U.S. AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

August 14, 2024

Tiger Christensen

Hazeltine National Golf Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Just kind of talk about the start. You didn't have to use your putter for the first three holes, you were 3-up. Did that settle you in at all, or were you already ramped up to go?

TIGER CHRISTENSEN: No, I think I was definitely pretty confident to go. As I said, I had a really good range session yesterday, and today warmup felt pretty good. So I felt very confident going into the match.

I just started pretty good. Obviously a birdie on 1 feels pretty good to start off with, but then I had a good tee shot on 2 and just kind of kept it going. It was definitely a good start to have, but I think it was just a good match.

Q. You said you didn't have to use your putter the first three holes. Were you conceded some birdie putts, or did you chip in?

TIGER CHRISTENSEN: I was conceded the first three holes basically. I made birdie on 1, which was like a foot. Then 2 and 3 were nemesis par putts. So I had maybe 15 feet and 6 feet for birdie on 2 and 3.

Q. When you see Gordon Sargent's name cross your bracket the night before, does your internal juices get a little more pumped up?

TIGER CHRISTENSEN: We played a bunch in college, and I played with him at the World Am. I've played a major too now. So you see each other week in and week out. It's not that crazy as it might seem from the outside.

It definitely was cool. I respect him a lot. I think he's one of the great players we have as an amateur. Yeah, it was definitely a lot of fun.

Q. How much do these conditions play into your game? You hit it so solidly that the wind doesn't make much of a difference.

TIGER CHRISTENSEN: It's definitely good to have some wind out here. You have to hit it even better if it's in the wind, but yeah, I definitely did that well today. I kept the ball quite low underneath the wind and was really able to hit a lot of greens and a lot of fairways. I think that helped me a lot.

Q. Did both your parents make the trip out to watch?

TIGER CHRISTENSEN: No, this tournament right now, both of them are not here.

Q. They're back in Germany?

TIGER CHRISTENSEN: My mom's in Dubai actually, and my dad's back home.

Q. She's there for work?

TIGER CHRISTENSEN: Yes.

Q. The name Tiger, was your parents inspired by Mr. Woods?

TIGER CHRISTENSEN: My dad got into golf like a year before I was born. He just thought the name was really cool. It sounded cool, and they didn't really know what to name me. They didn't want to name me anything very common, so I guess they just stuck with it.

But it wasn't anything that had to do with golf or anything. Might as well be that I played soccer or whatever. Could be anything.

Q. You probably get asked about it?

TIGER CHRISTENSEN: Every time pretty much, a lot.

Q. You played in a lot of events this summer, I think. I was looking at your finishes. I think your best finish is right around the 40s, ever since NCAAs back in California. Did you maybe anticipate playing like this and getting into match play and playing this well this summer, or were you kind of working through some things?

TIGER CHRISTENSEN: I think my finishes this summer were a little bit fatigued by just I missed the cut at the BMW DP World Tour by one person, and I missed the cut by one person at the British Am. It's like, if there's one less guy or I make one less swing or that guy makes one more putt, then I'm in the weekend, and it looks completely different.

Those tournaments are so tight. Yeah, it kind of didn't really reflect the way I was playing, so I definitely felt comfortable. I feel like it's just a matter of time until it finally flips the other way again and kind of went back into the cut. I didn't really think that it was like surprising that I'm going to play good here.

Q. You played pretty well here yesterday. How much was that a factor coming into today knowing you're playing this course again coming off of maybe some good vibes of how well you played in what was a very difficult course during stroke play?

TIGER CHRISTENSEN: I love the course. I think this setup really suits me. Obviously Gordon has a fairly similar game, so it suits him well too. I think hitting it far and straight is definitely very important on this course. Then I was able to do that really well yesterday and today.

Yeah, it's just -- yeah, the championship golf type style is probably pretty good.

Q. Did I hear your parents are involved in the music industry?

TIGER CHRISTENSEN: Yeah, my dad's a producer.

Q. Producer for any big time bands?

TIGER CHRISTENSEN: Whatever, whoever wants to. Producer and deejay.

Q. Is your mom involved in it too?

TIGER CHRISTENSEN: She used to be until I was born. She used to be a singer, but now not anymore.

Q. What are their names?

TIGER CHRISTENSEN: Alex Christensen and Nicci Christensen.

Q. Who's your favorite deejay besides your dad?

TIGER CHRISTENSEN: My favorite deejay?

Q. Is that your type of music too?

TIGER CHRISTENSEN: No, I just listen to whatever. I listen to a lot of things German, German hip-hop, American hip-hop, English hip-hop, non hip-hop, everything.

Q. Are you like a death metal fan?

TIGER CHRISTENSEN: No, no, not like Viktor.

Q. What kind of music does your dad produce?

TIGER CHRISTENSEN: Also anything. Back in the day before I was born, he made a lot of techno. He kind of was one of the first people to do a lot of techno back in the '80s or whatever. Yeah, now he just does whatever.

Q. And you transferred to Oklahoma State after freshman year, is that correct?

TIGER CHRISTENSEN: Yeah, I did like close to one year at Oklahoma State.

Q. And you're a senior now?

TIGER CHRISTENSEN: Going into senior year.