U.S. AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

August 25, 2000

James Driscoll

JAMES DRISCOLL: All right. No questions? (Laughter.)

JAMES DRISCOLL: Well, I'm just happy I made it further than I did last year. Last year I played great to get to the quarterfinals. This is such a tough tournament to make it -- to go deep in. To come back the next year after losing to Gossett in the quarters and make it to the semis, I'm pretty proud of that. I hope I can just play well tomorrow and give Luke a good match.

JAMES DRISCOLL: Yes.

JAMES DRISCOLL: He birdied -- he rolled in like a 25-, 30-footer on 16. Then he hit 17 in 2 to about 10 feet, two-putted for birdie. On 18 we both hit the green. I had like 45 feet, hit it up there. He gave me the par putt. Then he rolled his 25-footer just over the hole. So he really had the momentum going. I thought he was going to make that putt on 18, but didn't go.

JAMES DRISCOLL: I don't know. I got to tighten up my swing a little bit. It was a little sloppy today. Hopefully I can find out some of the stuff I had going tomorrow -- yesterday -- on the range this afternoon and hit a lot better tomorrow. We'll see.

JAMES DRISCOLL: I was much, much better today than I was in the quarters last year. I never really got too anxious or too nervous. I just kind of enjoyed it more than anything else, especially in the beginning. It was just kind of fun to watch all the people, all the spectators. It's just fun to be in that environment.

JAMES DRISCOLL: I've played with him a couple times in college. Maybe twice.

JAMES DRISCOLL: No. I just try and play the golf course as well as I can. I don't really care how Luke plays. I'm sure he's gonna hit a ton of fairways, a ton of greens. I'm just going to try to do the same thing, make as many birdies as I can and make as few bogeys as I can and see what happens. I just play the golf course. I don't really care too much who I play or what type of player they are. I don't really change my game for any type of player.

JAMES DRISCOLL: Not really. I try and birdie every hole basically. Unless the pin's crazy, I'm going to try to knock it as close as I can below the hole and try and make birdie.

JAMES DRISCOLL: The times I've played with him, he seems to have really good control over his ball flight, hits his iron solid. He seems to always know where it's going. He stays within himself well, and for him it's usually just a matter of how many putts he makes. And that's kind of how it's been with me for this week except for today. I was just sloppy, a little loose, and hopefully I can, you know, tighten it up for tomorrow.

JAMES DRISCOLL: He hit it by me a couple times today. Is he longer than me? I think I probably hit my irons a little longer. Off the tee he was longer than me today. Definitely. I don't know if he's longer than me day in and day out. I didn't hit the ball very well off the tee. I don't know. Pretty close.

JAMES DRISCOLL: Yeah, he hits it pretty good.

JAMES DRISCOLL: Kind of in the back of my mind. I don't really like to put too much pressure on this tournament though, because it's so hard to do well in. You just -- it's -- I know some people really gear their summers around it. I did a little bit this summer, but if I -- if that's all I think about is the U.S. Am for the whole summer, I used to do that in the past and end up missing Match Play, just putting too much pressure on myself. So it's been in the back of my mind, being exempt from last year, that I knew I was gonna be here. But I haven't put too much pressure on myself.

JAMES DRISCOLL: It was tough. It was tough especially on tee balls because I didn't really know where the ball was going. So I just tried to stay aggressive and, you know, not back off. But on that putt on 18, I don't know, I just went through my routine, stayed pretty calm, hit a pretty good putt. Probably the best speed putt I had all day. My speed was really bad for most of the match.

JAMES DRISCOLL: Yes, they're all here. They're all in this room here.

JAMES DRISCOLL: There's my mom, my brothers.

JAMES DRISCOLL: Probably both.

JAMES DRISCOLL: Both my parents, my sister Molly, my oldest brother isn't here, Timmy, Billy, Paul, John, Molly are here.

JAMES DRISCOLL: Timmy. The quiet one over there.

JAMES DRISCOLL: Not really. Everyone at this level is so good, it's -- I think sometimes there's a tendency to maybe underestimate a Mid-Am. But you're kind of stupid to do that 'cause I mean there are so many good Mid-Ams, and Jerry's one of them. I think especially his game is a lot more similar to a college player's game because he hits it so far. So I wouldn't say he's any different than any top college player.

JAMES DRISCOLL: Not really.

JAMES DRISCOLL: I don't think so.

JAMES DRISCOLL: I think so, yeah.

JAMES DRISCOLL: My college roommate gave them to me last year.

JAMES DRISCOLL: I don't have any shorts, I'll see what I can come up with.

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