U.S JUNIOR AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

July 21, 2021

Jackson Van Paris

The Country Club of North Carolina

Quick Quotes

Q. I didn't notice a lot of birdies on the card, seemed like you just won a lot of holes with pars.

JACKSON VAN PARIS: Yeah, the course was playing tough. Neither Spencer nor I played our best. But it was just a grind. It's one of those matches that neither of us played the way we wanted to, but you've just kind of got to grind it out. I got fortunate, I made a few really important putts for par and kind of kept momentum on my side for the most part, which was great, and then ended up making some birdies coming in, which was nice.

Q. Any key hole early on that got you some momentum?

JACKSON VAN PARIS: No, nothing that I can really think of. Hole 5 I got up and down from the drop zone for par. That was really big for me to kind of keep my momentum.

Q. To tie the hole?

JACKSON VAN PARIS: No, to win the hole. So that was big for me to kind of not drop a shot on that hole. They moved the tees up so it was playing a little easier today. Yeah, that was important for me. That was probably -- that was one of the biggest moments for me in the match.

Q. Was it weird playing a kid from North Carolina first round?

JACKSON VAN PARIS: Yeah, it was. Spencer and I are good friends, so you just hate -- you don't want to play your friend in the first round of match play. It's unfortunate. But we had fun. It was a fun day. Yeah, but it was weird playing someone from North Carolina.

Q. Do you look at this draw because that upper half has got a lot of big-name guys, including your friend Kelly.

JACKSON VAN PARIS: Yeah, I mean, if you want to win the event you've got to beat them all anyways, so that's kind of the way I look at it. So yeah, I don't look at it any differently than even if I was playing a bunch of guys I've never heard of. I wouldn't look at it any differently. You've just got to go out and try to play your game and play a little better than the guy you're playing against.

Q. Is your family Dutch?

JACKSON VAN PARIS: We are not. We are Belgian. A lot of people ask us that, but yeah.

Q. What kind of stood out as far as highlights during that three-hole stretch there?

JACKSON VAN PARIS: You know, nothing really too amazing, to be honest, just solid golf. I did a good job of not giving him too much breathing room. I made a lot of pars. I made two bogeys, but they were holes that I thought were playing pretty tough, and they were holes that I just -- bogey was kind of an okay score on. So I was really happy with that, and match play it's really important to kind of not really give your opponent any holes.

3 was really big for me, I hit it in the water on 3 and got up and down from the drop zone for bogey, and he had like a 40-footer for birdie and ended up three-pointing. Stuff like that kind of needs to happen if you want to win matches when both guys are playing very well. It was by no means a birdie-fest out there.

It's really nice when you know you're kind of grinding and you can kind of steal a few.