U.S. AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

August 20, 1996

Steve Scott

STEVE SCOTT: I don't know. I got to the range today and I was hitting the ball pretty well. I just went through the routine, hit a few balls and I thought I was hitting it pretty well. And I said I might as well go out and try to play as well as I can. And started off pretty solid. I hit, I can't tell you how many greens I hit, but I was hitting the greens and giving myself good opportunities to run along the lip the first few holes. Five was a pretty good turning point because it was a long par 3. I hit a real good 2-iron in there to about 8 feet and curled the putt in for a birdie. And I figured I could pick up a shot that hole, because it's such a tough hole. And then 6, I caught a little flier. Actually 6 was a pretty big par round, too. Not a flier, but the ball jumped out of the fairway, and I hit a 9-iron 150 yards, and I only hit it about 140, and it flew just over the green, I was on the upslope and the pin was straight downhill to the pin and that's where they resodded part of the green right there, it was real soft. And the wind was a little into me. I thought it would be par for a flop shot and I took my lob wedge and hit it way up in the air and stopped dead about a foot. I kind of kept the round going. I birdied No. 7 after hitting from a divot in the fairway. And then 8 a 2-putted. 9 I hit a driver 6-iron to to make a birdie. And I turned to 3-under. I knew at the beginning of the day I needed at least 3-under, probably 4 to be definite. And then I turned and I made birdie on 10. I hit it up to about a foot out of the bunker. And then I made another on 12, another 8 footer on 12 for a birdie. I pretty much coasted the way in. I missed one green coming down the stretch and that was about it. I just played steady.

STEVE SCOTT: Well, both. Because last year I kind of did a flip-flop of this. Played well in the first round, I was in the lead, and I stumbled to a 77 and barely made the cut. I kind of went into match play a little on the, not nervous, but uneasy side, because I didn't play well the day before and I didn't play well under pressure. Yesterday it was pretty much chop suey. I played pretty pitifully. And I was pretty disappointed. I knew today I had to shoot a good round and came out and did the opposite of what I did last year.

STEVE SCOTT: Yeah. I'm going to try. You've got to take one match at a time and one hole at a time and you can't be looking ahead. It's easy to say a trip to The Masters and make the finals and this and what. You just have to play one match at a time. And you just play as well as you can and hope you can beat your opponent. Because sometimes you're going to get a real hot opponent. You could be playing three or four under and they could shoot six or seven under and beat you. Or vice-versa, you could be a few over par and they not be playing as well, and you still beat them. Match play is pretty interesting.

STEVE SCOTT: That would give anybody confidence. That gave me a big boost to kind of see how the pros play the game. It gave me an idea of what I'm going to need to do to step my game up a level. It was a big boost to my confidence, definitely. The greens on this side are a little slower than the course we're going to be playing, so that helped me make a few putts, because yesterday I was a little shaky on the greens. I couldn't get the speed down, so to play well in match play you have to have a hot putter, and last year I made a lot of putts to have holes and tie it and win holes. That keeps your confidence going. And it just wears down your opponent. If you can keep making those 8-footers every time, it kills your opponent's confidence.

STEVE SCOTT: She's right behind you there. I couldn't leave home without her. It's like the American Express card. She helps me a lot. She keeps me calm and she's just out there. If she doesn't say anything, I know she's there just to keep me at a nice even keel, so to speak.

STEVE SCOTT: At Newport.

STEVE SCOTT: Well, in the second round after 9 holes I played the back nine first and I turned, I was like two under for the tournament. And I made a mistake by looking at the score board. Because sometimes when I look at the score board you kind of protect or you kind of guard against not messing up. And I ended up messing up. I shot a 41. Shot 6 over on the back and made an 8-footer the last hole to miss the playoff by one. I looked at the score board and got a little nervous. And the conditions weren't easy, because the greens were getting hard and crusty, and it was hard to make putts. It was a hard combination.

STEVE SCOTT: I haven't done a whole lot since the Open. I played at the Northeast Am, and I threw away there. I bogeyed my last four holes that I shot. That kind of hurt. I finished ^ return up there. Then I played the Western. It was my first time up there. I made the first cut but I missed the top 16 by three, I think. I didn't play very well, though. I wasn't hitting the ball or putting particularly well. So I couldn't be real disappointed.

STEVE SCOTT: You've got to get used to it. It's like any course. I've played out here before. Luckily we played in a college tournament last fall, so I got an idea what the course was like. That helps.

STEVE SCOTT: I don't know. It's pretty difficult. I mean you've got to get in that situation enough times. It's just pressure. It's a lot of pressure and I basically folded. There's nothing else I can say.

STEVE SCOTT: I hope not. I'm not going to let myself.