U.S. AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

August 10, 2021

Devon Bling

Oakmont Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Talk about what happened on 17 today.

DEVON BLING: Oh, yeah. No, I just hit a perfect tee shot. I knew it was 300 to carry the front. Hit it perfect, right at the flag. I can't see anything so I was hoping for a few claps. I got a few. I didn't know where the ball was.

But, yeah, I just hit a perfect tee shot, flew onto the green, landed like a wedge, and then happened to make a 12-footer.

Q. What did you hit off the tee?

DEVON BLING: I hit driver off the tee.

Q. What that pin over the bunker?

DEVON BLING: No, it was like middle left towards the back bunker. It was a pretty difficult pin and I had a 12-footer from just short right of it, so it was in a perfect spot. It was probably where I was trying to hit a chip shot, too, so...

Q. You kind of joked that you were having trouble hitting the par-3s, and there you go and hit 17.

DEVON BLING: Yeah, no, that was the closest ball off the tee I hit all day and happened to be a par-4, so that's the way golf is, right?

Q. What happened with the tee ball here on 18?

DEVON BLING: I was struggling with the driver a little bit today and I pulled it in the left trap. I was missing it right so I aimed down the left and happened to hit one straight.

You know, you got to take your medicine, chip it out, and then four hours later I'm trying to hit a wedge and greens softened up a lot and got a little extra spin on it. You know, it's okay. It's golf. It's what happens. It's the nature of the game.

I'm just happy to be hopefully moving on to match play.

Q. Were you expecting that spin?

DEVON BLING: I was expecting that, but I was expecting a little hop forward first. So I thought if I flighted it down enough it would take -- the first hop would take a little off and then it would spin back a little bit.

That happened to just hit and rip.

Q. I would say you're comfortably into match play. Considering what you've done in this championship before, what is your mental state going into match play?

DEVON BLING: It's the same thing. I'm just playing against the golf course. If I play another solid round like today, I should be okay.

But, yeah, my plan doesn't change. Obviously match play, if you're tied or one down or one ahead going into the last couple holes something might change, but I'm just going to approach it like I've always approached it and play against myself, the golf course, and add them up at the end of the day.

Q. Is that just the objective to get into match play, doesn't matter how or where, or do you have -- would you like to get, you know, higher in the draw or whatever?

DEVON BLING: I think anybody who makes match play can win the tournament. It's just -- I mean, I was 41 seed when I went all the way in 2018. Making match play is the number one thing, and then just luck of the draw from there on forward.

And playing good golf, so...