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U.S. AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIPAugust 16, 2019Andy OgletreeVillage of Pinehurst, North Carolina Q. We'd like to welcome Andy Ogletree of Little Rock, Mississippi, our first U.S. Amateur semifinalist, a 6 & 5 winner over Spencer Ralston. I guess the first comment is how did the delay affect you? ANDY OGLETREE: It didn't really, going into the delay. On 7, I had like a 30-footer and it was pouring down rain, and I didn't want to hit it really because I thought they were going to blow the horn, and our walking scorer was like, we have to keep playing or we're going to be behind. Lagged that one up there, got it go in. It was like the hardest three-footer of my life because it was dumping and my glasses were all fogged up. But yeah, after that one, hit a really good tee shot, and they blew the horn. I knew Spencer was in trouble on 8, and I was down the middle, so I knew coming back after the delay I had the advantage on that hole, so I won that hole. Gave him one on 9; I hit it right of the green. You can't do that there. And then played really good golf from there. I mean, I think the delay was just part of it. We got to hit balls, which was nice. Earlier in the week we had a delay and we had to go back out after like an hour and didn't get to hit any balls. So this one was a lot better than that. Q. What does it mean to you as a college golfer to be a semifinalist at the U.S. Amateur? ANDY OGLETREE: It means a lot. I mean, this is the amateur tournament in the world, and to be -- I mean, started with, what, 7,000 some for this tournament, and now there's four. So it's pretty cool, and I'm definitely going to think about that and not take it for granted and see what I can do. Q. When do you start thinking about the final four or the championship match, because you've been here a long time. You've been here all week. ANDY OGLETREE: To be honest, a couple days ago. I mean, probably not the right thing to do, but no one is going to sit here and tell you they don't think about it, and you just kind of have to tell yourself, look, you can't do that right now. You have a 6-iron to five feet that you have to hit it, and that's just what it is right now. And then you go to the putt. This is a 30-footer, and it's over a ridge, and it's downgrain, and I don't want to run it by or it's going to go 10 feet past the hole, and then go to the next one. Each shot, one at a time. Before the round, it's pretty easy to get your mind racing, but once you get going, this course is so demanding, you have to stay focused. So not too demanding once you're out there. Q. If you did a couple days ago think about the championship match or the final four or what have you, do you start thinking about the exemptions that are attached to that? ANDY OGLETREE: Yeah. Q. Because a lot of this tournament is -- ANDY OGLETREE: For sure. Q. -- leading to that. ANDY OGLETREE: I mean, it's always been a dream of mine to play in the Masters, obviously. U.S. Open, as well. And if I play good golf, those things will come. So it's pretty cool. Q. I had read a story about you and Coach Heppler had sat down at some point and he said, you've got the ability from a ball-striking standpoint, but you really honed in on short game. I was wondering if you could elaborate on that conversation and what came from that. ANDY OGLETREE: Yeah. So last fall I really underachieved from what I wanted to do, and Coach texted me right before winter break and said, hey, I want to have lunch. It's like, oh, that's weird. Coach wants to have lunch? What's he want to have lunch about? So we go to Blaze pizza, and we were there for like two hours, and basically just said I can play the PGA TOUR. He thinks I'm definitely good enough. He said I hit it just as good as anybody in the world. I just have to improve my short game a little bit and putt a little better, basically. So I started -- where did I start? So I started with a few drills that I do with putting, and I do them every day, and I've done it every day since that talk. And it's just -- I don't know if it's confidence or just my stroke is better, but I putt a lot better now. I get a lot more balls up-and-down. I chip a lot more than I used to. I've just really, really focused on my short game and put in the time, and it's starting to pay off. Q. What drills specifically are you doing? ANDY OGLETREE: I do a gate drill. It's just alignment stick with six tees, and then I do the eye line, and I do some speed drills, as well. Q. The fact that you played Spencer and Spencer is from Georgia, did that stay out of your mind -- ANDY OGLETREE: I never thought about it. Q. I know you're friends and all, but -- ANDY OGLETREE: I guess people back home would think about it because of Georgia-Georgia Tech. But it's golf, it's not football. We play together all the time during the summer. We grew up playing junior golf together. It's not like, oh, it's Georgia, like I want to beat him because he plays at Georgia. There's none of that. But you kind of have to put aside your friendship for the day. I mean, we're still good buddies, and we always will be, I think. I mean, it was a fun day. He didn't play as well as he wanted to probably, and I just kind of took advantage of every opportunity. Q. The point about taking a look down the road at what you might get, did you look at who's left and see how that -- does that have any effect on you at all? ANDY OGLETREE: I know there's another Mississippi kid, Cohen Trolio, so that's pretty cool. I know he was up earlier. I don't know how he's doing right now. But I think it would be really cool. I think I'm playing him next. I'm not positive, but that would be awesome. Just speaks for Mississippi and junior golf in Mississippi. I mean, you've had me, Davis Riley, Wilson Furr, Braden Thornberry, now you've got Cohen Trolio, Cecil Wegener, the list goes on. There's a lot of guys from Mississippi right now, and it's really cool. Q. Your grandfather introduced you to the game? ANDY OGLETREE: My dad. Q. Cut-down 7-iron, is that how you were introduced? ANDY OGLETREE: Yeah. Q. Take me back to the beginnings of how you got into the game. ANDY OGLETREE: Gosh, my parents took me to putt-putt when I was like two or three, and I was making everything, and they're like, wow, this kid is pretty good at putt-putt, so my dad got me a kid. It was like a tiny U.S. kids club, and I wore the face off of it literally until the head flew off, so my dad had to get me some more clubs. But played my first tournament when I was almost five. I went to Williamsburg to play U.S. Kids World when I was six. So it's been a long time coming with golf for sure. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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