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U.S. AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

August 22, 2007

George Zahringer, III

CRAIG SMITH: Not often you get away with 8-over par in a match, is it?
GEORGE ZAHRINGER, III: Correct. That's correct. I think if you ask Gary we made some uncharacteristic mental errors out there. And on a USGA championship venue, those are penalized.
CRAIG SMITH: Well, if you get away with one of those that's probably what you have to do when you're going to hope to win. Even when you did win you can probably look back and say there was one or two that I didn't play so well, but I got, I played just well enough.
GEORGE ZAHRINGER, III: That's right. It's one of those where it wasn't pretty, but you're delighted to and happy to finish on top. It could have gone either way, clearly.
CRAIG SMITH: Can you still play? How much of you still says, "I can still play with these guys"? That's what we have been thinking about and writing about the last two days and you're here to talk about it, the rest of the guys are down the road.
GEORGE ZAHRINGER, III: Yeah, I'm still standing. Barely. I think that on this golf course I think that if I'm driving the ball well and putting a little better than I did today, I think that I can be competitive.
My -- I feel good about my short game, so I don't feel a lot of pressure if I miss a green here and there, which you're bound to do. But I need to putt a little better. I had trouble with the pace of the greens all day today. I don't know why. I putted well in both of the medal play rounds, but I just wasn't comfortable with the pace.

Q. Do you think the nature of the course plays to, plays away from the strengths of the young guys who are going to power the ball?
GEORGE ZAHRINGER, III: I wouldn't go that far. These -- I think these younger players are so talented and so strong that they may not have all the shot making skills fully developed at this stage, not all of them, a lot of them do. And this course I think requires a little more shot making.
You got to curve the ball, particularly with the driver or the 3-wood. But these guys are so good, I wouldn't go that far to say that they don't have the skill. They have got it in spades.

Q. I phrased that poorly. Do you feel that maybe the shot making plays a little more to your strengths than to theirs?
GEORGE ZAHRINGER, III: Well, possibly. That's a little mushy, I would say. If I'm playing well, if I'm driving the ball well, I normally drive it reasonably well. I can work the ball left-to-right, which is the way a lot of the tee shots are shaped out here. That's just kind of a natural shot of mine. But I've got to just if I'm hitting 7-iron and they're hitting 9-iron, that's what we call a competitive advantage.

Q. Gary said that you had played I guess a practice round together and it was unfortunate to run into each other in the first round. He thought you might have gone farther, actually, both of you?
GEORGE ZAHRINGER, III: Look -- right, so there was a winner and a loser.

Q. Right. Right.
GEORGE ZAHRINGER, III: I did not -- that's just the draw. That's just the draw. I thought that for Gary, who doesn't hit it, Gary may be the shortest hitter in the field, I think it's a real testament to his game that he shot 1-under 46 because these are two really good golf courses. That Ocean Course is no push over by any means. I didn't look at how the scoring matched up, but.
CRAIG SMITH: Two higher here on the Lake.
GEORGE ZAHRINGER, III: Two higher. Well I thought one or two. But that's not a lot. And so I think it's a real testament to Gary's game that he, that his game and course management, that he shot 146. Because I'm sure it was a challenge for him.

Q. Is this more a sense of relief than anything, given that you kind of struggled with your driver and you did struggle with your putting a little and you just sort of kept yourself alive?
GEORGE ZAHRINGER, III: It's funny, I was just thinking, I haven't played competitively match play since Merion. Because I'm pretty sure it was Merion. Where was the Mid-Am in 2005?

Q. Chattanooga?
GEORGE ZAHRINGER, III: Yeah, so I'm not sure I got into -- I can't remember if I made the match play. But clearly at this level in two years. And I didn't play in the U.S. or Mid-Ams last year. I just wasn't ready to play. So you get, so you feel the heat perhaps a little bit more. My adrenaline is still pumping a little bit right now even though I'm sitting here sort of looking calm and talking to you guys.

Q. But it does seem like when you get to the big stage, the U.S. Amateur or Senior Open this year, I mean, your game, you just lift that game up.
GEORGE ZAHRINGER, III: I think that one of the advantages that I have, believe it or not, or the way I look at it, I live and work in New York City, you know. No one has put a gun to my head and said, you have to live and work in Manhattan. I do it by choice, I love it. It's a great city. My kids, my family, enjoy it.
But I play, I'll play six to eight events this year. Now what that means is I can I think kind of take the time off, relax, and then begin the preparation. So I'm not going like these youngsters are probably playing 15 events this summer, just this summer. Forget about their college season. So that may explain some of it. I'm not sure. Plus I've got a big support team. Let's be honest. I have got great I know instructors that I work with that help me. Darrell Kestner, at Deepdale. Kevin Sprecher at Sleepy Hollow. And so I need a lot of, you know, I need a lot of massaging in the real sense of the word. I try to keep myself in decent physical condition. That's important.
Particularly when you get into match play because I think that comparing say playing in this venue versus the Senior Open, I think this is for whatever reason, it's a little more mentally demanding. I'm not going to tell you that the Senior Open isn't mentally demanding, it is. But this for some reason I think it's a little bit, it's got a different flavor of mental demand. And that, and it can be a little more tiring. I think.

Q. Speaking of that, you've got 36 holes conceivably tomorrow. Does that factor in at all?
GEORGE ZAHRINGER, III: I'll tell you afterwards.
(Laughter.) No, no, it doesn't.
That's something I won't be thinking ahead on that. I'll just be trying to play a little bit better. Make fewer mental mistakes tomorrow. Hit better shots. Try to get a feel for the pace of the greens a little better.
I don't know why, what's going on today, but I just hit, I hit a lot of, I hit -- there was several half a dozen makeable putts that I just didn't come close to making. Which is a little different than the way I putted the last two days.

Q. How big was the drop you got on 18? Because you were kind of in a very, you know, it was a pretty thick lie near that metal grate or whatever it was?
GEORGE ZAHRINGER, III: It was a valve cover. Oh I think that was definitely a help. Just, the lie, the drop lie was clearly a better lie than the original lie. But I also could come a club length closer and I had to actually fade a wedge around that tree a little bit that sticks out there. And that just, just that yard I think if nothing else visually made the shot look a little more achievable. Because I knew Gary was up there. He had hit a great shot. He drove it perfectly on 18. And hit a great wedge shot.
CRAIG SMITH: Anything else gravy for you or is -- you're not ready to let it go yet and say you're over 50, are you?
GEORGE ZAHRINGER, III: They say why look a day over 60 in the office.
(Laughter.) No, he just, I'm just, as I said, I'm just looking forward to next April when I can move to the front tees.
(Laughter.).
CRAIG SMITH: Thank you very much.
GEORGE ZAHRINGER, III: Thanks, guys.

End of FastScripts

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