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NCAA MEN'S GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP

May 29, 2019

Fayetteville, Arkansas

THE MODERATOR: We are joined by head coach John Fields, University of Texas, Steven Chervony, as well as Cole Hammer is with us.

Coach Fields, if you would, talk about today. Obviously a great tournament for you guys.

COACH JOHN FIELDS: It wasn't hard to get up this morning. We were excited to play. We knew it was going to be a challenge, and we knew that Stanford would come as excited as we were and that they would play their best golf. We were going to have to play ours to win this tournament. They got the better of us this time.

Moving forward, I think our team is in great position to capitalize on this momentum and who knows, maybe be one of the favorites coming in. That will be a little bit different feeling.

Although I think that our team did a great job this year, five runner-up finishes and great fields at tournaments that we play in and then finishing up with a 20-shot victory at our home in the regional, and bringing that momentum here and then obviously finishing runner-up here. There's a lot of teams in Division I golf that would love to be in our position right now.

So as much as it stings us as competitors, having done this for a long time, I know that what we've accomplished this week is not the norm and that it was outstanding.

Q. With three matches played in basically a 26-hour period, was endurance the biggest challenge today, and the team who had the best endurance was going to have a better shot at getting the job done?
COACH JOHN FIELDS: I guess that's a possibility. I think you can look back and dissect why it didn't go our way today. I'm sure Oklahoma State is looking back and saying why it didn't go their way and ou is looking back and saying why it didn't go their way.

I prefer just to look forward. There's no reason at this point to -- other than we're going to have as much energy next year when we get here. You do as a coach learn little things as you go along and hopefully refine the way do you things and maybe give these guys an even better opportunity to win.

Q. Incredible season across the board for all you guys. I guess this one goes to Steven and Coach. What did you see from this team that was so special to compete on a national level like this?
STEVEN CHERVONY: Just how comfortable they were and how competitive. I just told them five minutes ago, if I was in their position as a freshman, you know, I would have been shaking, and they were ready to go. Ready to win. So that was awesome.

THE MODERATOR: Talk about the first experience being part of the championship and how mentally for it you went.

COLE HAMMER: Well, this week has been incredible. I've watched the NCAAs on TV for the last four or five years and I knew I wanted to be here, and coming here to Texas, I knew I would have that opportunity, and Coach prepared us all year long just for this very moment. It stings right now but it's been a great experience.

Our whole team fought hard. Made clutch shots when it counted and Steven was just an incredible leader for us this year. Kind of picked us up when we weren't playing well and just kept our momentum going. It was a lot of fun being on the same team, Steven, for senior year, and looking forward to the future.

Q. Yesterday was such a high and you beat the individual champion. Was it a difficult reset after such a long day and such an elation at the end of it? And Steven, could you answer that, too, like the reset from closing out your match last night to knocking off Oklahoma State?
COLE HAMMER: Beating Oklahoma State was unbelievable. We definitely weren't favored, and the way it all went down me getting Matt and then the way Steven's finished up at the end, it definitely took a lot of energy out of us.

But there's no reason that that carried over to today. We were all excited and pumped to play for a National Championship title this morning. I mean, sure, it took something out of us playing against ou on the same day, but today, we were just excited and had energy, so there's nothing else to that.

STEVEN CHERVONY: Yeah, I don't think it was much of a reset. We just, it almost felt like as soon as we walked off the course yesterday we were back here playing because it was such a quick turnaround.

So I don't think it was a reset. We were ready to go. We were energized. We got off to a great start. Just didn't go our way.

COACH JOHN FIELDS: And these guys will tell you at home, we'll do that at home from time to time. We'll qualify 36 holes one day. The NCAA allows to you do that. It's one round of golf. You just have to count the hours in your 20 hours. We do it from time to time, and we turn around and do it the following morning on a weekend so it doesn't hurt us academically.

We were ready to play today. We just got beat by a really good golf team. That's all there is to it. It will fire us up for next year.

Q. What impressed you most about Stanford out there today? Was there something that you saw in their players? What stuck out to you that they did well or better than you guys?
COACH JOHN FIELDS: Well, they have great leadership on their team, just like we do. Comes in different sources. You know, you look at Isaiah Salinda or Brandon Wu, those guys have been around. They are good players. They are among the best players in the world.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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