U.S. AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

August 20, 2022

Dylan Menante

The Ridgewood Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. High-quality match. Did you feel like it was mano-a-mano?

DYLAN MENANTE: I mean, I thought Sam had a pretty big lead on me after like 10, snap hooked it. Shouldn't have put the rain gloves on. That was a terrible idea. That kind of cost me a lot.

12, I hit a terrible tee shot and that's when he started getting his control. But I came back on 14 and 15 but I just kind of choked on 17. There's nothing else to it, a 40-yard shot and can't hit it to 18 feet.

Q. Tell me about 15, nice putt there. All day it seemed like you just couldn't make anything, they were right on the edges.

DYLAN MENANTE: Yeah, that's my favorite hole. I birdied it four out of five days now I've played it, so I knew that was my only chance to get it back to all square. I was super happy to make that putt and continue that great, whatever, 4-under on that hole.

Q. When you left 15, do you feel like, hey, I can win this thing?

DYLAN MENANTE: Not necessarily. I just want to keep even keel. Even though I won the last two holes, it's like, just keep doing what I'm doing and just keep putting on the pressure. On 17 after his tee shot, I didn't think I was going to lose the hole. But I made a mess of it and he did a great job getting out of the bunker, so nothing I can do there.

Q. Do you think you let your guard down on 17, just really felt like you were going to win that one, go 1-up and kind of thinking ahead at all?

DYLAN MENANTE: Not really. I was in the shot. I knew after he hit his second shot in the bunker, I had to hit a good shot. I executed that one really nicely. But the 40-yard shot was just terrible. He hit a great shot to 15 feet, and I easily could have hit mine to five feet. I just really screwed that shot up.

Q. You've got to be really proud of the week overall, though, right?

DYLAN MENANTE: Yeah, I'm super pumped. It sucks missing the Open and the Masters. It stings quite a bit.

Q. Talk about 18, what happened there. Obviously you hit it right off the tee and what were you trying to do after that?

DYLAN MENANTE: I was trying to hit a cut 6-iron in between the trees. I hit it a little too high, clipped the tree. I hit a good shot, pretty much all I could do. I hit a good chip. I went to the backstop there. I was just like pinning a prayer, having it go up-and-down two times near the hole. I hit it a little too far left of where my line was, but I knew I had to make it. Kudos to him for hitting two good shots.

Q. Going back now, this is your fourth U.S. Amateur. You never made match play before. What happened this week that was different than the previous three trips to the U.S. Am?

DYLAN MENANTE: I think mentally I was more prepared. Last year I was just in shock. Oakmont is such a cool venue in that regard. But the greens were so quick. I hadn't played on stuff like that in my whole life, so I was even struggling to hit a putt. I was really nervous and didn't feel confident over it. So this week was much different where the greens were, 13, whatever, 14, really good pace, and I felt confident in my game leading up to it, and my mental game was definitely a lot better.

Q. Moving forward from this point, what does this week do for you in terms of confidence level and where you're going to go from here?

DYLAN MENANTE: Yeah, it's super nice because we've got college in two weeks, so it's just a great ending point and great end to the summer, and now it's go time. I know exactly what I've got to work on, probably hit that 40-yard shot a million times. I'll just practice my wedges and get ready for college.