THE AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

June 19, 2026

Matt Moloney

Quick Quotes

Q. Matt, through to the final here the 131st Amateur Championship. How does that sound?

MATT MOLONEY: Sounds pretty good. Sounds pretty good, yeah.

Q. Obviously it's a championship. I've just said 131 years of history. Are you a guy that loves golf history or does that sort of like excite you to know it's such an old championship and here you are right in amongst it?

MATT MOLONEY: Oh, yeah, absolutely. I love golf history and learned about it, but I haven't -- like I said yesterday I haven't given it too much thought. Just trying not to get ahead of myself and execute as much as I can.

Q. Talk to us about your match this afternoon. The scoreboard made it look like you were in control the whole way. Is that how you felt?

MATT MOLONEY: It's hard to say that you are fully in control ever. You never know when somebody will get hot, make a 40-footer, or hit an iron shot to three feet. You just never know.

So, yeah, I can't say I was in control, but I did have the lead the whole time, which was nice. So, yeah, felt good to have a little bit of a cushion.

Yeah, control is a strong word.

Q. What was the standout moment for you in your game in the match today?

MATT MOLONEY: I would say on 15, or not 15, 13, sorry, the par-5. I hit it way left in a bunker actually on two and chopped it out there. Ended up getting up and down for par. He had about eight feet for birdie and didn't make it.

Felt like kind of a shift in the tides because he had some momentum going there. Had won a couple holes leading up to that. Had another putt to win another hole.

But I ended up making a 10-footer to steady the ship and it was -- yeah, that was a change for me.

Q. You touched there about the psychology of match play. How important is that and those momentum shifts and making sure you feel like you capitalize on those moments?

MATT MOLONEY: Yeah, I mean, it makes a difference. I think obviously it's nice to birdie two, three holes in a row, win a couple holes in a row, but momentum is very fleeting, you know. It can shift very quickly.

So, you know, it's hard to hold on to something like that, so you try not focus on it too much. But it can make a little bit of a difference for sure.

Q. How are you feeling physically? All of your matches have gone to 18, if not beyond.

MATT MOLONEY: Yeah, yeah, well, I'm lucky that I'm young enough. I've done some good recovery work when we get home, so just going to do the same thing I've done and I'll be ready to go tomorrow.

Q. I notice you've got a friend caddieing for you.

MATT MOLONEY: I do.

Q. Is that helping a lot as well?

MATT MOLONEY: Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. I want to give credit to my other caddie, Curtis, who caddied for me the rest of the week because James was playing. Curtis did a great job, but James has done a great job as well.

So, yeah, I mean, he knows my game well. We know each other just very well. So he's kept me relaxed and helped out a lot out there.

Q. Was Curtis a local?

MATT MOLONEY: Curtis was a local, yeah.

Q. He helped you at the beginning get to know Royal Liverpool and now you've got James on the bag who knows your game. Is that kind of what your thought process was there on the caddies?

MATT MOLONEY: Yeah, definitely. Actually we made a deal with each other coming over here that if one of us gets knocked out the other one is going to caddie. Whenever that was, which happened to be unfortunately for him the first day of match play was it?

JAMES EARLE: Second.

MATT MOLONEY: Second day in the morning. So Curtis caddied for me the afternoon and then this morning he hopped on the bag, so...

Q. Does the mind start to wander yet to what could be if you're standing there with the trophy at the end of tomorrow?

MATT MOLONEY: Yeah, I mean, it's hard not to think about it. But like I said, I'm going to try my best because there is a lot of golf left to execute.

Q. Who is cheering you on back home and are you getting many texts and support?

MATT MOLONEY: Yeah, yeah, lots of texts, lots of friends and neighbors and family of course. So it's -- you know, my team as well has been supporting me a lot. So it's been good. It's been nice to see.

Obviously they're a few hours behind us so it's middle of the day for them. Yeah, they been excited and helpful a lot.

Q. You spoke yesterday about being mates with Ethan Fang. You're kind of one step closer to walking in his shoes. Is that spurring you on in what you've seen him do this year and where he is this week?

MATT MOLONEY: Yeah, yeah, definitely. I mean, I think it's cool to see. Like I said, it's just cool to see a guy that you know and guy that you've seen play early on. Like we played together a few times in junior golf, and, you know to win such a big championship like he did, so, yeah, it's cool. We are -- I was excited watching that last year, and hopefully I can repeat.

Q. Yeah. It's been a really long time since we've had back to back American champions at The Amateur. Is that something that you would like to fix in the history books this week?

MATT MOLONEY: Yeah, definitely. I feel like in the past not a lot of Americans have come over, especially the last few years. This year a lot of Americans came. I came last year and got a lot of experience.

But you always want to do well for your country, of course.