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U.S. AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

August 18, 2018

Isaiah Salinda

Pebble Beach, California

Q. We've got Isaiah Salinda, advanced to the semifinals of the U.S. Amateur but dropped his decision 1-down to Devon Bling. A great run in your first USGA championship, all the way to the semifinals. You must be proud of that.
ISAIAH SALINDA: Yeah, definitely. It was a really fun week. I didn't really know what to expect coming into this week, but once I made match play, I thought, you know, I had a pretty good chance, and kept advancing. But played well today. That's all I could ask for. Devon played awesome.

Q. Did the contingent of support from Stanford and south San Francisco grow quite substantially today?
ISAIAH SALINDA: It did, yeah. A few of my high school friends came out, and they were very supportive. You could definitely hear them out there. It was nice to have their support.

Q. I think you shot 67 today.
ISAIAH SALINDA: Probably, yeah. I think I only made one bogey, and we both made a ton of birdies. So yeah. That's probably around right.

Q. How did you feel out there going out early after the afternoon golf? Was it a pretty quick turnaround?
ISAIAH SALINDA: Yeah, it was different. I mean, I got a good night's sleep and was ready to go in the morning, but yeah, the course was definitely playing a little different compared to the last two days, definitely softer and colder. But it was great.

Q. With a round like that, it's hard to imagine if there was even a shot you really wish you had back. Is there one?
ISAIAH SALINDA: I mean, outside of the tee shot on 5, I hit a lot of really good shots. I think -- yeah, if I could have just hit the green there and we would have halved that hole, probably, because he missed it short right, as well. But outside of that, I mean, no complaints, really.

Q. Was the fog any disconcerting factor at all?
ISAIAH SALINDA: A little bit. It got pretty bad on like 8 through 10. But I didn't know if they were going to stop it. But it wasn't too bad. We were able to pretty much see where we were going. It was fine.

Q. On 18 you hit a huge drive there --
ISAIAH SALINDA: Yeah.

Q. Second shot, did you just come over the top a little bit?
ISAIAH SALINDA: Yeah, I was trying to -- I was aiming kind of at the middle of the green trying to ride the wind and kind of cut it in there and just pulled it a bit. It wasn't that bad, but just pulled it.

Q. Your overall take now since you've been here for a few days at Pebble Beach?
ISAIAH SALINDA: Incredible place. I mean, you don't really appreciate it as much until you're out here playing it. Like I said, I hadn't played it before this week, and just super, super lucky to have gotten this far and been able to play at this course because it's by far one of the best courses I've played.

Q. Does this week, despite the disappointing ending, give you a lot of view for optimism for your season at Stanford?
ISAIAH SALINDA: Yeah, for sure. I'm really excited to get back to school and start our fall season. I think just trying to ride the momentum and give some -- it's good for me, but I feel like it's also good for my team for them to -- they've been encouraging me a lot, and I think they realize that they could have been doing this, too. I think it gives them a lot of confidence, as well.

Q. Who all was here watching in the gallery today from Stanford or --
ISAIAH SALINDA: From Stanford? Well, I had -- I guess just two teammates like actually on the team out, Chris Meyers and David Snyder, and then just a bunch of my high school friends and a lot of family. A lot more family came down today. I probably had like eight to ten relatives out there, plus my parents. And just a lot more like random kind of various Stanford supporters. That was cool.

Q. I was curious if Tom Watson or Tiger or Notah Begay, any of the Stanford greats, had reached out to you via social media or texts or anything, and if they have, what did they say?
ISAIAH SALINDA: No, not that I received. Mostly just, like I said, my friends, teammates, coaches, but that was all I needed.

Q. We talked a little bit about yesterday this was your first USGA championship; you had tried to get into the Amateur and the Junior before, but now you don't have to worry about Pinehurst next year, so that's got to be a good feeling.
ISAIAH SALINDA: Yeah, that's nice. I'm looking forward to that. I've only been there once. I haven't played No. 2, so that'll be fun.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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