U.S JUNIOR AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

July 28, 2022

Nick Dunlap

Bandon Dunes Golf Resort

Quick Quotes

Q. You're a marked man at this championship. What's going on?

NICK DUNLAP: I am. You've got a target on your back and you're going to get everybody's best shot, and I knew that. William had obviously beaten Christiaan 21 holes, 20 holes, whatever he beat him. It was a good match. It was back and forth all day. I think I got to 2-up and then he obviously birdied 16 and 17. Yeah, it was back and forth all day.

Q. Was there any issues waiting that long for that match to finish?

NICK DUNLAP: No, it was actually nice. I kind of kicked my feet up back here and enjoyed a little rest. But you've got to do what you've got to do.

Q. He came after you in the afternoon match; really things were tight until you got to the 13th hole. What happened there?

NICK DUNLAP: Yeah, so I hit my drive a little left, had a good angle to the pin. He was kind of down there, he probably hit a wedge of some sort. Actually we couldn't shoot the pin because of the fog, so we had so step it off. Just kind of figured it was a little floaty 8-iron out there and got a good kick, ended up about five, six feet, hit it to about 15, 18 feet and he missed, and I made it. It was just a huge momentum switch for me.

Q. When you get an eagle like that in any round, does that pump you up more?

NICK DUNLAP: Absolutely. I gave him a hole on 11, made double. Made a good lag putt on 12, which was a hard hole today, and then to make eagle on 13, I felt like it flipped it a little bit for me.

Q. You did go up 2-up on 15 with a par. Tell me about that one.

NICK DUNLAP: That's a hard shot. That's a really hard shot. It's probably 160 on the ground, something like that. I'm hitting my 205, 210 club and just trying -- left is bad, right is bad, short is bad, long is bad. You've got to try to hit a good shot. It looks like that pin is somewhere on the ocean, so just pick your target and try to commit to it.

Q. Obviously it comes down to the end here.

NICK DUNLAP: Yeah, I was 2-up. I said, I almost made a hole-in-one on 16 and my ball rolled over the green into not a very good lie and hit a great chip. I ended up missing. We exchanged birdies on 17. And on 18, my ball -- these bunkers are -- playing in Tour events, every bunker is perfect. Bunkers are supposed to be hazards, and I feel like that is a little bit more out here, and my ball didn't get all the way down to the bottom, and I kind of had to get creative with a shot. I had 16 feet and just kind of didn't hit it hard enough, and unfortunately I didn't want it to end that way for William. I played so well all day. I wish we could have kept going.

Q. Any satisfaction even though you won this last year, any satisfaction of now here we are and you've gotten all the way to the quarterfinal round?

NICK DUNLAP: Absolutely. I haven't been as nervous the second day in stroke play as I have in a while. Every match I feel like is going down to the wire, and just like that, it's -- he makes that and we can -- one bad swing, you lose.

From not playing well the last couple months and to kind of feel where my game is at now, it feels awesome.