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U.S. MID-AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

October 7, 2004

Austin Eaton, III

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, GEORGIA

Q. A couple of words about what you feel today.

AUSTIN EATON III: It's a big clichÃ©; it hasn't sunk in yet. It's pretty amazing. I knelt out there next to the trophy on the 18th green, and it kind of hit me then that it's my trophy this year. So, it's pretty cool and I've got a lot of amazing golf tournaments to play in for the next ten years, and maybe beyond that.

And obviously, being a USGA Champion is amazing, amazing.

Q. Talk about his drive on 18?

AUSTIN EATON III: His drive on 18 wasn't that bad, either. That wind was going hard left-to-right, and I didn't think it was trouble. I figured he might be in the bunker. But he showed a lot of grit, to birdie 16, that was something else, and then to hit it -- he hit a really good shot on 17, made a nice 2-putt there. I was glad to make that 6-footer obviously. I had to play it outside the hole. I hit it dead center, so that was huge, to beÂ -- I didn't want to go to the left till it went down obviously. And then to stand up on that tee after he's hit it in trouble, hit it right down the middle, I had to rely on my routine and just trust it and go.

Second shot, I knew I just wanted it in the middle of the green. Being pumped up, I hit it a little further than I wanted to, but all I had to do was kind of wiggle it down there close, and I just kept saying to myself: Stay focused on this shot, right now. Because your mind can really wander, and my mind wandered a couple of times today, more than a couple of times today, and it cost me.

Q. Talk about the front nine in the afternoon and what you were thinking when the lead got down to nothing.

AUSTIN EATON III: Well, I came out of lunch really focused. I came out of lunch really focused and felt like I was going to start like did I in the morning. I really felt like I was going to start well in a lot of these matches and I was ready to rip. I hit a really good drive on 1. Then he hit a fantastic bunker shot from the right-hand fairway bunker. Suddenly the shoe was on the other foot.

I knew I needed to hit a clutch shot to follow-up his clutch shot, and I wasn't able to pull it out. So, as soon as that happened, the momentum really shifted and I was starting to scratch my head and look around forÂ -- look around for some sort of help at that point.

When we got through that front side, and we gotÂ -- actually got through eight holes. When I lost 8 after chopping it around for a while, I stood up on 9 and it was, we were all even. I think we were all even at that point. And I felt resolve, I felt like it was time to really get it done. And played that hole very well. I played pretty darned well from there on in.

It's tough to keepÂ -- tough to keep really together in that wind. I'm generally a good wind player, but between the wind and the pressure out there today, I failed a number of times and just glad that I was able to come out on top.

Q. (Inaudible.)

AUSTIN EATON III: That was huge. 12 is a really stout hole shout hole and I was able to play it very well this week. I knew if I could stand up there, especially after he missed the green, stand up there and hit a good shot, it was going to be tough for him to make par, and I'd have a nice easy uphill putt at it. It was really important to get it back right then and to get another one back right away. I really thought I was also going to win 14, and that ball justÂ -- I don't know how or why it stopped aside from the fact that it hit hard enough, but it looked like it the whole time was going in.

Q. (Inaudible.)

AUSTIN EATON III: I have a philosophy on gimmes. I don't care whether people give me a putt or not. It's nice when somebody gives you a putt when it's longer than you want to putt. But if he doesn't give it to you, go putt it. It doesn't fluster me.

Some guys get bend out of shape. He gave me the putt, I missed it; he shouldn't have given me the putt. That's fine. It was 2 1/2 feet and it was a pretty straight putt, but the wind made it difficult. And I put a tentative stroke on it and it didn't go in, and then I got fired up to go again.

Q. Before his ball went in the water, did you think he was going to pull it out?

AUSTIN EATON III: I really thought he was going to do it. He had a look in his eyes. All afternoon, he looked confident. He had a spring in his step. He putted it very confidently. I felt like he was going to take it away from me if I didn't step up. And he nearly did. I was very surprised by his tee shot on 18, and again, it wasn't that bad.

Q. Talk about before this week, where you would evaluate your golf game, were you trying to play more or lessÂ -- prior to this week, what did you think of your golf game?

AUSTIN EATON III: This year, up until this week, I told this to some guys earlier this week here, this was the first year I really looked at and said, boy I didn't improve this year, first year ever. I was very disappointed. I played poorly in a couple of tournaments. And Pamela and I had kind of a heart to heart and it was affecting the way I felt about myself at times. We took care of that.

But it was very disappointing, and I didn't play much golf. My work has been very demanding. To get away for this much time is, first of all, unheard of. Second of all, I don't know what's waiting for me when I get back.

To answer your question there, the year has been a disappointment. Obviously now it is an overwhelming success and I couldn't have imagined thatÂ -- I tookÂ -- I spent a weekend with an old teacher of mine over Labor Day. His name is Bob Evans. He came to visit our home in New Hampshire and we played three days in a row and hit balls for probably six or eight hours over the course of the weekend, and he got me going into the right direction. He knows my golf swing really well, and he got me hitting the ball the way I wanted to and the way that he really felt was the best swing for me. And I've hit the ball very squarely. It's taken a little while it come together, and it's taken a good month to get it all to gel. Until today, I hit the ball as well as I ever have. With the pressure and the wind, I had to really gut it out and somehow I did it.

Q. Who will be on the bag at Augusta, Pamela or your dad?

AUSTIN EATON III: I think she and my dad are going to have to fight for that one. My dad caddied for me at a number of events. He was on my bag last year when I won the New Hampshire Amateur. And he is a fantastic caddie. He really knows my game and he knows good strategic decisions.

Plus, he's a golf nut. I mean, he's justÂ --

Q. How cool would it be to have him caddie for you?

AUSTIN EATON III: At Augusta? It would be pretty good. So I think the old man's got the bag. They can fight it out, but if she agrees now, then it's a done deal. But if they want to fight it out, I'm staying away from that one.

Q. Inaudible?

AUSTIN EATON III: Yeah, I was on a golf trip, the metropolitan Golf Association sent us to Paris to play against the League de Paris. It was six men and four women from the Met/New York area to play the same team from the League de Paris and we went over for eight days. On one of the off days, we went to Versailles and I proposed to her there in the Gardens of Versailles, and that night we had a team dinner halfway up the Eiffel Tower. It was a pretty cool trip. Then we ended up playing very well over there. So it was an amazing trip, and we've gone some pretty nice place through golf. Golf has done amazing things for us.

Q. What year was that?

AUSTIN EATON III: That was 2000.

Q. When did you get married?

AUSTIN EATON III: We got married in 2002. I think it was actuallyÂ -- no, it was two falls ago. It was just about two years ago now.

Q. When you got married?

AUSTIN EATON III: No, that I proposed to her. So we were engaged. We've been married for a year. Sorry, my mind's mush. It was OctoberÂ -- actually, you know what, it was probably just about thisÂ -- it might have been today two years ago, the 7th. It was the 6th? Okay.

Q. When were you married?

AUSTIN EATON III: We were married August 30 last year, Labor Day weekend in Vermont.

Q. (Inaudible.)

AUSTIN EATON III: I'm thrilled. It's been an amazingly long week and surprisingly I'm not that tired. I didn't sleep at all the last two nights. I mean, I was up at two o'clock this morning watching SportsCenter and I was eating ice cream trying to just, I don't know, trying to kill time.

Q. Big Red Sox fan?

AUSTIN EATON III: Oh, yeah, that was a big late-inning surge.

Q. Are you going to try to set up a few games at Augusta before you go?

AUSTIN EATON III: I haven't really thought about it. I would love to set up a few games and I've got some friends who have friends on TOUR and it would be really fun to play with anybody there. But to play with some of my heroes would be pretty cool.

Q. Any one person you would love to play a practice round with?

AUSTIN EATON III: You name it. I guess Arnie is not playing there anymoreÂ -- I don't know if I could actually get the ball airborne if I teed it up next to Jack Nicklaus. It's going to be amazing.

You know, I don't want to count my chickens, until I see it on paper in my hands. I'm not going to talk too much about it. I don't want to talk too much about it until I get the invitation. I'm a USGA Champion and that's the biggest thing out of the day. The Masters is awesome, but I'm a USGA Champion, and wow.

Q. This is your fifth Mid-Amateur?

AUSTIN EATON III: My fifth. And I was saying to Pamela, I guess it was two nights ago, or actually maybe last night when I played so well at Sandwich (ph) a couple of years ago, there were three local guys who were in the quarters and there were grumblings of, local advantage, you've got three guys who know the course better than anybody else and that's why they are there.

I wanted, I don't -- necessarily know it's validation, but I see it's validation. That was wasn't a fluke. I was able to hold myself together that week. It's nice just for myself to know that that week wasn't a fluke, and it wasn't lightening in a bottle. It was pulling everything together and I pulled everything together, together again, and I hope it's there to do again.

End of FastScripts.

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