U.S. AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

August 17, 2022

Fred Biondi

The Ridgewood Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. You survived; talk us through the last couple holes there. Probably pretty tense.

FRED BIONDI: Very tense. Pretty cool having that crowd there. I don't know, I made some putts today, so that kind of kept me in there. Didn't hit it the way I wanted to, but just kind of was very fun to fight out there. Frankie is an awesome dude with a great game. It was just very fun. We both had a blast. Me and Davi (phonetic) just tried to keep it pretty free, and yeah, tense, but fun.

Q. A lot of back and forth. I believe 11 holes were won by either one of you guys. That's obviously a lot out of 18. How was it just battling, the back-and-forth battle out there?

FRED BIONDI: It was tough. I mean, a lot of birdies out there. I made some, he made some. It was good. I feel like I wasn't up in the match until late. I caught a really good break on 17, but he ended up making birdie and winning the hole. But on 18 it was kind of a little bit of survival mode over there. Both of us were in jail, trying not to make a big mistake. I ended up winning this time, but he was right there. Frankie played great, too, and yeah, it was good.

Q. A couple rounds under your belt. What do you have to do well out here at Ridgewood to succeed and move on into match play here?

FRED BIONDI: You've got to drive it well. Literally if you're hitting the fairway here, it makes the place way easier. The rough is thick, a lot of long irons in. If you're in the rough you're guessing and sometimes you can't even get to the ball. Yeah, hit a bunch of fairways and keep it pretty straight in front of you. I didn't do a good job of it today, but I kind of grind it out.

Q. Is that what you have to improve on tomorrow to keep moving on?

FRED BIONDI: Yeah, hit the driver a little better and hit the irons a little better and just keep going from there.