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U.S. AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

August 24, 2005

Gary Wolstenholme

ARDMORE, PENNSYLVANIA

CRAIG SMITH: Gary, you had the lead most of the way, but kind of tell us about 16, 17 and 18, especially the tee shot on 17, you needed driver but put it about 20 feet.

GARY WOLSTENHOLME: Yeah, I mean, the last sort of five holes here are incredibly good match play holes. You've got to drive the ball well. But you've also got to put the ball in the right place on the green, as well, and some of the pin placements, unless you're in the right place, you can be made to look really silly. You've only got to mis hit a shot slightly and all of the sudden, you can't get at the pin, which is sort of what happened with Shawn (Jasper) at 15. You know, he still had a chance with me through the back in three. He still had a chance of making a halve. His approach shot put him in virtually no opportunity to get it close. I managed to get that out of the way really having made hard work of it. The next hole, I make hard work of it and he then makes par.

So coming down those last two holes, and they are long holes for me, 240 yards to the pin at 17 and then a 500 yard par 4 on the last. But I've been practicing those two holes specifically in mind for this and the match play. Fortunately, he missed the green, but I was very pleased that the tactic that I employed hitting a relatively soft drive with not a lot of spin on it means it's going to kick forward up the bank and on to the green. Okay, I was fortunate to finish 15, 20 feet away, and hopefully it would have been a good chance for a two. But, you know, that hole is brutally difficult, you've just got to find the green.

The last is a hard tee shot for me because I have to carry it 240 to get on to the fairway. Fortunately it's downwind at the moment, and all of my teammates that came over with me were taking a mickie as to whether I could actually reach the fairway, and the USGA very kindly cut the rough at the bottom of the quarry for me.

Anyway, fortunately, I managed to make it on to the fairway and make 4 out of the bunker. Sort of twinged my wrist off the tee shot, and it's still hurting a bit now. To be honest, I really didn't need to make that putt because I didn't want to play any more holes right now.

It was a tough game, could have gone either way. Fortunately maybe my experiences just paid in the end, but I don't know.

CRAIG SMITH: I don't want to bring up the subject of age so quickly in this interview, but there are a handful the middle aged fellows competing out here, and you're one of them; does it get harder and harder?

GARY WOLSTENHOLME: No. My enthusiasm for the game is as strong as it ever was. It's not harder, it's obviously your game has to improve, because, you know, I've got to hit the ball better, not harder and let these kids hit it sort of 50,60 yards further than me, so subsequently I've got to make the most of every shot.

No, I don't think it's hard. It's more fun, actually. Some of these kids are great, they really are, Ollie Fisher and Lloyd Saltman, all of the guys that came over, Richie Ramsay and Robert Dinwiddie, we've just had so much fun and they are great kids. Keeps me young. So although I celebrated my 45th birthday on Sunday, you know, I still feel, well, 15 at times.

The question about the shirt, Garth, the captain, was saying, well, "We want you to use these shirts, you want to be proud to play for Britain." I'm very proud and I think the outfit looked quite good today.

Q. Let's talk a little bit about I'll let you talk a little it about your round out there today, per se, what part of your game, what was the strength?

GARY WOLSTENHOLME: I think the fact that I am a grinder, I keep hitting fairways and greens, I think I hit the first nine greens in regulation, I'm pretty proud of that to be honest. I left myself some difficult putts at times, which unfortunately I 3 putted three times, but having said that, I think it was a matter of finding fairways, finding greens. Picked up something on the range this morning; it's helping me hit the ball a bit better. Even managed to find the two long par 4s on the front nine, and in two, so that's pleasing. It's patience.

Q. You've been playing amateur golf now for over 20 years. You've been around, you've seen a lot of golf courses?

GARY WOLSTENHOLME: Yeah.

Q. How does this golf course stack up?

GARY WOLSTENHOLME: I would say this is one of the more difficult golf courses I've ever played. Certainly it's as a championship course goes, I don't think there's any that are appreciably harder, if anything, if harder at all. You know, you play Carnoustie when it's set up for the Open, you play Turnberry when it's set up for the Open, you play Muirfield when it's set up for the Open, those courses are comparable, and I would say this is as difficult. Because it's got a great variety of holes, you've got long par 4s, short par 4s, and those short par 4s are still difficult, the greens are very firm, the pin placements when they are set up for an Amateur Championship like they are today, they are hard to access and you've got to be terribly careful. It just gives me a great deal of admiration for the guys on Tour, because seriously, how they play week in, week out on courses like this, I have no idea because it really is wearing.

Q. Is this a golf course that you can attack?

GARY WOLSTENHOLME: I think if you're playing your very best golf, you can attack some holes, but you can't attack the golf course overall, because it will bite back, no doubt about that. You've got to play patient golf in my opinion. But I don't want to give up all my secrets away, so I'll just leave it at that.

Q. What do you take out of your round today and carry it over to tomorrow?

GARY WOLSTENHOLME: Hopefully the fact that I struck the ball a bit better than I have been, but tactically, I'm getting better. I'm understanding the golf course better the more I play it. I mean, unfortunately I only had one practice round like everyone else, and this golf course really requires a little bit more than that.

So by the very fact now that I've played the course three times, you know, tactically I've got a better idea of how I need to play the golf course. I've got more good muscle memory shots out there, where I've hit good shots into greens and good tee shots that hopefully that will help me play better in the next few rounds.

CRAIG SMITH: You've been over here from Britain since when?

GARY WOLSTENHOLME: I think it was the 6th of August. So it's been a long time.

But the thing; I love playing in America, I love American people, I love being here, and I'm not just saying that, I really enjoy being over here. The people that Mark and Nancy Goldberg who I'm staying with right now are such good people. We've met so many good people out here that have genuinely wanted us to do well, the British players. They've enjoyed having us around the house, have enjoyed our camaraderie and that sort of thing. We've had a lot of fun. You know, that's been true almost from the word go. We met up on the 5th of August in London as a team. We've had so much fun, and I'm at the moment just enjoying it. I'm wanting it to last for as long as possible.

CRAIG SMITH: And you've gone through a couple of tour stops, both Chicago and here, what have you gone to see both as a team or individually?

GARY WOLSTENHOLME: We had an incredibly memorable road trip in Chicago, which architecturally, the city is fabulous, but it was just an amazing day. We had 12 guys that got on really, really well and we had just such a good time. Just, you know, some of the practice rounds we had, we played at Skokie and we played at Olympia Fields, and I got on really well with one or two of the players in particular, Ollie and Rhys and Richie, all of the guys, we just had so much fun. You know, I just don't want it to stop. I want everyone to stay and be with me. We watched Shrek last night, and we just had just laughing from start to finish. We just had a great time.

CRAIG SMITH: What's the update on the 3 wood you had trouble with in Chicago?

GARY WOLSTENHOLME: Fortunately I got it repaired. But I've been warned that it can come off at any time, so I'm praying that it won't come off, and that's the second time it came off when it was in Chicago. I'd hate to think that it cost me that particular game, but fortunately the pro at Chicago Golf Club got it fixed for me and it seems okay. So far I've hit some good shots and just praying it keeps on.

CRAIG SMITH: Just for the record here, most points for gb and a Walker Cup, ten points.

GARY WOLSTENHOLME: Funny enough, Michael Bonallack came up to me after the dinner we had after the match was finished and he said, "I don't mind at all that you take my record." It was a great match, and it was a great game. You know, I'm just very proud to have achieved that. I've still got lots more things that I want to achieve in the game and certainly that's one I'm very proud of.

Q. A couple things, one, has there been any kind of Walker Cup aftermath with the team?

GARY WOLSTENHOLME: I think we've created probably one of the strongest bonds of a team that I've experienced in the Walker Cup. I'll say that quite outstandingly, this will be we will be friends for life, every one of us.

Now, other Walker Cups, we've had that similar bond, but not in the same way. I don't know why, whether it's just the combination of the young guys and the fun that we've had, but I truly believe that we'll be friends for life and that's quite special.

Q. Was it difficult to get over that or how long did it take?

GARY WOLSTENHOLME: No, not at all. I think we obviously had to chat with Nigel and make sure that he wasn't down on himself, because he played some great golf. Matt Richardson was really down; we had to talk to him and just say, look, you know, it was such an amazing match. I've never experienced a situation where we were applauded off the golf course by the spectators. Not just for the shots that we played but the whole match. I can't remember that it sort of happened at Ganton, but considering we were on the losing side, we were applauded by Brits and Americans alike, and that's very special. You know, I didn't feel that we lost that match; the Americans won it. That makes it a lot easier to overcome.

Q. You talk about 17 and 18, obviously you played them a little bit more because obviously they would be crucially guess. You talked about having a driver on 17, I guess a soft driver I think is what you said, explain that, and explain what you're trying to do on 17.

GARY WOLSTENHOLME: What I'm trying to do, it's 240 yards, it's downhill, but it's into the wind. Now, it's very easy to try and hit 3 wood and get too much spin by hitting had hard, and unless you get it just right it won't make the slope.

So what I've got to try and do is I've got to take a little bit of spin off the driver. In other words, it's not going to fly as far, but when it lands, it will topspin out much more readily. The approach to that green, it's quite soft, so I can't do it with a 3 wood unless I get a real turny, sort of top spinny 3 wood and that's quite I hard shot to play under the circumstances. So all I was trying to do was hit soft driver, pitch it on the front and let it climb the slope, which if there was such a thing as a perfect shot, I just played it.

Q. And 18, if the wind is in your face at 18, can you get to the hill?

GARY WOLSTENHOLME: I can, but I've got to hit my best. And, in fact, in some respects, what happened on 12 highlights the difficulty that I have; that if I don't get to my driver on 18, I won't reach the crest of the hill. You know, I've just got to putt my best swing on it.

A very good friend of mine, Dr. David Marsh, who has been involved with English golf for years and years, he's a very good friend and I'm very good friends with his sons, gave me the best piece of advice that I ever had when I was very young. He said, "If you need to hit the balance further, hit it better, not harder," and what's that I have to concentrate on.

Q. What did you have into 18 today?

GARY WOLSTENHOLME: I had 5 wood. To be honest, as I say, my wrist was a bit sore, so to be honest I didn't hit it as well as I could have done but I could reach with 5 wood, so he is that the first time this week that I can actually pitch the green if I really had been able to hit my best shot. So I'm pleased about that.

Q. Do you think the clothing intimidates?

GARY WOLSTENHOLME: Well, if it does, that's a bonus. No, it's because I'm proud to be representing my country.

CRAIG SMITH: Back home, will they follow what your group is doing here until you get home?

GARY WOLSTENHOLME: Yeah, I would say that they will there will be quite a few people following this. I've got friends in America who I've been able to stay with over the years, people have turned up this week that I've known, so the great thing is that I'll have hopefully quite a few people that I've known over the years that will be following this both here and at home.

Q. I was reading something the other day about Bobby Jones, how he used to play courses, the year that he won the Grand Slam, he used to play the courses versus playing the player in match play. Is this a course that would lends itself to that?

GARY WOLSTENHOLME: Absolutely. And it's a tactic that I've employed all my life; except partly today. I sort of got drawn in to play my opponent unintentionally. I always try and play the golf course. If I can beat the course, and this course is a hard course to beat, if I can beat this course, anybody who beats me deserves to go through.

Q. Why did you get pulled into that?

GARY WOLSTENHOLME: Partly because I've made some mental errors from the point of view of 3 putting three times, and I was just hanging in. You know, it's a bit like I was a bit on the ropes trying to just make some sense of what I had just done. Fortunately I talked myself around and maybe that's just the experience I've got. But I gave myself a bit of a stern talking to, actually and I then got back to playing the golf course directly.

Holes like 15, where players put it out of bounds, and I'm now thinking, right, okay, it's you've still got a hard approach, the best he's likely to do is a 5, I'm and for some strange reason, I tried to determine all that I needed to do is just pop it on the front edge and 2 putt, or if I didn't, you know, I'd accept maybe halve if he was able to do that. Now, that's very unlike me, and I don't know why maybe the early couple of rounds you want to get into it, you want to get on a roll, get your tactics sort of out, get the way you need to play the golf course sorted out in your mind, the more you play, the better you become, the less you then rely having to play against your opponent. You then play the golf course.

But, you know, in some respects, I'm a bit leery about telling you all this because I don't want everyone else to start doing it what I know is the right way of doing it.

Q. Did you talk to yourself on 16 tee?

GARY WOLSTENHOLME: I talk to myself all the time. If a psychiatrist got a hold of me he'd probably have me certified. I'm not quite as bad at Richie Ramsay, though. Richie Ramsay has a friend like Mr. Ed because he talked to him all the time. I'm not quite that bad but I'm getting that way.

CRAIG SMITH: Gary, thank you.

End of FastScripts.

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