U.S. AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

August 26, 2001

Bubba Dickerson

BUBBA DICKERSON: Thank you, appreciate it.

BUBBA DICKERSON: It makes me feel just overwhelmed. I really don't have the words to describe the way I feel right now.

BUBBA DICKERSON: I was just trying to pick a good club. I hit a pretty good shot this morning with a 4-iron, and it came up a little short left in the bunker. The wind was helping a little more this afternoon and I was debating on whether to hit the 3 or the 4. It was a dead, in between clubs and I just wasn't sure. And I walked to the front of the tee and threw up the grass a little bit and it seemed like it would help my fade a little, just a little. And I went with the 4 because I figured if I was short, par would be easier to get from the front of the pin than above the hole. And I couldn't hit a better 4-iron and it just barely made it to the green and ended up perfect.

BUBBA DICKERSON: I had 230 to the hole.

BUBBA DICKERSON: Well, I think the key was I've had the tee on 18 every time out. And I didn't have -- I didn't give the guys a chance to hit a good shot before me. I think that you got 230 yards, somebody hits a good shot, then it kind of putts the pressure on. And I have had the tee and I've hit good shots every time. I think that's just put pressure on the other guys, and that's kind of just made me a little more relaxed on that tee than my opponents.

BUBBA DICKERSON: Yeah, I did. But, you know, the only place you -- or, at least, the only place I didn't want to be was right of the pin because you didn't have a chance. So I was wanting to fade it in there, but I was not wanting to overcook it in there with the wind. And I was just trying to keep it left of the hole and work it in there a little bit, but not a lot.

BUBBA DICKERSON: Well, I just -- one of the things that popped in my mind was, I watched Tiger play Trip at TPC, and he was six down with probably 17 holes to play and then he was 6-down after 18 against Steve Scott. And he came back both times and won the championship. So I knew that it was a long day and that my turn to score would come around on some holes where I could score and that we would be pretty close going down the stretch.

BUBBA DICKERSON: When I was down 5, 2 was what I was shooting for. I was just wanting to get down 2. And that's what it would have been if he wouldn't have overcooked that chip on 18. He hit a poor chip. It probably wasn't a very difficult chip. And he just hit it too hard and had a downhill putt and it was a tough one. But 2-down was where I wanted to be after 18 after being 5-down.

BUBBA DICKERSON: I felt like I was still 1-down, but --

BUBBA DICKERSON: But I felt like I was -- my game was coming around a little bit on the last six holes on the back nine, the first 18, the last six holes. I started hitting the ball better. And that was more -- that was giving me more confidence than the fact that I was only 1-down.

BUBBA DICKERSON: Yeah. 17 has been my hole all week. It's a funny thing because there's a tree that sticks out to the left there right off the tee. And it really don't set up good to my eye for my driver because I fade the ball. But I just kind of set up a little squarer and just try to hit it straight all week off that tee and I've been hitting good drives there. And that's definitely been my hole.

BUBBA DICKERSON: Yeah. I think that everyone has worked with me on playing smarter on the tougher holes and just trying to take what I can get. I just -- I'm really confident on my driver. And on a hard hole you got to drive the ball good, first off. And then I'm just trying to hit it in the middle of the green and if I make a putt, great. If I make par, that's great too. But usually on tough hole you can't lose it with a par.

BUBBA DICKERSON: I really didn't think about the Public Links too much today because I lost that match. And I wanted to win today. So I tried to keep that out of my mind as much as possible and I really just didn't think about it too much. I was just trying to win the match.

BUBBA DICKERSON: I'll take it as a major. I'm sure coach will take it as a major too.

BUBBA DICKERSON: It was definitely one of my goals that I wanted to get on that trophy. I think that it's every amateur golfer's dream to be on the U.S. Am trophy. And I thought about it my whole life, not just this week.

BUBBA DICKERSON: It means a lot with the career he's having. If I can have just half the one he's having I'll feel good.

BUBBA DICKERSON: What's that?

BUBBA DICKERSON: Actually, I was probably a toddler when I first picked up a club. My dad was a scratch golfer in the '70s and early '80s, actually probably throughout the '80's. And I grew up in the game. I know my first actual summer I spent at the golf course was eight, when I was eight years old. From then on I was at the golf course every summer, every day.

BUBBA DICKERSON: It's a small public course called Deerfield Lakes Golf Club in California. It's just south of Hilliard. Hilliard don't have a golf course.

BUBBA DICKERSON: 3000 people. Small.

BUBBA DICKERSON: One red light.

BUBBA DICKERSON: Be pretty big news.

BUBBA DICKERSON: Well, you know, I would have broke my arm on that tree. I couldn't have finished the golf tournament so it was a bad lie and I wanted to hit it as hard as I could, so bad. But at the last minute my mind and muscles wouldn't let me go through and hit that tree with my arms and it was in the straw and I needed -- I was wanting to hit it thin and I hit it fat and it was a bad lie. But I felt like if I can make 5 on the hole, it might tie. And if I made 5 it would have tied. But I just put it out of my mind and just went to the next hole, which was 17.

BUBBA DICKERSON: Yeah, it was definitely a little tough. He was hitting a lot of shots just over the green. Just over the green. They were pretty close to the hole, but you got to think sometime he's going to hit a bad chip from over the green on a good golf course with fast greens. And he just kept hitting great shots from right there. And I don't think over the green ever hurt him all day.

BUBBA DICKERSON: 15?

BUBBA DICKERSON: Yeah, 15. He left that in the rough and that was virtually impossible. He would have had to land that in the rough and trickle it down, which I was expecting him to do. But finally it caught up with him there.

BUBBA DICKERSON: I think that every tournament that I played in my whole life has built up to this. The more experience, the better. I think that I learned from every tournament I play, whether I finish fiftieth or whether I finish first.

BUBBA DICKERSON: It was definitely a miss-hit. But I wasn't settled with the club. I was -- I'd been hitting 8-iron there all week to the middle front of the green. And this morning I hit 9-iron to the back middle of the green. So I just didn't want to hit 9 because the wind was a little bit into me and I was just trying to hit 8 too easy and I just dead quit on it and fatted it right in the lake.

BUBBA DICKERSON: Definitely I played my worst golf today. I don't know what I scored on both rounds, but I was going through my round this morning and I think on my own ball I was probably 2 over par and I haven't been worse than 2-under par all week in any match or any round except for the qualifying score, and that was 69. I shot 1-under so. I definitely didn't play my best today. But the greens are harder, they're faster, the rough is a little longer today, so it's different day.

BUBBA DICKERSON: Definitely.

BUBBA DICKERSON: Definitely.

BUBBA DICKERSON: Yeah, I think that it helped me be more confident with my clubs on 18 probably than he was. And the more you play a hole, the more you get used to it. I think somebody in the first match finished early and they actually played out their holes and I thought, you know, that was a pretty good idea because I finished my match real early but I didn't play out the rest of the holes, which you can if you want to. And I thought that was a pretty good idea. But then the rest of the week I went to 18 anyway, so --

BUBBA DICKERSON: There's an a lot of significance to the shirt. This is the NCAA National Championship shirt the last day. This is also the last-day shirt at the Western Amateur Championship. So this shirt means a lot to me. And after nine holes, four down, I figured I better go change.

BUBBA DICKERSON: Because I didn't want to smell bad at the end of the day. But, now, who cares.

BUBBA DICKERSON: No, I didn't wear it yesterday. It's only a last round kind of thing.

BUBBA DICKERSON: Yeah. I guess.

BUBBA DICKERSON: Um-hum. I was going to.

BUBBA DICKERSON: Changed after nine holes.

BUBBA DICKERSON: I made sure it was legal. Yeah. I was pretty sure it was, but I just wanted to make sure.

BUBBA DICKERSON: He didn't even say that, he just said, yeah, if you want to.

BUBBA DICKERSON: No, he just played locally. He never really played any amateur, any big time amateur events.

BUBBA DICKERSON: I don't know. 11. 10. I don't know. I don't know.

BUBBA DICKERSON: Yeah, he definitely taught me the golf swing. He's worked with me my whole life until three months ago. A guy back there named Dan Campbell -- I started working with three months ago. And we just looked at it on camera and my swing was good at a lot of spots, but at the top it was pretty bad, it was across the line. And me and my dad, that's where we wanted it was not across the line at the top, but we didn't know how to consistently stop it there. And Dan's really helped me get it a little tighter and better at the top.

BUBBA DICKERSON: He works out at White Oak Plantation in Florida. That's a real exclusive place, but he gives lessons out there to most people who want them.

BUBBA DICKERSON: Thank you. Appreciate it.