U.S. AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

August 15, 2022

Stewart Hagestad

The Ridgewood Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. 69, you had an eagle too, correct?

STEWART HAGESTAD: I did. Yeah, that was cool.

Q. How far was the shot?

STEWART HAGESTAD: I don't remember. It was like 65.

Q. The Eagle was on 6?

CADDIE: I think we were 163 stick.

Q. What did you hit?

STEWART HAGESTAD: 8-iron.

Q. That seemed to jump start your round because you jumped out birdie-bogey --

STEWART HAGESTAD: I double-crossed one off the first tee, and then I double-crossed an iron off the second tee, and then I double-crossed a drive off the third tee and it hit a tree and knocked me back inbounds. At that point I didn't really know where the ball was going. If you had told me after the third hole I would have shot 2-under I would have walked straight in and gone and had cocktails. That would have been great.

That was a good fight, and I was definitely spinning a little, but we weathered it and on to tomorrow.

Q. You've done this enough, you've just got to get into match play. Shooting a good number the first day is always --

STEWART HAGESTAD: Kids are getting better and better, and this is a U.S. Open setup. The USGA did a great job setting it up super tough. Yeah, I'm thrilled with that round.

I think our group, I was 2-under, Wenyi was 1 and Davis was 1. I think that's a pretty good group.

Q. How was it playing with a couple other USGA champions? Obviously Ding is coming off winning the Junior in impressive fashion, Davis won the four-ball --

STEWART HAGESTAD: I mean, Wenyi just shot 5-under on the back, which is pretty sporty. Then Davis, I feel like every other hole he was looking at a tap-in birdie. No, it was fun to be with those guys. I think when you play, you definitely can have kind of some momentum go one way or the other, and I think as a group, everyone -- it was good. It was fun to watch.

Q. Have you played much since the Open?

STEWART HAGESTAD: I played the Northeast. That's it. I played a member-guest with my boss. I haven't really played at all since the Northeast.

Q. Do you have any expectations for this week?

STEWART HAGESTAD: Play great.

Q. Yeah, but when you haven't played -- you're normally a guy that plays a lot of golf in the summertime, comes into these things raring to go --

STEWART HAGESTAD: I'm pretty regimented. That's on the internet. WAGR reports what I've played in. No, I play in six or seven events a year, and then if there's a couple things that are cool that you get to qualify for then you get the chance to play in those.

I was in Chicago the whole month of July. I played once. I played like a Friday afternoon, Saturday, Sunday. Probably can't play I played Friday afternoon because I kind of snuck out of the office, so let's scratch that one. But I played on a weekend. Literally that's about it.

Q. So you got a couple practice rounds in --

STEWART HAGESTAD: Yeah, I had a little bit of time to kind of get ready for it. No, I felt sharp. It certainly helps playing in the Open earlier this summer just from an expectation standpoint and what you expect and all that.

Q. And the golf course perspective, too --

STEWART HAGESTAD: Yeah, and I love coming back to the Met area because MGA is great. All good.

Q. Have you played here much before?

STEWART HAGESTAD: I've never played here. I've played Arcola. I played in the Arcola Cup and I played it once.