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U.S. AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIPAugust 28, 2010Byeong-Hun AnUNIVERSITY PLACE, WASHINGTON THE MODERATOR: We'd like to welcome Byeong-Hun An, the 2010 champion who is obviously disappointed in the way the match went today. Ben, if you could just -- you took a while to compose yourself after the loss. Obviously you had a lot invested in playing in the semifinals of the U.S. Amateur? BYEONG-HUN AN: Yeah, I played great golf today, I think. The front nine was just perfect golf, I think. I just played it great and made some Eagles and some birdies. You know, he's a great player too. He made lots of birdies on the front nine. I should have gone to like 6 up by the ninth hole. If he didn't play that well. But he played greatly too. Especially on the back nine, I couldn't get anything going straight or in the hole, and he took the chances when he needed. But we had a great match, I think. We both played very well. It's very disappointing right now. Q. If it means anything, it's probably okay after you think about it a while, to lose to somebody who played so well. You'd rather get beaten by somebody who is playing well? BYEONG-HUN AN: Yeah, exactly. Because I played well. Yeah, I felt not that bad right now. But that's why maybe I'm more disappointed because I was playing well, but, you know, just couldn't get it done in the last few holes, especially on the back nine. Just missed a lot of chances. But 16 just played fabulous over the green. He made a birdie on 16, and 17 I had a good putt and six feet down the hill. Then on 18, the second shot wasn't good. It wasn't terrible there, but otherwise it was pretty good today. Q. Let's go to that 18th hole. What club was it that you had hit? BYEONG-HUN AN: The 5-iron. Q. The 5-iron on 18, it looked like you had a little bit of a hanging line. What happened with that swing? BYEONG-HUN AN: I swung a little fast. That's why I felt I was hitting it a little high because of the front left. Trying to work it in from the left side. If it doesn't come out it's going to stay left of the green, and it's just going to be an easy par. But I don't know, slowly down slope on the second shot, and I just swung too fast, I think. That's how I missed it way right, and I had a bad break in the bunker. Yeah. Q. Can you talk about your thought process when you're walking up there to the bunker and that lie obviously wasn't ideal? BYEONG-HUN AN: It was surprising that bunker shot came out really hot and went nicely too. I thought I was going to hit the board, that's why I swung really hard. But I just cut it perfectly. It just came off a hop. I'm trying to make at least a bogey there because he had a tough putt too from 45 feet. And I think if I made a bogey there I still had a chance to go an extra hole, because his putter was that easy. But I putted first, and it went off the green 20 feet right. Probably he probably noticed that I couldn't make the putt. It was just pretty far away, and I only had 10% chance of making a putt. And he putted really nice, just perfect speed because that putt is really hard, I think. And he got an easy 2 par from there. Q. You talked about playing perfect golf on the front nine. I'm curious to know on how many holes are you actually looking at the pin, and how many holes are you looking at a slope? BYEONG-HUN AN: One I just looked the right side of the green, and I tried to use the slope on the front right of the green. Second hole I just go at it because there is nothing on the left or right. Let's see. On the third hole I tried to use the slope. On the first hole I tried to use the slope. And then maybe 7 too, 7 and 8. Yeah, there are a lot of slopes out there you can use playing today. Q. He was still kind of hanging in there. Was there a level of frustration at all given how well you played? BYEONG-HUN AN: I was still 2 up, and 3 up on number 9, so I was playing great. I wasn't frustrated at all because he swings his best. If we keep playing like on the back nine he made more putts than me, and he hit better shots than me. I gave him too many chances to win. Q. How did you feel coming down the back nine there with a couple of loose shots and him cutting the deficit? How were you feeling? BYEONG-HUN AN: It was all right because I was still three up and number 10 the tee shot to the right. I hit a good shot there, like the second one it was about ten feet. Yeah, it was okay until the last one when I lost, actually. It was all fine. I wasn't panicking at all. I was staying calm. On the 15th hole, that was huge. But still we have three more holes to go, and anything happens, I'm still on averages. Compared to other pro golfers, we're not that good. And you don't know until the last hole. So I tried to keep playing. But yeah, it was the last hole. Q. It might be too early, but have you had a chance to think about your last two years and what you've done and what you've accomplished? BYEONG-HUN AN: No, I haven't. But I'm just like I said yesterday, I'm trying to focus on today's match. Yeah, I thought about this today and getting to the Masters again. That's why I think I was really disappointed. It's not because I lost and not because I didn't win this year, but I think yeah, not playing the Masters and having a really good chance of playing again two years in a row, missing that I think that was disappointing the most, yeah. Q. The club you hit at 15? BYEONG-HUN AN: I hit a 3-iron. But somehow I hit it pretty good. I didn't see where it landed, but I'm sure it landed uphill and hit the slope and bounced it back off the green. But I'm sure it was the right club, I think. But maybe I was just -- because I was 1 up, and when people get like that they sometimes hit it extremely hard and it goes over the green. That's what happened. Q. Following up a little bit, and maybe you haven't had a chance to reflect on what you've done the last few years, but maybe now that you're done you can tell us a little bit about you're basically the first champion since Tiger in '96 to get back to the semis. How does that make you feel? BYEONG-HUN AN: It feels great, definitely, yeah. I made the record again. It feels great to be the next one with Tiger. But, again, I'm really disappointed that I'll miss the Masters this year because I know what it felt like when I got there last year. You know, coming out on the road, and I'm like I'm coming back next time as soon as possible. I had a feeling that it could be this year again, but like I said, the second shot at 18, I think that was huge, yeah. End of FastScripts |
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