home

jobs

	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

U.S. AMATEUR PUBLIC LINKS CHAMPIONSHIP

July 17, 2004

Dayton Rose

MAPLE GROVE, MINNESOTA

THE MODERATOR: Dayton, congratulations on making it to the championship match again. Obviously, you're disappointed, but you're in the record books as someone who has made it to the finals twice. That obviously brought a little smile to your face.

Tell us a little bit about what happened out there today.

DAYTON ROSE: Today was just a matter of a few putts not dropping, and some mistakes early on I made. I didn't capitalize on some shots that I should have.

This afternoon, at lunch, I kind of had a new attitude at lunch. Actually, it probably started on about 15 in the morning when I made that birdie. That kind of got me in a better frame of mind. Started playing my game a little bit more. I got settled down before then, but that really kind of calmed me down.

This afternoon, with the way Ryan played, he just played so solid and this morning, too. I think I was 3 under on the Front 9 and lost ground this afternoon.

But congratulations to him. He's a fantastic player. Like I told you guys yesterday, he's got the best game in the world as far as I'm concerned for an amateur that I've seen. He played really well today. He's a great champion.

THE MODERATOR: The putter was so close today. You burned the edge numerous times. What do you say about that?

DAYTON ROSE: I know the putts didn't drop today, but I think today was one of the best putting days I've ever had. Yesterday I putted really well, too. But today, I mean, it seemed like every time it was just, I mean, edging it or lipping out, with basically perfect speed, too.

I was really pleased with how I putted. I know they didn't go in all the time, but I was really pleased with how I putted.

Had a little trouble off the tee today. But that rough was just monstrous today. I think they've been watering it all week. I don't want any more of that (laughter).

THE MODERATOR: Questions, folks.

Q. You said this morning you sort of found your game on 15. What would you sort of characterize the mistakes you made or what happened earlier? Did that surprise you at all given kind of your experience last year? Did you expect a better start?

DAYTON ROSE: Well, in this morning's round, I guess the mistakes I made, I didn't hit it as straight as I needed to. With the greens as firm as they are, you've got to be able to hit it into the fairway, to be able to spin the ball into the greens. I didn't do that. That was part of the mistakes I made.

There were a couple times when Ryan actually did make a mistake, I made a mistake on the same hole. That led to halving the hole instead of me winning it.

When that putt dropped on 15, I thought, "This is going to be the point where it's going to start turning around a little bit." I played pretty well from there in, but not good enough. Ryan played really well.

Q. Did you ever get frustrated or did you just try to fight that off? You're trying to make up ground, you're making birdies, he's still inching ahead.

DAYTON ROSE: You can't get frustrated with stuff like that. I mean, it's not going to do any good to get frustrated. You just take care of what you can take care of. I was doing pretty well, but like I said, not good enough.

Q. What does this weak, the confidence part of it, do for you going into the rest of this year, your final college season?

DAYTON ROSE: This helps out a lot. Last year, finishing runner up, that definitely helped my confidence. But this year, doing it again, really has pretty much convinced me this is definitely where I belong, playing this caliber golf. It definitely helps out with going into the last college season, pretty important season as far as getting confidence ready to go out and try and make money doing this.

Q. Are you planning on finishing the next college season, and then what?

DAYTON ROSE: I haven't really decided yet. I'm going to finish the college season, then I'll probably still play amateur golf next summer. It's a lot of fun. Can't miss out on playing another tournament like this. It's always a lot of fun to play in this kind of thing.

Yeah, that should be the plan, probably sometime afterward.

Q. You're exempt now into the US Amateur. Are you going to go to Wingfoot and play there?

DAYTON ROSE: Definitely. That was one thing I was definitely pleased with yesterday, was getting into that amateur. Leave me a couple days in August to where I can, you know, rest up, just hang out with buddies, do absolutely nothing (laughter).

Q. Is there a particular aspect of Ryan's game in your mind that does put him maybe head and shoulders above some of the other amateurs out there?

DAYTON ROSE: There's not really one aspect. I mean, he's got pretty much everything covered. He hits the ball straight, he hits it long. His iron shots are really precise. I mean, it seemed like every time he had it 10 or 12 feet today, it was just automatic. So, I mean, he's got everything covered. He's a helluva player.

Q. You mentioned yesterday you considered him sort of the best pro prospect of anyone in college golf. I take it you didn't see anything today to change your mind?

DAYTON ROSE: No, not at all. He backs up everything that I said yesterday. He's a great player.

Q. What were you thinking you needed to shoot today to beat a guy like Ryan?

DAYTON ROSE: I actually didn't look at anything that he shot all week. Match play is kind of a different thing, you know, anything can happen. Really I didn't have a score in mind. You can't really. I mean, you've just got to go out and play your game, just see if that's good enough.

Q. Was this one harder or easier than last year?

DAYTON ROSE: Probably about the same, yeah. I'm just absolutely mentally worn out again. Last year I was. This year I think I'm probably more tired. I think I probably worked harder this year than I did last year.

It's disappointing to get this far and not win it. But, you know, you got to take all the positives you can out of something like this, so.

Q. (Inaudible) on 12 this afternoon, did you still have any hope there was a miracle out there?

DAYTON ROSE: Not really (laughter). I don't know how that happened. It was a nice break, though.

Q. Ever had a ball do that before?

DAYTON ROSE: No.

Q. Mine never do that.

DAYTON ROSE: Neither do mine (laughter). I figured that was part of my penance for, you know, all the lip out putts today.

Q. Did the wind come up a little bit?

DAYTON ROSE: Yeah.

Q. Did you both push it a little bit?

DAYTON ROSE: I was going right at it. I figured I had to. Yeah, I think the wind came up. Both of us thought it was helping us a little bit. I guess when we walked down to the fairway, felt like it was almost against us.

Q. What did you hit?

DAYTON ROSE: 8 iron. 7 this morning, easy, flew it to the middle of the green. I figured the wind was helping a little bit more. I figured a solid 8 would be the stick. Obviously, it wasn't (laughter).

End of FastScripts.

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297