U.S. MID-AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

September 13, 2023

Stewart Hagestad

Sleepy Hollow Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. 14 birdies today --

STEWART HAGESTAD: Is that what it was?

Q. Yeah, and you had to go 17 holes each time.

STEWART HAGESTAD: Yeah. Played well. Obviously played well in the morning.

It's tough to back up really good rounds when you've got it going. I played well in the afternoon. I've got to tell you, he played really well. Wow, what a great ball striker he is.

Thankfully it was just enough to get the job done in the afternoon.

Q. He came back on you and birdied 14 and 15 and then you birdied 16.

STEWART HAGESTAD: He did. I hit a nice putt on 14 and I kind of gave him 15, which I'm still kicking myself about. I kind of knew what the putt did, and I didn't trust it, and I hit a bad putt. So that's not a great combo.

Then kind of did the same thing on the second putt, too.

But no, that's when it began to get a little quick, but at the same time, thankfully I've got a bunch of tournament reps and kind of walked real slow up the hill and collected myself, made a nice putt at 16 --

Q. What did you hit in there?

STEWART HAGESTAD: I hit a hard wedge. It was between a hard wedge and kind of a sawed-off 9. But I made a nice putt.

Q. How long was your putt?

STEWART HAGESTAD: 25, 30. Probably 25.

He was in there like five feet, and it was one of those where you want to give it a chance.

Q. He had five feet for birdie?

STEWART HAGESTAD: For par. You just want to give it a chance, and it ended up going in.

Q. He must have made a mistake on 17 because you made par --

STEWART HAGESTAD: Yes, he didn't roll it his best today. I feel for him. Seemed like he hit some good putts that didn't go in, and the ones that weren't good putts also didn't go in.

But again, he hits it great, and he's very good and deserves a lot of credit.

Q. Fifth time now in the semifinals for you in I believe it's seven appearances in this championship. What does that say about the consistency in this championship to be able to pull that off? It's not easy with match play. You know that.

STEWART HAGESTAD: You're right. Tomorrow morning we've got to go -- again, I played well yesterday, I played well today. I had everything I had at Costanza, Nate, to gather yourself today. That's cool. It's a neat accomplishment.

But I know kind of what tomorrow is about, and everyone at this stage is really good.

Q. What do you mean when you say you know what tomorrow is about?

STEWART HAGESTAD: Well, the closer you get to the championship match, the louder the voices in your head begin to get. I still would say that the last two matches are collectively tougher than this entire tournament.

Q. This will be similar to what you went through in '21 when you played the semis and then you've got to --

STEWART HAGESTAD: Got to get through the semis first.

Q. But it's the same scenario.

STEWART HAGESTAD: Correct.

Q. So you've been through that before.

STEWART HAGESTAD: Yeah. I thought about that. Again, everyone is going to get to sleep tonight. Everyone is going to come out fresh tomorrow. We're going to have to bring it again tomorrow morning and then hopefully that's good enough.