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NCAA GOLF CHAMPIONSHIPSMay 27, 2014Alan BrattonWyndham ClarkIan DavisTalor GoochJordan NiebruggeZachary OlsenHUTCHINSON, KANSAS THE MODERATOR: Thanks for being here. Congratulations to Oklahoma State. Got an outstanding semifinal match. Oklahoma State will be playing for their 11th National Championship tomorrow against Alabama. First tee time will be at 2:10 p.m. tomorrow. Joining us today, head coach Alan Bratton as well as student athletes Talor Gooch, Ian Davis, Wyndham Clark, Zachary Olsen and Jordan Niebrugge. ALAN BRATTON: It was a great match out there. Just exciting. That's what you play for is an opportunity like that. It took all five of our guys. That's been the strength of our team all year is the depth, and everybody up here got a point in one of the matches and some guys got two. It's awesome to see them step up on a big stage, and also great to see Prairie Dunes and what it's all about. This is a wonderful place. Stanford had a great week. They were a tough out. And now we've got another great opportunity tomorrow against Alabama. Q.  Wyndham, a little bit about your feelings going into play tomorrow for the National Championship. WYNDHAM CLARK: Words can't describe. I mean, we've been thinking about this all year, and then to finally be here is almost surreal. I know we're ready and we've been dreaming about this most of our lives, especially our college careers. I know we're ready, and we want to get Talor and me a championship. Q. Talor, same question. TALOR GOOCH: Basically what he said. You come to college wanting to win a National Championship. That's why we come to Oklahoma State, because Oklahoma State wins national championships. Especially for Ian and I, we haven't won one yet, and if you don't win a National Championship in four years at Oklahoma State, it's a disappointment. We want to make sure and not be a disappointment. Q. Ian, same question to you. IAN DAVIS: Yeah, me and Talor have been talking all year about how it was going to come down to us and Alabama when Coach McGraw went there. Tomorrow is going to be a special day, and it's what we came to college for. It's going to be fun. Q. Jordan, for you, the experience of today's match, go through your mindset as you took on this match this afternoon. JORDAN NIEBRUGGE: I didn't change my plan at all, kind of just wanted to get out there and get one for the team, get a point for the team in any way I could, just try to be consistent out there. I think I went 2‑down after 10 and got two quick ones back at 11 and 12 and tried to build momentum there, kind of just let a couple bad mistakes affect me a little bit down the stretch. But on 17 it was good to hear that my match ended and did not matter. It's good to hear that always. Q. Zachary, your thoughts on going to the National Championship match tomorrow? ZACHARY OLSEN: I mean, we've been building to this moment the whole year, and I think it's really special that we've got a chance tomorrow to make it happen. Q. Talor, how did you handle the pressure of knowing that your single match was probably going to determine the outcome of your team there at the end? TALOR GOOCH: You know, I had pressure from the beginning, but that's what I wanted. That's why coach sent me out first. He expected me to go out there and take the lead and get some confidence in the boys behind me so that they know that we've already got a point. It took a little longer than I wanted it to, but I was glad I was able to get out there and get the win. Q. Where does that putt rank in your career? TALOR GOOCH: Oh, it's the best. Pretty easy given the circumstances. I've made some good putts before I'm sure that could maybe compare, but at this stage at this time, like I said, with these circumstances, nothing compares. Q. How much did that putt break? TALOR GOOCH: Actually it was a little bit of a snake. It broke about two cups left, kind of up over a ridge, and then the last about 10 feet, it kind of went back to the right, kind of straightened out a little bit. Q. You had some other big putts, too, starting on No.15 going down the hill. How far do you think that putt was? TALOR GOOCH: That putt logged in a little bit longer. It was kind of the same thing. It was a little double breaker. Coach Guetz was on the bag for me, and he read both those perfect. I really didn't know what they were doing, so I said, Coach, what's going on right here, and he said it's going to do this and this, and I said all right, hit good putts, and they went in. Q. How much did you feel like that one putt, seeing that Maverick was by one, how much do you think that changed things? TALOR GOOCH: Yeah, I told my dad that putt on 15 was really what won me the match. We've talked all year about how momentum is huge, not only in any tournament but especially in match play. Even with halving the hole, I got some momentum there. It showed the next two holes when I made two birdies after that. Q. Since 2009 you've only had a one versus two match‑up in the National Championship just once. How excited are you guys to have an opportunity to determine really the best team in college golf this season? ZACHARY OLSEN: Well, I think the 1‑2 teams you want to be battling at the end. It just reflects what we did over the year. We've been through the best teams, and I think it shows (inaudible) really special for us to get a chance to beat the No.1 team in the country. Q. Coach, how much local knowledge do you have? ALAN BRATTON: Well, not so much from just not being too far, but we've been up here a bunch of times. We've played a lot of Big Eight championships here. I played in four of them when I was in school. And then we've played the Big 12 for a lot of years. Three of our guys have played here, and now they've gotten rounds in this week. Between Coach Guetz and I, we've been around the course a lot. At Oklahoma State, you can get knowledge. Shoot, our guys talked to Morgan Hoffmann, I think they've talked to Rickie about this place, as well. Chris Tidland lives in town. There's a lot of history here for Oklahoma State. We certainly know where to go, and our guys just have to execute the shot. Q. For Talor, you've talked in the past about how you've overcome a lot. Just kind of talk about maybe specific things that happened during your college career and how you got after that, and ultimately you're making a putt to help your team get to the NCAA championship. TALOR GOOCH: Each year there's been somewhat of a pinnacle of either negativity or positivity. My freshman year, the most fun tournament of the year was a National Championship, but it came as a disappointment, also, because we were the best team in the nation at our home course and we didn't win. My sophomore year was an extreme disappointment. I went from winning eight or nine, ten tournaments my freshman year to not winning a tournament my sophomore year as a team and not making it to the nationals for the first time in the program's history. We were able to bounce back a little bit my junior year. Jordan really helped us out last year, and we played some good golf. But again, we had a disappointing season in my eyes. It's nice to be in position to end my career on a positive note. Q. You started this fall out pretty slow, but your last five, six, seven results have been really solid. What was the product of that slow start, and how did you figure things out? TALOR GOOCH: Actually at the end of last summer, I kind of had a little back injury after the U.S.Amateur. I played well all summer, and at the U.S.Amateur I got hurt. I think that kind of led into a little bit of a slow start in the fall, and I had to take a few weeks off and in between tournaments I couldn't really practice much. Then at the end of the fall I played well in Dallas, and it kind of led into the spring. It's nice to be playing good at the end of the spring at the right time. Q. Was there any moment today, thoughts of this could be your last tournament? Did that enter your head at all? TALOR GOOCH: Yeah, it's easy to have those type of thoughts, but you've got to get rid of those as soon as they come into your mind and you've got to get focused on the shot and the task at hand and execute. You can't have those type of thoughts. Q. What was the Johnny Football thing? TALOR GOOCH: Yeah, I might have some disagreements here, but I am a big Johnny Football fan, and a few of my buddies back home are also big fans of him, so I told him, hey, if I have a big putt and I think there might be cameras around, I might have to just throw up a little money time. I'm sure I'll get a little bit of both sides from that. It was something I'd do, though. Q. What's your favorite part about Johnny Football? TALOR GOOCH: His competitiveness. That's what I love so much about him. He gets a lot of scrutiny, but he sure competes his butt off, and I admire that. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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