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U.S. AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

August 27, 2005

Edoardo Molinari

ARDMORE, PENNSYLVANIA

CRAIG SMITH: Let's start right back at 17, Austin putts a ball in there just on the fringe maybe 30 feet away, and then you step up.

EDOARDO MOLINARI: Yeah, I was kind of nervous over there because I was leading 5 up through 11, and then he was coming back at me. I was not hitting very good shots on those holes. I was hitting normal shots but it was not enough. I said, you've got to make a good swing here, otherwise it's going to be even tighter. So I just take my normal routine and a couple of practice swings and hit probably the best shot of my life so far. It was a 2 iron, probably flew 245, 240 and released just 15 feet past the flag. I was really happy about it.

CRAIG SMITH: How about going back to the start, 1 up, 2 up, he gives you a couple early ones, gives you a couple on 8, 11; 5 up, you must feel like you're going home early.

EDOARDO MOLINARI: Yeah, I think the first few holes we were both kind of nervous, and then I 3 putted twice, hit a couple of poor tee shots. So up to the sixth hole it wasn't really a good match.

Then I managed somehow to play well from the sixth until the 11th, and then it was 5 up on the 12th tee. I mean, I knew he was going to come back in some way, but I didn't really think on the 12th tee to be standing on the 17th tee 2 up with his ball 25 feet away. So it was I think not a good match but we were I think both nervous, so it was tough to play today.

CRAIG SMITH: I've seen you better a lot better than you played today. Do you have to play a lot better than that tomorrow?

EDOARDO MOLINARI: I think I surely will because probably, I don't know, today I was even I don't know, it was almost shaking at some points. I think because The Masters and the U.S. Open means a lot, so that's probably why. So I think tomorrow, especially the first 18, I won't be so nervous. I will be much calmer and we'll see what happens. I think there's no way I will be shaking again like I did today.

CRAIG SMITH: When did it hit you the most, over putts or over drives?

EDOARDO MOLINARI: THE shaking, I was not shaking when I was hitting shots, but all the way down it was just very, very tight.

Q. To follow up on the U.S. Open and The Masters, can you talk about what it means to you to play in those events next year?

EDOARDO MOLINARI: It means a lot to me, first of all because I had sent the entry form to the qualifying school a month ago and I have to cancel because otherwise I won't be able to play in The Masters and the U.S. Open.

And then of course, I think The Masters is the tournament everyone really wants to play because I think it's a special place, it's a special tournament. So I think I will have a lot, a lot of fun like I did in St. Andrews last month.

Q. Did you notice on 17, there was a big roar on 18, there was a shot that happened just as you were getting ready to swing. Did you notice it? You played right through it.

EDOARDO MOLINARI: Yeah, I did. I did as well on the 16th and I stand off the ball. I said this time, let's just swing the club and that's it hopefully and it worked out.

Q. You made a great up and down at the ninth, really seemed to have the momentum there. Were you maybe starting to get a little overconfident or anything at that point or thinking of things are really going your way?

EDOARDO MOLINARI: after that putt, I was really thinking that things were going my way, but it was first of all, it was a long way to go up to the last. Then as I said before, I was sure that he was going to come back earlier. Because when you are three or four down and you have nothing to lose, then start to play very, very well.

Q. In light of what's happened to you this week, looking back, how do you feel about your decision to come over here and qualify for this, looking back on it now?

EDOARDO MOLINARI: Well, I think first of all, it was the right decision, because I just wanted to play this one before turning professional once in my life. So I decided to come over and qualify for this.

And then the first impression this week was that I was playing well but on these two tough courses, it was hard to make the cut, really. In fact, I managed to birdie the last hole to get into the playoff and get things going.

So all in all I'm very happy about it. It has been very tough because even from the first two qualifying rounds, it was really, really close.

CRAIG SMITH: It seems like a month ago, but the last hole, did you play Philadelphia Country Club and how far was your birdie putt to get into the playoff at 146?

EDOARDO MOLINARI: My last hole was the ninth here at Merion and I put my 6 iron into the bunker and I holed out from the bunker from 40 feet away probably.

CRAIG SMITH: Let's go back even further, qualifying. I believe you were the Medalist at that site. Any close calls there that gave you some doubt as to whether or not you would qualify?

EDOARDO MOLINARI: In the qualifying, I think I shot 72 in the first round, which was a bad 72 because I played very well and just made a few mistakes coming back home on the last four or five holes. And then as I was playing well, I just stayed calm and tried to play golf in the afternoon as well as I could, it worked out well because I scored 67 without a bogey, so that was a good round.

Q. Just have a question about your father. How much does it mean to you to have him here when you're basically a foreigner?

EDOARDO MOLINARI: Yeah, I think it means a lot because he's very happy, he's almost as emotional as I am, so we were both really exhausted on the 17th. But he's happy. He survived today, so it's good for him.

CRAIG SMITH: Your dad is a dentist at home, brothers and sisters, and does dad always travel with you?

EDOARDO MOLINARI: No, dad works a lot, so he just comes with us maybe two or three times a year. I went this year with my brother, I think three times, Loch Lomond and two other tournaments. We were together the Italian Open.

Q. You've pretty much dominated your last three matches. What has been working well for you, and have you been surprised with how well you've played and how well you've dominated these matches?

EDOARDO MOLINARI: To be honest, I wasn't really surprised the way I played because I've been playing very well the last two months or so. I think the first tournament I really played well was the Amateur, the British Amateur Championship the first week of June where I played well and I lost the last hole against Brian McElhinney, who eventually won it. That was only in the second round, but still, it meant a lot.

Then from then on, I have been hitting the ball off the tee very, very well, except for a few tee shots today but it happens.

My putting has been very, very good. I switched my putter just after the Open qualifying at Ladybank and I took a Yes! putter which worked out very well in the Ladybank qualifying, the Open and the qualifying for this week again.

Q. The clubs, is this the replacement set or is this the original set?

EDOARDO MOLINARI: This is my original set. I just played the first round in the qualifying at Ladybank with the replacement set, which was almost identical to this one I have here, and however, this is my original.

Q. Improvement in your game over the course of this summer, are you working with any particular instructor or anything like that or working on anything? Is there something that you can attribute this to?

EDOARDO MOLINARI: I've been working since I was a child with my coach who is called Sergio Bertaina. He's a very, very good coach because almost every good player in Italy has come through with him with his help, and he's helped as well my brother to reach The European Tour.

Then at the beginning of last year we decided with him to go and see Dennis Pugh, who is one of the best coaches in Europe, probably the best coach in Europe. I had to change quite a few things on my swing last year, so last year wasn't really a good year for me. I played so so all year long. Then I went back to Dennis at the beginning of this year in February, and I went there twice and that helped me a lot because as soon as I was back home, I was working on the right things, again with Sergio Bertaina, my coach. And from then on, it started to go very, very well. It worked out very well.

CRAIG SMITH: Your bother is on The European Tour, a professional. In your conversation, I must imagine you have a little fun and games; "if I get to the Masters, I'll get there before you." Go through some of what, what you might have said.

EDOARDO MOLINARI: First thing I said to him today to him when I phoned him was just go and buy the plane tickets for Augusta. (Laughter). So I don't think next year in The Masters week he will be playing any tournament. I think there's a small tournament in Europe that week, so he'll probably have the week off and come over to Augusta to have fun with me. He was very, very happy about it.

Q. Can you just clarify that, you said you had to hole out a bunker shot on 9 to get into the playoff, to get into match play?

EDOARDO MOLINARI: Yeah, I did, the par 3.

Q. The same bunker that you hit out of today?

EDOARDO MOLINARI: Yeah, the pin was probably eight, nine paces on, short and right. So it was much easier than today, but still.

Q. Just to go back through, on the playoff, did you go par, par, scored 3, 4 to get in?

EDOARDO MOLINARI: Yeah, I parred the first. I hit a poor shot on the first green that was 45 feet away, and then 2 putted.

And then on the next one, I hit a good driver and a very good 4 iron to 45 feet away again. The first putt was short by six, seven feet and then holed out the second one.

Q. In the earlier rounds, you went extra holes a couple of times, I believe. Looking back at that, is there any one shot or hole or any incident that kind of stands out that helped you move on that you think about now in retrospect?

EDOARDO MOLINARI: I think in the first two rounds, I was much, much calmer than I was today, by far. I mean, almost every match I've played so far I was except today. The first two, both times I had to make some putts on the last to go into extra time. The first one, I made it from 15 feet away, and the other guy holed out from five feet to go to the 19th. Then he went out of bounds on the second, so it was not too difficult.

And then the second time, I had been down all the match, all match long. I managed somehow to go back to all square on the 17th tee and then I bogeyed that hole, 3 putting by a long way. And then on the last we both missed the green. He hit a very good chip to six feet away but it was downhill and with some break on it. I remember I didn't have a good lie in the rough there. I hit a decent chip to 12 feet away, and again holed out the putt and he missed his putt.

Then on the first hole I think it just rushed him because we were both I was 20 feet away and he was 12, 15 feet away and I rushed my putt eight feet past and his putt was just 2 1/2 feet. I was almost going to concede that putt to him. I holed mine first, and then he just I think I really rushed things and pulled it, so it was over.

Q. What have you been doing in the evenings or what do you to you try to wile away the time between the rounds this week and maybe keep your mind off the golf?

EDOARDO MOLINARI: I just as soon as I finished almost every round, I went back to the hotel and just rest on the bed, watch TV, read the Internet, read Italian newspapers on the Internet. Just relaxing, nothing special.

Q. What does this championship mean back in Italy? Is it big news? Growing up, did you know about it?

EDOARDO MOLINARI: Yeah, I think it's really, really big news, because I think no one Italian amateur had ever come to play the U.S. Amateur. So to be the first one to play in it and to reach the final, that's big news back home. So I receive many messages from numbers I don't even have on my cell phone, so I have to reply to them all as soon as I go back.

CRAIG SMITH: One more question about shaving or not shaving, this is a long championship. That's a pretty good beard you've got there.

EDOARDO MOLINARI: I know, I know, but that's the way it is. For sure I am not shaving it tomorrow morning. I guarantee that. (Laughter).

End of FastScripts.

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