U.S. AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

August 23, 1996

Steve Scott

STEVE SCOTT: Yeah, Rob and I play a lot during school, obviously, and know each other's game really well. It's going to be a real good match tomorrow.

STEVE SCOTT: Well, I was ahead by 2 going into 13. And I thought since his drive, he couldn't reach the green in 13, and I kind of went for the pin and pulled it a little, went over the green. He hit a good pitch out and made the putt and that kind of turned things around a little. He started getting a little momentum. And then he eagled No. 14, after I just made birdie.

STEVE SCOTT: He made about a 12, 15-footer or something. He had a real good shot in there. And then we halved 15. And then he won 16. He made about a 20-footer there. So I was thinking, oh, no, I've got one down with two to play. This isn't fun. I've lost to this guy already. And then I drove right into a divot in 17 and he hit a poor approach shot, short right of the green. I hit a pretty good shot out of the divot, a little knock down 9-iron that hit right near the hole and jumped about 15, 20 feet past the hole. And I had to putt over a little ridge. And I saw it was pretty straight. It wasn't breaking a lot. I thought if I hit a good putt I could make it and it went in. So that shifted the momentum back towards me. And then 18, I put the pressure on him with a good drive down the middle. And he blocked his a little right in the rough. He couldn't get over the hazard. So he had to lay up and I hit one of the better 3-woods or the best 3-woods I've hit in a long time, in that situation. It just kicked left and went down to the collection area. I had about 265. I ripped it. I hit it dead solid. I had a tough chip, actually, but when I saw him hit up short, about 25 feet short and checked up, I kind of knew to play smart.

STEVE SCOTT: I thought if I could just get up there and at least make him make that putt, and not make 6 or something, like chile dipped it and drop it in the collection area. I played smart, played left of that slope and hit it up there on the green and he missed and I lagged down there very gingerly.

STEVE SCOTT: I didn't notice anything. Somebody said somebody. Yelled his name. I wish that didn't happen, but it I don't know how much it really affected his shot. He couldn't advance it really far, anyway, out of that lie. So I don't know.

STEVE SCOTT: It was pretty similar. Although the only thing that was different during this match was we didn't go extra holes. He was up one after 16 as I was last year. And I won 17 today as he won 17 last year. And then I won 18, also to win one up, and we ended up going extra holes there. That kind of made me a little upset, but I took it to The Masters and everything. But that's all right. I think I'm a year wiser and a year more mature after last year. Everything went by really fast last year.

STEVE SCOTT: I know. I was making my reservations almost. I thought, shoot, lights out. And I came out and something just clicked on the range and I only hit balls for about 10 minutes, maybe not even that, I don't know. I didn't hit balls very long. It just clicked. I said, shoot, I'm going to go out and play and started off solid, and shot 66. So that was a pretty cool feeling.

STEVE SCOTT: Who wouldn't? Come on. I was probably 250th place out of 312 people. It was pretty rough. I was down on myself. I made a double on 5 and a triple on 6 and didn't really come back after that, in that first round. But I don't know, I just told myself not to give up and I didn't, and it's worked out real well.

STEVE SCOTT: I don't give up, period, ever. But that's my mentality. I never give up, never give in, especially in match play, because you never know what can happen. It's so unpredictable.

STEVE SCOTT: You can't. Because exactly what happened, happened. And you've got to think that way. You've got to think it's going to happen. And the pressure is on him. He's ahead and he might want to protect. And I just fired at the pins and luckily I was swinging well, so I didn't have to worry about pulling or pushing the ball. I just saw my target and hit right at it.

STEVE SCOTT: I think it ought to. Last year we saw two mid-amateurs make it to the semifinals. It does, because obviously this is the future of the PGA TOUR, really. We're all hoping to get there and most of us will. And I think it does say a lot for college, because there are a lot of strong players out there. A lot of great golfers. Not to put down any of the mid-amateurs, but there are a lot of great college golfers out there.

STEVE SCOTT: Yeah. Well, no. (Laughter.)

STEVE SCOTT: It depends. One day I shot a 63 on him or something and then I beat him there. It varies.

STEVE SCOTT: He's a great player. He gets hot. He's tough to beat. He's very tough to beat. When he gets rolling with his putter. I played him at the Dixie Amateur down where I live in Fort Lauderdale. He started off, birdied the first four holes, a 40 yard sand shot, he starts off pretty hot and it wears on you a little, when he keeps walking those putts in the hole. You try --

STEVE SCOTT: Yeah, that was a match play.

STEVE SCOTT: It was different because I'm so used to playing with him -- not really playing against him. He was on my team.

STEVE SCOTT: Yes.

STEVE SCOTT: We went to 20 holes. I was 3 down with five to go, and won 14, 16 and 18 and tied 19 and he made about a 12 footer for birdie after I left mine right on the lip on the 20th hole.

STEVE SCOTT: Dixie Amateur.

STEVE SCOTT: Fort Lauderdale at Bonaventure Resort and Spa.

STEVE SCOTT: Now? Well, this year, as I said before, that this year things aren't going by as fast. Last year I was just happy to make the top 64 and this year I'm looking to win. And when you're thinking you want to win you have a lot more to accomplish. My feeling is it's great that I got this far, yes, but I shouldn't be really happy because I have a lot more to accomplish and I want to go on and take this all the way to the end. And I don't want to stop at the semifinals like I did last year. I was very nervous last year and I hit a lot of crazy shots, and just didn't play smart. I didn't play my game. And I'm more in control this year with my ball-striking and my -- just playing a smart game. I've been in a lot of pressure situations and I made the Open. The Open helped build my confidence. And this last year has been pretty big.

STEVE SCOTT: It is big, because in junior competitions, there's only a handful of players that can win. And amateur competition there's -- say there's maybe 10 in junior, there's 25 or 30 that could actually win if they get going pretty good. And it's just a lot more depth. That's the key. That's the big factor.