U.S. AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

August 25, 2000

David Eger

DAVID EGER: I enjoyed the piece, quite a piece.

DAVID EGER: Well, let's see, that occurred -- Gary birdied 9 to go 1-down, then I bogeyed 11 and 12. I played 11 and 12 and 13 kind of -- I played them poorly, but only lost two of the three holes to pars. I've had a tough time with the 11th hole for some reason, because I haven't driven the ball on the fairway. And 12 is a wonderful little short par 4 that I didn't drive the ball on the fairway. So, yeah, those were turning points and squared the match. And then he hit a poor tee shot on the 16th hole and was so far away he had to hit a fairway wood and didn't get his second on the green, ended up with a bunker shot. Neither Gary nor I played sharp today. But I, fortunately, won a few more holes than he did. I won one more hole than he did I guess.

DAVID EGER: The driver, yeah, the driver was poor, but I'll tell you this, that it was -- it was just pulled. It wasn't something that was hooking; it

wasn't -- they were pulled shots and they were solid shots. So I'm not totally dejected with the way I drove the ball. There are some -- there were two or three drives I hit that were a couple feet too far left, and they just trickled in the rough. But, when you don't hit good shots, a lot of -- real good shots out here, particularly with the way the course has dried up in the last 48 hours, your ball finds the left rough on those holes. But I'm not -- I played okay. I mean I played just well enough to win. I would have hated to use my -- use or lose my best round of the week. So...

DAVID EGER: Sure. Yeah, I do. It's, you know, since the format of this has changed and we're only playing 18 holes for a couple days, that probably would give me more of an advantage than the younger kids, the younger guys. But I don't know. I don't know.

DAVID EGER: I don't know anything about Jeff other than he's obviously a very good player. He's from out west. He's young. What is he, 21 or 22?

DAVID EGER: In his 20s. At least he's not a teenager like Hunter is. (Laughter.) Jeff -- I'll have to play well. If I play well, then I stand a chance of winning the match. If I don't, then it's gonna be extremely difficult for me to win.

DAVID EGER: Luck of the draw maybe.

DAVID EGER: Maybe making a bogey where my opponent was making a birdie once or twice. This is a hard course, and it's -- you get the ball on the wrong side of the hole and you just really have to take your medicine. And I don't know that my 48 years is any advantage over an opponent. All I can say is I hope to play better tee to green and putt better than I have the last three rounds. I know I'm capable of it; it's just whether or not it will come to me.

DAVID EGER: It was about 195 yards, and I just took a 6-iron out and it was a difficult shot, but I didn't think I could hook the ball too much, turn the ball right-to-left too much. And I hit a very good shot. I mean that was certainly one of the best shots I hit the entire day, and then when the ball got on the ground and I saw how it was rolling, I was worried it was going all the way to the back of the green or even over. But, yeah that was obviously a very key shot, and forced Gary then to maybe try to hit a more aggressive shot than he may have wanted to. But that's a hard hole. He's still at 185 yards or so.

DAVID EGER: Yeah, I knew that if I could get the ball on the green, that's such a difficult hole, the odds of your opponent making three are pretty slim. So I just -- but it wasn't -- the shot wasn't as difficult as maybe you think it was. I think that I could pull that shot off seven out of ten times, maybe eight out of ten times. It was just a 6-iron, just hook a 6-iron.

DAVID EGER: I was trying to hit a 5-wood over that cross bunker on the left. I didn't turn it, blocked the ball out to the right. I felt like to get the ball up near the green would be an advantage. But that hole placement on 17 is so far towards the front it's very difficult to -- if you don't hit the green in two, it's difficult to make a birdie on that hole. I don't -- it would be interesting to see if anybody made a birdie on that hole that did not hit the green in two. It's a very difficult pin.

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