U.S. ADAPTIVE OPEN

July 19, 2022

Zachary Duncan

Pinehurst Resort & C.C. (Course No. 6)

Quick Quotes

Q. We have Zachary Duncan here. Nice round today. Can you talk us through your round a little bit?

ZACHARY DUNCAN: Today I was trying to come back out here today to play basically a better round than I did the first day when we started. But today the greens are a little bit tricky to read, the slopes and the ground reading and all that stuff. So I had putts mainly going past the hole or like off the green again. But also when I have it very well consistently towards the hole, it would lip out. I didn't like -- can I not get the ball in the hole, please.

Today I shot a 101 so I'm not happy about that, but that's a golf round. That's what you have to do. It will happen in golf. Some days you will have bad rounds, some days you will have good. That's all.

Q. I just heard it's your birthday, so happy birthday. Does it get any better than this?

ZACHARY DUNCAN: Oh, it gets extra better than that. 101 is past then, so 101 is perfectly fine for me but it doesn't burn my birthday up.

Q. I know you said you had a special someone waiting for you after the round. What did you tell her earlier?

ZACHARY DUNCAN: I would see her after she plays. She wants to -- she's very, very eagerly wanting to see me because after when she first saw me when we did our first practice round, she's like, I like you, and I'm like, I just don't -- I've known you just one minute, so how do you know you like me right now. I think she's kind of fonding into me or kind of happy to be a best friend to me. Basically we exchanged numbers to each other, so when we're on the course we text if we're in the middle not putting or hitting a golf ball and say, hey, how are you doing, are you hitting well, how many drinks did you do, are you kind of feeling okay or something.

But we keep in touch, so this morning she's like, I want to see you, I'm so eager to see you. I'm like, okay, but if you don't see me I'm playing. Right now she's getting ready to get done so she can see me.

Q. What is it about golf that you like the best?

ZACHARY DUNCAN: What is it about golf that I like the best? Good question. Basically what I like about golf is basically it's like you get to meet new people, number one. Number two, you get to be out there in the Open. Not only just out there in the Open, you get to learn and get more experienced in your sport.

So when I started at seven years old as a little kid, I was hitting the ball like a young kid to the 100-yard marker in one minute. So now I have played since I was seven years old, but what brought me to liking golf a lot is seeing people getting to achieve -- to either win or lose, but the name of golf is -- I'm like, that's my sport. I want to do a career, try to become PGA, and otherwise just make it a sport that I want to go out there and have fun, not just to go out there and say I'm going to make it, I'm going to win this tournament, I'm going to do this. No, I'm going to go out there and just have basically a persistent or correct happy life or round of golf to me.

I feel like golf to me is -- how can I put this? A dream career for me, what I want to do. So that's what I want to say.

Q. Seems like you enjoy golf in the moment, but you also have a really great long-term perspective in golf. What does it mean for you to be part of the group of players who were selected to be in the first inaugural U.S. Adaptive Open?

ZACHARY DUNCAN: What it means to me to be playing in an inaugural tournament like this is basically a blessing because basically to see people that have, like I said in some other interviews, losing their limbs could be really damaging to their lives and to their families, but realizing not only did you see them play and see them swing a golf club still, you can know that God plus USGA, PGA, any organization that is trying to help people that have that disability say, you still have that. Don't get mad at yourself. You have the urge or the strength of pushing it hard, playing it hard, and basically saying, I am not going to give up.

What brought me to this tournament and what you're trying to say is what is it to me that I feel about what made me play with these people. To me to get to meet new friends, not only just what they look like but how they play, react and get to know each other, and it's fun to get to know their other countries and see what their life style is compared to ours in the U.S.

Basically to me what brought me here today, I'm very happy to be here, plus I'm grateful that I was selected for the Adaptive Open as well as the USGA as well as the Special Olympics of North Carolina.

To me, being with these people is a big blessing, and I really hope to do another tournament with them and get to keep in touch and still with friends with each other.