U.S. AMATEUR FOUR-BALL

May 21, 2025

Will Hartman

Tyler Mawhinney

Plainfield Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. First of all, congratulations, you guys are USGA champions. Describe in words what that means to you.

WILL HARTMAN: It still hasn't quite set in yet. We finished about 30 minutes ago. But I think looking back on it tonight, it's going to be pretty cool. It's something that we'll remember forever.

TYLER MAWHINNEY: Yeah, I'll piggyback on what he said, but it will definitely be something we remember for a long time and something we can tell our kids or our grandkids.

Q. How many USGA championships is this for you guys? How many have you played in?

WILL HARTMAN: I think this is my fourth one, two juniors, one Am, and this is the first four-ball.

TYLER MAWHINNEY: It's my second one. I played in the Am and then this.

Q. You didn't play the Junior before?

TYLER MAWHINNEY: No, never played in the Junior.

Q. Well, you're in now.

TYLER MAWHINNEY: Yeah.

Q. You're from Florida, you're from North Carolina. I don't know if you've ever played in conditions like this. What was it like? It's 50 degrees outside, the wind is blowing, the rain is coming sideways, the wind chill is in the upper 40s. How difficult was it to play today versus the days leading up to this?

WILL HARTMAN: I think it was brutal. We just kind of tried to stay in our own lane and go one shot at a time and control what you can control. But it was a grind out there.

TYLER MAWHINNEY: Yeah, for sure. That's one way to put it.

Q. It's a long day to play two matches in this tough, and you guys went to 17 and beyond every match. There was no easy match out there the entire week.

WILL HARTMAN: It was for sure a grind. I think we played upwards of 70 holes, maybe even a little more, in the last 40 hours. It's going to feel good to take a break tonight.

Q. It's the most holes played by a champion. You guys played 92 holes of match play.

TYLER MAWHINNEY: That's more than regulation, even with the other holes. 90 would be to 18 every match.

Q. Because you had the 23-hole match.

TYLER MAWHINNEY: Yeah, that's crazy.

Q. This afternoon you went against the best am in the world, he won the Mid-Am eight months ago, probably going to be on the Walker Cup team. Did you know much about him? How difficult of a challenge was it to play some veteran guys who have been around?

WILL HARTMAN: Yeah, Evan was a stud. He played great today. He showed why he's one of the mid best ams in the world and it was fun playing him. He didn't hold anything back, and I think that makes this win feel a little bit better.

Q. Especially you guys were 1-down at the turn, he made that 30-footer after you made the great pitch on 9. Did you guys say anything to yourselves as you made the turn, like is this going to be one of those days where they're going to make everything and even as well as we're playing we may end up on the short end? Or was there something you said mentally to get you guys going on that back nine?

TYLER MAWHINNEY: I think we just said, if we keep doing that, if we keep doing that and making 30-, 40-footers on us and we lose, we lose, then they win and they deserve it. We just tried to get back in it as quick as we could.

Q. Where was the turning point do you think? You won 11 with a par and then I guess you hit a bunker shot pretty close on 13.

WILL HARTMAN: Yeah, I think 11 through 14 was a pretty big stretch. We were able to make a par on the difficult par-3, 11. I made a birdie on 13 and Tyler made an incredible birdie on 14. It caught all of the hole.

Q. What did you have in there, like 10 feet, 12 feet?

TYLER MAWHINNEY: I think I hit 7. I caught a jumper out of the rough and I guessed right.

Q. What was your distance?

TYLER MAWHINNEY: 194, I think.

Q. And you had about nine feet?

TYLER MAWHINNEY: Something like that.

Q. You tried to drive the green on 13, correct?

WILL HARTMAN: Yeah, everyone in the group tried to hit it up there near the green and I was lucky enough to play last out of the bunker so I got to see two balls and what they were going to do and I was lucky enough to hit a great shot.

Q. Then you hit two great shots on 15 and 16. You didn't birdie them but that kind of put a lot of heat on Evan and Dan.

TYLER MAWHINNEY: Yeah, they were both 6-irons. A lot different numbers, but they were pretty much the same shot. I kind of got into a rhythm after -- I guess it would be the shot on, was that 14 out of the rough? I saw it well and executed.

Q. What was the distance on 15 and 16, those shots with a 6-iron?

WILL HARTMAN: Like 160, playing 190 just about, straight into the wind, into the rain, cold.

TYLER MAWHINNEY: And the last one was 85.

Q. Just to 17, you didn't have a great chip to get it close and didn't make par but it looked like you were going to make a three-footer?

TYLER MAWHINNEY: Yeah, it was kind of tough. It was up against a collar, I just had to commit to going down on it, kind of rolling it instead of checking it.

Q. Your game has come miles. Last year Canadian Amateur win and you made the round of 16 at the U.S. Amateur against great competition and now this. Now you're going to play the Canadian Open in less than two weeks. Describe where your game has gone in the last, let's say, 12, 15 months.

TYLER MAWHINNEY: Yeah, I think I've become pretty -- I would call it a pretty good ball striker, especially with my irons. I hit pretty far off the tee. So I get an advantage there. I feel like if you give me inside 180 yards with a 7-iron and in, it's probably going to hit the green. So I've gotten a lot of confidence there, and putting has come a long way, too.

Q. What's your club head speed?

WILL HARTMAN: Fast.

TYLER MAWHINNEY: It's like 121.

Q. Ball speed?

TYLER MAWHINNEY: Close to 80 I'd say.

Q. You guys are both on the national team, got named to the inaugural team when it started. What has that done for your games, maybe not physically but even mentally?

WILL HARTMAN: Yeah, I think it's given me confidence. I'm sure it's given Tyler confidence. There were only eight or ten boys that were -- eight boys that were selected to that inaugural team. It's a great honor, and I think the fact that we were on it just gave us confidence.

Q. You guys are the second and third members of a team to win a USGA championship behind Asterisk won the Women's Four-Ball last year, lost in two finals. Then Tyler lost the Junior final last year. Trevor is now on the team but he won it when he wasn't on the team, won the Junior. What do you think this will do for the program, to see guys like yourselves winning USGA national championships, winning big competitions?

WILL HARTMAN: I think, yeah, it'll only help grow it. I think the fact that we were on the team and able to get the wins, there's no downside to it. I think it's only going to help.

Q. Obviously you guys got some big events coming up now. You're both exempt for the Am this summer. You're going to play it again. You're going to play it for the second time?

WILL HARTMAN: I played two years ago so this will be my second one.

Q. And the Juniors?

WILL HARTMAN: Yep.

Q. I'm sure there will be more stuff coming your way?

WILL HARTMAN: Let's hope so.

Q. Are you playing other stuff this summer that you're in?

TYLER MAWHINNEY: Yeah, there's a couple elite Ams I think we're playing.

Q. Like Sunnehanna, Northeast?

WILL HARTMAN: I'm doing the Sunnehanna, the Northeast and the North and South.

TYLER MAWHINNEY: I'm just in the northeast.

Q. You guys are going to be teammates at Vanderbilt in '26 and you'll be there this fall?

WILL HARTMAN: I'm going in about three months and Tyler is 15. I'm looking forward to it and I'm sure he is, as well.

Q. What makes you guys such a good four-ball team? Is it chemistry or friendship or --

WILL HARTMAN: I'd say friendship is probably the big thing. We kind of just tried to stick to our own game plan this week, but if somebody was maybe out of play or in play, you could be a little more aggressive or a little more conservative. I think we just tried to stick to our own game, and it ended up working out.

Q. You guys were friends before the national team, correct? Do you remember when you first bonded?

WILL HARTMAN: It's been a long time. I'd say we met each other when we were like 11 or 12.

Q. U.S. Kids or --

WILL HARTMAN: Probably. It's been a long time ago. But I think when we were about 14 is when we kind of became close friends.

Q. Was there a tournament that you were in?

WILL HARTMAN: I think the Dothan Future Masters. I'm not sure what year it was, but I'm pretty sure we played together and had a good time.

Q. That's in Alabama?

WILL HARTMAN: Uh-huh.

Q. Who called who to be four-ball partners?

WILL HARTMAN: I think I asked Tyler. We went up and did a qualifier and we were lucky enough to make it through in a playoff, and we got it done.

Q. You got here and you played tremendous golf. Was there one thing special about this week that stood out?

TYLER MAWHINNEY: I'd say the golf course. I think especially for match play, it's a great golf course. There's a lot of holes that can be won with birdie. There's a lot of holes that can be won with par. I think there's a lot of holes that have character to them. You don't see these slopes where you can use them on chip shots and iron shots all the time, and I think it's just a lot of fun for the competition.