U.S. AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

August 24, 1996

Joel Kribel

JOEL KRIBEL: Well, actually I felt a little more comfortable out there today I think than I did yesterday. I think maybe that was just because Tiger and I are good friends. But I started out the match as I wanted to. I was hitting the ball pretty solid and made some good putts early. I just didn't get it down the back 9 and if you open the door for a guy like Tiger Woods you're going to pay for it. And that's what happened. He played good in the back 9 and he played what I gave him.

JOEL KRIBEL: Hit a 3-wood, 9-iron.

JOEL KRIBEL: 20 feet. 15, 20 feet.

JOEL KRIBEL: Four I hit a driver 3-wood over the back edge and left my chip pretty far short and just kind of rammed the putt right in the center.

JOEL KRIBEL: Yeah, probably.

JOEL KRIBEL: They were at least that long. I thought that I was looking pretty good to go 2 up, but he had a tough putt ahead of him still. But like a true champion he taught me on that one.

JOEL KRIBEL: I tried to hit a big drive and hook around the bunker, just because I knew he'd be able to reach it in 2. I just got too quick and hooked it left. And my second shot I tried to hit it over the tree and I caught it thin and hit the tree dead center and went almost backwards. And from there he hit the green in 2. So there's not a whole lot I could do.

JOEL KRIBEL: I was trying to hit it. There was a little gap to the left of the tree, and I was trying to hit it through there and over the next tree. And I just came out of it and hit it low right.

JOEL KRIBEL: I think if it got through I would have been in the fairway and had a shot at making birdie. But as it was I tried to get up-and-down from 170 yards to make par and I didn't even do that.

JOEL KRIBEL: I was happy being a couple up, but I felt that I could have been more up. I had a lot of good looks at it that I missed as well, besides the putts that I made early. When I'm up there inside 20 feet for birdie on probably 3 holes and he's for the really tough up-and-downs, and he gets up-and-down every time and I miss every time, that was a little disappointing. And obviously the big swing came on 10.

JOEL KRIBEL: I don't think so. I was a little disappointed, but there's not a whole lot I could do. Just shake it off and go on. But that was, like I said, the turning point. And after that I didn't hit the ball nearly as well and didn't make any of the putts.

JOEL KRIBEL: Yeah, that was also. That was just a miserable stroke at it. I just looked up early and pushed it out to the right. And that would have been nice to pick up another hole there. But like I said, Tiger kept getting the saves when he needed them.

JOEL KRIBEL: Maybe if you didn't have quite so much hook. I think it had a little bit of left spin. But I'd take it there every time.

JOEL KRIBEL: Probably about seven or eight feet.

JOEL KRIBEL: Like I said, you don't like to leave the door open to anyone, but especially when you're playing against Tiger. If you give him the slightest little opening he's going to find it and make you pay for it, and that's what happened.

JOEL KRIBEL: It would be nice to drop it in. I hit it heavily, and luckily just carried the water and hopped up there close. But I think even if I'd hit it the way a wanted to, I couldn't get it much closer, so that worked out well. But Tiger was right there making a 15 footer for eagle to not even give me a chance to have the hole.

JOEL KRIBEL: Yeah, I enjoyed it. I had a good time out there. It was a lot of fun playing against Tiger, and I think a good experience for me. And I was definitely not as nervous as I had been in some of my previous matches, and that's probably just because of our friendship. It was a lot different out there today than it was when I was playing like Duke Delcher yesterday. I felt a lot more nervous. Might have been better. If I was nervous, I might have played better.

JOEL KRIBEL: Yeah, I mean 4 under I was pretty happy with. But like I said there was a few pretty good birdie putts that I had that I would have liked to have made to get even a bigger lead. But I just couldn't pile up enough of a lead and he chipped away on the back 9.

JOEL KRIBEL: I know what Scottie Pippen feels like now. (Laughter.)

JOEL KRIBEL: To win two in a row is just phenomenal. And to be playing tomorrow in the finals for three, that's unbelievable, as far as I'm concerned. Because like you said, if you just have one bad match, that's all it takes. And if one person gets hot, that's all it takes. You can get beat at anytime. To win 18 straight matches, if he wins tomorrow would just be unheard of.

JOEL KRIBEL: No, you can't start thinking like that. Like I said, against anybody, especially Tiger. I was thinking that I was going to go 3 up on 10 after I saw our positions and I'm thinking if I could maybe pick up one more hole out of the next two and be four up with 6 to go, I thought I liked my chances then. But definitely not when you're only two up.

JOEL KRIBEL: No. I'll tell you what, anybody who makes it this far to the finals has got to be playing some great golf. And I don't think it would be a shocker either way, whoever won.

JOEL KRIBEL: No. (Laughter.) There's no weakness in his game. He may have hit some shots that he wasn't real pleased with. And I think he'll tell you the same thing, that he started off not hitting the ball so well, but then something like his short game stepped it up and kept him in the match. If he wasn't chipping and putting the way he was I think I would have had a chance to build up a really big lead early. But then after probably 10 he started hitting the ball good and back on track to the Tiger that everybody else has seen in the past few years, just hitting the ball really good.

JOEL KRIBEL: No. We didn't talk a whole lot about our old matches, but, I don't know, hopefully he'll give me a chance to win some of that money if he comes back to school next year.

JOEL KRIBEL: I was thinking about it, but when you're one down with three and a half holes to go, you've got to kind of try and see what you can get out of it, maybe steal a hole here or there. But I told him right after the putt, sorry for being so stingy there. He said, I don't blame you, I would would have done the same thing. I think I made the right choice.

JOEL KRIBEL: I think that's exactly what it was. I don't think that it was a whole lot other than that. I started missing left and right, for my swing, when I start spraying it both ways it's a matter of my timing being off a little bit. The only other thing I can attribute it to is such a long week of golf I may have gotten tired and a little lackadaisical at the end.

JOEL KRIBEL: Just great match.