U.S JUNIOR AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

July 27, 2023

Bryan Kim

Daniel Island Club (Ralston Creek Course)

Quick Quotes

Q. What's it mean to you to make it to the quarterfinals after not even making match play the last two times?

BRYAN KIM: It means a lot. I'm just trying to stay in the present these past few days, like what's in front of me, so I haven't thought about it much, but now that I'm here, hopefully I can keep the same attitude and win the whole thing, if I just stay in the present.

Q. How do you stay in the present?

BRYAN KIM: I just focus on what I'm doing at the moment, whether it's that shot -- my mom was telling me, like even during the second round of stroke play, because I was outside the cut line after the first day. She was just like, one shot at a time. There's nothing really to lose if you do that. Just don't get ahead of myself and really stay in the present.

Q. He gave you a battle, obviously.

BRYAN KIM: For sure.

Q. How did you get through this one?

BRYAN KIM: Like I said, just one shot at a time and really focused on my game because it's easy to get caught up in what he's doing, but if I do what I'm doing, if I play good, it's going to be hard to beat, I think.

Q. You won 10 and 11 with a par and a birdie.

BRYAN KIM: So 11 I almost hit my drive in the hazard on the right but I was able to lay up and kind of turn the hole around because he was in the fairway. I had about 183, hit 8-iron to about four feet and made birdie. That was a huge turning point in the match for sure.

Then I hit some good shots coming in. A few loose ones, but I just stayed in the moment, tried not to get too far ahead of myself.

Q. He birdied 14 to cut into the lead and then you come back and win 15 and 16 and close it out.

BRYAN KIM: Yeah, I just knew if I -- I've been playing those last few holes really good this week, so I know if I just stick to what I'm doing, hit good shots, then it'll all add up.

Q. Did you make the birdie on 16?

BRYAN KIM: I did, yeah. I chipped in. I kind of got a little lucky there, one of my luckier breaks of the week.

Q. Describe that.

BRYAN KIM: Yeah, so I just missed the green short right, had a really good lie in the rough, and then pretty similar chip just up the hill. I kind of caught it a little thin and it was coming by a little hot and then just hit the pin and dropped. That felt really good.

Q. Club you used and the length?

BRYAN KIM: I used 60-degree from about like 15 yards off the green, or off from the pin.

Q. Heck of a way to finish.

BRYAN KIM: Yeah, that was exciting for sure. Got my heart rate up.

Q. Then this morning, you had a little rain situation at 18.

BRYAN KIM: Yep.

Q. Describe that whole thing and then the winning putt.

BRYAN KIM: Right, so Tyler played really well this morning. I think he shot 6-under bogey-free, and I played really well. I just did what I had to do.

On 18 he two-putted from about 60 feet for birdie, and then I had -- I kind of blew my chip by a little bit to about eight feet.

I was setting up just marking my ball, and then the rules official told me they're halting play right now just because of the rain. So I was like, oh, okay. Then we went under the tree, and then a few minutes later he was like, they halted play, but you can go putt right now because it's not dangerous, if you would like. But it was coming down pretty hard, so I was like, might as well just wait a few minutes because it looks like it will clear up. By about three or four minutes it kept coming down, and I got a little annoyed, so I was like, I just told my caddie, I'm just going to go out there -- I was rolling my rock, so I said, I'm just going to go putt it. Picked a good spot and rolled it in, so that felt really good, especially winning a match like that. It feels amazing.

Q. It seemed like you had the putter most of the day going.

BRYAN KIM: Yeah, so I putted very well on the back nine of my first match, and it kind of carried over to the second match. I felt really confident with the flat stick. Didn't make as much, but I was confident with it in my hands.