U.S. AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

August 21, 2003

David Oh

PETE KOWALSKI: David, congratulations on making it through to the quarterfinals. If you could, give us some quick snapshots of your two victories today. What the critical holes were, particularly in the third round match, and then I'm sure these guys will want to go back and review your win over Trip as well.

DAVID OH: I guess all day today I hit it really well. I hit a lot of fairways. I hit a lot of greens. I didn't make that many putts. I just told myself, I'm just going to beat these guys by hitting fairways and greens. And I'm going to hit first, so I don't necessarily want to hit it too far; just get it in the fairway, so that puts the pressure on them. And that was my game plan today. It paid off, especially in the third round where I don't think -- my only birdie was on 13. That was the last hole I birdied. So I was just making pars and that was pretty much about it.

Q. Did you run out of birdies after the first round? You made five, right?

DAVID OH: Five. I don't know. I didn't even realize I made five birdies. I just came up to the score board and I saw that I did have five birdies. I was like, "Wow, when did I do that?" I think in the morning round I was a little more focused because there was so many more people watching and I'm playing Trip and I think I grinded a little harder in the morning round. So I think that's what maybe led to the birdies.

PETE KOWALSKI: You say you didn't putt that well but over the course of the two matches today you were basically the equivalent of 2-under, because you were basically even on this match and then 2-under against Trip. So is that a continuation of the good play you've had lately or what?

DAVID OH: Yeah, I've been playing really well this summer. I don't know. It's pretty awkward. Like I didn't play all too well in college. I had like a good tournament here or there. And all of a sudden after I am done with college golf I start playing well. And this summer I guess you can say this is my breakthrough summer. I've actually won a local pro event down in Long Beach right next to where I live. And then from there everything just started sort of snowballing and I've just been playing better and better and just playing more solid every time I go out there. Hopefully it doesn't end. That's what I'm thinking. That's what I'm hoping for right now.

Q. How does that change your -- did you have plans when you got out of school and do you have plans that may be different now?

DAVID OH: No. I always wanted to go pro. I didn't necessarily know that when I got into college. I guess it was maybe about two years ago I really decided that I did want to go pro. And not too much. If I do, you know, win this, I hope I don't jinx myself. But I was planning on staying amateur for another year. I have five classes left still to graduate from school. And I was debating whether to try Q school or not. Because you can still stay an amateur, but I've talked to a lot of people and they said Q school is like, you know it's a full-time thing. If you're going to be going to school and trying out, you're just going to be wasting money. I always just planned on going to school to play like maybe Gateway Tour in Arizona. Just get a full year of tournaments under my belt and then maybe try for Q school the following year. And that's when I planned on doing for about five, six months now.

Q. Talk a little bit about the atmosphere around that morning match. The fact that there was that crowd there and there were a couple times when we were behind the green looking back and you guys were approaching and it was hard seeing you because of all the people.

DAVID OH: Yeah. All I'm going to say is they weren't there for me. They weren't there for me. When Trip made a birdie or when he came back with a putt, you heard a lot of yells and "good going" and that. And when I made a putt it's more of the clap. So I didn't mind because I know a lot of people like him here and he's been out here often. So that's what you expect. I just tried not to think about it. I just tried to play my game this morning.

Q. Can you explain how obviously 17 was the key hole in the morning, explain that shot you hit there and if you debated what club you would hit.

DAVID OH: Not really. The first practice round and the day on Tuesday when I played Oakmont I hit driver there every day. I'm hitting my driver really well right now. I'm hitting it really straight. So I wasn't really too worried about -- I guess I was worried about maybe hitting it in the bunker on the right side. But that was about it. And right when I stepped up to that, I didn't think about the bunker, all I thought about was the pin. And it was probably one of the best shots that I hit in a really, really long time.

Q. When did you maybe not feel comfortable but in the back of your mind say, this is looking like a pretty good match?

DAVID OH: I guess it was on hole 14 when I went 2-up on Trip in the morning. He was making a late charge. I was only 1-up. And after I birdied that hole, I don't know, I just sort of started thinking, you know, if I can get past Trip, you don't know what's going to happen, so -- I guess I thought Trip was going to be my biggest ordeal because obviously he's a really good player. And I'm pretty sure he was the favorite coming into today. And just to beat him, I guess my confidence has really skyrocketed.

PETE KOWALSKI: You said that obviously people weren't there for you, are you solo here? Are you by yourself; is your family here.

DAVID OH: No, my parents came with me. And some of my other friends that actually qualified, I don't know if they're here anymore. But they came and watched me a little bit. And my caddy and a few of the members, they came up to me. Actually a lot of people came up to me and said, "great job." This is great. I'm just -- it seems like the only word I'm saying right now is "thank you, thank you, thank you," when I'm walking up between holes and stuff. But it was great.

Q. What were you thinking about last night coming in here?

DAVID OH: I was thinking about Trip. He's such a long hitter and he's such a -- he's got a powerful game. He can get it out of the rough. And that was my biggest concern. That he would just be, even though he's still hitting driver, he would still hit the green and 2-putt. So I just told myself, you just got to hit fairways and greens to counteract his distance. And I got up this morning and I started hitting balls and it just felt good. And I couldn't ask for anything better.

PETE KOWALSKI: I'm a USGA staff person and you're wearing a Western Amateur shirt and hat. Is that because of your travels or you don't have clean stuff or what?

DAVID OH: Yeah, exactly.

PETE KOWALSKI: Yeah. Good answer.

DAVID OH: Well, you know, I played -- I've actually tried to play the Western Amateur or I played it the last four years and this past year I actually 3-putted my last hole to go into a playoff for match play. And then the year before that I missed match play by one and then the first year I played I missed match play by one. So I never played match play. I think the only real match play experience I've had was the USGA Junior I think in '97 at Aronomink and I played Canon Cup for two years. So I really didn't know what to expect coming in. I don't know if I really try to think about it as match play. But I just try to go in and make the best score possible. And that's all I do.

PETE KOWALSKI: If that's the case then you really paid attention when you met with Clyde Luther on the practice putting green. He gives that little seminar before you start match play the other day.

DAVID OH: Oh, yeah, oh yeah.

PETE KOWALSKI: You took notes on that one. He's the rules official that basically has that duty where he does a primer on match play for the guys. Because they're so used to playing stroke play most of the time in their championships and their events they play in, you probably paid a lot of attention.

DAVID OH: Yeah. I think there is one part where you don't tell the person you're playing against what you're lying. You can get a stroke for that or you can lose the hole. You say, "Oh, I'm like four", but you're really lying five. How does that work, is that correct?

PETE KOWALSKI: I think that's correct.

DAVID OH: So I was like, oh, my gosh. I didn't know whether I should tell my caddy, "Don't say anything if he asks what I'm lying. Just have him come to me." You know, there's a few funny things that I didn't really know. But it's not really a big problem, I guess.

PETE KOWALSKI: David, thank you.

DAVID OH: Thank you.

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