U.S JUNIOR AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

July 28, 2022

Jeffrey Guan

Bandon Dunes Golf Resort

Quick Quotes

Q. Great playing, and now you're in the quarterfinals; how excited are you to be in the quarterfinals?

JEFFREY GUAN: I am really excited. I think the target for me this week was to make the top 64 and then focus on every match if I did make it. I did just that today. Yeah, it was a tight finish for the first round early this morning. I played against seed No. 5, and I think I only won 1-up. But that gave me a lot of momentum after beating him and utilizing that on the course this arvo.

Q. How much does winning the Australian Boys' Junior help you in this championship?

JEFFREY GUAN: I think it does help me with experience and pressure. Like a lot of pressure shots out here, you can't really make a mistake at Dunes. You miss the green, it's just going to feed like 30 or 40 meters right or left of the green, and it's just going to be a tough shot up-and-down. I think just playing smart and just making pars will get you done through the day.

Q. How many times have you come to the United States to play golf?

JEFFREY GUAN: This is my fourth time. I was here in February earlier this year close to LA, and the other two times were world juniors back in 2013 and 2015. So this is kind of like a first official trip traveling by myself all around the States.

Q. You've also played in some larger amateur events like the Trans Mississippi; you did very well there. How much has that helped acclimate you to American golf?

JEFFREY GUAN: Yeah, I do find that competition here is very strong, and everyone is really aggressive. It's just really good to see how you can be good at stroke play and match play here, and it doesn't really matter what seed I would say in match play today or this week. It's like, if you make your birdies, you're going to win your match. I think that experience gets me even more focused than I am, and know there's a lot of people out there doing the same thing as me, and I need to work hard and stick to my game.

Q. Do you see a lot of links style courses in Australia?

JEFFREY GUAN: We see a little bit back where I live in Sydney, but they're mostly just like really windy courses, and it just hits hard like a wall.

I think today, like this afternoon, the wind blew a lot, and I think that kind of helped me with my match. I kind of knew what to do in the right situation, like hitting the right club and making sure that I'm in a safe spot for my next shot.

Q. In your match today you had a string of birdies that really broke it open. You birdied 6, 7 and 8. Can you talk about how you birdied those three holes?

JEFFREY GUAN: 6, the par-3, I hit like a 4-iron and I was just trying to aim it down the center of the green, take the right side out of play, and the ball managed to just feed up about 20 feet from the hole. I had two putts to win, then the ball just miraculously went in the hole.

Then the next hole I hit 3-wood down the middle and then hit a really good wedge shot inside like four feet and then holed that putt for birdie.

Then on 8, I hit driver just short of the green and chipped it to about 10 feet and then holed that one for birdie, as well.

Q. How much do you get to play match play, and how many times have you had to play two matches in one day? Are you used to that kind of style?

JEFFREY GUAN: Back at my club for club championships, it's 36-hole match play for each match. It's a bit different that you're playing two different players if you get through the morning. Usually I'm experienced to playing the 36, so the first 18 does really count.

But there's quite a lot of match play back where I live, especially in other junior tournaments, as well.

Q. So you're very used to it, and mentally it becomes easier to you?

JEFFREY GUAN: Yes, it is, yeah.