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U.S. AMATEUR PUBLIC LINKS CHAMPIONSHIPJuly 14, 2007Colt KnostWHEATON, ILLINOIS DAVE SHEFTER: I want to introduce Colt Knost, the 2007 Amateur Public Links Champion. How does that sound? COLT KNOST: Pretty up believable. It hasn't set in, but I'm enjoying it. DAVE SHEFTER: You came out and won the first three holes today, set the tone early with those three wins. Do you feel like that jump-started you and you got into a good rhythm? COLT KNOST: Yeah, it did. I got off to a good start, but I didn't get anything going the rest of the afternoon, honestly. I think I got four up was the most I got and fought back from lunch, and I was struggling coming in; I was hitting some terrible shots coming, but I came out strong again. Q. 13 to 14 fairways this morning. In this wind that's incredible. COLT KNOST: Yeah. I didn't know that, but that's the strength of my game, honestly. I have to keep it in the fairway most of the time, and that's what you've got to do out here with the difficult roughs. Q. Have you heard from Marucci at all? COLT KNOST: He called me driving up from the green. He was excited, very happy for me and said congratulations. Q. Obviously this helps in the portfolio, win some national championships, name on that trophy. Have you thought about where you stand and will you set the bar for making the team? COLT KNOST: Winning a USGA championship, I don't know what else you have to do, but I'm going to keep playing well this summer. Have a few events left, and hopefully that will take care of everything. Q. When you're 6, 7 up mare you thinking about the Masters, anything else? COLT KNOST: It popped in my head all day a little bit, but I was proud of the way I handled it. I changed what I was thinking about and got back to focus. When I got -- was going there on 11, I started thinking a little bit, and I lost two holes in a row pretty quick, and then I got back to it. Q. And you hit a great shot on the par 5 and got an eagle. COLT KNOST: Yeah, I hit a great par 5. Q. You're in the Masters. How does that feel? COLT KNOST: I mean, honestly, I haven't thought about it. I was so set oncoming to Q-school here in a couple months; I don't know what's going to happen, but it's great, a great problem to have. Great honor to be getting an invitation there. Q. Is there a chance you still might turn pro? COLT KNOST: I'm not sure yet. We're going to, hopefully, see what comes along, see if I can make the Walker Cup team first and go from there. Q. What would go into your thinking about turning pro? COLT KNOST: I don't know. The only reason I put off turning pro was for the Walker Cup, and now this game came about, so now I have another thing to think about. I'm going to have to sit down and think about it and see what happens. Q. You made 7 bogeys in match play this week. You struggled a little bit in stroke play, only got into the draw. What turned it around in match play? What part of your game or your mind-set turned it around? COLT KNOST: I mean the first day I played awful in stroke play; I don't know what happened. The second day I really hit it really well and then, I don't know, I built confidence from there. And I told myself going into match play, I said, I'm going to make them beat me, not make stupid bogeys. Making 7 bogeys in 7 rounds is pretty much what happened. Q. The greens that you missed, it seemed like you were able to get it close. COLT KNOST: I missed a few greens, got jammed up, but I gave him, what, one hole? I made bogey and made par. I lost 15 this morning with bogey and then 12 this afternoon. But when you're only -- when you're making them win with birdies, especially with the wind blowing so hard -- it's hard to make birdies up there. Q. You grew up in Texas, the wind blowing. You had to feel comfortable in this situation. COLT KNOST: Yeah, the wind doesn't bother me at all. You just have to adjust. It was playing tough out there, howling pretty good. Q. I understand a Baylor guy called you this morning? COLT KNOST: I didn't know Cody was going to Baylor until last night. I have a bunch of buddies that play down there, and a bunch of them just got done playing, and one of them left me a message and said, "Hope you're out practicing, because you're playing a future Baylor player tomorrow." Q. Did playing in the Byron Nelson affect your decision? COLT KNOST: I feel like I can't play out there, but that was one week, a while ago; I finished 65th or whatever, so it wasn't that great. But it definitely helped my confidence to know that I can play out there, but it has no part in my decision at all. Q. I heard Buddy thought you should play this championship because you hadn't played here before. COLT KNOST: No, I hadn't. I got invited to play in the U.S.A. versus Japan Cup, and he said this would help me out more than that, so I have to thank him definitely for that. Q. What course did you grow up on, home course where you learned the game? COLT KNOST: When I was in high school my folks belonged to a country club, and we dropped that my junior year in high school. I started out working with a pro there. Q. Where do you play now? All over? COLT KNOST: Anywhere. Yeah, all over. Wherever I can find a game. (Chuckles.) Q. There was a rumor that you didn't have enough shirts, didn't you think you were going to get this far? COLT KNOST: Actually I had a few extras, but my white shoes were hurting so bad I wanted to wear my black shoes, and I didn't want to look like an idiot in the finals. Q. Did you have to buy a shirt? COLT KNOST: I just bought this one. Q. You said you wrapped your feet heavily in bandages. How were they walking? COLT KNOST: They were fine in the first round; the second they started getting sore toward the end. Q. You have about a week off to soak them before the Porter Cup? COLT KNOST: Yeah, I leave Sunday for the Porter Cup, week from tomorrow. I don't want to hit too many balls before then. Q. Special place for the trophy before then? COLT KNOST: I'm going to send it to my mom's house, and she'll take care of that; she takes care of that stuff for me. Q. Champions of late have done well, Brandt Snedeker, others. COLT KNOST: I am honored to have my name on there. Q. It's great to have you as the champion. Congratulations. COLT KNOST: Thanks a lot. End of FastScripts |
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