U.S. AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

August 12, 2020

Scott Harvey

Bandon Dunes Golf Resort

Quick Quotes

Q. I saw your comments yesterday, you said you hadn't played a competitive round since the last --

SCOTT HARVEY: Mid-Am.

Q. I'm sure the pandemic had a lot to do with that, but family considerations were probably a factor in that, as well, right?

SCOTT HARVEY: That's right. You know, I was mentally starting to -- I was going to start practicing and getting ready for the Coleman in April back right before all this stuff started, and then I just got -- everybody was under quarantine, the whole world stopped, and my son -- you could still play golf in North Carolina, but my son Cameron, he got -- he's always been in golf and basketball and everything else, but golf is the only thing he could do, so he really got into golf big-time. I get more out of it and he gets more out of it if I just leave my clubs at home and just go out there with him, and that's what I've been doing. I've been having so much fun with that. So that's kind of the reason I've just not really played much at all, which I'm fine with.

Q. Your father would be happy about that, wouldn't he?

SCOTT HARVEY: A hundred percent. That's what he did for me, and I'm going to do it for my boys.

Q. Where are you now in your amateur career? You qualified for match play here, cold, really, based on what you just said. Are you going to continue to try and play amateur golf, or are you nearing the point in time where it's time to think about Mid-Amateur golf and let the college boys have at it?

SCOTT HARVEY: No, I wasn't going to try to qualify for this tournament because my exemptions ran out, to be honest with you, so yeah, to answer your question, I would play in some -- I would play in the Porter Cup, for example. But I wasn't going to try to qualify for the U.S. Am unless the site was somewhere like a Pinehurst or something like that.

It's not that I don't feel like I can -- when I'm on my game, I feel like I can play with just about anyone, but I've got more important things at home to be concerned about.

Q. Did you get in this field because of the, for lack of a better word, the algorithm that they set and you were invited into the field essentially?

SCOTT HARVEY: Yeah, so I was exempt on two categories. As it turns out, I was exempt on top-50 ranking and exempt on the four-ball championships this year. Todd was supposed to come out with me, and he had some contact, and he couldn't make it. He had to back out.

Q. He ran into COVID contact?

SCOTT HARVEY: Yeah, he did. He did. So he just did the responsible thing.

Q. There's no amateur golf for you really for the rest of the year, is there?

SCOTT HARVEY: No, really not. East-West matches are still on, and other than that, I know my state is doing some stuff, and I've kind of in the last handful of years gotten away from that, but I'm going to get back into the CGA stuff, Carolina Golf Association stuff, so that's kind of my plan. But as of right now, there's nothing besides East-West on the schedule. Sad, really.

Q. Going forward with your exemptions having essentially expired, will you attempt to qualify for the U.S. Amateur going forward? Have you thought about that at all?

SCOTT HARVEY: Like I said, unless it's at a site that's like a Pinehurst or something really easy for me to get to -- it would have been hard for me to pass up an exemption, which is why I came out here, and I'm glad I did. I love this place. People are really nice. Everything about it is beautiful. But yeah, going forward, I don't really -- it just depends on the sites. I don't know where they are.

Q. It's time kind of, isn't it?

SCOTT HARVEY: Well, again, my son -- the joy I get -- here's the best way I can sum it up. I have just as much fun watching him hit balls on the driving range as I do coming out here and doing this.

Q. Say no more, I get it.

SCOTT HARVEY: I could cry talking about it because my dad, that's just kind of -- that's kind of --

Q. I get it.

SCOTT HARVEY: Yeah. He's instilled that in me, and I'm going to be the way he was with me.

Q. If we get on the other side of this in 2021 and the U.S. Mid-Amateur is contested, will you continue to try to play the U.S. Mid and will you continue with Todd to try and play the Four-Ball?

SCOTT HARVEY: Oh, yeah, for sure, I'm playing the Mid and I'm playing the Four-Ball until I can't walk. I can promise you that. It's just the U.S. Am, it's hard to -- typically it's somewhere not near the house, and your chances of doing --

Q. Unless it's at Pinehurst.

SCOTT HARVEY: Right, and your chances of doing great are much less. And obviously, again, as I've shown this week, I know I can play. It's just winning the tournament is just not -- the odds are very slim. That's the reality, and that's fine.

Q. Are you going to try and play the East-West, or are your responsibilities organizing it going to keep you off the course?

SCOTT HARVEY: I'm playing. I'm playing. We've got third-party help, and that's not going to be an issue.

Q. Is it shaping up pretty well?

SCOTT HARVEY: It is, yeah. I've actually got a call with the captains next week, and since there's no more golf we're going to go ahead and finalize the teams and get things moving.

Q. That's news.

SCOTT HARVEY: That is news. That is news. You'll be hearing about it. Well, there's no news yet. Until we finalize everything, then we'll put it out there.

Q. We have to prepare for news.

SCOTT HARVEY: Oh, okay. Well hey, you've got time. You have like a week.

Q. I was thrilled that you got through stroke play, and sorry that your run has come to a quick end out there. I know how much you love Bandon.

SCOTT HARVEY: Do you want to hear about the matches before the talk with the captains?

Q. Well, I told you from the beginning we want to support it in any way we can, so when you've got news, when you've got announcements to make, give me a heads up so I can coordinate our coverage properly.

SCOTT HARVEY: Okay, will do.

Q. I was watching from just my computer, it looked like it was kind of a wild finish in the match, came down to the last hole. Could you take me through those last couple holes and what was going on there?

SCOTT HARVEY: Yeah, so he was up all day. He eagled -- no, I bogeyed the 2nd hole, a really hard par-3, and then he eagled the 3rd hole, so he was 2-up, and then we just kind of hung around. I know he got to 3-up, but it just never really -- nothing else really happened. It was just like -- it's hard. It's just hard out there.

So then we're kind of cruising along and he makes a bogey on 15 I believe it was for me to go back to -- did that get me back to 1-down? I can't remember. Yes, gets me back to 1-down. Really hard par-3, he makes a bogey and I made a par.

And then on 16, I hit my tee ball a little bit fat and it came up in the rough down there on the bottom of the hill and then my shot into the green was a blind shot up over a hill, and I just couldn't -- I actually thought I hit a great shot, I'm not going to lie. I thought I was like inside of 15 feet. And I get up there and it's not even in the green, it's in the long grass down there. It was a mess. Anyway, just made a mess of the hole and made a bogey. So now he's 2-up.

And then we go to 17, and he actually hit it about eight feet, and I hit it about 20 feet, but I made it to extend the match, and he missed it, and then on 18 -- golly, I kind of got a raw deal on 18. I hit a really, really hard tee ball right down the middle, and got down in like a hole in the fairway, like a drain, but my ball was not on the drain, my club was on the drain. I was just like in a big deep like depression, and the ball was way below my feet and there was a big mound right in front of me. I could reach the green but not out of that stance and lie. So I had to lay up just short, and unfortunately when I got down there, I had a pretty tough pitch shot, but it was really super tight grass, and my contact, I just hit it a little bit thin, so I hit it a little past the hole, probably 30 feet or so, and I almost made it, ran right over the left edge but didn't make it and lost the match.

Q. Coming in cold the way you did, how satisfying is it to get to match play? Not just to get to match play but to finish tied for seventh?

SCOTT HARVEY: Yeah, no expectations. It almost helped me a little bit in some ways. Sometimes you come out here and you're so amped up and you expect to do good, and when you don't, something happens and you kind of get behind the 8-ball and you start pressing too hard or something maybe. I came out here to have fun. Expectations were who knows. It wasn't like I don't think I can do it, it was like, I don't know what's going to happen because I hadn't played in so long.

I think since March, I've probably played five or six rounds of golf.

Yeah, I mean, practice, practice, practice. I got out here a couple days early, and each day my swing started to feel a little bit better, and then that's golf.

Q. What's the takeaway from this? What do you bring home from it?

SCOTT HARVEY: Practice more before I come next time (laughing). I don't know. I don't really have much to -- I don't know. I was a winner either way for me. I get to go home and see my family, and I get to -- if I would have won, I would get to keep going. I didn't lose anything.