U.S. AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

August 26, 2000

James Driscoll

JAMES DRISCOLL: Yeah, feeling really good. I'm psyched to be in the Finals. I played a lot better today than I did against Jerry Courville, which makes me feel good. I would have been a little bit scared having played, you know, the same way I did against Courville, not really knowing where the ball was going. But today I played a lot better. So I'm feeling a lot better -- I'm feeling pretty good about going into tomorrow. By no means overconfident, but I feel like I've got a little bit back of how I was playing earlier in the week.

JAMES DRISCOLL: Well, I hit balls last night, and that helped a lot I think. I just tried to tighten up my swing a little bit. My putting stroke was a lot better today, too, was a lot shorter. My face of my putts was better, I don't think I three-putted at all. I'd say the putting was probably the bigger difference than the ball-striking actually.

JAMES DRISCOLL: The first hole, we both missed the green. I made like a -- he made a bogey, I made a 12-footer for par to win that hole and go one-up. Then he hit it about a foot on 2 and won that hole. Then he hit it about 20 feet on 3 and won that hole. And then we have, up until the 9th hole, I made a 25-footer for birdie to square the match. Then on 10, he made a bogey, he missed like a 6-footer, I made like a 4-footer for par. Then we both birdied 11. He birdied 12 to square the match. Then on 13, he made like maybe a double. I don't know. He kind of hit it in the hazard and then chopped it out and hit it over the green. He gave me my par putt basically after he had hit, I think, five shots. So -- and then we tied a couple holes until 16, I hit it to about a foot and won that hole to go dormie, too. And then we both parred, parred 17.

JAMES DRISCOLL: Pretty good. No bogeys, three birdies. I think any time in a U.S. Am, the way they have the course set up, if you can make no bogeys that's the key because it doesn't really give the opponent any gifts. He can't just win on a par, which is, I think in Match Play, that's one of the most important things is not necessarily how many birdies you make but just be there in every hole, which is what I did today.

JAMES DRISCOLL: No. I've never played with Jeff before. But he's obviously playing great this week, so I'm sure we'll have a good match tomorrow.

JAMES DRISCOLL: I had 150, I think, to the hole. I hit a 9-iron.

JAMES DRISCOLL: Certainly. Yeah, it would definitely -- if I were to win tomorrow, I would definitely stay amateur through the -- take all those exemptions, no question about it.

JAMES DRISCOLL: I don't think I could pass that up either. I'd have to think about it. It's a long time to wait and it kind of messes things up with the qualifying tournament having to wait a whole other year. But I don't think any -- there's nothing that would really outweigh playing at Augusta. I can't imagine skipping that.

JAMES DRISCOLL: I don't know. I felt very comfortable on the golf course today for some reason. I felt a lot more comfortable than I did yesterday. And I really didn't have much of a problem kind of hitting every shot, you know, as well as I possibly could. And, you know, I didn't hit a ton -- I didn't hit all great shots but I tried to. That's basically what I try to do no matter if I'm playing a Stroke Play tournament, a Match Play tournament. It doesn't really matter what I'm playing or what kind of format. I'm always just trying to play the same basically. I've always played like that basically my whole life. So it's not that hard usually.

JAMES DRISCOLL: That was a pretty important half. After he hit his tee ball in the trees, if I hit a good drive there, I have the advantage on that hole. I hit it further into the trees. And I took kind of a gamble hitting it out of the trees there. I could have gone out sideways but I would have had 300 yards in. So I went, took more of a risky route and it paid off. I could hit -- I had 250. So I could hit it by the green, up-and-down for five. So I definitely got rewarded with taking that risk of trying to go up further, further up the fairway. But definitely could have hit a tree and come right back pretty easily. The opening I had was pretty small.

JAMES DRISCOLL: I don't know. I think he was -- maybe -- I don't know what he was thinking. I'm pretty sure he was probably thinking that I would make five just because that's the mentality you have to have in Match Play. But deep down, if you asked him what's he gonna make in this hole, he might have maybe been thinking six. But that was definitely a big up-and-down I made there for that five.

JAMES DRISCOLL: That was about five feet. That was a pretty big up-and-down, too. I'm 45 yards away, I know I have to get it up-and-down, he's already in for his four. So that was huge. I think the whole stretch from 8, 9, 10, and 11 was huge for me. To have 8, to win 9 with a birdie, to win 10 with a par and to have 11, I mean he could have -- that was a stretch of holes where anything could have happened and everything went basically my way, or we halved a hole. That was an important stretch.

JAMES DRISCOLL: The biggest strength, I don't know. I mean if everything's working, everything's a strength. I don't know. In general I'd say my strength is probably -- I don't know. My consistency. I'm pretty consistent. Like I'd say my weakest part is usually my short irons, like

my -- a full sand wedge and a pitching wedge, a 9-iron, I usually don't hit those as close to the hole as guys on Tour do, you know. That's probably my -- has been my biggest weakness. But this week has been better. I've been hitting a lot more shots close to the hole with those clubs.

JAMES DRISCOLL: It's great. It's great that they're out there. I can see someone in my family basically any time I look over my shoulder and it's

just -- it's nice to have them all here. I have a lot of friends here, too. So it's just -- it just gives you a good overall feeling when you're on the golf course, a comforting feeling that's pretty important to have.

JAMES DRISCOLL: Not usually. Although one of my tee balls hit my brother in the butt. So there was some direct interaction there. But other than that...

JAMES DRISCOLL: On 9. I hit it way right and it hit him. It stayed in the first cut, if I would have kept going, I would have had no shot.

JAMES DRISCOLL: No, didn't kick it out.

JAMES DRISCOLL: Billy.

JAMES DRISCOLL: I didn't know until after my match. Then another one of my brother's got four bee stings looking for my ball on 8.

JAMES DRISCOLL: Timmy.

JAMES DRISCOLL: I don't know. I don't know. I think he said on the fly, but I'm not sure.

JAMES DRISCOLL: They're all like staying in a different hotel, and we got -- I think -- we've never all gotten together for dinner. But I mean with my parents, I'm staying with my parents so I've been with them every night. I'd say tonight we'll probably all get together. It would surprise me if we didn't.

JAMES DRISCOLL: Just go out to dinner.

JAMES DRISCOLL: I got five older brothers and one older sister.

JAMES DRISCOLL: That's a good question. Probably like 40 or 50 people that were -- no, is that too much? I don't know. 30. I don't know. (Laughing.) I have no idea. I did see a lot of people that I didn't expect to see.

JAMES DRISCOLL: Billy got hit and Timmy got the bee stings.

JAMES DRISCOLL: My oldest brother stopped playing a long time ago, I think he stopped playing when I was like eight years old and I beat him. He said, "That's it. I'm never playing golf again." He never played much anyway. But that's the story he tells people. Timmy just started playing. He's the next oldest. He started playing three years ago. He used to be a hockey player, played professional hockey for a while and just picked up golf about two years ago. He's crazy about it now.

JAMES DRISCOLL: Richard.

JAMES DRISCOLL: Then Billy plays maybe 20 times a year. He's pretty good. He can shoot in the high 70s, low 80s. Then Paul, Paul's been playing great this summer. He used to be a lefty, and he switched to a righty about eight years ago. And he's been shooting a lot of good scores, he's shot a lot of scores in the low 70s this year. Then John used to be great. He played college golf at Boston College, and then just quit golf like five years ago. He basically plays like three or four times a year now. But in terms of a natural golf swing, he's probably got one of the smoothest swings I've ever seen. Then my sister plays quite a bit in the summertime. She's pretty good. She can shoot in the high 70s, mid-70s.

JAMES DRISCOLL: Molly, sorry.

JAMES DRISCOLL: My oldest brother is I guess 37 now. I'd say 37.

JAMES DRISCOLL: Basically Paul and John would, growing up, they kind of -- I'd follow them to the golf course basically. That's what I remember doing. But growing up I played a lot kind of on my own, kind of just parents would drop me off and I'd just spend the day at the golf course. Kind of like most kids did, you know?

JAMES DRISCOLL: Yeah, we joined Charles River Country Club when I was probably eight years old, seven or eight. We've been members ever since.

JAMES DRISCOLL: Not really, no.

JAMES DRISCOLL: We'll see. I don't know. I don't think -- I mean every day is a pretty stressful day. But tomorrow's probably the most stressful I guess. But I mean I've been pretty calm the last couple days, so we'll see. I'm sure I'll be a little bit more nervous. Today I was a lot more calm than I thought I was gonna be. A lot more calm. I don't know why.

JAMES DRISCOLL: I've said hello to him but I've never actually --

JAMES DRISCOLL: No, I never played with him. He's from Oregon, I'm from Massachusetts, so we probably didn't play together too much in junior golf. And I mean I've seen him around in college tournaments and amateur tournaments but we've never played with each other.

JAMES DRISCOLL: Yes.

JAMES DRISCOLL: Yeah, I was pretty nervous in that match. I don't know. I was -- I think I was like two-up in that match with four or five holes to play and I lost on 18. I was -- that was pretty tough. But I don't know, probably be pretty similar. It's a pretty similar situation. At the Junior I had done pretty well the year before, not really well. I made Match Play and lost I think in the first round or something. Then, you know, came back the next year and played a little better. That's kind of what I'm doing here this week. So it will probably be a pretty similar day as it was that year in terms of like my emotions.

JAMES DRISCOLL: Scott Hales (phonetic spelling).

JAMES DRISCOLL: I don't know. I played in a tournament when I was 20, so I mean that was -- that's a pretty big atmosphere, too. But in terms of this many people just watching me and my group, I don't think there was nearly as many at the tournament as there were this week.

JAMES DRISCOLL: CVS Tournament, I played the last year they had it, '98 I think.

JAMES DRISCOLL: I shot 70, 70, 72, 76. I don't know what place I came in, near the end.

JAMES DRISCOLL: Yeah.

JAMES DRISCOLL: The crowd was great today. They were huge. The numbers were huge. I can't believe it. A lot bigger than last year. I think the fact that it's so close to the City, I mean it's just the population around here that enjoy watching golf is huge. And they're great. They're just very supportive.

JAMES DRISCOLL: I know, I know. But... You know. (Laughing.)

JAMES DRISCOLL: I don't know. I don't really -- before U.S. Am, I don't expect much. I come in with no expectations at all, you know, hopefully I play well. I mean I know I'm good enough. I've got the game to win, but I can't -- I mean I'm not -- I think Tiger Woods is the only person that goes into a golf tournament and says, "I'm going to win," and does it. If I start to think like that, I get ahead of myself and it, you know, deters me from playing as well as I can. But -- so especially a tournament like this. Match Play, it's such a long week. I try and take it one day at a time.

JAMES DRISCOLL: My dad's retired. He used to be a banker.

End of FastScripts….