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U.S. AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIPAugust 18, 2017Mark Lawrence, Jr.Pacific Palisades, California THE MODERATOR: We have got Mark Lawrence, our second U.S. Amateur semifinalists with us. Victory today. How does that sound when your name is associated with U.S. Amateur semifinalist? MARK LAWRENCE JR: It's very exciting. A lot of hard work. Just feels great to get this far. Looking forward to tomorrow. THE MODERATOR: Questions. Q. So through the first nine holes or so you guys were all square, weren't you, and then you won three in a row? Is that what it was? I mean, seemed like one of those matches that nobody was taking control. What happened in the first stretch where you were tied? Did either of you give away holes? I didn't get a chance to see the match. MARK LAWRENCE JR.: I wouldn't say anybody gave away holes in the beginning. It was playing tough. The first five, six holes on this golf course with the wind are very difficult holes. You're trying to make birdie but you're accepting pars because you know par is a really good score on some of those holes. Made the turn, and then I made a nice par on 10 and birdied 11 and 12; 12 is always a great birdie, so that helps. Q. In your mind, if you tried to come up with one word to describe your match today, what would it be? MARK LAWRENCE JR.: A grind. Q. You won three holes in a row; had to be probably the critical stretch for you. What did you do right, or was it just he didn't do things right? Did you win those holes outright? MARK LAWRENCE JR.: Well, on 10 I hit a bad tee shot short right of that bunker. With where the flag was today, I knew there was pretty much no way I could get the ball on the green from there. I played it front left just short of the green and pitched it to about a foot and got a par. He was behind the back bunker in the rough and ended up making a bogey. That was kind of a momentum turner right there. And then on 11 I hit my tee shot a little left and then got a 5-iron front of the green and ended up making birdies, and then made a long putt on 112. Kind of helped turn things. Q. How long was the putt on 12? MARK LAWRENCE JR.: 25 feet maybe. Q. As you made your way through stroke play, were you feeling something in your game that has gotten you to this point? Do you feel like something good is happening here? MARK LAWRENCE JR.: Yeah, so pretty much since March this year my assistant coach at Tech and I have been working a lot on my golf swing. I started playing well. The first tomorrow I played well for a while was at the Dunes General Hackler college event, and then from that point forward I really felt confident with myself. I just tell myself, I have a little note in my yardage book, it says, Play to win, because I felt like after a while I was playing to not to play bad. I was trying to shoot a good score, but I was trying really hard not to shoot a bad score instead of trying to go out there and win. Kind of changed my mindset when I got some confidence, so that's definitely made an improvement. Q. You guys have a sport psychologist at Virginia Tech that you guys work with, or is that just something you said, this is where I've got to turn things around? MARK LAWRENCE JR.: I just heard some stuff from all kinds of different tour players in interviews and just hearing the way they talk. I just said, I know that I got to change something if I want to be really good, and I knew that that something was I had to change my mindset. I had to change from playing really protective and then start to play aggressive and believe that I can do it. Q. So is this the best stretch of golf you've played in your career? MARK LAWRENCE JR.: I would say so, yes. It's the biggest tournament I've ever played in. Q. What kind of expectations did you have coming in? MARK LAWRENCE JR.: I told all my best friends back home that I would be pretty pumped if I made it match play. Then just once I got to match play I was just thinking, One match at a time, be confident, and just see what happens. Q. Did you hear about Dawson's bought with the food poisoning before the match? MARK LAWRENCE JR.: I heard about it on the range. I feel really bad for him. That's just terrible timing. He's a great guy and hell of a player. Still put up a great fight today. Wouldn't be surprised if he's back here again. He's a great player. Q. Could you tell he wasn't 100%? MARK LAWRENCE JR.: He was definitely toughing it out. I could tell he was struggling a little bit with some of the walks between the holes when he had to go over hills and stuff. I know he's been not feeling too great the last few hours. Q. How did it affect the way you played or did you just block it out of your mind and just focus on yourself? MARK LAWRENCE JR.: I just know Dawson is a great player. I was 1-down through 1 right off the bat, so kind of showed that it wasn't going to affect him too much. I knew I had to go out there a play well to win the match. Q. You had gotten off to a great start. Won 8 of your 12 holes in three prior matches and basically three-putt the 1st hole. Was that a shock to the system? MARK LAWRENCE JR.: A little bit. I was a little bit more surprised that putt did what it did. I was thinking it was going to go right down the hill and it went left. Then the next one I thought was going to left and it went right. I just did a pretty poor job reading the green there. Q. What do you do tonight? You got a lot in front of you tomorrow. Played great today. Plans for the evening? MARK LAWRENCE JR.: Get some dinner, watch some TV, just hang out. THE MODERATOR: Thanks so much. Congratulations. MARK LAWRENCE JR.: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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