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U.S. SENIOR AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

September 21, 2016

Matthew Sughrue

St. Louis, Missouri

MATTHEW SUGHRUE: When he was 1-down on 12, I don't know if you heard about this, but he pitched it in from short of the green for eagle. And I had a birdie putt for eagle. So I ended up losing the hole.

So he came back, and then I birdied 13 to go back 1-up and then I -- actually, I may have that mixed up. But anyway, the point is, is that Doug is a great player and it was a great match and it could have gone either way. I birdied 16 and that was huge. That was huge.

Q. Then 17, he nearly hits a bomb to win the hole on you and you have like maybe six feet and you burn the right edge. How do you stay focused after you come that close to taking him out right there?
MATTHEW SUGHRUE: Well, I wanted that really badly, but I told myself after that I had more golf to play and I just had to stay focused and try to get it in the fairway off 18. It would have been a nice way to finish on 17, but it wasn't meant to be.

Q. You still following your own lessons to keep stay in a good mental place? Do you think that helps you in an event like this?
MATTHEW SUGHRUE: Yeah, you have to be your best friend out here. There's so many up-and-downs emotionally in these kind of matches especially when they mean more and more and more as you go along. It's a grind. It's a mental grind. So, fortunately I got Pat there to bounce some things off again, off of him, and we're working well together and I'm just really proud of the fact that I could make that 5-footer on the last hole to win it.

Q. What was your original putt? How far away were you? What was your read on it on 18 here?
MATTHEW SUGHRUE: I read six feet, I should have played 10. I mean it was -- I never dreamed it could break that much. It was a very, very challenging putt. And I think that the good thing was is that my next putt was straight. It was an easy read, all I had to do was hit a solid putt and I would make it. And I felt good with the putter and I knocked it in.

Q. Is that your son caddieing for you?
MATTHEW SUGHRUE: No, it's not. Pat is a PGA pro and he's director of instruction at Bethesda Country Club where I belong. He helps me with parts of my game, as does Bobby Dolan from Columbia Country Club.

Q. Has he caddied for you before in USGA events?
MATTHEW SUGHRUE: He has, he's gone to several of these USGA events with me. He was with me at the Mid-Am last week, at the Mid-Am at Johns Island last year and at Senior Open in 2013.

Q. What does he do? He works with the women's golf team at Maryland?
MATTHEW SUGHRUE: He is a volunteer coach for the women's team.

Q. Talk about the course. Is it starting to play harder as you move along in match play here?
MATTHEW SUGHRUE: When you add the wind, it adds a little bit of difficulty, more difficulty to it. But it's very challenging. The greens are starting to get quicker, especially down grain, downwind downhill. It's a totally different experience going the opposite direction. So, these are big greens and you're going to have some long putts. And you got to be able to do really well with your lag putting.

Q. Now getting to the semi-finals, have you gotten to the semi's in a USGA event before?
MATTHEW SUGHRUE: Never.

Q. So talk about that experience. How does that feel?
MATTHEW SUGHRUE: Well, I don't really know. Like I said yesterday, I kind of see this as I got to knock them down one at a time. So, I'm going to try to just make this one more match, try to play my game and hopefully it will be good enough.

Q. You keep getting better exemptions as you go down the line. You're now exempt into this for the next two years, you don't have to qualify. Most people like it when I tell them those things.
MATTHEW SUGHRUE: I do.

Q. So that's --
MATTHEW SUGHRUE: I don't like Q-School.

Q. So you'll be at the next two. You don't have to qualify.
MATTHEW SUGHRUE: That's wonderful. Believe me, getting to here is so difficult. I don't know if you heard about how I got here, but I had to go into a playoff. And it looked hopeless.

Q. Tell me about it.
MATTHEW SUGHRUE: Well, I had to make a 6-footer for birdie on the 18th hole to get into the playoff. And then I made a 16-footer to stay in the playoff on the first extra hole. And then made a 35-footer for a par on the second extra hole and when it looked like the guy who had a relatively short putt for par was going to win and he missed. So I make the 30-footer and he misses the 4-footer. And I win. And he was shocked and he's a friend and his name is John Housen and he is a great player and I know how much it hurt, because I've been there. But maybe John will get some solace in knowing that I made good use of this bid to in the Senior Amateur.

Q. You plan to, I know you talk about the Senior British a couple years ago, you went for the win and you said that you don't regret that decision at all. If you're in the same situation in the next two days here will you play it the same way or does it just kind of depend?
MATTHEW SUGHRUE: We'll just have to see. We'll just have to see. I just don't know until I get there. I'm trying to stay, I hate to say this, but I'm trying to stay in the moment and I feel really good about what happened today and I just hope my game stays with me and gets maybe even a little bit better this afternoon.

Q. What sectional qualifier did you do again? What site?
MATTHEW SUGHRUE: Prospect Bay Country Club in Grasonville, Maryland.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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