U.S. AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

August 22, 2001

Nick Cassini

NICK CASSINI: Thanks.

NICK CASSINI: Well it's, it feels good. The first match is always kind of difficult because you don't know the tone of how you're really playing in match play. You know you just got through two tough dates of stroke. Man a match play is different. So you don't know if your game is ready for the strategy of match play. Competing against another guy. When I got to have to a two down start. I was two down after seven holes. I got a little bit worried that maybe my game just wasn't fitting this week to match play. But I started picking some good targets and making some good swings and I started to play better.

NICK CASSINI: The Walker Cup was so pressure filled. I barely could swallow on the first tee there. Certainly playing under that kind of pressure with those high stakes is only going to help whether it comes to playing match play event. But I played a lot of this summer. I played the Palmer Cup match play and I played the public links and the Walker Cup. So I felt like I played a lot of match play coming into this. So I feel pretty comfortable.

NICK CASSINI: I wasn't really hitting mighty shots in the fairway the first few holes and he was hitting them right down the middle. I was having to scram too tie holes. On four he hit a great shot in there and they started clapping and I had to make about a 12-footer to tie him for birdie. And then on seven I pushed my drive, I just won six I got one down. I pushed the drive and lost the hole. So I decided to hit fairways and give myself some chances I birdie 8, 9, 10. Hit it about four feet on 11 for birdie. Conceded that one. So I really got into a pretty good rhythm there.

NICK CASSINI: It is. It's hard to explain why. I think everybody is going out there ready to go. It doesn't matter where you're see dead or who you are. If you're see dead 64th you're happy. You're happy to see you're dead first, you're confident you've been playing good. So everybody is ready to play when the first match starts.

NICK CASSINI: Glad you asked that. I don't know. I hit my tee shot right. And I thought I cleared it through the tree over there. About 150 yards outs from the green. I figured I cleared it but when I got up there the official said he heard something rat tell around and he heard a hollow noise. So there's a crack about that big (Indicating) middle of the tree and I look in there and of course my markings is looking right at me in the face and it was down in the bottom of the tree. I mean it was unbelievable. I had to take a, you know, playable and go from there. I ended up losing the hole. He hit a great shot. But I never seen anything like that before.

NICK CASSINI: Well you got to put that behind you. It's only the first hole and it's, there's a lot more golf left. So I just took it as a, I just laughed about it. It was a funny incident to talk about afterwards. But certainly if I would have let it get to me I probably could have turned it into a bad owe machine but I tried not to let that get to me too much. Kind of a freak thing.

NICK CASSINI: Maybe a little surprised, yes. But he has got his reasons. He's a great player. He's had an amazing amateur career and he's got a great head on his shoulders. So he, I think he's pretty secure in his decisions that he makes. So I would never second guess him. I really haven't talked to him about it. So I don't know where he's coming from. But I know he's got his good reasons. I know he's playing in a PGA Tour event this week and hopefully will do well. But I was a little surprised by that. But I certainly won't second guess him.

NICK CASSINI: Right. Certainly he doesn't. Winning the event for him would be a huge deal but at the same time he's already supposed to, he's Bryce Mulder, he's from Atlanta, he's like it's like a law he's supposed to so he wins it's probably not as big of a deal as somebody else winning.

NICK CASSINI: That might be part of it. I really don't know. I'm sure he's got his reasons.

NICK CASSINI: Well, that's true.

NICK CASSINI: No, I haven't. I don't even know what bracket I'm in. I just, I barely made it in yesterday afternoon I was getting ready for a playoff. I hit about 30 three irons on the range getting ready for the 18th hole. I am not even looking at it.

NICK CASSINI: That's all you can do.

NICK CASSINI: Appreciate it.