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NCAA MEN'S GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP

May 29, 2017

Sugar Grove, Illinois

THE MODERATOR: Welcome back to the media room. We'll get started here with the runner-up in the individual competition of stroke play. We are joined by runner-up Mason Overstreet from the University of Arkansas and Coach Brad McMakin from the University of Arkansas. We'll start out with Mason, would you give an opening statement, talk about the last four days, today's round, and just get your thoughts on a great performance here at the national championship.

MASON OVERSTREET: Yeah, it was a really fun week. You know, making it as an individual as a freshman and then having Coach McMakin come with me, it was just a really fun week. It's a long four days to go through, but I played really well this week, and I'm happy to finish runner-up.

THE MODERATOR: Brad, give your thoughts about following Mason around today, some of the play that you saw today and a little bit about what it took for him to get this great achievement.

BRAD MCMAKIN: Well, I am super proud of him just to get here, and then to be able to compete at this high level, you know, each day, and he played well. I think he had four rounds under par this week. Today his 71 was pretty amazing. I think there was only three or four rounds under par, and for him to go out today and be able to compete at that level under that much pressure was very impressive. I thought he handled himself well all week long, but today he was great from start to finish, and I'm really proud of him.

THE MODERATOR: Take us through today's round, maybe an area that you wish you could have done a little better today.

MASON OVERSTREET: I got off to a really good start today. I birdied two of my first three, and I mean, I was a little nervous all day, I'm not going to lie. It was a pretty big moment. But I mean, I struggled a little bit in the middle. I hit a bad tee shot on 9 in the bunker, and then on 16 I hit a tree, somehow it kicked back into the rough, but just made a couple too many bogeys, but the birdie on 18 was nice.

Q. Would you talk about the conditions and just the difficulty of the wind today?
MASON OVERSTREET: Yeah, the first two days the wind didn't blow, but the course was still pretty tough. But today we stepped up onto the range and you could just -- you could feel it from the first tee right into the wind. It played a big factor today. Like Coach said, there was only three rounds under par, so it was pretty tough today, yeah.

Q. How did you start to settle your mind, having such a difficult start in those conditions?
MASON OVERSTREET: Well, I grew up in Oklahoma, so I'm used to the wind, but the par-5 downwind, the second hole helped, then I hit a good shot in there on the third and made a good putt there.

THE MODERATOR: Mason, talk about how stout this performance was and how it can further your career down the line being in contention today.

MASON OVERSTREET: Yeah, this was my best finish of the year, second, and I mean, I struggled a little bit at the start of the semester, but it's been a journey all year, and I'm looking forward to next year and seeing how much better I can get.

Q. Coach, if you would, talk a little bit about that same question of how this kind of performance from Mason today can help him going down the line, especially next season.
BRAD MCMAKIN: I think it's going to go a long way. Any time you perform at that high level in a competition with this many good players, the confidence will be good. The experience from him being here will long carry him to greater heights in the future, but for him to come out and compete this way and learn what it takes in that kind of extreme heat, I think Mason said yesterday in the car, he goes, The more and more I'm in this position, I'll handle it better and I'll be able to win. I think today he did a great job, and Braden just played better. He's had a great four days of golf, but I think it's going to go a long way for Mason in the future.

Q. Brad, I believe when you were recruiting Mason, the first three tournaments you saw him play, he won all three of those, right?
BRAD MCMAKIN: He did.

Q. What did you see from him back then, three, three and a half years ago now?
BRAD MCMAKIN: Right, the first time I saw him play, he birdied the first five holes, and I texted my assistant and I said, we've got to figure out how to get this kid. He was pretty special. I got to watch him play a lot being from Oklahoma. It's not a very far drive in Arkansas, spent a lot of time with him. He just had -- his demeanor is of a TOUR player. He never gets up, never gets down. I remember we played in Alabama this year, he started off and he was playing great, made a triple bogey with a pitching wedge on a hole, and he could tell I was frustrated, and he goes, Coach, it's going to be okay, I'm just learning. And then he came back with 66 that afternoon.

Just his attitude from practice to the way he handles his schoolwork, he's a 4.0 student, to the way he handles himself on the golf course is just a total professional.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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