the read perfectly. I knew as long as I had a good stroke, I'd be good. It was nice to get the lead going to 18. Kind of lost on 18, but had some comfort room there.

Q. He had a pretty good second shot into 18.
BRAD DALKE: He did. He hit a great shot. I knew when it landed. When it was in the air I thought it might be in the bunker, but as soon as it got over, I knew it was going to be good because of that backstop. I almost hit my drive too good. I think it's 325 to that bunker, and I was only a couple yards short of it, and it kind of nestled up against the first cut and kind of had a weird lie there, but can't do anything about that. I should have gone up there. I should have gotten that two-putt done, but I didn't. Luckily it didn't cost me this time.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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