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U.S. AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIPAugust 22, 2007Jason KokrakSAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA CRAIG SMITH: Jason, you never trailed today, but had a little interesting stretch down the last couple of holes. You built a 4-up lead and then what was he doing to you? JASON KOKRAK: We came in a the par-3, I thought I hit a good shot in there and it came up a little bit short. And it, I hit a good chip and he had a bunker shot and he just holed it out on me. And I was like, all right, we'll go to the next hole. It's a par-5. I figured, I'm a long player and I just didn't hit a second shot like I should have. And he hit one up there close enough where he had a good birdie opportunity. And I had a rough lie over in the right rough. And he ended up making about 10 foot birdie putt on me. And that was like okay, we'll go to 17. And we went to 17 and he hit his driver down the middle, went over into the second cut to the right-hand side. And I hit mine a little bit left, but I had a decent lie and I could get it up close to the green. And I hit a 7-iron from about 190 just right of the green. And tried to get it up-and-down hit it about 10 feet and just missed my putt and he had about a five to 10-footer, five, eight-footer and just barely, barely skimmed the left edge. And that's the way the match ended. CRAIG SMITH: I'm sure you hear stories all the time about the medal's curse and all those kind of things, any of that -- obviously you played great in stroke play and were you ever worried? JASON KOKRAK: I've heard the talk about being the medalist and then going into the match play. But I try to not let that affect me too much. But I just went out there and tried to play my own game and stick to it and not try to do anything too hasty and get too over anxious and hit driver off a hole that I don't really need to. So I just basically stuck to my game and it seemed to work out pretty well. CRAIG SMITH: We're long and about a little after 7 o'clock here, this is a long day for you. What was your day like? Did you get here early? JASON KOKRAK: I got here right about nine. And I found out that there was going to be a playoff. And the playoff took a little bit longer than I expected. And so I ended up just hitting a few balls and putting around for about 45 minutes. And then went back to the hotel, just relaxed and took a little bit of a nap. And came back out here around 1:30, and then got warmed up for my round and teed it up. It was a long day, but it wasn't too bad going back to the hotel. CRAIG SMITH: Did you play as well today as you had in stroke play? JASON KOKRAK: I don't think I -- there was a few shots I missed out there that in stroke play I probably wouldn't have hit, but overall I think I hit the ball just as well, but made a few good putts out there today and like I've been doing this week. So I think I hit the ball basically about the same, just a few little mistakes that cost me one or two shots or holes. CRAIG SMITH: All right. Questions? Q. Yesterday you said you preferred to hit irons because you could hit them 260 to 275. How many woods did you hit today off the tee? JASON KOKRAK: I was trying to play aggressive today. Normally I'm an aggressive player. So I probably hit a few drivers where I normally wouldn't, but I think maybe just one, I think one hole I hit driver that I really normally wouldn't. But overall I hit, tried to stick to my game plan overall and hit 3-iron or 3-wood off the tee. Mostly 3-irons. But kept myself, kept the ball in front of me today, which really helped me out. Kept the ball in the fairway. A few stray tee shots, but you'll have that. Q. In the stroke play how well was your short putting? What would you grade it? JASON KOKRAK: Phenomenal. I didn't miss very many short putts. The three and four footers, I don't think I missed one. I don't think I missed any. Most of my putts are right on line. And I am putting real well this week, so I can't complain about my putting at all. Q. Did you find the greens faster today than yesterday? JASON KOKRAK: Yeah. I found them a little bit faster, but I also did tee off later in the day. So if I would have teed off earlier I think they would have been that much more noticeable in quickness. But teeing off late in the day they are a little bit bumpy, but I did find them a little bit quicker than they have been in stroke play. CRAIG SMITH: You had a heck of a summer. Keep it going. JASON KOKRAK: I'll do my best. Thank you. End of FastScripts |
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