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U.S. SENIOR AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

September 21, 2016

Kevin Cahill

St. Louis, Missouri

Q. You said it's been a weird week all week. Tell me why you say that.
KEVIN CAHILL: I was playing pretty good coming into it, hitting it pretty good like the first practice round I hit it really good. First round I shoot 1-over with six birdies. I had a triple and a double. And then I just, what I have been working on in my golf swing, I think I over exaggerating and overcompensating and just started getting in some bad positions and I just hit it -- I didn't know where it was going, it felt so much like a guessing game.

And then yesterday I actually sort of found something and hit it basically hit it pretty good. Then I tried carrying it over into today and every once in a while I would like go low left. Low left or up, you know, just --

Q. Just with the driver?
KEVIN CAHILL: Well, yeah, the strength of my game is basically driving the ball straight and, man, that wasn't there. You saw the last two holes.

Q. Did you have a lead through 5 you're one up through 5?
KEVIN CAHILL: The final match today?

Q. Yeah.
KEVIN CAHILL: I feel like I got a little bad break on 5. He was way left and I just told my caddie, I'm just going to aim center of the green. And it landed pin high and that green was harder. That green was way firmer than the other greens. You got out there and you could feel it. No big ball mark, you know, and it could have been -- I couldn't hit two shots better.

I got fooled on 6. We both were on the green, I was a little out or I was just off the green putting, but my caddie who has caddied here forever, he got fooled by it. He thought it was uphill left-to-right and it went that way. It went like that way off this mound over here to the right of the pin. But yeah, those two holes. He gave me, you know, he missed two really short putts. The one he missed on 7, I mean that was really short. And then after seeing that then I had to make him putt. And it was like an ax fight after about 6.

I had a pretty good rhythm through the first 5 holes, just feeling in control of my golf swing, and where I wanted the golf ball to go. That was the thing, I just never felt good about my golf swing this week. Never.

Q. And you lost it on 14 with that tee ball into the water.
KEVIN CAHILL: Yeah, I mean that was just, well, actually I got ahead after 15 though. No, I tied it on 15.

Q. You were 1-up on 16 and 17?
KEVIN CAHILL: I was 1-up on -- oh, yeah, I thought I made my birdie on 16. That would have put me 1-up. And then I won the next hole. That would have been the match. All I had to do on 18 was hit it in the fairway. I mean, I had opportunities to win, I'm sure he thinks missing a couple of really short putts, stuff that he would think he should do. So that all kind of all works out.

Q. Overall, you surpassed your goal coming into this tournament or no?
KEVIN CAHILL: No. Last year I lost in the quarter finals, I played Steve Liebler. I played okay, he played really well, he made a bunch of birdies. So it was nice to get a little, get a, whatever, another crack at him.

And then yeah, I just, I just wish I would have been swinging better. I was just struggling with my golf swing. That's the disappointing part.

Q. How has your season been up to this point?
KEVIN CAHILL: Back home? Kind of average. Nothing great. They have some tournaments where, I have some rounds where I kind of like how I shoot 72 with six birdies. One of them was I tried back handing a putt from like this far with my curved back putter and I almost hit my toe and went sideways. And that was for six and I was like, oh, there's a seven. So I'll get good play and bad swings.

Q. How did you feel physically this afternoon with all this golf you played?
KEVIN CAHILL: It wasn't like I didn't feel like I couldn't play. I mean, yeah, there was no issues with that. But obviously it's disappointing when you have a 1-up lead going into the last hole. All I had to do was just hit the fairway. Just hit the fairway. I just didn't drive it well on that hole. I think maybe I hit that fairway twice in all the rounds. I just kept hitting it left. The guy that, the official down there said my drive, I thought, because it was trying to draw on 18, and the guy said, it took a big huge right kick, took a horrible bounce. I thought I was going to be where he ended up. But obviously not.

Q. Had you ever played him before in a match anywhere?
KEVIN CAHILL: No. Talk about a lot of golf, there's that State Team event that's in Birmingham, I'm going to that on Sunday. So it's like I got to go work, I got to get back to my office tomorrow.

Q. What do you do for a living?
KEVIN CAHILL: I'm a financial adviser with Wells Fargo. Today is Wednesday, right?

Q. Thursday the 22nd is tomorrow.
KEVIN CAHILL: I'll be humping it Thursday and Friday. I might have to work Saturday. I have to leave on Sunday again. So, yeah, I thought I had a pretty good chance to win the tournament, just because I didn't, I mean I played good against Steve Liebler. I hit it good against him. And so I thought I found something and the same swing thoughts I had against him I had earlier in the year when I had a couple good tournaments back home. I had basically the same swing thoughts. But swing thoughts are like, they're like fruits and vegetables, they have a shelf life. It's like they're good for a while and then it's like they don't work anymore. So you got to find something else to make it work. And I was just struggling on the range. That's why I said I was surprised I got this far. I mean, I chipped and putted really good on Sunday. I was just hacking it around.

And then the second match I won was an ax fight. I hit it bad there.

Then this morning's match there were moments where it was like, where is this going. So I wasn't like real confident and didn't feel good. I didn't have a lot of rhythm.

Q. Was there any, in this last match, was there any tennis analogy, you would use to describe it?
KEVIN CAHILL: Match play is very much like tennis. Golf's similar. You're on your own, you have ebb and flow. You just lose a hole in tennis you can just have a bad game and you can just lose the game or you can lose a set and you can still come back. Where you can't do that in medal play. You know have you a bad hole it's like you're done. You can be.

Q. There's a big tournament coming up next year in your state, the U.S. Open. Are you familiar with that course?
KEVIN CAHILL: Yeah I played it a bunch. Our state amateur was there last year. I played it two weeks ago, actually.

Q. How did you do in the state amateur there?
KEVIN CAHILL: I finished like 12th. The young guns can, young kids, college kids play, and they can just bomb it, so it's a big bomber's golf course -- I shouldn't say really a bomber's golf course -- I actually should have finished higher, but it would have been tough for me to win there. I was hitting it good then. I hit it good that tournament and I really hit it good.

Q. For people who haven't seen that course, how would you describe it?
KEVIN CAHILL: It looks big and wide open, but you got to hit it straight. You got to hit it straight. There's no trees, but there's lots of fescue and there's bunkers, so, yeah, you have to control your golf ball. I think that the players will like it. What do I know? I'm not a pro golfer, but it's not a course you play on the ground by any means, you got to hit the ball up in the air. But I think the pros will like it. It's real pretty. It's very pretty.

Q. So you live close by it?
KEVIN CAHILL: 30, 35 minutes. I think it's a huge venue. I mean it's a huge, huge guy and the corporate tent city. If they can host the PGA at Whistling Straits which is in the middle of nowhere, really, they can host the U.S. Open there.

Q. I know this is fresh in your mind, obviously, but given some time will you look back at this as a successful week or a disappointing still that you lost?
KEVIN CAHILL: Basically successful.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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