U.S. AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

August 24, 2000

Bryce Molder

BRYCE MOLDER: Yeah, I did. But I was putting so well and I drove the ball to a fairway, had a pretty good second shot that drifted on me. His drifted, too. I guess there was wind up there we didn't know about. Let's see if he makes it. Yep All right. But, yeah, I was nervous. But I was confident. I just made a really good putt on 15. I putt on 16. And 17, I hit what I thought was a perfect putt and it didn't go in. I was telling myself that I made three good putts in a row and that this one was no problem. And it just barely snuck inside.

BRYCE MOLDER: No. Because I mean I'm still -- Matt Kuchar was here, he had a lot more pressure than I did. You know, even some other guys who have done well in the past, and actually champions. I would say that they had more pressure. I've played well the last few years that I've played in it, but I haven't -- nothing that would make you expect me to win. I came here with a little bit of pressure on myself, but not necessarily from others.

BRYCE MOLDER: At this point, everybody's playing so well that, yeah, Luke is a little bit better than most of the other guys in this tournament, and I've played with him and he's a great player. I'm looking forward to it. He got me in Narin, so I'm kind of looking to get him back. I've played with him and beat him and he's played with me and beaten me. It will be a fun match. He's got to be playing pretty well. I felt other than just a few mental miscues out there, I played really, really good. Through about 14 holes, it was probably my best round so far.

BRYCE MOLDER: Morning round I played good. Maybe had two bogeys. This afternoon I had a few three-putts, which is not very much fun. But I hit a lot of really good shots, drove the ball a lot better, which is very important. And I really, other than a couple three-putts, I really putted great other than that.

BRYCE MOLDER: Well, sometimes you get on the green and that's not enough. That's not doing any good for you because you're liable to hit it 15 feet by or just look stupid out there, which I'm sure I have a couple of times. The fairways are very important because you can control the ball a lot better. But really, it's just -- I think the key is to put yourself in a position where you can get below the hole on your approach shot. And sometimes some of my better holes have been when I hit in the rough but I still have a chance to hit a decent shot, get it below the hole at two-putt for par, while another guy's gambling a little bit and makes a mistake and hits it on the wrong side of the hole. So I think the most important thing is just being smart out there and keeping the ball on the bottom side of the hole.

BRYCE MOLDER: I'll try a lot harder. (Laughing.) No. No, it's no different. None of his shots affect mine, and so it's not like, you know, in football or something when you're going to throw away from Dion Sanders or something like that. I still got to play my own shots, and that's really the key out there, is just to make sure you don't get too caught up in the match itself. There's times where you change your strategy a little bit, but really you just try to stay within your own game and just let the rest take care of itself.

BRYCE MOLDER: He played well. We were -- we were all playing pretty bad at the time. And I -- I think I chose to forget most of that. (Laughter.) I've chosen to forget most of it. So I remember I had a putt early to go one-up that I really -- a really short putt that I missed early. When I missed that, it was like he took over. Then I hit a couple bad shots on the back nine trying to make up some ground. But he played well. He played his normal game. He played solid, hit it down the fairway, hit it on the green. He putts good. When he hits a bad shot, his short game's great. So...

BRYCE MOLDER: To go to Germany, actually. That's very immediate. Then I go back to school and try to catch up on two weeks' work. And I don't even know if I can look past that right now. I don't know if you're heading towards turning pro or something like that, but I'm gonna graduate in May and I've gone way too long at Georgia Tech to not graduate. So I'll think about stuff after I graduate, and some time around this time next year.

BRYCE MOLDER: The World Amateur Team. So...

BRYCE MOLDER: That was fun. Coach would have liked that a lot. If I got beat by a Bulldog, he wouldn't have -- he would have taken me back, but he would have given me quite a bit of grief. Oh, good, Tiger's winning. Good for him. No, that was -- I mean I didn't think about it much out there. But beginning of the day, I did notice that I had a chance to play two Bulldogs, and it all worked out. Very lucky, both of them are great players. Both of them are very good players, and they'll play for them next year and they're one of the best teams in the country. So...