THE AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

June 20, 2023

TK Chantananuwat

Quick Quotes

Q. Great two days here at The Amateur Championship and you're safely through to the match play. You must be very pleased with your efforts.

TK CHANTANANUWAT: Yes, I think I'm very happy, not exactly with the golf but how I handled myself. To be honest I'm not on the top of my game at all, especially not yesterday.

Yesterday I was hitting it all over the place but as I told my dad, this is links golf, not parkland golf, which is what I'm used to. You do not need to hit good shots. You just need to be in the right place. In two days, I only got into one pot bunker, and I'm very happy with that because those are the biggest things in links golf. So I'm very happy with the patience and how I handled my score.

Q. We finished two days of stroke but it starts tomorrow with the match play. You didn't make it into the match play last year. So you must be very relieved that you're there this year?

TK CHANTANANUWAT: Yeah, I think just like you said, stroke play is the hard part. I mean, you only take 64 people out of 288 people; it's quite a small margin. Anything can happen in match play, yeah.

Q. Do you play much match play?

TK CHANTANANUWAT: No, not exactly. I've only played match play competitively twice in the in my whole life.

Q. How did you go in those times?

TK CHANTANANUWAT: Good question. I've played five matches. I've won four and lost one. So that's not too bad. It was actually the Southeast Asian Games 2022 and 2023.

Q. So do you like match play as a format?

TK CHANTANANUWAT: It's pretty cool. I mean, it's different. I don't dislike it, yeah.

Q. You said you were playing quite conservatively today to try and make sure that you're in that 64 but how do you switch that mentality? Is it different for you tomorrow when you see it up on that course?

TK CHANTANANUWAT: I've definitely got to go for it more but depends how I'm playing. If I'm playing amazing, I'll just hit it at everything but if not, be more conservative, more smart, more patient. But it's match play and I'd like to get it over as early as possible.

Q. You said at the start of this interview that you didn't have your best golf over the past two days, but you are still playing nicely, so you must take some confidence from that?

TK CHANTANANUWAT: A hundred percent. I've hit -- I think it's all in my head because from the outside, I don't think -- people have been telling me, especially my dad that I don't look bad at all, just a couple misses, which is normal. It's golf.

But yeah, I just need to hopefully change my mindset a bit and just remember the good shots because I do have a few of those.

Q. It sounds like you have high expectations of yourself; is that fair?

TK CHANTANANUWAT: Yeah, like Tiger said, if you're not trying to win, don't play, and it's match play. Not just me, but anyone who tells you that I'm just going to try my best, that can't be true. You're playing match play. It's not like there's a Top 10 or Top 15 or Top 20 where you can finish. It's all-or-nothing. Because you know how the major spots work as well; it's literally all-or-nothing.

Q. So we know your goal then is to win?

TK CHANTANANUWAT: Yeah, I'm trying my best. I'm trying to win. You never know what can happen. I might win or get knocked out within 15 holes tomorrow. I'm just going to try my best.