U.S. MID-AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

September 16, 2022

Hugh Foley

Erin Hills

Quick Quotes

HUGH FOLEY: I was saying to Dan, 3-down wasn't too bad, and then birdied 16, had a good finish to get one back to 2, it does feel a little bit -- momentum is huge in match play, and it definitely felt like it could have been worse out there for a little bit. It's nice to get in and get one back before.

Q. This is an unusual 36-hole final. Usually you play 18, eat lunch and then go right back out. Now you go home and sleep on it for a night. I don't know if you've ever played a 36-hole final before.

HUGH FOLEY: No.

Q. What's that going to be like? How do you treat it?

HUGH FOLEY: Yeah, it is weird. I've never had it before, and even weirder that we're in the same house and going to have dinner together. I wonder will we discuss the shots or not.

Like I was thinking if you were 6-, 7-up, I know the British Amateur last year was like 8- or 9-up through 18. Like to sleep on that would be much tougher than just having lunch and going out again, I think.

Not too bad. It's nice -- I'll kind of enjoy the break now because I felt like nothing was really going for me out there, so it's nice to stop it and maybe reset tomorrow. Hopefully it does reset tomorrow, so I'm going to enjoy it definitely, yeah.

Q. Anything that you need to work on going into tomorrow? You're going to see the same hole locations, probably the same tees.

HUGH FOLEY: Yeah, my pace putting was -- it got like -- I don't know about the stimp, but I would say this morning was 12 and a half, 13, and all of a sudden it felt like 14 there as it dried up. I don't know if they couldn't roll them again. It felt crazy fast.

Maybe with the rain and stuff this week, from 10, 20 feet, you're kind of giving it a go, now it's almost like don't three-putt. That wasn't too nice. Definitely need to get my pace right tomorrow and then I'll have a better chance because maybe I had two or three three-putts there.

Q. Have you guys been together all week?

HUGH FOLEY: Every minute of the trip apart from when I'm on the golf course, yeah, we've been spending together, so yeah. It's been nonstop, yeah.

Q. He was saying that he could have stayed in Dublin --

HUGH FOLEY: Yeah, I was actually thinking that. No, it's much nicer to be out here. We've been looked after great, and the golf course is unreal, so it's nice to be out here.

Q. Do you play in Dublin?

HUGH FOLEY: Yeah.

Q. Where does he play at?

HUGH FOLEY: Belfast.

Q. Do you try not to think about however many holes away you are from potentially winning this tournament? Aside from the trophy, there's some pretty heavy perks. Do you try not to have the thought of -- especially when you're sleeping overnight now.

HUGH FOLEY: Yeah, that's why it's more difficult, I think, this 36-hole with the sleep in between, because you will be -- I'm 2-down, so you get to become more of an underdog that way.

But I was talking to my coach, and Sean McGonigle, so I called and was just saying like if I can, I don't know if I did it today, maybe I just wasn't at it today, but the mindset is not to be trying to avoid it. It's there. We all know the Masters and the U.S. Open is the perk, so don't avoid it, but don't be afraid of losing it.

I think it would be nice, if you win, it's great; if you lose, to say I didn't tighten up and I didn't fall at the finish line. I think it's just important to not banish it from your mind, just accept it as there but not be afraid of it.

Q. Talk about that stretch where you had to concede three straight holes. He talked about how his second shot on 12 was one of the best shots of his life.

HUGH FOLEY: Oh, yeah?

Yeah, that was a bad stretch. I hit quite a nice drive on that hole, I thought. I thought, maybe his was going to be in trouble. So that was a bit of a turning point. The last couple holes went well, and all of a sudden I was in a terrible lie and couldn't get it to the green. It's frustrating to concede, but I was very close on the holes, and all of a sudden the last three he played -- I felt he played the par-3 and par-5 really well. But yeah, I guess three holes can go really quickly, but just try and move on, not get too frustrated by it.

Q. How important was making that 30-footer on 16?

HUGH FOLEY: Yeah, that was nice. I did say that to Dan walking off 15, at least I'm only 3-down. Feels like I'm worse. Then definitely seemed to -- it's tiring, as well, so I was probably a bit grumpy, so it was good get a bit of positive energy and kind of smiling back, and then we holed the putt, so it was a great read by Dan.

Yeah, I didn't expect him to hole it after, but at least it was in there, and I didn't go 4-down.