U.S. AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

August 23, 2001

Kris Mikkelsen

KRIS MIKKELSEN: No problem.

KRIS MIKKELSEN: Well, I started out -- I thought a little bit about the fact that he was defending champion, but didn't worry about that too much. I was just trying my best to concentrate one shot at a time on what I was doing. And I got off to a little shaky start. Maybe some nerves after such a tough match with John this morning. But after that I felt like I settled down. I just couldn't really get any putts to fall in the middle of the round. I finally got started to get them to fall down on the back nine, but it was just a little too much Jeff at the end.

KRIS MIKKELSEN: Actually, 6 through 9 -- 6, 7, 8, 9, I had all good looks and hit good putts. Hit a really good putt on 9 that I thought I made. I finally got a couple nice ones to fall on 10 and 11. And that's just the ebb and flow of match play. Sometimes in stroke play that's not going to hurt you so much because sooner or later they're going to start falling. But as you wear more and more into the round of golf, and in my case I was still one down, it makes it that much harder to come back. If those would have fallen a little earlier, maybe I could have gotten a couple up and the momentum would have changed hands and it might have been a little bit easier for me to come through in the end.

KRIS MIKKELSEN: I did. I was feeling really good there. I played very well against John this morning. That's just a hard hole. I pulled my tee shot a little bit. Jeff, all the credit goes to him. He stepped up and hit a great shot there on 18. I went and told him. I said, That's a good shot there, back there from the tee. And he said, Yeah, you know, I don't want it again. And that was a really good shot that he hit. I thought he had a chance standing on the 18th tee for sure.

KRIS MIKKELSEN: Well, he's definitely got more experience to draw on. I know that his match with James last year went 38 holes with the championship on the line. So maybe he had a little bit more experience to draw on than me. But when you're out there kind of in the heat of battle I don't think he was thinking about the fact that he was defending champion. I think he was just trying to do the same thing I was: just hit one shot at a time.

KRIS MIKKELSEN: 16, I never really hit a good tee shot there all week, thinking back on it now. He made a great putt on 15 to go, I guess, back to 1-up. And he put the pressure on me, hitting a good 3-wood there in the middle of the fairway. And I felt relaxed. I was ready to hit it. But I just got a little bit off and hit the ball a little left into the rough. That's just how it goes sometimes, I guess.

KRIS MIKKELSEN: 6 and 7 were probably about 12 feet. 8 was probably about 9 or 10 feet. And 9 was probably about 12 feet again.

KRIS MIKKELSEN: I stuck with the driver pretty much all day. Hit the driver very well this morning against John. I just figured, if you're going to hit it in the rough you might as well be on down there. There might have been some situations where 3-wood might have came into my mind, but I felt comfortable with the driver. And I just kept hitting it.

KRIS MIKKELSEN: If I had it to do over again, no. Because that's the way I played the hole all week and I was sticking to it. Some people might say, Since he put that ball in the fairway, maybe hit a 2-iron, something down there. But for me, hitting 3-wood just makes that fairway even more narrow because it takes out the possibility of carrying that bunker. So, no.

KRIS MIKKELSEN: No. The caddy did a great job.

KRIS MIKKELSEN: Well, you know, Jeff's a great player. And you don't win U.S. Amateurs without being a great player. And with any good player, you have to think like that. This morning, with John, I knew that I was going to have to make birdies to win holes. And if I made a bogey I was going to lose the hole. That's just the way you have to think whenever you're playing a good player like John or Jeff.

KRIS MIKKELSEN: Well golf's all about being comfortable. The more times you get your self in a situation like I was in today, coming down the stretch, playing a good player, with something on the line, you're going to learn from that, whether it's match play or stroke play. So I think I'll definitely learn from today and I'll benefit from this golf tournament. Obviously, I would have liked to have played a little bit further on into the tournament. I think that, yeah, the preparation part for turning pro, this is definitely a good experience. Even though it's match play and you don't really play a whole lot of match play in professional golf, the experience of how to handle yourself is valuable.

KRIS MIKKELSEN: We were right on the same line and I knew that I needed to make mine. Because I knew I was going to give him a pretty good read. And I had a -- that similar putt three times this week. And I think I missed it on the low side every single time. Because from behind the hole, it just doesn't look like it wants to turn that much. And, again, I felt like I hit a good putt there, ended up giving him a read and he -- I mean, all the credit goes to him. He made a 20-footer with the match on the line.

KRIS MIKKELSEN: If his was 20 feet, mine was 21 feet.

KRIS MIKKELSEN: Yes.

KRIS MIKKELSEN: It was hard. It took me awhile to get settled down this morning -- or this afternoon, excuse me -- just because this morning was such a big match for me, just being that John's such a good player. And, I mean, I wanted to play well so bad this morning. And I did. And starting out the first few holes in the afternoon, it was kind of -- I had to get myself refocused and say the day isn't over. Let's keep playing golf. There's more matches to play, there's more holes to play. And not let up.

KRIS MIKKELSEN: He birdied one and then he made about a 12-footer downhill slider on 2 for par, which was huge. Made a great up-and-down on three. So he's 1-under so far. He bogeys four. And I pick up a shot on him there. And then he chips in on 5. So I don't know how much he was really struggling.

KRIS MIKKELSEN: He was hitting it off target with you, but he was getting the ball in the hole, which is what it's all about. So the putt he made on 2 and the chip in on 5 were pretty big momentum boosters for him. And then the great sand shot he hit on 3, also.

KRIS MIKKELSEN: You try your best just to assume that they're going to make the shot that they have got. And I did a pretty good job of it there. I kind of -- after he made that putt on 2, I was like, Well, you know what, I'm just going to try really hard to assume he's going to make everything for the rest of the day, so I don't get caught off guard. And I was prepared for him when he chipped that ball in. I'm a little disappointed that my 3-footer up the hill is to halve the hole, not to win the hole. But I didn't let it stick with me for too long.

KRIS MIKKELSEN: You know having Bryce and Matt play at Tech has been great. Not only are they good players, but they're extraordinary individuals. I'm not really out to seek a bunch of headlines. I just want to, along with Troy Madison and Matt and Adam, I want to try and help develop our three younger players that we have coming in this year. We're going to need to have them hit the ground running. And they're all good kids. Hopefully, I've listened to Coach Heppler a little bit and I'm starting to make the right decisions and everything. And, hopefully, I can be a good role model for our freshmen coming in.

KRIS MIKKELSEN: It was fun, actually. I turned to Jeff's caddy on 17 and I said, This is fun, isn't it. And this week was a great week. I only played bad one day and that was the first day of stroke play. I played well against Jeff even in a loss. It was fun. I just wish I could have stuck around a little longer and let the hometown crowd see a little bit more of a local boy, I guess. I guess it wasn't meant to be, and that's all right.

KRIS MIKKELSEN: No problem.