U.S. WOMEN'S AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

August 4, 2001

Meredith Duncan

MEREDITH DUNCAN: I am exhausted, tired, happy and excited.

MEREDITH DUNCAN: Yeah, I think I am not going to lie. I played excellent golf. She played wonderful golf too. I made a few mistakes coming in at the end, but you know, I didn't expect that from, myself but I knew I wasn't going to play the perfect round. Everybody is going to make mistakes somehow. And sometime. Unfortunately I made a few of them and it came down to the wire and you know, fortunately for me I came out on the top side.

MEREDITH DUNCAN: I definitely played the greatest golf I have ever played this entire week. To say that that is the greatest USGA match is wonderful. Definitely excited to be a part of it.

MEREDITH DUNCAN: No, I am just going to go back to school and play golf and finish out my senior year and then be amateur again next summer.

MEREDITH DUNCAN: Definitely that's huge not having to qualify for the U.S. women's Open. Not many people can get an exemption to the Open and for me to have one I am definitely taking advantage of it.

MEREDITH DUNCAN: 13, I hit a good shot in the green, just trickled over. I might have miss-clubbed myself. I hit it solid so basically that's all I can ask for. Just kind of -- just you know, mental mistake on the chip which like I said, you know, that was what my second bogey of the day? So I knew I was going to make a bogey somewhere and on -- then on 16 when I 3-putted, I did get a little nervous there, got it back to even, I think, and but I was still thinking to myself I thought I have two good holes left and they are both very birdie-able holes so I knew I was not out of it by any means.

MEREDITH DUNCAN: Yeah, that was like a moment of like, "yes, let us go again. Come on, let's go to the next hole, I am ready." That was just one of those moments.

MEREDITH DUNCAN: Well, I thought to myself you know, I thought to myself on the putt on 18 and I thought to myself on the putt on the 10, you know, I thought this is what you practice for. This is why you play for two hours. This is, you know, this is it. And this is what it is all about.

MEREDITH DUNCAN: Yeah, the one on 18 was definitely a little bit tougher just because you know, it was longer, you know, it was dead straight putt, but under the conditions you know, might as well have been a 30-footer right left breaker downhill.

MEREDITH DUNCAN: Probably the one on 18 because the one on 10 was so close, you know, I don't want to say tap-in. It was a tap-in, but at the same time you know, it was a two-footer to win the U.S. Amateur. Wasn't exactly a tap-in. The one on 18 I think is the one that's really key because you know I miss that putt and it is over.

MEREDITH DUNCAN: Yeah.

MEREDITH DUNCAN: Definitely, yes. She made me make the putts. She raised my game to another level today. On like No. 5 she makes birdie first and I have to make birdie. It's a matter of when you have to do something you are going to find a way to do it. When she chipped in on 6 for birdie, you know, I knew I had to make the putt. There's no way around it. So I made it.

MEREDITH DUNCAN: That was good TV, I am sure. I am sure the TV people just loved that one. I mean that was just heck of golf -- that was just great golf.

MEREDITH DUNCAN: 7, I mean, 7 is just a tough hole. Par on 7 is, I think it is a great score. It's a long hole. It's into the wind. Not very easy green. And she made a good up-and-down and I made a great up-and-down. I think the whole round we just-- both of us made clutch putts all day.

MEREDITH DUNCAN: I think so just because all -- majority of the putts that I made I had to make, to stay in the hole, or win the hole. I just stepped over it and hit it and felt good.

MEREDITH DUNCAN: I try not to get -- I got real excited on 6 obviously when I made the putt. I just wanted to run to the next tee, but you know, sprint. But at that point I have to calm myself down because the more excited I get, you know, I just have to calm myself down because too excited for me is not good on the golf course. Like I said, you can't run to the next tee. So-- and then when I got down I just tried to remember you know, even when I was still up I just tried to say to myself, you are still winning this match. You are not 4-down or anything, so, I never was out of it. So that's what I just kept trying to tell myself.

MEREDITH DUNCAN: Yeah.

MEREDITH DUNCAN: It definitely was fun. It is the match that everybody wants to play in. Everybody wants to play in a 36 hole match where you are matching birdie for birdie. It was just fun to see both of us have to make clutch putts and make them. There's a lot of matches where you see people make a few of their clutch putts and then miss a few. For the most part both of us neither one of us really missed many putts - I can think of maybe three or four putts that I missed that I really should have made. Maybe not even that many, and I really can't think of -- I can think of a couple of putts that she missed that she should have made. It was a fun match because we both played well. Majority of the holes were won with birdies. It wasn't like, you know, I made a few bogeys, she made a few bogeys, and so neither one of us made very many mistakes.

MEREDITH DUNCAN: It hasn't really sunk in really deep yet. When I was sitting at the presentation I was looking at the names on the trophy and the few names I could see I'd saw JoAnne Carner, Wendy Ward, Kelly Kuehne. Those were just the ones on my side.

MEREDITH DUNCAN: Patty Berg. Just to have my name on the same list as theirs is just, you know, it is just awesome. I don't know -- that's the only way I can explain it. It is just awesome.

MEREDITH DUNCAN: I had no.

MEREDITH DUNCAN: I have been in a lot of extra hole matches this year, this summer. Like I had 3 of them at the Western; then I had a couple at North South. So I knew that I had it in me to win but it really didn't matter which hole we went to. Going to 10 I was kind of a little nervous because I was in between clubs, there the whole day I ended up taking 7-iron and chokin it down really good and hitting it. But it turned out good.

MEREDITH DUNCAN: Yeah.

MEREDITH DUNCAN: At this point in the match.

MEREDITH DUNCAN: It was a little bit longer, maybe two feet. But that is just kind -- I probably would have made her putt it too just because you want to test the other person. It -- you know they can make it I am sure she knew, I am sure she knew I was going to make it but at the same time you got to test them.

MEREDITH DUNCAN: I don't even -- I don't know what to say. I think Kaye Cockerill told me she said, you are one of the players to beat. She said you go -- when people see your name on a player's list they say oh Meredith Duncan, she's the one to beat. I still don't consider myself, you know, like I look at other names, I see Hilary Homeyer, I am saying oh, she's so good. I see other names I am like, oh she's so good, really hasn't sunk in to me that I am good, you know, like -- I should be saying oh, yeah, you know, I can come in here and I can win this, but you know, I don't look at myself as like you know, one of the big names. I do now, I think, but before this I never really thought of myself -- I thought of myself as a good player that could be great. I think I am good now.

MEREDITH DUNCAN: Yes, it has. I will go back to school and I am sure lots of people want to throw me parties or whatever, which is fine, I guess I will have to go, but you know, the summer just really -- this tournament ends a great summer that I have had and it also starts a great fall that hopefully I am have.

MEREDITH DUNCAN: Yeah, I think that's definitely true. Once you are -- once you are in the position you know, I had no doubt in my mind that -- when I walk on 17th tee today, I thought to myself there's no way on God's green earth that I am losing this match today. I have been in two finals matches. I am two for two. There's no way I am going to lose this match. When it gets down to that point, you know that you can do it. Does that make sense? There's just no other way around it. You know you can do it. The way I look at it nobody is going to stop me. I am not going to let anybody stop me.

MEREDITH DUNCAN: She definitely ---

MEREDITH DUNCAN: At the beginning of the match it was still early. We still had umpteen holes left. But once it gone down to clutch, you know, you'd make a putt and it is just instinct, you are like, yes, and like when I made the putt on 6, you know, after she chipped in, like I said, I was just like yes, I probably made some crazy face but I just wanted to run to the next tee and she -- her pumping her fist kind of made me want to do it too just because -- just kind of like: Ha, I can do it too, so, you know, that kind of, yeah, definitely.

MEREDITH DUNCAN: No.

MEREDITH DUNCAN: I was playing to a specific yardage. I was playing to about 115, hit it 117. That is exact yardage that I wanted.

MEREDITH DUNCAN: Looked to me like it was about 20 feet. I mean, it looked very makeable from the fairway, but you know, I didn't really have much clue how far exactly it was. Mine didn't look -- to me mine didn't look near as close as it actually was. Mine looked about 15 feet from where I was.

MEREDITH DUNCAN: Definitely, yeah. I know it is just -- emotions get to you, and you know, the last couple of holes you know, I can -- like looking in the crowd, I see him everywhere and there's a lot of times where I might look in the crowd and see some old man and you know, it might be that he just kind of looks at me and it is like, oh, you know, like it just looks like him. I just -- I know he is watching me and that makes she -- that just puts me at ease.

MEREDITH DUNCAN: Both. Both. He taught me all the fundamentals, you know, he worked with me up until -- he was real sick the last year and a half of his life, so he worked with me on fundamentals up until he was 85. But he also worked with me on how to practice and you know, he always told me you know, the three Ps, practice, preparation and patience, you know, perfect practice makes perfect -- you have to prepare for everything you do, and you have to be patient. What you want is not going to happen right when you want it. You have to be patient for the birdies, and they will start falling. He always told me that, always.

MEREDITH DUNCAN: Orsee Marsalis.

MEREDITH DUNCAN: Yeah, I don't even know the years that he played pro. It was a few years and he coached at Centenary College in Shreveport. Actually coached there when he was 81. So coached there when he was 81 'til he was 84. But he also built Barstale (phonetic) Air Force base golf course in Bossier. When he was growing up, he was just one of the kids that caddied for people that were at the random local course and then they would let caddies play on Monday or Saturday mornings or whenever, then he'd take his 3 little clubs and he'd go play. That's how he got into it.

MEREDITH DUNCAN: No, not really because -- she's not slow by any means. But she does take her time, which is expected in this point in the match. No, I just try to -- while she's doing her thing I just are try to focus on something different and/or think about something different until it is my turn to putt.

MEREDITH DUNCAN: I just I knew it was really close.

MEREDITH DUNCAN: I think it was just over a match box, I am White.

MEREDITH DUNCAN: Did I? All right.

MEREDITH DUNCAN: Sweet. Well I used to play basketball, girls always used to tease me. They'd say Meredith, jump over that line. (Laughter).

MEREDITH DUNCAN: Thank you all for supporting women's golf because it is getting out in the public eye. And that's good, I think.