U.S JUNIOR AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

July 27, 2022

Nick Dunlap

Bandon Dunes Golf Resort

Quick Quotes

Q. I think you realize you're going to get everybody's best shot because you're the defending champ here.

NICK DUNLAP: Yeah, that was a heck of a match. He had me 2-down through 5, should have been 3-down through 6, I got a gift. Didn't really get many all day with him. I don't know if he made a bogey.

But we had a couple of crucial putts on 7 and 8 and he birdied 9. It was back and forth all day. I hit -- like I said, on 12 and 15 I hit some really good iron shots.

Q. Tell me about that 6-iron you hit at 12.

NICK DUNLAP: Yeah, so I birdied 10 to get back to all square. He got up-and-down from like behind the green, almost on the tee on 12, and I missed. We were all square. It was a perfect number on 12, just kind of a cut a 6-iron back into the wind to about five, five and a half feet. From there I was able to put a little bit of pressure on him. I would say it flipped the match.

Q. Then that club showed up again on 15?

NICK DUNLAP: It did. That was a hard shot for me. I'm normally pretty good at cutting it back against the wind and holding it. 15 you had to start it left of the green. It looks like that pin is on an island. I was honestly just trying to knock it on the green somewhere, ended up hitting a great shot.

Q. Conditions a little bit different from the stroke play rounds?

NICK DUNLAP: Yeah, there were some birdies out there. Obviously they had some of the tees back outside of 6, that little par-3. But there were birdies out there. Greens were good. Just wind is down. It's going to happen out here.

Q. Do you have to readjust your thinking about basically no wind here?

NICK DUNLAP: Oh, yeah, every day. Every single day. Maybe on a couple driver holes obviously, but like the 3-wood, iron, driver holes, you can hit something different every day out here. It just depends on where the wind is coming out of, how strong it is. It can play a completely different golf course.

Q. You weren't quite sure about how to play these courses earlier in the week. Are you getting more comfortable here?

NICK DUNLAP: A little bit. Still some of the lines he took, like he obviously played here a couple times. I actually hit another drive on 18 just to see kind of where my line was. It's going to be a learning experience just the more times you're out here. It's a place where I feel like one or two rounds, three rounds isn't going to be enough to learn it. I'm still learning, still learning shots around the greens and all that.

Q. Is there anything that happened to you last year in this championship, helping you this time around?

NICK DUNLAP: It is. I haven't played well recently, but lately kind of figured some stuff out and swinging it really well, but good to get the juices flowing again.