U.S. AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

August 12, 2021

Mark Goetz

Oakmont Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Hey, Mark, can you talk about what happened there on the last four holes?

MARK GOETZ: You know, 15 I missed a short one there. Hit a pretty good wedge in and I ran it by by a little bit.

That was a really tricky pin location. Missed a short one, and then he hit a great shot on 16. I was kind of in between shots. Wasn't too confident.

But I thought I hit a pretty good bunker shot and hit a decent putt there just around the edge.

And then 17 just kind of got into a dicey spot. I was planning only hitting 3-wood but it was a little into the breeze so ended up hitting driver, but...

Q. Where exactly did you end up on 17?

MARK GOETZ: So it was on the downslope in the second cut just short of the bunker. It was kind of a weird lie, but I didn't do a great job with that one.

Yeah, definitely going back I wish I would've had that one back.

Then 18, you know, I tried to hold it up into the wind and hit it great. Just kind of hung it out to the right, and then I thought we hit a decent wedge in there, didn't really spin back, and then he made it, so...

Q. No chance in the bunker?

MARK GOETZ: No, those two are dead over there.

Q. Yeah. Tell us about building the lead. You were down there for a while and then you built the lead up.

MARK GOETZ: Yeah, it was a strange two days. I bogeyed 4 late last night to get to all square, and then I've played great today. I hit it really solid. I knew that stretch from like 10 to 15 was going to be pretty important.

You know, 11 kind of hit a bad chip there.

12, 13, 14, they were great. Did a great job on 12. Hit a good second shot.

And then 13 was kind of an awkward number but we hit a pretty good one there.

And then 14 just pretty much got to just get it in play. Hit a really good wedge there.

But, yeah, it was good. I played really solid for most of the day.

Q. Is there a level of disappointment?

MARK GOETZ: Yeah, a little. It was a pretty big deal for me to get into this event, to tell you the truth. Everything on top of that was icing on the cake.

Yeah, I mean, I wish I would be around for this afternoon and later this week. It was a great week, man. It was a lot of fun. I had a big Hannastown crowd following me. That was awesome.

Q. Had to feel like maybe you were in a pro tournament the size of that crowd.

MARK GOETZ: It's pretty cool. I could name you most of those guys in that crowd. That's what was funny.

But, yeah, I mean, it was awesome. Yeah.

Q. When you hit your second shot on 15, and he was in the bunker and he had to punch out.

MARK GOETZ: Yeah.

Q. Actually he hit a great third shot.

MARK GOETZ: Yeah.

Q. Did you let off the gas maybe or did that come through your mind?

MARK GOETZ: I didn't think so.

Q. That you could've ended it right there?

MARK GOETZ: Yeah, absolutely. That's what I told Matt. I said, Let's knock this one in and get out of here.

Yeah, I mean, it wasn't that far by. Didn't really feel like I tried to jam it in there at all. It was just kind of a tough putt.

That pin on that middle left side is very, very strange.

Not really, man.

Q. So the second putt, where did you miss?

MARK GOETZ: So it broke right down the hill and then I played it inside right and then it broke to the right again. That's what I'm saying. That hole is pretty dicey, and I knew this going into when I saw the pin before we even tee'd off.

It's all good.

Q. What do you want to take away from this experience? It's disappointing, but not in a way.

MARK GOETZ: I think honestly it reassures to me that this is my favorite place on the planet now. I had a 3-up lead there. I've had leads here before. We know how that goes, right?

So this place is awesome. I don't know what I'm going to take away from the play this week. We'll see. Probably going to go to the club, hang out later today, and it will take a while to sink in for sure.

Q. Much of match play is a crapshoot, yet it's not, it's a test of skill. For two rounds you beat everybody. What do you take out of that? You were better than every amateur in the world for the first rounds.

MARK GOETZ: That's a great question. I think that --

Q. Because that's like really cool.

MARK GOETZ: Yeah. I mean, you know, I think part of that was a level of comfort between these two places. I think I got a good draw.

But, yeah, for me that kind of felt like qualifying to get into a lineup at school. You have to play really well. The way that Sean sets up our qualifiers, you have to win to guarantee your spot. It felt really similar to that.

Obviously it was on the on a much bigger scale, but that's really what it felt like, to tell you the truth.