U.S. AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

August 22, 2001

Kris Mikkelsen

KRIS MIKKELSEN: It's fun. It's fun. I had a couple of friends from my childhood come out walk along with me today. So that was pretty neat. Guys that I played golf with since I was eight years old I think they got a kick out of watching me play.

KRIS MIKKELSEN: Actually, since I live about 35 minutes away from the Tech campus we rent a house. Four guys on the golf team have a house. We live there so I'm stage there. About 10 minutes from East Lake, not bad.

KRIS MIKKELSEN: I played very, very well. Only missed one fair way. That was the last hole. And actually I take that back, I missed two fairways and two greens. But other than that, I didn't make any bogeys. Felt like I was really under control with my game kept the ball below the hole when I needed to. It was a good day.

KRIS MIKKELSEN: Right.

KRIS MIKKELSEN: You try your absolute hardest to not think ahead of your self. I've played a couple of /SU /TKPWA tournaments before, and I remember the first time I was playing the public links I walked up on a tee before my first match and I started thinking about how great it would be to play at Augusta National and I was thinking six matches ahead of myself. So I learned my lessons. You just have to do your absolute best to keep not even one hole at a time, one shot at a time. That's what I'm trying to keep doing. Hopefully I won't get ahead of myself.

KRIS MIKKELSEN: The plan this week is to not look at a bracket. To not look at a scoreboard. See how anyone has done. I'm just going to get mighty time and show up and just head down the first fair way and go from there. Try my best.

KRIS MIKKELSEN: Oh, I will be keeping track of my teammate, Nick Thompson. I will be keeping track of him. He all right today. Beat a former U.S. junior champion.

KRIS MIKKELSEN: No, no. My brother is on the bag for the week. He's got the job. So that job is taken. And I'm not about to carry a freshman's bag. Come on. I'm a senior.

KRIS MIKKELSEN: Just keep working on the things I've been working on. So much of golf is just having a good, being in a good rhythm and when you get into a big tournament like this, sometimes that's the first thing to go. You get a little keyed up. I'm going to try my best to just keep working on having a good rhythm. I played really well for the past two days. And I'm just trying to keep it going.

KRIS MIKKELSEN: Right.

KRIS MIKKELSEN: The golf course? Same golf course it is a little bit quicker. A little quicker. It's a little deeper. Not a little deeper, a lot deeper rough. The greens are just, this afternoon Daniel, my brother, made a point of me, I had a chip on the last hole and I chipped and the ball ran out about eight or nine feet past the hole and I had to make that coming back for par. And I kind of looked at him funny and I said that really ran out. And as the day goes on, and as the week goes on these greens are going to continue to get harder and faster and that's the main difference between the golf course that I usually play and this golf course right now.

KRIS MIKKELSEN: No, he's not. I'm definitely on the receiving end of most of the advice. But he's been doing a great job this week. Whenever he feels like I'm about to hit a really important shot in the round he'll tell me just good rhythm. Keep that grip pressure light. Just the little things that we have been working on. He's been doing a great job. I'm reading my own putts this week because sometimes I think the worst thing you can do is have two different opinions on a putt. I'm going to read them myself this week and we talked about that. And we decided that would be the best thing to do. We work really well together. This is probably the 7th or 8th time he's caddied for me. He caddied for me at the western junior when it was played here four or five years ago I think we do well.

KRIS MIKKELSEN: Nick won. He beat me in the quarter finals.

KRIS MIKKELSEN: That's tough to say. That really is. The great thing about East Lake is there's no weak holes. Every hole is a good hole. I wouldn't really say I have a favorite hole. I just really enjoy every hole. I would say for some reason that I when I step up to the seventh tee I've hit a good drive there the past couple days and so maybe the 7th tee shot is the shot that I like the most.

KRIS MIKKELSEN: I didn't. I knew he was from England. Just had never met him. Today was the first day I met him, so. He was a super nice guy. We talked and had a little bit of camaraderie out there. And he's been in Sea Island for the past couple months. So I gave him a hard time about that because that's a pretty place to spend a couple months. I kind of envy him a little bit.

KRIS MIKKELSEN: Well, the plan right now is to turn pro after I graduate from college. Being in the Walker Cup is two years down the road.

KRIS MIKKELSEN: Certainly if I play my way into position to where I think I would be a pick, then I would remain Amateur. Because that is -- that's pretty much the greatest thing you can do in amateur golf is to represent your country in the Walker Cup. And it's just so competitive. There's so many good players out there. You have to play really well to be selected and you have to play, for the most part, really well in some USGA events too. So if I were to play my way around to making it a real possibility, then I might consider that. But that's a long way down the road.

KRIS MIKKELSEN: Could I root for a dog in the finals? Is that the question?

KRIS MIKKELSEN: Sure. I could. The great thing about rivalries is that you try beat each other's brains out on the golf course, but when you get off the golf course you're friends. And I would try not to have any enemies out here, I don't think I do.

KRIS MIKKELSEN: So I would like to keep it that way.