U.S. AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

August 21, 1999

David Gossett

DAVID GOSSETT: Thank you.

DAVID GOSSETT: The last three holes -- 15th hole, I've been driving the ball well all day. I hit it in the rough. Chopped it out. Ben made a good putt on 14; so I knew that I needed to put it in there, especially after he hit it in there close. And I just -- I worked really hard on my wedges in Austin, Texas, and it paid off today. 65 yards I put it in there about 3 feet and got up-and-down. He made a great putt. Just a little firm and it lipped out. But I felt like I was in the driver's seat. I was 3-up with four to play. I felt I'm in control. He's got to come to me and play great golf, but I certainly wanted to get it over with as soon as possible.

DAVID GOSSETT: I didn't. I hit a lot of fairways. Striking the ball well. Predominantly I was hitting fades on the back 9, and hit a good draw on 3 today with a 3-wood. But hitting the ball well off the tee. I don't think I missed a fairway yesterday. The match before that, I hit 10 out of 11 fairways, because we didn't play the last three holes that were fairways. So, yeah, it's a huge asset out here. This rough is thick. 15, I could only advance the ball 60, 70 yards with a wedge.

DAVID GOSSETT: 16, same thing. I was dormie with three to play, and got up there and hit a 3-wood cut. Hit a really good golf shot, and so did Ben. And it was pretty puny. We had a comment, the guy yelled: "You can do it," after Ben hit, that kind of made us laugh a little bit, from Happy Gilmore. So we had a good laugh walking down the fairway. So I get up. I hit first. I had a 9-iron, it was 138 to the flag, I believe, downhill. The wind was right-to-left. And I just wanted to take it pretty much at the flag. I knew it was trickle-left and spin-left. I pulled it. It hit the left side of the green, sucked back, and went into the rough. I hit the putt a little firm, I'll say, and was above the hole, and had a nice left-to-right 8-footer for par, when he was in perfect position in the garden spot ten feet below the hole. I made a good putt. It just played a little too much break for that speed. Hit it a little too firm. 17, he gets up and hits a great golf shot. The wind is blowing right-to-left, and one of the most famous par-3s in golf. And we're at the U.S. Amateur, and he hit it in close. You have to commend him for that. I got up and knew I had to put it in. And I was ready to get it over with at that time, but was still feeling confident because I knew he had to hit good shots. I hit a good 4-iron fade there and held it with the wind. Started left and stayed there. Had about a 12-footer left-to-right that broke about a foot. And Andrew and I just really kind of focused and got the line. We worked really hard on pace out here. The greens are great. They're in really good shape. They're firm. They're fast, but have some undulation to them. Since they're so fast, you have to work on picking your line, but pace, because it can get away from you quickly. And made a good putt, right in the middle and there we can; it's over. The second time to do that, birdie on 17 to win a match.

DAVID GOSSETT: He hit it inside of mine. He was probably nine feet. Made a good shot, maybe ten.

DAVID GOSSETT: Par-putt on 11? That was crucial, I think, also. I hit a good drive, and had a 10-footer downhill, right-to-left and that's a quick putt. I just hit it off the toe and let it trickle, trickle, and it went in the left side.

DAVID GOSSETT: Well, the 1st hole, he hit it in the tree. And he's not in great position there, right by the bunker in the thick rough. So I'm thinking the wind is kind of -- there wasn't hardly any wind out there. I just wanted to make sure I left it left of the hole and so I could chip up. And I pulled it a little more than I wanted. And just hit my chip a little firm, and didn't quite get my putt there to the hole; so bogey. But it was good enough to win, not like we wanted. I wanted to make a good golf shot in there and win with a tap-in birdie, but couldn't do that. It was a solid birdie on 2, I thought. Good tee shot right down the middle, and a good 3-iron. Made a great putt right in the middle.

DAVID GOSSETT: It was 33 feet.

DAVID GOSSETT: I'm going to say 209 to the flag.

DAVID GOSSETT: No, not really. Like I say, I worked really hard last week to prepare for that, but 80 was not any -- a score that I wanted to start off with. It certainly was not the foot I wanted to put forward in the first round at Pebble Beach. I really kind of dug a hole for myself, but I just gave it everything I got at Spyglass and shot 71 on a tough course, and that gave me confidence. And luckily, we were doing a little sweating that afternoon, Tuesday. I teed off at 7:34, we had to wait about five or six hours, but got in, and have been playing well since. I played Tuesday through today. I've been playing really well.

DAVID GOSSETT: That's correct.

DAVID GOSSETT: Right.

DAVID GOSSETT: Well, he played baseball at the University of Kentucky, and he pitched. So he got me started in baseball really early, and I played a lot of different sports. But he got into golf about 30, when he was living in Phoenix. He had a friend back home say" you've got to get into golf if you're going to Phoenix. He got me into golf when I was seven or eight. Just take me out occasionally. I'd go out and watch him and follow him, and maybe drive the golf cart, that was kind of the motive there around eight or nine. Around ten, I started playing more, and playing in a few tournaments, but I was playing competitive little league baseball. That kept me busy during the summer. I started playing more. Doing better locally, and then State and a few national tournaments when I was 13, 14.

DAVID GOSSETT: I really enjoyed the individual challenge. I love baseball, and I thought I would miss it a lot more than I have. But I like the individual aspect of golf, because if you go out and play well, it's great. It's you. If you go out and play poorly, you know you need to work on something. I didn't like that I could play, the team and everybody could get along great and play great in a game, and I could lose it for a team. Or vice-versa, you play great and do everything, and one guy could not do his best and you lose at the end. I like the aspect of golf of having more control and looking at myself.

DAVID GOSSETT: I caught little league. And I played rec when I was 11, 12 and 13, and I pitched. When I was playing my most competitive little league when I was 9 and 10 and 11, I caught and played second base, as well, and shortstop some.

DAVID GOSSETT: Right.

DAVID GOSSETT: Correct.

DAVID GOSSETT: Not much talking there. I just congratulated him on playing well. He's doing wonderful. I don't know much about him. Obviously, he's composing himself for 17 years old and playing great golf. So it's going to be a slugfest tomorrow. I'm going to approach it the same way I have been: Take it one hole at a time, hit a golf shot and go chase it. And hit it again; enjoy the experience.

DAVID GOSSETT: No, not really. That's down the road a little bit. I'm extremely pleased to get in and be playing at Augusta. I'll be looking forward to that. But I just want to pay attention to what's ahead of me tomorrow, and that's playing 36 holes against Mr. Kim.

DAVID GOSSETT: I felt like I would do pretty well. When I was 17, I obviously didn't get into the finals of the U.S. Amateur. But I played a lot of Junior Golf and traveled around the country, and the American Junior Golf Association and competed at a pretty high level there. I was the Player-of-the-Year in '97. At 17, I played pretty well.

DAVID GOSSETT: I have. I traveled to Japan in '97 and played in the World Junior Team Challenge. I was one of four to play and represent the U.S. and played in Spain. Played in the first of the Junior Ryder Cup, also in '97, and then watched Valderrama.

DAVID GOSSETT: No, never been to Korea. And I've played in Scotland. I spent a week in Scotland this summer, and just played golf and watched the Open on Thursday. I love golf in Scotland. It's great. I went over, and my present from my parents for graduating from high school was playing in the Amateur, and it was at Muirfield. We talked about traveling to Scotland and playing the courses. I've always been interested in the history of the game and the golf over there. It's so different. I love it over there. I missed the cut, but it was kind of good, because we got to see a lot of courses, and we played a lot of the Open courses. So with that experience under my belt and this year's experience, I feel like it's pretty awesome. I love it.

DAVID GOSSETT: Sure. A little bit. This is the U.S. Amateur, and if you want to tie that on, that's fine. But I'm just going -- representing myself, really. I've worked hard to get here and played well and done well, and so has he. I don't think -- I'm carrying the flag a little bit, but I don't feel like it's the Ryder Cup here.

DAVID GOSSETT: The drama here, the U.S. Opens. The last man to win the U.S. Amateur here was some guy named Nicklaus. A lot of history here and just immaculate views and scenery, and awesome golf course.

DAVID GOSSETT: Just address to the flavor more. It makes it just kind of extra special. It's something hopefully one day I can look back and just really smile and enjoy and something that will always be with me. You really can't beat it. Pebble Beach, playing golf, beautiful weather. God did beautiful work here. It's awesome, isn't it?

DAVID GOSSETT: Yes, I do know the history and seen that famous 1-iron that hit the pin, the back left pin. And Watson's chip-in. And the AT&T every year, I watched it on television. Didn't realize the greens were so undulating and built up, and the slopes were so big. But I enjoyed that a week ago, playing in my practice round, as my dad caddied. It was great.

DAVID GOSSETT: When you get around guys like Ben Crenshaw who has a love for the game, and a tremendous respect for the history of the game, it's awesome. The University of Texas is a wonderful institution, John Fields and our assistant, Greg Allan, they run an awesome program. I've really enjoyed it, and it's great. I'm having a good time.

DAVID GOSSETT: It's definitely different. The accommodations were good over there, as they are for him, but still, you're in a foreign country. But the same principles hold true, though, if you hit good golf shots as here, it's the same thing in Japan. That's what I learned. I went over, and it was a great experience for me to travel the world and see what it's like. And I learned that I can take my golf game to Japan. I was the medalist for the tournament, 16 teams and I played well. It's different, but if you play well, you get -- good things happen.

DAVID GOSSETT: Certainly, Japanese, it's like hieroglyphics. You can't read anything. I took two years of Spanish in high school. Never took Japanese. Scottish, I can understand pretty much. Not the Gaelic, but I can hear -- most of it you can understand. Ask them to speak slowly.

DAVID GOSSETT: Yes, I think so. If you're clever about it, I think so, because you go: Hey, I don't know -- I don't know how big they're making it or the media -- you can't speak English, for one; so he's just focusing in playing golf and enjoying the experience and trying to win. You can stay focused.

DAVID GOSSETT: We're going to have to play it once tomorrow for sure. I played 18 in the qualifying. I had a par there. And I played it after Chad, the first match. And then I've played it once again; so I've played it three or four times. I've got my game plan figured out, and it's one of the most beautiful holes in golf. I'll enjoy playing it. The first time, anyway.