U.S. AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

August 13, 2026

Michael Lugiano

Merion Golf Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Michael, another day, didn't make it easy on yourself again. You make it to 18 and you win. Talk to me about it.

MICHAEL LUGIANO: Again, it's a grind out there. These guys are good, man. But yeah, going to 18 all three matches really doesn't surprise me that much because I know you have to play great golf out here to win. These are the best ams in the world.

But it's been quite stressful thus far. Yeah, I haven't made it easy, but I've been able to get the job done.

Q. Each day this crowd keeps getting bigger for you. How do you not get nervous when there's this many people cheering you on screaming your name?

MICHAEL LUGIANO: Yeah, I think I've just been pretty confident in my game lately, so I think just having that to rest on is pretty good.

Having all the people out here, it's great. It's not nerve-racking at all. It's just really nice to have the support.

Q. Describe how it feels to be the last Philly guy standing at a national championship in Philly.

MICHAEL LUGIANO: Yeah, obviously it's nice. Obviously it's nice, as well, to have the hometown support. All the other Philly guys are so good at golf, too; it could really be any one of them in this exact spot as well. I'm pretty lucky to be representing the GAP.

Q. It seemed like today was a case of the 16th taketh, the 17th giveth and the 18th winneth. Take us through 16 in your round-of-16 match.

MICHAEL LUGIANO: Yeah, 16 both matches actually I hit it in the right rough, and in the first match I decided to lay up right. I made bogey anyway.

In the second one, I tried to go for the green, and then I hit it in the quarry, and at that point I was not in a great spot and kind of out of the hole.

Q. What was your second shot there from the right rough on 16?

MICHAEL LUGIANO: How far was it? It was 187.

Q. What club is that for you?

MICHAEL LUGIANO: I hit a pitching wedge just trying to get it to the front edge.

Q. Then 17, you see where he is off the tee or kind of have an idea where he's positioned off the tee. What club did you pull?

MICHAEL LUGIANO: I hit 8-iron, figuring I could get that anywhere to 30-something feet, I'll have a good chance to win the hole because he wasn't in a great spot.

Q. How far did you have for your par putt there on 17?

MICHAEL LUGIANO: It was about four feet.

Q. Take us through 18 to finish it out.

MICHAEL LUGIANO: I really just wanted to put one more good tee ball together. I missed my line by maybe five yards, but it trickled in the left rough. It's been doing that all week. That's a really hard tee ball.

But I think I'm now pretty familiar with the left rough, so I hit a solid shot there, just trickled over the green and was able to get it up-and-down.

Q. What was your second shot? What yardage and club did you hit?

MICHAEL LUGIANO: I think I had 154, and I hit a 50-degree.

Q. Tell us about your perspective on the ruling. Obviously your opponent has the microphone issue. You're thinking -- you were involved in that. Just tell us about why you were as involved as that, just doing your due diligence as his opponent?

MICHAEL LUGIANO: Yeah, his ball was under the microphone, and there was a hole, obviously, when they pulled the microphone out. His ball rolled kind of next to it but not quite in it. So he got relief from that. He got to place his ball. Then it kind of nestled down a little bit. Then they made the argument that the hole in the ground would affect the club face through the shot.

Now, I'm not too familiar with that ruling, but the ref ultimately decided that they got a club length of free relief. I'm fine with that because I don't have anything against it.

Q. Tell us about your shot. It looked like you executed just how you wanted to.

MICHAEL LUGIANO: Yeah, it was pretty into the grain, so I was just trying to stab at it and trickle it up there, and I got it to about two feet, and that was good enough for the gimme.

Q. What's the rest of the night hold for you?

MICHAEL LUGIANO: I'm going to go back, get some of Mrs. Ryan's cooking and get some rest because hopefully it's another long day tomorrow.

Q. Any idea what's on the menu tonight?

MICHAEL LUGIANO: I'm not sure. It's been really good so far. But I'm not sure what's tonight.

Q. Josh talked about the chicken parm the other night. Where does that rank for you?

MICHAEL LUGIANO: The chicken parm was really good, and Josh's chicken parm was really good. The Ryans make a good chicken parm.

Q. How unique is it going to be back to a place that's not alone in a hotel room, you're not at a stranger's house, you're at a former teammate of yours now, probably a pretty comfortable place?

MICHAEL LUGIANO: Yeah, definitely really nice. Just being with a buddy all week and having his family to support me through it as well, it's really nice to have the comfort of a home instead of a hotel, which is most of these events.

Q. I know you qualified for NCAAs as an individual. You went out there to La Costa, had an up-and-down summer with some good results here and there. Did you maybe expect this coming into this week? Obviously you're going to believe in yourself and your abilities, but did you expect you'd be standing here one of eight people left in your home state in the U.S. Amateur?

MICHAEL LUGIANO: If you'd asked me two weeks ago where I was going to be, I was thinking about withdrawing from this event. That's how bad of golf I was playing. After the Western, I was sick of playing bad, and I got to work, found a feel, and really worked hard on it for that week coming into this event, decided to eventually play because I got confident with my game again. I can't believe I've made it this far from my perspective two weeks ago.

But if you asked me the day before this event what could have been possible, I would have said I could have won this because the confidence was back.

Q. Can I nerd out and ask what that feel was that you figured out?

MICHAEL LUGIANO: Just kind of a more upward wrist hinge on my backswing and then just keep it inside and not wipey over the top.