U.S. MID-AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

October 1, 2021

Mark Costanza

Sankaty Head Golf Club

Quick Quotes

Q. First of all, just can you tell me, you battled back at the end of the day yesterday, and that was really important I'm assuming for the start of today.

MARK COSTANZA: Yeah. Yeah, it was huge. At one point I was 7-down, right, so to get it to 5 -- I wanted to get it to 3. I said if I could get it to 3 at the end of the day yesterday would have been great. But to get it to 5 was satisfactory and gave me a chance. I knew I needed to get off to a good start.

The birdie I made on 3 was huge. That was a tough shot, and I hit a great 4-iron in there, and I think that kind of just set the tone and relaxed me almost for the day. Just started playing well from there.

Q. Obviously you also, besides the winning holes, you made four or five up-and-downs, most of them to tap-in distance. How important is it to keep your nerve and make sure you don't let it get any farther away. You didn't let it get farther away.

MARK COSTANZA: Yeah, it's tough because when you're digging yourself out of a hole, you want to make birdies, but you know if you falter you're going deeper into the hole. You've got to keep the momentum going.

I think I kept the honor the entire day. I don't think I lost the honor once. I'm pretty proud of that. Yeah, I made some clutch up-and-downs and I'm proud of myself.

Q. Tell me about a couple of the birdies; obviously you made a couple late in the front nine but then on the back --

MARK COSTANZA: Yeah. My putter is my strength for the most part. I knew that if I gave myself some opportunities, I could make some putts. There were a few that I missed, but I also made a couple bombs. Those were exciting.

Kudos to Stew on 16 there. I mean, that was huge. That was one of the biggest putts, if not the biggest putt I've made in my life, and he drained it right on top of me. So good for him. He's a great, great player.

Q. You also made it anybody's game by the putt on 13; did you see that tracking the whole way?

MARK COSTANZA: Yeah. That thing moved a lot.

Q. Big right-to-left swing.

MARK COSTANZA: I was looking at it and I was like, wow, this thing has got some serious, serious swing to it. I just felt the speed, I felt the line, and as soon as it got about eight feet away and it was tracking on a good line, I knew it was in.

Q. What about 14, just a little low? That was a really good chance. Were you maybe eight feet or so?

MARK COSTANZA: Yeah. You know, I've had that putt probably six times in the last two days, two and a half days. Not on that hole, but just the same like 10-footer, right to left, and it's funny, when I'm playing at home with my buddies or I'm just like free-wheeling it, the stroke is a lot more free, and I even said to Meredith, I said, I'm like, I've got to keep my stroke free because I'm just not letting that putter face open a little bit on the back, and I did it again there, and I left it low.

It's just tough. I wish I could have it back, but yeah, just a little low.

Q. And then again, a chance on 15, you made it to 16. You brought it just about to the last hole, which is a pretty incredible -- I don't want to say accomplishment; I know you didn't get done what you wanted to do.

MARK COSTANZA: Yeah, no, I'm extremely, extremely proud of myself the way that I played today. Going into this morning, I've got to admit I wasn't feeling too hot. I wasn't feeling too great, and I just said, hey, regardless of what happens, it's been a great week, and let's just try to play my game.

Luckily I came out and I played the way I know I'm capable of playing. I hope I earned Stew's respect.

Q. No question you kept his attention the whole day. When you say not feeling, were you not feeling physically or was it just a mental grind or a little bit of both?

MARK COSTANZA: Yeah, you know, just wasn't feeling that great physically. Had a rough night sleeping last night. You know, you've got to power through. It's a lot of golf. It's a lot of pressure. It's a lot of mental and physical strain.

But I can say that I'm really proud of myself and I'm happy to be able to fly to Italy tonight and enjoy the next week and not see a golf club for a while, for a week.

Q. Whereabouts are you going?

MARK COSTANZA: We're flying to Rome tonight and then we're going to stay in Capri and Positano for the next week.

Q. Leaving out of Logan?

MARK COSTANZA: We're leaving out of JFK, so we've got a flight out of here at 1:49.

Q. You're a little bit on the clock.

MARK COSTANZA: Yeah, exactly.

Q. So you made the match a little longer and tightened your opportunity.

MARK COSTANZA: I was hoping maybe there was somebody here with a jet that could take me down there in case things got interesting.

Q. About the week in general here on Nantucket at Sankaty and what you did this week as a whole.

MARK COSTANZA: Well, Meredith, my caddie, we just got married on September 18th. I'm so, so happy and thankful for her and for her to be able to caddie for me has been amazing. Nantucket has been a special place for her since she was a little girl. Growing up here, she always vacationed here with her family. We've been up here multiple times, and we're going to continue to come up here.

Now this place, even before this week had a special place, but now for sure it's got a special place in my heart and in our hearts. It's just been an awesome, awesome experience.