U.S. AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

August 20, 1996

Joel Kribel

JOEL KRIBEL: I just wanted to go out and not make any big mistakes. I knew if I went out and played solid golf I wouldn't have much trouble making the cut. I wasn't looking to do anything spectacular. I knew if you get into match play anything can happen. I wanted to get into the top 64. Ghost Creek was playing easier than Witch. I made a couple of birdies and tried to stay away from big numbers.

JOEL KRIBEL: I made a good save on the 3rd hole, about a 10-footer downhill.

JOEL KRIBEL: I hit an 8-iron into the front bunker. And I birdied 7, driver 7-iron about five feet. And I birdied 8. 2-iron lob wedge and made about a 12 footer. Made a bunch of pars. And then I birdied 14. Is that the long par 3, 14?

JOEL KRIBEL: I birdied that one, and then I birdied 15, hit a sand wedge in there to 8 feet. And then I bogeyed 16, and then I parred 17 and 18.

JOEL KRIBEL: Hit a 9-iron in the back bunker and missed about a 6 footer.

JOEL KRIBEL: I'm definitely used to it after the past year. The whole year was like this during college. I played in the group in front of him just about all year. He had the big galleries, but even though I like playing the front people it doesn't really bother me. It's to be expected with the kind of record that he has that he's going to get all the people. So I'm kind of used to it. Hopefully if I keep playing well I'll be around when the people start following some of the other groups.

JOEL KRIBEL: We've been lucky enough to have a lot of good players at Stanford. I'm sure you know the four guys that graduated the year before this last one, three of which are pros right now and doing quite well, and the other Steve Burdick, who is here. And then like you said we've got three guys here right now, which we're really pleased with. There aren't many other teams that have three guys. Sure, there's a few like ASU and Vegas, but it's just kind of maybe a tradition that a lot of other schools have that we've had good enough players to make it out here. It's really fun for us to get back here and have some fun together.

JOEL KRIBEL: Completely different types of games. He plays more of a power game, where just about any course for him with his length is a par 68. Whereas I don't hit it quite as long, but I try to hit fairways and greens and my strength has probably been my putting most recently. So there's a little bit of difference, although Tiger doesn't have any weaknesses at all. In fact I'd say everything is his strength. So it's kind of tough to make a comparison to somebody that good.

JOEL KRIBEL: The main thing for me I think is confidence, just being that that's one of the best fields in amateur golf, and coming out on top meant a lot to me and got my confidence rolling. The week in general was a lot of fun but it was a lot of golf, too. I think I played 10 rounds in 6 days. It was fun, all in all. I'm here this week and hopefully I can do it again.

JOEL KRIBEL: The first two days I don't think I played quite as well as I did back there. But you never know. I'm hoping it will come alive in match play just at the right time.

JOEL KRIBEL: I played in the Northeast Amateur in Rhode Island. Finished I think in 9th place there, had a bad last day and kind of shot myself out of it. I went straight from there to the Dogwood in Atlanta and tied for 8th there. Felt like it was a PGA Tour event, shot 9 under and I was tied for 8th. Then I had a week off. I went to the Pacific Northwest up in Washington and I ended up winning that. And then I had two weeks off and went back to the Western.

JOEL KRIBEL: No, I decided to take that week off just to work on my game a lot. When you go from tournament to tournament without coming home, it seems like a lot of stress and a lot of guys don't play quite as well the second tournament. There were two tournaments that I had in mind coming into the summer that I wanted to play well in that was the Western and the U.S. Am. Each of those tournaments I had almost two weeks off in between them. So I think the time that I took off and prepared is paying off.

JOEL KRIBEL: Just one. I tried to qualify twice and I only made it once.

JOEL KRIBEL: Second time.

JOEL KRIBEL: No, I made the cut but lost the first round to Dru Fenimore.

JOEL KRIBEL: Yeah, I'd love it. I think it would be a lot of fun. I'm just hoping that if I played against him, I think he wins some of his matches by intimidation, but I think being around him for a whole year and getting to know him that I don't think that would be quite as much of a factor since we're friends, besides being opponents. But I'd enjoy it a lot.

JOEL KRIBEL: He doesn't have one. I don't know. I don't know what I'd do. I'd probably have to come up with some stories about some girls or something, I don't know.