U.S. AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

August 13, 2021

Ross Steelman

Oakmont Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. So he jumped on you early there.

ROSS STEELMAN: Yep.

Q. Got up to 3-up.

ROSS STEELMAN: Uh-huh.

Q. What are you thinking at that point?

ROSS STEELMAN: Just don't hit the panic button yet. There are 18 holes for a reason. Was able to get it pretty tight down the stretch. Missed a makable putt on 15 to square it up, and then got a bad break plug in the front bunker on 16 and he made a good birdie on top of me on 17 to win.

Q. How far was the putt that you made that forced him him make the putt on 17?

ROSS STEELMAN: Probably 12, 15 feet; 7, 8, maybe. So it was just a good -- I mean, he played well. He deserved to win.

Q. How do you feel about this whole experience? If I said your name to a lot of these golf writers they probably wouldn't have known it before this week.

ROSS STEELMAN: No, definitely not.

Q. So where does that put you mentally now, especially going into your fall season?

ROSS STEELMAN: Yeah, it's great. I've known I'm a good player for a while. My coaches and guys that I hang around and play with I think know the same thing.

Just being able to prove it on a big stage like this is awesome. Just a lot of momentum to build on, a lot of good shots, a lot of good putts.

I played really well. Just got to beat today, and that happens.

Q. What do you think happened that triggered this performance before you got here? Usually there is something, some event you play in or something that you did that gets you in the right way of going here?

ROSS STEELMAN: I don't really know. I felt like I was well-prepared for this week. I was well-rested. I finished school last week. I was taking summer school classes. I was done with those, didn't have to worry about it.

I've been playing well pretty much since about halfway through our spring season this year. Yeah, once you get momentum in golf you just try and keep it going, don't change anything up.

Not really one spark. Just kind of an overall picture of kind of playing pretty well.

Q. Yeah. We talked earlier about some of your Georgia Tech teammates reached out it you. What's the best piece of advice they gave you heading into either today or this whole week?

ROSS STEELMAN: Andy told me, he said, Just take it one shot at a time the whole time out there. He said, No matter how far up or down you get, just one shot at a time.

And that's kind of something that Coach Heppler echoed as well. In match play that's even more true than stroke play. You're never out until the last putt is down.