U.S. AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

August 17, 2023

Sampson Zheng

Cherry Hills Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. It was a tough day for all the stroke play medalists, and it's been almost 20 years now since the stroke play medalist has won. Why do you think that's so hard so accomplish?

SAMPSON ZHENG: I think partially it comes from expectation. Obviously if you're medalist, you know you're playing well on the course. There's a certain expectation, like from you and everybody else around you, to perform and play well. There's a little bit of pressure.

But for me, the pressure comes from within, and nobody can give me more pressure than myself.

Yeah, I'm proud of the way that I handled myself out there. A few bad breaks here and there, but match play could be anyone's game. 63rd seed won last time I was here, so that just tells you, if it's your day, it's your day, and if it's your tournament, it's your tournament.

Q. What do you take away from this whole summer? You won Four-Ball, you've played well, played well here. How does that help you?

SAMPSON ZHENG: It gives me a lot of confidence moving forward. It gives me confidence to be able to know that I could be up there with the world's best amateurs.

This is as good as a field gets, at the U.S. Am, and to be able to hang in there with these guys and to be able to compete and put up good shots, put up good numbers gives me a lot of confidence moving forward to the next season.

Q. Now it's back to school I take it?

SAMPSON ZHENG: Back to school.

Q. When does school start at Cal?

SAMPSON ZHENG: School starts on the 23rd.

Q. How about golf season, when does that start?

SAMPSON ZHENG: Our first event is end of August, so it's about two and a half weeks, so pick it back up pretty soon.

Q. You get a little bit of rest?

SAMPSON ZHENG: A little bit, yes.

Q. In this match today there was like an ebb and flow to it, and you're down two on the back and you got yourself back. How did you get yourself back into it?

SAMPSON ZHENG: I just told myself that as long as I make good pars on the back nine, I'll have a fair chance of winning holes, and that's kind of what happened. I got lucky on 14. I made bogey there. He made double. I picked up a stroke there.

Hit it on the green and two-putted on 15, picked up another stroke there.

Then I got myself tied.

I thought I hit a good shot on 16 but came up 10 yards short, so that was a little surprising. But other than that, I think just a little bit of skill, a little bit of luck.

Hit a good drive on 17. My ball was kind of in a little dent but had to go for it because my opponent was like 200 out in the fairway, so I knew he was going to go for it, so had to go for the shot. Got to play boldly.