U.S. MID-AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

September 29, 2021

Nick Maccario

Sankaty Head Golf Club

Quick Quotes

Q. First of all, the match this afternoon, can you tell me a little -- you got out quick, obviously.

NICK MACCARIO: Yeah, it was one of those, I didn't hit any balls at the range or anything and felt good about my swing. The first like three, four holes this whole tournament has given me a little bit of a problem, so I was like really concentrating on making pars out of the gate, and they've been good enough in my other matches to win holes against me. I kind of took the same mentality and said, if I can do that to someone else and if they have an unforced error, which fortunately happened, then I'll be on the right side of it.

Q. How hard is it on this golf course do you think to come from behind? Is it harder than some other places?

NICK MACCARIO: Yeah, I think it depends on where you are on the golf course. Like this morning, I was down 2 through two, but my caddie Matt said, well, you'd rather be 2-down through two than 3-down with three to play. With the pin locations with the wind, it's really hard to get aggressive with some of the pins, so it's probably equal depending on where you are on the golf course, but certainly if you're trying to come back, it's certainly hard to do.

Q. Can you think at all now just about back to Monday when you were in the 13 for 7 and up on that tee right there?

NICK MACCARIO: Right. Me and Matt were talking about that right when we finished today, how crazy things happened. I finished my round here that foggy day, I finished Eagle-birdie to shoot 71, and if I don't do that, I'm not even in the conversation.

The benefit of playing in the wind is pars are a really good score 99 percent of the time. When we got to 10, it was, hey, let's just make par and see what happens. I hit two really quality shots and a good putt, and it took care of itself.

Got a good draw in regards to not having to play at all again that today, conserve a little bit of energy and then be able to play 36 yesterday or whenever that was. It seems like days ago at this point.

Q. Yes, it's been a bit of a groundhog day kind of feeling.

NICK MACCARIO: Exactly.

Q. But to win four matches and get to this point, obviously you've had a lot of success on the state and regional level. How about on the national level, how does this -- did you feel like you had this in you?

NICK MACCARIO: I definitely did. I played a really heavy national schedule this year and didn't get necessarily the results I thought -- what I wanted, but certainly it taught me a lot about the game, taught me a lot about how some of the best players play those golf courses.

Being in the home state, knowing the weather and having played in the wind and everything else has certainly been helpful.

Q. What about Sankaty itself? How much had you played here before?

NICK MACCARIO: Yeah, just once. I came back out here in August, so the VP of my sales group's brother is a member here, Darrell Gustafson, and he had me and Matt Parziale out in August, and we played, and it was a day that it was fairly windy. It wasn't like it is now, but it's breathtaking. The whole golf course is unbelievable. The conditioning is fantastic.

Today is a polar opposite wind, but you still have some gettable holes. You have some really hard holes. It keeps you on your toes for sure.

Q. It's a great match play course, too, in that regard, right?

NICK MACCARIO: Absolutely.

Q. With the changing wind and the --

NICK MACCARIO: And that's -- with the new pins and the new wind, certain holes are going to suit certain players, and then when it switches where it would have been different the day before, it now benefits the other player. It is, it's an unbelievable match play course. Some holes are gettable, but again, some holes are just absolute bears. If the wind switches, it could be the opposite.

Q. You said you grew up playing at St. John's Prep, friends and others who you've been matched up with in college and otherwise, how many people have you heard from?

NICK MACCARIO: Yeah, it's been phenomenal. I can feel my phone buzzing in my pocket now. But yeah, everybody is supportive, from -- I've heard from a lot of different people, family, friends, high school buddies, college, people at work. My email is going at work. Everyone has been fantastic.

Again, being it's in the home state, it's a little weird that it's in the home state but not necessarily in it, but it's been really great.

Q. I know that we talked to Hayes about getting -- he was the 64.

NICK MACCARIO: That kid is incredible. That is incredible.

Q. He felt like even from the beginning of match play, he said, talking with his dad, his caddie, you're kind of playing with house money; is there any kind of attitude that way, that hey, everything else is --

NICK MACCARIO: Yeah, and I think every hole is a little bit like that because you know everyone is going to have a mistake here or there. As you go further and further in the tournament, you're like -- the goal when you start the week is to make match play, and then you get there, and you're like, I just want to win this first match, I don't care about anyone else. Then you take that same mentality to each match after that.

You're not thinking about the final match. It's like, I'm thinking about the match tomorrow morning at 7:45 or whatever it is and going from there. So I think that's the mentality.

Even when you get in the match, then it's okay, now it's the first hole. Now it's who cares about the 17th hole. It's not like stroke play.

I think that's the mentality.