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U.S. AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIPAugust 15, 2019Palmer JacksonVillage of Pinehurst, North Carolina THE MODERATOR: We're here with Palmer Jackson, who beat 2018 U.S. Amateur semifinalist Isaiah Salinda of Stanford, and Palmer is from Murraysville, Pennsylvania, in the western part of the state, but advancing to the U.S. Amateur quarterfinals as an incoming college freshman is a pretty good set of golf. What does that sound like when someone says you made the quarterfinals of the U.S. Amateur? PALMER JACKSON: Well, I'd like to make the semifinals tomorrow, but to make the quarterfinals is really cool. I didn't know what to expect going into this week. Obviously making match play, you can pretty much control, but once you get into match play, if you run into one hot guy, one guy with a hot stretch, you're going to be in trouble, so I've tried to be the guy with the hot stretch so far, and I've done pretty well. Q. The player you had to play is a guy on the national championship team, got some national championship chops and all that. Do you not think about who it is and just play the match? PALMER JACKSON: Yeah. Q. And just try to get ahead and just grind on him? PALMER JACKSON: Yeah, pretty much. I really don't think about who I'm playing. There's a U.S. Senior Am championship Sean Knapp from western PA, and he said in that event it's a little bit different because the guys are older, but he says you have to -- if you're going to win, you have to play past champion after past champion, and I thought that was pretty cool to hear because it's the same deal here. You're going to play Walker Cuppers, you're going to play all these kids that are veterans on the amateur golf tour, and you really just have to play your own game. Q. There's a potential here depending on how this works out on the green here for three junior players to advance to the quarterfinals. What do you think that says about the strength of the junior game and how good you guys are and what's the reasoning for how competitive the game is these days? PALMER JACKSON: Yeah, I think there's a lot of junior golfers right now that are very competitive. There's a good group of guys that really like to win, that really have devoted basically their whole life to golf. It's pretty cool to see that the younger guys can compete with the older guys, and the AJGA Tour and even the U.S. Junior, events like that, really prepare us as junior golfers for great big events like this. Q. Have you ever seen a junior golf tournament set up like what you see out here at No. 2 and maybe you can kind of describe what the differences are? PALMER JACKSON: Yeah, I haven't seen one quite like this, but the two U.S. Juniors I played in were tough. They were tough. They were a lot different. They had courses with thicker rough. But it's the same deal. The USGA is going to challenge you. You have to be a really smart player to succeed. I think it's just a step above some of the junior golf setups, course setups. It's difficult to compare the two. But yeah, they like tricking courses out. Q. Just the atmosphere of the USGA, how different it is compared to other events and also how much of your experience at Inverness prepare you for this event? PALMER JACKSON: Yeah, I really think back a lot about that week. I have this week at least. When I beat Michael, Michael is a really good player, and one of the best junior golfers there is right now. When I beat him, I really knew, okay, you can pretty much compete with all these kids. I've played in a lot of match play events in my last couple years and I've been successful, so I had a lot of confidence coming in. Q. What did you kind of -- you're a good baseball pitcher. When did you kind of make the decision that golf was the one, not baseball? PALMER JACKSON: Yeah, so this year our baseball team -- I think we were like 17-1, and we were doing really well. But I got a slight arm injury, and I took the precautionary route and shut it down for the year. But I really played baseball in the spring all four years of high school, and then once I got to this summer, I had all my focus on golf, obviously. Q. How would you compare how you pitch to how you play golf? They're both sports where obviously in golf you have a lot of control, and as a pitcher you have a lot of control on the outcome, as well, but how would you compare your styles in both of those? PALMER JACKSON: Yeah, for sure. I think the biggest thing for me is my routine. Pitching you're going to face different batters, you're going to be in different environments, but if you just go through your routine, it kind of neutralizes that a little bit. And with golf it's similar. And especially match play, I feel like pitching is a 1-v-1 and match play is a 1-v-1, so it's pretty comparable, and you really just got to want it. You've got to want to win and go through your routine. Q. We have to ask the obvious question: First name, after the King. Tell us a quick story about how your name came about with your parents naming you that. PALMER JACKSON: Yeah, my dad actually suggested the name to my mom, and my mom loved the name. I think soon after I was born, my dad got the chance to be the standard bearer for Arnold Palmer at Laurel Valley, and that was pretty cool, but I never got to meet Mr. Palmer, and I wish I would have. But I try to honor his name as much as I can. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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