U.S. AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

August 24, 2003

Nick Flanagan

NICK FLANAGAN: I don't think it's really hit me yet. I'm pretty calm at the moment. But I'm sure in a couple of hours time, not even that, I'll definitely realize what's just happened.

CRAIG SMITH: Do you know the full extent of an invitation in the Masters, the U.S. Open, now the British Open?

NICK FLANAGAN: I didn't know about the British Open. I wasn't too sure if I got to that or not. I'm looking forward to that for sure. It's at Royal Troon. I played there, I had an 81 there in the British Amateur, so hopefully I can better that.

CRAIG SMITH: You've come a long way from a guy who needed to survive a playoff on Tuesday afternoon, Wednesday morning to get into match play, and how about the emotions of the week?

NICK FLANAGAN: Yeah. I got in on the playoff. As you can probably see I'm struggling with my swing a little bit and I'm just lucky my short game was there. I pulled off some pretty lucky shots the last couple of days. I thought if I could get through that playoff and make the match play that probably it would work to my favor being on this golf course because of how tough it is. A lot of guys miss greens. Even if you hit good shots you miss greens. But you still got to get up-and-down and for some reason my lob wedge was just getting me out of jail non-stop all week.

CRAIG SMITH: Did you ever think you had lost it? You started off two up, got to four up and it just started getting whittled away on you.

NICK FLANAGAN: I said to Gary, my caddie, it's not going to be easy going out there in the afternoon four up because he's got nothing to lose and he was always going to be coming out of there with all guns blazing, and I knew he was going to come back. He's too good a player not to.

The nerves got to me on the last couple of holes. I missed that 8-footer. I just wanted to get it over and done with, because I was a pretty nervous wreck by then. Luckily I got into the playoff and down 10 there and made par for probably only the second time this week. So it was a good time to make it.

Q. Did you hit iron off that tee all week?

NICK FLANAGAN: No. I had been hitting driver in the stroke play and then I hit driver for I think the first two matches and then I made -- or maybe the first three matches -- but my driver kept going. I hit it straight down the gut and it would end up in the rough or the hazard. Than I started hitting 3-wood and I hit two good ones right down the center and ended up in the left rough and running on all that adrenaline today and it was down breeze a bit. I thought I would just take 2-iron because he was taking 3-wood. And I hit probably two of the best 2-irons I ever hit down that 10th hole for those two shots. They went just as far as my 3-wood's been going.

Q. So today was the first day you hit 2-iron?

NICK FLANAGAN: Today it was, yeah, the first day.

Q. What did you have in and what did you hit after that?

NICK FLANAGAN: I hit 2-iron, wedge. But at times I had 140 meters, which is what, 150, 154 yards or something like that? So around about. Just a little half wedge going to land on the front edge and release it down there.

Q. Have you ever played a golf tournament where you had that much pressure like the last four holes?

NICK FLANAGAN: Definitely not. I never played in any kind of atmosphere like that before. Thousands of people out there. You're in a playoff for the most prestigious amateur tournament in the world. If I ever feel that much pressure again I'll be very surprised.

Q. I'm told that your mother and father have been invited to come to Augusta to watch you play in the Masters; is that true?

NICK FLANAGAN: Yeah. That is what I heard about that last night. Lyn told me that they're going to be able to get over there which is awesome. Gets them off work. They come over to probably the best golf course in the world, see the best players in the world and I get to hit with them. I can't complain, that's for sure.

Q. You mentioned luck a couple times; was it really luck, you did it over and over again? It seemed like you were pretty confident no matter what sort of jail you might have been in.

NICK FLANAGAN: Well, some of those pitch shots out of the long rough, like the shot on the 5th this afternoon, was it? They're just open, the club face, and hit down hard and hope it comes out perfect. For some reason three of the four shots that I hit like that over the past two days came out perfect. Could not have been any better. Golf is a lot about luck because you can't control the bounce, you can't control the kicks you get on the fairways. I had a few bad kicks on fairways this week but I think I made up for it with a few lucky up-and-downs.

Q. Can you talk about the putt on 17 and walking over to the tee on 18, how you felt there?

NICK FLANAGAN: Well, I really thought I was going to make that putt. I've been putting really well this week and it was straight up hill. It was just an inside right putt. My hands were shaking. I just couldn't put a normal stroke on it. It took a bit of the pace off it. It just died in the last foot and missed left. I thought it was going in halfway. The relief was unbelievable. And then to see it shave the left lip was probably the lowest I've been this week.

Q. The walk up 18?

NICK FLANAGAN: Yeah, the walk up to 18, I just thought -- I knew it was going to hit the fairway down there, under the pressure. He's too good a player. He's swinging it really well. He hit it a lot better in the afternoon and I had hit that fairway under pressure the last two or three matches I've had. So I was pretty confident when I got up there and just a little bit quick from the top and pulled it left into that bunker. I had no shot. Just had to chip out and hope to get up-and-down.

Q. Did you realize you were the 7th player, 7th foreigner to ever win the U.S. Amateur in 103 years?

NICK FLANAGAN: Well, the Whitehouses would tell you I've got no idea about golf history. Since '97 I know, but before that I wouldn't have a clue. So, no, I didn't know it.

Q. You started playing golf five years ago, that's all?

NICK FLANAGAN: I started playing probably six years ago. I used to go out with my mates from soccer and probably once a month hit it. Beforehand I just found a golf course, got on it, played around, tried to skip paying if we could, because we didn't have much money at the time. Then for some reason I watched the Masters, like I said, and I just wanted to start practicing and get better. I kind of gave soccer away and concentrated on golf.

Q. Was that a part of the dream to play the Masters eventually?

NICK FLANAGAN: Oh, yeah, for sure. I would never have dreamed that I would be playing the Masters so early watching it in '97. I never thought I would be there in 2004 playing it. It blows my mind, really, just to think about it.

Q. What was captivating about it? Was it Tiger, was it the appearance of the place; what was it?

NICK FLANAGAN: I think just the way Tiger brought the younger crowd to the game, really. I'm not too sure. He won it by such a big margin, he played so well and he's got a perfect swing. That was a perfect golf course. It was the first time I had ever seen that golf course. Just how pumped he got. The enthusiasm he had, I didn't realize that it was that involved in golf. But watching it the past six years, it obviously is.

Q. You didn't have a big celebration when you won the thing. Is that because it's not your style or because you were just so tired after 37 holes?

NICK FLANAGAN: I could not think of anything better than getting it over and done with as soon as possible when we went out on that 18th, that second 18. For it to go 37 holes, I just have been playing for three months non-stop. I think I had a week's break maybe where I haven't really hit balls or done anything. My legs are just -- I've been going home every afternoon laying on the bed and then there's just -- I just can't move. My legs are just done. Mentally on this course as well for the last week and a half has really taken it out of me.

Yeah, there wasn't much reaction on that last green because I was obviously tired. It was just such a relief to get that one putt in the hole and finally win it because I knew that I had it. I had it all day and I didn't want to have to -- I mean I was up all day from the first hole. To go up all day and lose in a playoff would have really wrecked me. I was just relieved to get it over.

Q. Tell us about your caddy.

NICK FLANAGAN: Gary? What do you want to know?

Q. Where did you get him?

NICK FLANAGAN: Well, Gary and Lyn are family friends. They're pretty much my second -- well, they are my second family now. I stay with them in Sydney when I'm done.

Lyn runs the Jack Newton Junior Foundation. She's helped me out and took me under her wing the first year of our State A's Championship; I tried to qualify and I didn't get in. I was sitting on a chair next to her all day hoping somebody didn't show up so I could get a start, and I didn't get a start. Lyn really, really got me motivated to get into next year and I got in the next year. I won it then. So I was pretty happy about that. But Gary and Lyn have helped me so much over the past three or four years and they believed in me when I really thought I wasn't at the level that I was at. I get down on I myself a lot. Really Lyn and Gary believe in my ability a lot more than I do.

Q. Did he do that today? Did he give you some boost along the way today?

NICK FLANAGAN: Yeah. Gary's been saying all week -- he's caddied, he's been perfect. He hasn't tried to do too much. He hasn't tried to do too little. He's kept me calm. He hasn't changed. Like I said, he said to me every afternoon he's just been trying to do the same thing, if I'm playing good or bad. I think that really did help me towards the end. Yesterday morning our rhythm was a bit quick getting off the first tee because keeping up with the crowds we didn't realize that I was walking that fast. It weakened everything up and he told me to slow down today and I slowed down and I swung it a lot better. I struck it a lot better. I just got to love it.

Q. You were never down but it felt a little bit maybe that some momentum was turning in the afternoon. Did you feel that way? Was there a point during the second 18 that you started going like, my gosh, maybe this is slipping away?

NICK FLANAGAN: I really didn't want to go out on that first hole and lose it. Didn't want to be four up and go straight back to three up because that just automatically switches the momentum the other way. Probably the second nine; you are probably right. I holed a few good putts, a lot of good putts coming in, actually on 7, 8, 9, just to stay two up. That gave me a little bit of confidence coming in.

But I knew he was going to come back. He got me back and I faltered. I was just thankful that I got that playoff hole and just had to 2-putt to win. I mean it was not an easy two putt either though. That was probably the hardest two putts I had to do.

Q. How much break was on the first putt on number 10, and even though it was early, how important was that chip shot on 5 that you made?

NICK FLANAGAN: The break on 10, the playoff hole?

Q. Yeah.

NICK FLANAGAN: Probably it was about a 30-foot putt, so probably it broke -- I was aiming at least 11 feet right. Just to hit it up and run it down. You try and pick a spot. You look at it from the side all the time. I was trying to figure out where it flattened and topped out and I tried to hit it to that spot so it just kept going straight. I didn't quite get it there and ended up a little bit short. But it was close enough.

The chip on 5, well, I think that's pretty much what won it for me. I can't really say that but I did get that up-and-down and I'm not sure what I was at the time. Was I two up?

Q. Right; it put you back to three.

NICK FLANAGAN: He 3-putted. I'm sure he was probably thinking over that putt if he can 2-putt he'll win this hole easy. And it came out perfect, landed exactly where I wanted it to. That was very much luck though.

Q. What time is it back home and have you called; are you going to call your parents soon?

NICK FLANAGAN: What time is it here? 7:30 here, so it's 9:30 in the morning tomorrow back home.

Q. Anybody call your parents?

NICK FLANAGAN: Well, I've been trying to get on the phone for the last two hours and I spoke to my mom briefly. I said hello, she was doing a bit of raving and ranting. Then the presentation started so I couldn't really talk to her. I had to give her back to Lyn. I'll definitely be calling as soon as I can.

CRAIG SMITH: Talk a little bit about the reaction back home. The calls you had to mom, the encouragement, all those kind of things.

NICK FLANAGAN: Yeah, that's very surprising how many people have found out about it and are following it on the Internet. A lot of my friends from back home I haven't seen a lot of in the last six months and they have been up at 3:00 in the morning following it on the Internet, hole by hole.

One of my mates that's in Queensland at the moment and he's rung me every afternoon since the quarterfinals and he's been asking me questions non-stop for half an hour about it. So the support is unbelievable. There's people that I haven't spoken to for years that are writing me messages saying "good luck" and 'well done' and all the guys that I looked up to as a young amateur coming up and in the senior ranks, a lot of those guys are just blown away and congratulating me. It's a big deal for me to get that kind of recognition, of guys that I have looked up to offer the past two years.

CRAIG SMITH: I understand Greg Norman tried to call you last week.

NICK FLANAGAN: Yeah, apparently Greg tried to call, called the club and I had already left. So he left a message with them and they gave it to me on the first tee this morning. What did it say? I can't remember. I heard it four or five times now and I still can't remember what it said. But he was just congratulating me on getting as far as I did. He told me to be the first Australian to win it in a hundred years. Actually I just got another one from him just after I finished on the 10th congratulating me again. So it's unbelievable to get a congratulations from the number one Australian player that we have probably ever produced.

Q. What are your most immediate plans and how does this change things?

NICK FLANAGAN: It's definitely changed things but I don't really want it to change the way I act or the way I go about what I'm doing over the next two years. It's not going to change my mind about turning pro or anything like that, because I still got a lot of work to do to get my game up to anywhere near the place where those guys are at the moment.

I think I bent that trophy.

Yes, I definitely will be waiting and thinking long and hard about next year and what tournaments I want to play. Hopefully I don't get caught up in the hype that's obviously going on back home. I just hope everybody realizes that I just want to go get on with my life like it's been going for the last year. I've been having a great time playing golf and I don't have to work; just hit balls all day, go to the beach. I'm living it up at the moment. So if it can keep going like it is that would be terrific and this would be even better.

Q. Are you going to take that trophy home in your hands or ship it?

NICK FLANAGAN: Well, what was that? Am I going to take it home in my hands or --

Q. Are you going to take it home personally or are you going to ship it?

NICK FLANAGAN: That one?

Q. Yeah.

NICK FLANAGAN: Do I get to take that one?

Q. Yeah.

NICK FLANAGAN: That's the real one?

Q. Yeah.

NICK FLANAGAN: I don't know. I think we might have to get a special bag for it. I'm not too sure. No one will consider it a weapon, will they?

(Laughter.) You can probably knock somebody out with that. No, I definitely will try not to be losing sight of it too much. That's for sure.

Q. After your practice rounds a week ago you were coming in here with 312 guys, what was your expectations then and what are your expectations now of your golf game?

NICK FLANAGAN: My expectations then were just to make 64. I knew I wasn't coming into the week swinging it that well. I didn't play really well here the first day. I hit a shank over 15 into the back bunkers on -- no it was 16 I hit a shank into the back bunkers on five and made triple. And that was my second nine. Ended up finishing bogey, bogey, bogey to 4-over. And I was really happy with the way I played early on. And got to Pittsburgh the next day and just played horrendous golf. Somehow I got out and birdied, holed a 10-footer up the hill for the last for birdie which got me into the playoff in the end. And then you look back on some of the shots or some of the putts that I holed. I holed probably a 30, 40 foot par putt on the first hole at Pittsburgh. I don't hole that I'm not even close to being here at the moment. So it's scary when you think back of it. You don't know at the time, but it's definitely different. But my expectations now are probably going to be no different. I still think that I'll have to do a lot of work. And there's going to be a lot of expectations on me from other people, which is going to have to, which I'm going to have to work hard at to live up to. I'm just going to have to practice a lot more and work on that long game and try and get the swing down pat.

CRAIG SMITH: Nick, if you didn't choose to switch to golf, where were you headed in terms of your soccer career?

NICK FLANAGAN: I was playing pretty high level soccer, like state soccer. But I was kind of getting bored of it. So there wasn't any motivation to play any more. And I kind of wanted to get away from the team sports because you got to rely on other people. When you got 13, 15, 16, 13-year olds, in a team, you probably don't get along with half of them. And doing this I like to be alone a lot. So it's good to get out on a golf course by myself and just play a round. Nobody judges you, nobody really cares what you're doing when you're out there by yourself. It's just you and the course. That's probably the main reason that I switched.

Q. Did you birdie the par-3 up the hill at the Field Club? Was that the last, your last hole?

NICK FLANAGAN: Yeah. That was my last hole. I just come off a double bogey on 17 where I had wedge in from the middle of the fairway. I was right in the fairway and pulled it left like every shot I hit out there today. And I got up on that tee pretty angry. And just hit an 8-iron to about -- perfect 8-iron straight at it to about 10 feet. I felt the putt was going to miss actually, it just sat on the right edge for a little while and just dropped in. Ended up getting me -- I didn't think I had any chance of getting in at 7-over. And I just snuck in there and here I am.

Q. How about your qualifier? Was that close at all?

NICK FLANAGAN: Yeah, the qualifier was close as well. Lyn knows. I rang Lyn and said, well, I've shot 67, 68 and I'm 5-under, but there's two guys in, in front of me or one of the other Aussie guys had 8-under in the morning and I knew he wasn't going to shoot any worse than even. So he was in. And there was another guy that had 66 late in the afternoon and he got through on 6-under. So there was one in front of me. So there is two guys and I'm in the last spot. And there was another guy, Brad Heavens who goes to college over here from New Zealand, and he shot 67 in the morning also. So I knew that he had to come in with 69 or worse -- he was the last group -- or I wasn't going to make it. And I gave it the Ernie jinx and said there's no way in the world I'm going to make it. He came in and he looked pretty happy and I kind of put my head down. And one of the boys asked him what he had and he had 69. And I was in by one. So a lot of good things happened for me to get here right now.

Q. Do you honestly believe that your life is going to be the same when you get to Australia, considering the fact that pressures of big time golf will be after you now because you are an amateur champion in a country that hasn't had a U.S. Amateur champion, but with the likes of Stuart Appleby, Greg Norman and Robert Allenby?

NICK FLANAGAN: I'm sure it's going to be very different when I get home. I'm sure there's going to be a lot of people wanting my time. I think I'm pretty down to earth and pretty modest about what's happened. I don't expect me to go out in the next year and win everything I play or perform any better than I performed this year. I just am not at that level yet. I was lucky enough this week to get some good breaks and hit some pretty clutch shots in clutch occasions. I honestly really have no idea how I have won, but I have. I'm very happy.

CRAIG SMITH: You're not giving it back.

NICK FLANAGAN: Yeah, I definitely won't be giving anything back. That's for sure.

Q. Is it weird at all playing against a guy like Casey with the hat pulled down, sunglasses, is that at all difficult?

NICK FLANAGAN: I think Casey's a guy that knows where he wants to go. He's very confident in what he's doing. That's the way he plays. He does it well. He backs it up. What can you say? He's one of those guys that knows where he wants to go and knows how he's going to get there. He's not going to let anybody else stop him. He doesn't care what people think. That's probably the best way to be, really. He doesn't show much emotion on the golf course, which is good as well. If he showed a lot of emotion, when you're going bad, it kind of transfers over. But if you show a lot of emotion when you're playing good it can sometimes hinder your performance. But he's a great guy. A great player. I'm sure he's going to get a lot of further with his golf. I really didn't think I would be able to beat him today and luckily I think I might have got him on a half-off day. And it kind of worked in my favor.

CRAIG SMITH: Okay. We thank you.

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