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MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 9, 2010

Nathan Smith

AUGUSTA, GEORGIA

NATHAN SMITH: I was kind of looking up there and saw Westwood went to 8. That was kind of tough. I saw he went to 10 and I thought I maybe had to go at that pin on 16 and make a couple birdies. But you know, I played great. Those are great scores for me out here. It's just unfortunately these guys are just really good.

Q. Pin placement, talk about that. Was it more difficult for you?
NATHAN SMITH: Yeah, I just -- I think for me I was having trouble getting to them. It seemed the par-5s were all into the wind, so I couldn't really force anything back there and get aggressive on the par-5s. I didn't birdie any of them, and they were tucked pretty good on them. You know, all the 4s, yeah, they were tucked, and I hit some good shots, I just couldn't get close.

Q. How quickly did this week go for you? Did it seem to fly by too fast?
NATHAN SMITH: Well, I came in last Friday just in case, to enjoy it, let it really soak in. Yeah, it goes really fast. You blink your eyes and it goes by like that. You know, it's special. I'm real lucky to get down here twice, and I was trying like heck to make that cut. But like I said, they're just so good.

Q. Was there one moment that maybe stands out from the rest?
NATHAN SMITH: Well, I was obviously really disappointed with my second shot on 10. You know, I hit a great drive there, and it just was -- I think it kind of flew. It didn't catch the hill and didn't get the roll down there, so unfortunately it was on the downslope, so it was soaked, and unfortunately the ball was really sitting down, and I just chunked it and made bogey.

Q. What about a good memory that sticks out?
NATHAN SMITH: 4 was great today, to birdie that. That's a tough hole, and I made a putt there. But they're all good memories, and obviously coming up 18 with your dad on the bag, to be able to do that twice was really special.

Q. It almost seemed like you walked a little bit slower.
NATHAN SMITH: Well, we wanted to soak it up. I think the first time was just such a blur because we were right there for the cut because we had Palmer and it feels like we were just floating up the fairway. We knew we were going to miss the cut and I knew I was going to miss it by a good couple there. But yeah, we just took it all in and it was really special.

Q. Did your dad tell you anything special coming up 18?
NATHAN SMITH: No, we just told each other we loved each other. It was great. We could do it again together, and I said, we'll try to do it again unless you get a bigger bag.

Q. What's next for you after this?
NATHAN SMITH: Well, back to doing whatever I was doing before I was playing majors. I'll go back to work. You know, I'll have the summer schedule kind of pick up for me in June, July and August. I'll go back to work, back to the family and work unfortunately.

Q. But you enjoy what you do?
NATHAN SMITH: I do, I'm very lucky, and obviously a great family and a great job that allows me to float to play a lot of golf. I'm an investment advisor and an executive wealth counselor, so I work with some good people. It's great. You don't want this week to end, that's for sure.

Q. When did you have your last time thinking about, oh, should I have been a pro? How long ago was that?
NATHAN SMITH: Well, that was a good five or six years ago. But hey, never say never. But you know, there's always the Senior Tour, and who knows what can happen before that. But yeah, I think amateur golf is a perfect fit for me.

Q. What have the phone calls and emails and texts been like for you this week?
NATHAN SMITH: It's been great, real overwhelming. My fans are -- it seems every time I leave it or it goes in the pocket it's vibrating, somebody else with a text or call. I mean, something like this, the outpouring of support has just been tremendous, and I'm lucky to have that many great people around me, and I'm just trying to respond to them all and trying to get back to everybody as soon as I can.

Q. Anything that sticks out, maybe friends you haven't heard from in a while?
NATHAN SMITH: Oh, everybody. You'd be amazed who gets your number. I'm getting these numbers that I don't have in my phone book, so I'm trying to say, oh, thanks. But it's great. It's been fun.

Q. You hit the ball well off the tee today. You hit all but one, maybe two fairways, yet yesterday you didn't do that. Today you didn't get a couple big putts you got yesterday. Talk about how the game was different.
NATHAN SMITH: I was a lot tighter today. I actually played better. I just thought yesterday they moved the tees -- I guess you heard at Tiger's interview that they moved a lot of the tees up, and then obviously playing early, the greens were fresh, so you kind of combine late in the day, the greens are starting to get a little baked. I don't want to say chewed up because they're spectacular down here. And then they moved the tees back. It's kind of a combination of I couldn't get it too close and then hit some good putts that didn't go in.

Q. Any of them you look back and say, boy, I wish I had that back? A lot of close ones.
NATHAN SMITH: There were a lot of close ones. Obviously the two closest ones I thought were 15 and 16. I hit two great putts there that didn't go in. 16, like I said, I kind of forced that back to that pin. Chances are if you go left you're going to three-putt, so I tried to force it back. Yeah, 15 and 16, wish I could have made one of those maybe and had a chance to maybe finish birdie-birdie or something.

Q. What was your view on the cut as your round went on? Do you have a chance, or are you out now?
NATHAN SMITH: I think it's going to be 2- or 3-over. It would have been hard for me today to stay at a good -- I started the day at 2. It would have been tough for me to stay there. I thought it was a couple shots harder. You kind of see it on the board with a lot of guys, some of them are just playing outstanding. But it would have been tough to stay there. But you're trying to time it and you're trying to -- I figured it would be 1 or 2 with how good they are, then I saw Westwood was 10, so it was like an either-or situation, and then I think he just fell back. But it's tricky; you never know for sure.

Q. And that leads you just to go out and do the best you can?
NATHAN SMITH: Yeah, you're trying. You kind of pick a number and kind of play to it, and chances are if you do that, you're in trouble anyway, but it's always close.

Q. Does the word disappointment enter into anything here? You really wanted to make the cut, but --
NATHAN SMITH: It really doesn't. Coming down here and playing this course a lot, those are two really good scores for me on this course. It really doesn't. It's hard to say that, as well as I played, and the pins. I kind of beat my score from before by one shot, considering that I thought that this course was probably 400 yards longer than it was then and the field is a lot stronger. As I said, a lot of the past champions aren't playing, and all of a sudden you have a lot of new blood in here, a lot more touring professionals. It's a lot harder cut to make.

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