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U.S. MID-AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

September 24, 2018

Matt Mattare

Charlotte, North Carolina

Q. So you experienced all the emotions of a match play match, up and down and all over the place today.
MATT MATTARE: Yeah. It was a rollercoaster. We were a little shaky at times, but down the stretch, after I got that lead, I knew Brad was going to be coming back. If people don't know him, they will know him. He's one of the best five to ten guys out here.

I told my caddie coming off 12 -- or we were 3-up after 11. I told my caddie, We got to keep pressing forward because he's going to start making some birdies.

Sure enough, on 13 I hit a 5-iron to ten feet on one of the toughest holes on the course and he gets up and stumps it to a foot. So that was kind of the beginning. He made another great birdie on the next hole and I gift wrapped him 15.

So all of a sudden you just -- you have to be really mentally tough to realize you're still even. It feels like you're 5-down right now because you just lost three in a row.

Q. How did you pull yourself together?
MATT MATTARE: I mean, you just reset. You just remind yourself that you're here for a reason. You stay confident.

Sometimes your confidence is shaken, but you just got to dig deep and figure it out, which is kind of what happened on the putt on 16.

Q. Yeah. Tell me about that.
MATT MATTARE: So 16 I got up -- you know, I've been struggling with my driver. Normally I'm pretty automatic. I'm not long but I hit a lot fairways. I'm just a little off, and I tried to steer it -- you know, I lost three holes in a row and I get to 16 and I tried to steer one into the fairway and tugged it into the rough.

Caught a flier out of the rough and I was 42 yards. It went over the green down into a collection area.

Q. What club did you hit on the approach?
MATT MATTARE: I hit a 7-iron.

Q. Yep.
MATT MATTARE: So it was like 190-ish to the pin, which normally is a 6-iron. I thought it would jump a little bit; I didn't think it would jump 40 yards. It went over the green. Brad didn't hit a great shot.

He was in the bunker and I saw he had a tough lie. I'm like, If you get this up and down you're at least going to be even on the next hole. He's not going to jar that. Hit not a very good pitch, but had 20, probably 20-ish feet for par; he had like 22 feet. He almost made it I buried mine.

That was huge. It was a similar putt to what I had in the playoff this morning, where in the playoff it was a little longer, but I knew kind of the break and I knew the speed and I just matched it perfectly. It was good to see one go in, because I hadn't made a long putt all day.

And then the next hole, you know, got up and hit a great 7-iron. Just flushed it. Went to the back of the green a little charged up and probably 35, 40 feet and just -- it was a making speed; it was not a lag speed.

That thing dove in dead center. It's a relief because you don't want to go to the 18th hole. The 18th hole is just a monster.

Brad is 20, 30 yards by me, so where I would be hitting in like a 4-iron he's going to be hitting in an 8-iron. I really wanted to end it there. He was going to make three.

So, no, I couldn't be happier.

Q. What's that say about you? You know how tough he is and you're able to rise to the challenge.
MATT MATTARE: That's one of the things I was thinking during the match. Obviously I respect the hell out of him and I think he's a great player. Don't forget that you're a great player too and you belong here. The mission is not to have a good showing; the mission is to win this thing.

Q. I was going to ask you about what kind of day it was having to go through the playoff and then you get Tilley in the first round.
MATT MATTARE: Uh-huh.

Q. But you kind of said that the playoff helped you as far as putting on 16.
MATT MATTARE: Definitely, and it helped on 10, too. Those are both really tough pins, so it benefited me. The tough part is sitting after the playoff for four hours.

But you're just so happy. You got to keep it in perspective. You can get really annoyed by the fact you're sitting for four hours, or you can be driving nine hours home.

So relax, watch some TV, hang out, and not complain. That's kind of the approach.

Q. And then finally, as you found out, you and Tilley are going to be heading to France here in the next week or so. Tell me about that.
MATT MATTARE: It's going to be great. First of all, it's going to be a lot fun. Second of all, having him as a partner in better ball and alternate shot, I very much look forward to hitting his drives. He just absolutely stripes the ball. It's a laser show all the time, so it's going to be a ton the fun.

Q. What's the name of that competition?
MATT MATTARE: It's the French-American matches between the Golf League of Paris and the Metropolitan Golf Association.

Q. Okay. Good luck there and good luck tomorrow.
MATT MATTARE: Thank you very much.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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