U.S. MID-AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

September 30, 2021

Stewart Hagestad

Sankaty Head Golf Club

Quick Quotes

Q. That was quite a run there, 5 through 11 where you won all but one of those holes. Tell me what was working so well.

STEWART HAGESTAD: I birdied 11, I birdied 8, 9, 10 and 11; is that right?

Q. Yes.

STEWART HAGESTAD: Yeah, well, it's blowing 20 and I made five birdies, so that's helpful.

Yeah, I hit -- we had a lot of good numbers and we executed well. We stuck to our game plan, and it worked out.

Q. Obviously you were getting the ball in the fairway, but you were also dialed in on the irons, especially the one at 11.

STEWART HAGESTAD: Yeah, yeah, that was a good one. I tugged that just a touch and got lucky. I'm glad it turned out to be a foot. The first thing I said to Pete was that I tugged it and I got lucky.

Q. You're 5-up, obviously a long way to go, and you've been on the other side of this coin several years ago. What's it feel like being in the lead at this point?

STEWART HAGESTAD: I haven't done a thing. I mean, I think he was the Met Player of the Year in 2020. He drives it great. He gave me a couple holes early. He's got a ton of firepower, and if he goes in -- you can't let a guy win the last hole to go into the last match. Credit to him for making par; it's a tough hole. But you can't do that.

We've got a lot of work to do, and I'm -- we haven't done anything yet. It's a good start, but it's not much more than that.

Q. Does the experience of having come from behind help you know mentally that you've got to stay on your game even though you're 5-up?

STEWART HAGESTAD: I was 3-up through 6 and lost to a guy a week ago, so a lot can happen in match play. You need to go have a good game plan and think right and execute. Yeah, it doesn't mean anything.

Q. This is a unique situation in that the two 18s are split between two days. What might you do tonight to get ready for the next 18 holes?

STEWART HAGESTAD: Same thing I did last night: Try and be in bed at a relatively good hour, eat, stretch, just go relax, just keep my phone in airplane mode. Not a whole lot.

Q. What did you see from -- he seemed to calm down a little bit on the back side in terms of playing. What did you see from him as the 18 holes wore on?

STEWART HAGESTAD: Yeah, I don't know. I think it's much easier to calm down when you're 6 or 7 down, so I think that's a pretty natural thing.

I just tried to keep hitting good shots. On the front you can make a bunch of birdies and you can make a run, so as I said, you've got to keep the pedal down. But the back, I think there's tough holes, and -- yeah.

Q. You also hit two great bunker shots to keep the pressure on him.

STEWART HAGESTAD: Yeah, and he made a couple great putts. Again, it's easier to free up when you're playing with your back against the wall, so you need to keep the pedal down.