U.S. AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

August 27, 2000

Jeff Quinney

JEFF QUINNEY: I played well this morning, shot one-under par, had one bogey. In the afternoon, my game left me. Just didn't feel comfortable. I was hitting tentative shots, and I don't think I had a birdie the whole time, the whole afternoon round. And was making bogeys and giving him holes where he kind of did the same thing to me, though, on the first couple holes. I gave them right back. Three up, three to go, he's hitting 16, I have a terrible hole, get bad lies in the rough. 17, he's got an 80 -- 75, 80 yards in the bunker, probably the toughest shot in golf, that shot, I think. He hits it eight feet or ten feet. I praise him. He had a -- he hit some clutch shots. And I just didn't finish the job. You know, I bogeyed 17, 16 and 18 and missed the fairways. I'm trying to keep my head high. I'm still in there. This is not over with. Just hopefully I go out there tomorrow and have a new day.

JEFF QUINNEY: I just try and remain calm. I just go back to basics. I was getting quick on my swing and just getting tentative and not finishing and just hitting terrible shots that I haven't hit all week. I don't know if it was due to the fatigue, it probably was, and I kind of wasn't aware of it. I was more tired than I think.

JEFF QUINNEY: Yeah, I don't know -- I consider that almost an unlucky break. I hit a terrible tee shot. When I first hit it, I thought it was up the left rough, and I thought I would hit the green and go out there. It was 300 plus yards out, I what surprised. He's in the first cut a downhill lie to a right pin, he hits it 6 feet. What can you do? I was unhappy with my wedge shot on 18, too. I didn't hit a good shot there when he was in close. The drive on 16 and drive on 18, especially 16, that's a tough birdie hole. And I put that in the fairway there and forced him to make birdie to beat me. I think that was where I was most frustrated.

JEFF QUINNEY: He was up tight, pretty much a gimme putt. I knew how to get up-and-down. Relatively good lie. It was a tough shot though, it wasn't one -- you probably get up-and-down five out of ten times but it came out nicely. I thought it was going in the hole. I don't know if I was going at a faster speed than what I thought, but it looked great from where I was.

JEFF QUINNEY: Probably. I can, you know, hit some balls tomorrow, tonight maybe. Get some swing glitches out that I, you know, somehow picked up today. And just -- it's a fresh day. Hopefully I'll go well tomorrow.

JEFF QUINNEY: Never to the next day like this. This is the first time that they've suspended play and played the next day.

JEFF QUINNEY: I think that helped me. I was flustered then, and I came out fresh and I hit a great chip on 13 and one on 14. I was three up with four to play and I was in the driver's seat. And then I was just pretty much trying to make pars in. Maybe that's why I made a mistake. I just got too tentative.

JEFF QUINNEY: I mean a little bit. They're trying to get to me. That's what their plan is, yelling and trying to get in my head. I blocked them out. It's all fun. So, great competition.

JEFF QUINNEY: I had it going through my mind. He was the first one to mention it. He said let's go the next, so I said sure. I mean they're putts you're going to make 95 percent of the time, and I guess to have that long of a day and when you're tired and somebody misses a 2-footer or something for this huge championship, I don't think that would have been worth it.

JEFF QUINNEY: That was a big hole there, too. I could have gone up 4 there. I had three without any whiffs and I ended up hitting 6-iron. And then I guess my third shot came out real low. The fairways were getting firmer and it's harder to get the ball up from that close. I knew it was gonna be a fast putt. I hit a terrible putt in the first place, but I didn't think it was going to be that fast.

JEFF QUINNEY: Yeah, I knew he whiffed, that's why I took out the 6-iron and hit it down the fairway.

JEFF QUINNEY: Just do what I've done every night I guess, just go set some rest, go get some food and just wake up tomorrow with a positive attitude and my head high. I still got a chance for this thing; it's not over yet.

JEFF QUINNEY: Yep. I remember at the Oregon Am some guy did that two years ago, but I ended up winning on the 19th.

JEFF QUINNEY: Uh-huh.

JEFF QUINNEY: Yep.

JEFF QUINNEY: 17, 18, I had putts that I can make. Left them short. Totally misread 18 I guess. But... I didn't have any birdies in the afternoon and nothing really fell. But every putt you have out here breaks four feet downhill, I wasn't hitting my irons close enough to make little birdie putts.

JEFF QUINNEY: I was proud how I played this morning, and I was feeling comfortable, feeling great and just kind of -- I guess maybe up to the 8th was where it kind of went downhill. I'm proud. This has been a great event, and I still got a shot at it.