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U.S. WOMEN'S MID-AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIPSeptember 27, 2018Shannon JohnsonSt. Louis, Missouri Q. The last six, seven holes were quite a roller coaster. SHANNON JOHNSON: Unbelievable. Q. You hit that great putt going up 2 -- SHANNON JOHNSON: Yeah, I got a little ahead of myself, I think, after that long putt on 12 and just got a little quick on -- all my swings really on kind of 13 and 14, just quick. I was just kind of getting ahead of myself. Q. As you've said all week, it's hard to make par from the fairway here, and you missed a few fairways. SHANNON JOHNSON: Absolutely, yep, so it just gets you in trouble every time. I had an okay lie on that one on 13, and yeah, hit it exactly how I wanted to hit it, just kept going, and the lie in the rough was awful. It was almost kind of like no grass behind it and going away, and I'm like, I'd rather just have a full load of grass behind it just so I can hit it normal. Just not a great shot. But yeah, to come -- 15, not a great two-putt. I three-putted that. It's just all the -- Q. The ridge runner. SHANNON JOHNSON: Everything that's uphill is so uphill, and I just had -- the whole week I had trouble hitting them hard enough on the uphill putts. So it was nice to get a somewhat level one on 16 there, and it was perfect, just about a cup outside right to left, and hit it perfect. Q. Did you feel any urgency on 16 tee when you went 1-down? SHANNON JOHNSON: Yeah, not really. Matt is just like, just slow things down, take your time. We've been hitting like the same shot the last couple times, just a really choked down driver on that hole, and just perfect, and it just -- it'll just go right to the fairway because in the stroke play part I hit driver and went way down the hill, which is in trouble. And then I hit I thought a really good shot into 16, and it just kept going, like it always does, so it was turning a little more right to left than I wanted, but actually at the end of the day, it probably left me the straighter putt between Kelsey and I. I was like, please turn, please turn, and then it caught the last second, which was awesome. Q. When you go from like 12 where you hit that great putt and you're up and then get to the next hole with all the troubles you had, do you tend to have a pretty good reality in terms of wiping it away and -- SHANNON JOHNSON: Yeah, I'm kind of maturing with age, so you would have asked me that 10 years ago, I probably would have been pretty hot. But I've been hitting good shots all day, hitting good putts. I just knew if I kind of took if slow and just slow down everything, so on the walking, breathing, we'll kind of get back into our nice rhythm, and I think that was kudos to Matt to just kind of help slow things down. He said, swings are just quick, like good tempo, so that helped big time. Q. You made a nice par on 17 from the bunker. SHANNON JOHNSON: Right. Q. Again, with a missed fairway, but you managed to get the par out of it. SHANNON JOHNSON: Yeah, we were kind of in between clubs, and I've kind of been working on this little shot where I kind of lean forward a little bit and we can kind of take like a little three-quarter swing, so we were going to hit 8-iron originally and just kind of hit it full, and I said, what if we just three quarter the 7. You've just got to hit it clean out of that, and yeah, just hit like the bottom third of the golf ball and it just came out perfect. I thought it was going to draw a little bit, so that's why I was playing it a little more out right, but really good two-putt, honestly, to keep that hole. Q. I asked you this yesterday about the experience of the last two years and the disappointments and how it might help you here. Did you draw on anything or did you subconsciously draw on anything from those experiences? SHANNON JOHNSON: I think I was surprisingly just really calm. Even on the 18 tee box I was just pretty mellow. Yeah, like what I was saying before to you, you have to get yourself in these situations to learn what you have to do to calm yourself and relax and hit good shots. I hit a great drive on 18. Again, you have to hit the fairway. We were definitely playing a little further back, so I didn't think I could get on in two as we were walking up, but then the yardage that we had, we just had to cover 200 to the front, and pretty much it would be like a 220 shot. Ball was up a little bit, which was perfect because I can draw it in there, and I always hit my 7-wood pretty well and always have a little draw, so I said, this should be perfect, and I couldn't have hit it any better. It was unbelievable. Q. That would have been quite a finish. SHANNON JOHNSON: I thought when I missed -- Kelsey really didn't miss too many putts all day, and I thought for sure we were going to go to extra holes. I was very surprised when she missed it, and then obviously was a little nervous over that one-footer. Q. Was your heart pounding pretty hard? SHANNON JOHNSON: A little bit. A little bit. The hole gets a little bit smaller when you have to make that. Q. You have to block everything out, but like you said, it's been quite a three-year run for you in this championship -- SHANNON JOHNSON: Absolutely. Q. And you got yourself here. You hadn't played 18 before in match play. SHANNON JOHNSON: Right, yeah. This was the first -- I birdied this hole twice in the stroke play part, so Matt said on the way up, he goes, you love this hole. You love this hole. He's like, you've hit unbelievable shots, and that's what I needed to hear. Q. What's his last name? SHANNON JOHNSON: Matt Johnson, no relation. First time I met him this week, or last week now. We grew up pretty close to the same hometown in South Dakota, so tons of mutual friends. Q. And Matt caddies on the Symetra Tour? SHANNON JOHNSON: He does, so he's been caddying for Kendall Dye and Kristy McPherson a little bit in like the three weeks before this, and then he caddies down at Whisper Rock, so he's getting ready to go down there full-time, and then when the girls kind of need him, they'll call. So long story short, I didn't even really -- I was trying to find a local caddie, so I was trying to go through the head pro and see what we could turn up, and then that didn't really lead to anything. Obviously Meghan was playing, so can't use her, and the Symetra Tour was in Sioux Falls, and I texted Kendall, and I said, how's it going, because it's kind of my home course, I grew up on, and she hates the course, and she snapped a picture of Matt, selfie, and I'm like, lightbulbs just frigging went off, and I'm like, Matt, why not. So I texted him, he was down the next week in Kansas, and he's like, yeah, I don't have anything going on. And kind of the rest is history, yeah. Q. And last question from me is your folks here, the the people that flew here, just as you were walking the fairways, I know you were trying to be zoned out but you probably felt that support. SHANNON JOHNSON: Yeah, I think the first time I saw Chelsea and Sue was on 8 green as we were walking up. I don't know how much sooner they got there, but a couple times a plane flew over, I'm like, that could be them. Q. So you knew they were coming. SHANNON JOHNSON: I knew they were coming, which was good. Better to know than not know. Yeah, I kind of feel bad for my sister. She's got a couple young kids, and we said, just stay home. But my golf coach from Sioux Falls drove last night -- Q. And his name? SHANNON JOHNSON: Dave Hanton. Q. And he's coached you since you were 13? SHANNON JOHNSON: Yep, mm-hmm, so this is unbelievable for him to be here to see it because he's wanted to come the last couple years, and they've just been too far away. So I think he got hopped in the car before that first match was done yesterday, and I'm like, well, that's pretty bold there, and he's like, well, we were going to come anyway and check out the sights. But it was fun to get off the course and he called and said, we're a couple hours out, and I'm like, unbelievable. That was cool. Q. That helps bring you through, right? SHANNON JOHNSON: Oh, absolutely, yep, to have him, and he's got a herniated disc and he walked -- Matt is like, I don't think he's going to walk all 18. He walked all 18. He couldn't stay away. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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