U.S. AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

August 18, 2022

Ben Carr

The Ridgewood Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Very emotional day for you; to make the quarterfinals, what's that feel like?

BEN CARR: It feels great. Yeah, I mean, we had a really hard-fought match today. I don't think either of us played very well. It was a great match. I'll just leave it at that.

Q. Take me through the last couple holes. To get up-and-down from that bunker, I don't know how much you know how troublesome that's been for the rest of the field.

BEN CARR: Yeah, I had a really hard shot from the rough on 18, from the fairway rough, and had to overcut it and just couldn't cut it. It's so hard to curve the ball out of this rough and just came out low and at the bunker. I knew I needed to get it up-and-down, so just tried my best to do that.

Q. How would you rate that bunker shot?

BEN CARR: Bunker shot was probably like an 8 out of 10. The putt was a 10 out of 10. It just feels so good to pour in two putts late in the match, especially after not being given a one-footer on 17.

Q. Take me through this last hole, how you played it.

BEN CARR: Yeah, so I saw he had driver, and I knew he was going to put it in the fairway. I just wanted to stick to my game plan. I had been hitting hybrid here all week and just flared one. I couldn't find the fairway for the majority of the round, and I was used to being in the rough. I drew a pretty good lie. I was able to get it under the hole and then make a putt. I was just super excited to do that.

Q. What did you hit out of the rough, and how far would you say that putt was?

BEN CARR: I hit a 56-degree out of the rough from 117. I didn't think it was going to get over the bunker, but it did, and I had about a 20-footer for birdie. Just, yeah, it was so much fun to make that. I let out a big scream after. It just came out. It was just a really competitive match. Yeah, just felt like there was a grudge after 17, just didn't give me a one-footer.

Q. Talk about this match overall. Really there was not much separation. He got an early lead, you came back, you took a lead on the back. After the 14th hole you're 2-up. Are you thinking you're in control, or what were you thinking at that point?

BEN CARR: Yeah, I mean, I was in a similar situation this morning. I won 13 and 14 to go 2-up and was square on 17 tee. Same thing happened, so it was a pretty familiar spot. Yeah, I think it definitely helped having been there this morning. Yeah, I don't know if I would have won this match if it weren't for this morning.

Q. You seem drained right now. Are you?

BEN CARR: I'm definitely really tired. I made a lot of really tired swings later in this round, and I just had to stay so positive to myself walking up every fairway because I could not find the fairway. It's so hard to play out of the rough out here, and he was hitting fairways. Yeah, just had to stay really positive, but I'm definitely very tired.

Q. Where would you rank this day in your golfing life having to go through two matches like that and now the result?

BEN CARR: It's definitely up there. I mean, I haven't won many big tournaments, so just to be able to -- one, it's a blessing to make this event. There's so many guys around the world to try and qualify. Just to be here is a nice step in the right direction. Then to make it into match play is another great thing itself. Just getting to match play. One v one, I love one v one. Just going from there, and yeah, that's all I've got.