U.S. AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

August 24, 2000

Jeff Quinney

JEFF QUINNEY: Going straight to bed, lucky we have a late tee time tomorrow, we get extra rest.

JEFF QUINNEY: Got off to a slow start. Ben was on top of me early. Bogeyed eight, par 5. Disappointing there. Three putting ten got above the hole there. I was coming back but then he birdied 12 on me. He was back to 3-up and you know I had the momentum going and he took it right back, kind of plugged away. Birdied 14 and had chances at 15, I didn't birdie -- I birdied 13, I'm sorry. It was probably --.

JEFF QUINNEY: It was a little longer than that, probably seven or eight feet. I was playing well, I was confident I could comeback. I knew I could make some birdies, the breaks weren't going my way the first eight holes. He was hitting it down the fairway all the time. He was hitting it so solidly. He was making no mistakes so early. Finally he let me in the door. Birdied 17, par 5, he ended up hitting the tree on the drive on 18, he was over 300 yards out. Kicked it way back in the fairway. I missed my drive in the right rough. I had to hack out what I could. Got to the front edge, he ended up getting it 15 feet to par. Front edge to the back green was probably a hundred-foot putt. Then on 10, I hit it in the trees on the right, had to go through the tree or around the tree, and I got a little lucky going through the branches, made par there. Had a couple of birdie chances but both of us couldn't capitalize. They were the type of putts where you didn't want to be too aggressive, you just don't want to get above the hole.

JEFF QUINNEY: 3-wood off the tee, left center. He took driver. I guess he's been doing that all week. I guess he ended up blocking it right. He had no shot. Tried to punch it through the trees. Ended up being in the fairway 50, 60 yards out. I hit mine below the hole, still couldn't make a gimme, curled so far to the left.

JEFF QUINNEY: Yeah, he hit his shot over the green which kind of took out his par chances, I mean he had a short downhill chip and one-in-a-million chance, so this took the pressure off me. I putted first. Before he even chipped, I was trying to get up close, but I couldn't, I still had a 3-footer coming up. He put the pressure on me to make that 3-footer up the hill to close it out.

JEFF QUINNEY: I was a little discouraged. I 3-putted, bogeyed a par 5, you can't do that this late in the rounds. This player's that good, you can't give him that one easy. I said keep your head in it. Just make birdies, start firing at the flags, playing more aggressive, I had nothing to lose. I was playing well. I was confident with my game, I knew I could do it.

JEFF QUINNEY: No, because Ben, he is the type of player, in the morning he made seven birdies against McLean. He was making par and not so many birdie chances and we both didn't make too many putts really. We were in tough hole locations. You are playing three feet of break in every foot of putt and your trying to die it in from the top side.

JEFF QUINNEY: Looking at the draw, I just had a tough draw in general. Having Lucas in the second. We played a lot of golf together. Looking in the lower bracket, seeing McLean and Curtis and the winner of our match was going to play them, I knew it was going to be a long day. I had to play my best golf, I had to come with my A-game.

JEFF QUINNEY: This summer I really had a great summer, I stayed fresh, haven't traveled too much, worked a lot with my teacher at home. A few swing changes that I made since last spring. It's my first amateur and I was excited to be here and this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. And who knows what my plans are this summer, if I stay amateur, I only have one year left of school. This might be my last or I can play next summer so this is my time here I need to make the most of it.

JEFF QUINNEY: The nerves were more on the 19th hole and then you get settled back down when you're back into your groove and back into the regular swing of things, but none of us really wanted to make -- give each other a bogey or something. We were going to make each other make birdie to win it. I would rather win the match with a birdie and not have him makes bogey, but it ended up being that way.

JEFF QUINNEY: Yeah, I mean this whole course, you can't get over-aggressive though. You have to stay disciplined, you can't fire at every flag and you've got to play a variety of shots. You have got to hit cut shots off the right-to-left slopes. I still haven't mastered it yet.

JEFF QUINNEY: I hit a great shot out of the trees at 8, I ended up catching the only branch there. I said well the tree owed me one. I actually -- I did block it a little further than I wanted to, I was going to play around it, you know it was just fortunate to get that lucky break. You have to have those breaks, you are not going to have perfect days, you are going to have to have lucky shots.

JEFF QUINNEY: I was only 180 yards, but I hit 3-iron. I hit a totally different shot than I was trying to. I was trying to play more a runner and I flew it.

JEFF QUINNEY: Not much. I know he won the U.S. junior and he's going to SC as a freshman next year. I was talking to Ricky Barnes and I said he was like 4- or 5-under on Ricky. He's making a lot of birdies, I don't know too much about him. I was watching him on the range a little bit. He looks like a solid player.

JEFF QUINNEY: Not too bad. I played a lot of 36-hole days and won two match play tournaments this summer. We've been playing a lot of 36 holes. The adrenaline is pumping so much, it's not on your mind, you're still on a high, winning.

JEFF QUINNEY: The Oregan Amateur, I played in the PNGA, won both of those. Played in the U.S. /Japan team matches that were outside of San Diego. I was low medal there and I finished second at the Pacific Coast.

JEFF QUINNEY: It probably is the best comeback. I think I'm just so much more mature now. I think a couple of years ago I would have just folded. I am confident with my game now, just having a lot of experience through college golf and through all the summer matches that I've played in the match play. That's all I've done this summer is played match play. Even though U.S. /Japan have been stroke play sort of thing, I have had a lot experience with that.

JEFF QUINNEY: Yeah. Me and Ben are friends. It is unfortunate that we had to meet each our this early in the tournament. I choose not to play as many national tournaments in the summer, our college team will play the big events. But my name is probably not the most recognized one, but I think -- I'm not really worried about that.

JEFF QUINNEY: I really haven't thought that far. I will just get some rest. I've been in the routine of getting up early. I don't want to sleep in too long. Have my same routine, show up an hour and fifteen minutes ahead, go through the same process as I have all week, I don't want to change that.

JEFF QUINNEY: Maybe in the situation, in the meaning of the whole event is probably the biggest match, match play I've had and do come through and not to fold and to play well and make three birdies or something the last -- I think after 9 I didn't make any bogeys and I had three birdies or something and didn't give anything easy. I think that's kind of my game. I am going to grind him out with pars, get birdies here and there. Hit birdies and hit greens and force them to make birdies to beat me.