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U.S. AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

August 17, 2018

Isaiah Salinda

Pebble Beach, California

Q. We'd like to welcome Isaiah Salinda, a 2 & 1 winner to advance to the semifinals of the U.S. Amateur. In your first USGA championship, that's pretty impressive stuff. Tell us what that means to you.
ISAIAH SALINDA: Yeah, this is my first one, and I didn't really know what to expect. But this is probably the biggest tournament we play, so I was very excited, and the goal was really just to make match play and take it from there. I'm excited to have a chance to play in the finals.

Q. Looking ahead to tomorrow, do you know Devon very well? Have you played much golf with him?
ISAIAH SALINDA: Not much, but I played with him earlier this year at the Pac-12 championships, and I've seen him around a lot. He has a very solid game, solid swing, hits it really good. He's a good player.

Q. Can you talk about your strategy on 4? Do you hit driver every day, or do you --
ISAIAH SALINDA: I only hit driver for the first time this week just because I think the tees were up a little, and with the wind being off the right and the pin kind of middle right, that was the one -- probably the one time I'd hit driver.

Q. Can you talk about just how dangerous of a hole it is if you miss your driver? What's the landing area from where the tee is normally at to land it in?
ISAIAH SALINDA: Yeah, the landing area for us, for the fairway at least, is probably only like 15 yards, no more than 20, so if you miss it in the left rough, it's a tough up-and-down, and then right is hazard.

Q. Can you walk us through your second shot on 16, club, yardage, and if you thought that was dropping?
ISAIAH SALINDA: Yeah, so I had I think it was right around 150, and it was just a perfect club for kind of just a controlled 9-iron, which I had on the previous hole. So it was just a nice comfortable 9-iron, and hit it right where I wanted to, and from where I was, it looked like it was just hanging on the edge, so I thought it was going in. But yeah, I'll take two inches from there.

Q. Not taking anything away from the way you played today, but they showed how Will Gordon basically lipped out eight or nine times throughout the course of the day. Did it feel like you were dodging bullets left and right?
ISAIAH SALINDA: A few, yeah. I think -- yeah, I remember like three, maybe three lip-outs. But yeah, he's a really good player, and I expected him to kind of fight back after I was 4-up through 6 and he made it -- definitely made it tough at the end.

Q. Just curious if this is maybe the best stretch of golf that you've ever played.
ISAIAH SALINDA: Yeah, for sure, definitely, for the last like month or so.

Q. What do you attribute that to?
ISAIAH SALINDA: I don't know really. Just a lot of hard work and things are just coming together at the right time, like all parts of my game. I think mentally, too, like I'm mentally as strong as I've ever been just on the course, managing my game the right way.

Q. I think this is your first USGA event, correct?
ISAIAH SALINDA: Yes.

Q. What kept you from playing in them in the past? Why did you wait so long?
ISAIAH SALINDA: I don't know. I've been first or second alternate probably at least six times combined for like the Junior Am and the U.S. Am, and it's kind of tough to qualify out of northern California. So this year I actually did it in Ohio, Cincinnati, and played well, so maybe that's what I needed to do.

Q. Why were you in Cincinnati?
ISAIAH SALINDA: I was playing the Trans Miss Am, and then the qualifier was right after that.

Q. On the 10th hole when Will hit driver off that tee, did you wait to see him hit first before you hit off that tee?
ISAIAH SALINDA: Yeah, I definitely wanted to see what he would do. If he hit a good one, I was probably going to hit driver, but after it went in the hazard, I just hit an iron down there. So yeah, that changed my plan.

Q. Just curious how excited you are for tomorrow. It's a big day. Obviously everybody is playing well that got this far.
ISAIAH SALINDA: Yeah, very excited. I've never been in this position. Just looking forward to it with having the galleries and the atmosphere has been really cool to play in front of. So I'm excited.

Q. What are you going to do tonight?
ISAIAH SALINDA: Just have dinner and go to sleep. Sleep well.

Q. Early morning, isn't it.
ISAIAH SALINDA: Yeah.

Q. You talked about the galleries; basically you're the hometown guy here, as close as anybody. Has your support unit grown?
ISAIAH SALINDA: Yeah, for sure.

Q. How much bigger is it today than it was yesterday?
ISAIAH SALINDA: Yeah, it was definitely bigger. A lot more Stanford fans. There were a few Stanford families out there and just Bay Area people who were supporting me. It was nice to have their support.

Q. How did you know they were there? Were they yelling things like "go Cardinal" or things like that?
ISAIAH SALINDA: Yeah, there were some kids, little kids holding signs and some people wearing Stanford gear, so it was pretty obvious.

Q. With Brad on the bag, are you going to have to start paying him soon?
ISAIAH SALINDA: Oh, yeah, he'll have a decent paycheck this week.

Q. Are you wearing his socks from yesterday?
ISAIAH SALINDA: Well, they're not his. These are my own pair.

Q. I was going to say, that would be disgusting.
ISAIAH SALINDA: Yeah, these are from Scotland. We went on a Scotland trip as a team a few years ago, and these socks have the Loch Ness monster on them, if that matters.

Q. Have you been wearing those every day?
ISAIAH SALINDA: No, only for big rounds.

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