U.S. AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

August 19, 2022

Stewart Hagestad

The Ridgewood Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. You played Sam today, hard-fought match, two bulldogs. What did he do well against you today that leads you to believe that he could potentially be lifting that trophy on Sunday?

STEWART HAGESTAD: He's just really, really good at golf. I think for match play, he does a lot of things well where he putts it nice, he's got a lot of good speed. He's got a lot of self-belief and I think he's got a good mentality for match play, kind of starting fast and not really playing yourself into the rounds and ready to go all 12 rounds from the first tee on.

Q. You mentioned the 13th hole might have been a key moment in the match.

STEWART HAGESTAD: Curious to hear what he has to say, yeah. He chips one and hits the pin, and I kind of laughed and told him "good aim" after the hole. Yeah, if he misses maybe it goes 12, 15 by, and who knows, maybe it could have swung a little differently, but who knows. We'll never know. But yeah, made me get up-and-down, and it was one of those where we both made a mess on the tee and I kind of made a mess for a lay-up and then I hit the green, then he missed with a wedge, and it was this flip-flop kind of match play reversal type deal. Ended up walking away with pars.

Yeah, it could have been -- who knows, right? We'll never know.

Q. How did you feel you played overall today?

STEWART HAGESTAD: Just okay. I mean, on the card was I like even? With the double, even, 1-under, something like that? 1-over? Yeah, the golf course is harder than yesterday. It's firmer. It's faster. Played solid yesterday morning, and then obviously that carried a lot of energy mentally into yesterday afternoon.

I mean, I definitely could have been more sharp. I missed some tee balls and was not as sharp as I would have liked to have been all week ball-striking wise. The exception was yesterday afternoon where I missed it like in all the right places. But standing over it and confidence-wise, it could have been a little better.

But no, I played okay. When you go up against a kid that's, again, a first-teamer, top 3 in the world at worst, he's a two-time Palmer Cupper, all world, whatever, he's really good, so you've got to bring it early and often, and there's just not a lot of room for error. I thought I would maybe at least scare him and get him to 17 or 18, but I didn't play well enough. So it's all good.

Q. 15 was a pretty good shot.

STEWART HAGESTAD: Yeah, it was pretty good. It was all right. I mean, I was telling Brian, it's almost easier when your back is up against the wall and it's kind of like black and white. It's like, well, you've really just got to hit a good one, otherwise you're going home. I said to Davis, I was like, how close is it; is it about a foot? And he's like, yeah, maybe inside that.

Q. Does this sort of week motivate you more to get home tomorrow or the next day and get right back to work, or is it one of those where you need some time to kind of process and step away for a little bit?

STEWART HAGESTAD: Yeah, I have to take a series exam in the next 10 days.

Q. What's that?

STEWART HAGESTAD: It's like the Series 79. Yeah, I'm going to take a little bit of time off and go relax. I was just telling Brian I'd really love to get a call from the USGA to go to Paris for the World Am. I think I'm going to be a little short, which sucks for me. But I'd love to -- I'll let you know. But no, I'm going to take a little time off and go relax. This is a super, super taxing week, mentally, physically, emotionally. There's a lot of things I kind of need to do away from golf, so I'll do a lot of those things. But I think in the grand scheme of things, I made it to the quarters and beat the No. 1 kid in Great Britain and Ireland and then played the best junior in the country in Caleb, having looked at the rankings. Then I played what I think is the best kid in Australia and then just lost to the best American. If I beat him, I would have played the best kid in California on paper. So it's like everyone is a stud. No, I'm exhausted. I need to go relax. We'll see.

Q. In what ways does this help prepare you for next month in Wisconsin at the Mid-Amateur?

STEWART HAGESTAD: It's probably an easier question to answer in like a week after I've had some time to decompress because right now I'm just bitter and annoyed and just frustrated.

Yeah, there's a lot of good stuff to take from this week, and even though you can't, it's tough to see right now. I think the younger me may have been really annoyed and upset, and I think as I've gotten older it's easier to kind of look back and say, hey, you played great after you double-crossed your first three tee shots in stroke play on Monday or whatever day it was.

Yeah, I can't rain check on the question, but there's a lot of good stuff, and I'll be able to kind of compartmentalize and internalize some things. There's a lot of good stuff there.