An Interview With:
LEE WILLIAMS

CRAIG SMITH: Lee William, first one in. First one out. First one in.

LEE WILLIAMS: First one in; first one out. I like that.

CRAIG SMITH: Go through some of the highs and lows, obviously you played a more mature, veteran player, but you had a dogfight for at least most of the front nine.

LEE WILLIAMS: Didn't open up too well on the first couple of holes. Made a couple pars on 6 and -- no, 5 and 6. And that was good enough to win those two holes. Got us back to all square.

I ended unable to take in a two up lead going into number 10. I felt real comfortable with that. I like the back nine a lot better than I do the front nine.

I lost number 10, but a whole lot more golf left, I thought to myself. And just keep making pars and maybe a couple birdies. The birdies will follow. And I was fortunate enough to make two birdies coming in and it ended up being good enough to win.

CRAIG SMITH: I was just wondering where you felt where the match was kind of comfortable with you and was it just at the start of the back nine?

LEE WILLIAMS: Back nine I felt real comfortable being two up. Even though I know he's a real good player and I knew I was going to have to play good if I wanted to maintain that two up. And I just  -- I don't know. I felt real comfortable out there going to the back nine with a two-up lead. But I was really comfortable when I was four up with four to play. I was definitely the most comfortable.

CRAIG SMITH: Try this one on, see how this one sounds: U.S. Amateur semi-finalist.

LEE WILLIAMS: It's awesome. It's awesome. I'm thrilled to still be here. It's been a great week so far and I hope it continues.

Q. What was the problem on the starting out?

LEE WILLIAMS: Number 1 is about the hardest starting hole I ever had to play before. And it's just a -- if you make par on that hole, more than likely you're going to win the hole, because I haven't made a match yet where both of us made a par on that hole. So I made bogey on that hole and he made par, so I figured, he makes a par, that's it. I ain't mad at losing that hole with making a bogey.

Then 2, I just hit a bad tee shot and made another bogey. After that I just started playing a little better.

Q. Were you worried at all with that start?

LEE WILLIAMS: No, because this course is so hard and par goes a long way. It's not a course where you got to make six birdies to catch back up to somebody. I just felt like if I could just put the ball in the fairway and hit it on the green and make a couple birdies, but just keep plugging away at making pars. I felt like I would be in good shape.

Q. Have you been two down before in any of the matches?

LEE WILLIAMS: I don't even know. I don't know. I can't remember.

Q. How about tomorrow's semifinal, have you played Casey before?

LEE WILLIAMS: We played last year at the Southern Amateur together. At East Lake we played together, a couple rounds.

Q. Is there such a thing as a favorite at this point or is it pretty much any golfer that's still here at this point dangerous?

LEE WILLIAMS: Oh, everyone here. I mean even people that have been beat in the first round were real good players. And were capable of getting this far. I'm sure there probably is a favorite. I don't know who it is. Favorite doesn't always win or whatever. I know Trip Kuehne was probably the favorite and he played some real good golf for a few days and I don't really know how he was playing when he got beat in his match. But I think when he goes anywhere he's probably going to be the favorite; just he's been around a long, long time and he's been a great player for a long time.

CRAIG SMITH: I would like to think Lee that had you a pretty tough draw going from the start of match play to where you are now. I'm sure that when you looked at it you said, "Oh, no, what have I got myself into?"

LEE WILLIAMS: No, I didn't think like that. I just -- I was prepared that I knew that I was going to -- it didn't matter who I was going to play. I was going to have to play good to beat them.

My first match against, Ryan neither one of us played good; I guess I was just fortunate. But both of us were struggling that day. And that's part of it. You're going to play so many people that there's going to be a match that you're not going to be on and if the other person is not on, then that helps your chances of advancing. If the other person is on and you're not, you're probably going to be put out.

Match play is tough, especially when you're playing two matches a day some of the days and stuff like that.

Q. What do you consider the best aspect of your game and what's going well for you this week here?

LEE WILLIAMS: I don't really know what's the best aspect of my game. If I say something I know I'll do it bad tomorrow. I think I've been hitting fairways a good amount of time and I've been putting decent. So if I keep that up, I think I'll keep playing okay. If you're not going to drive it good out here, you're not going to shoot good. You got to put it in the fairway. You can think about putting until you put it in the fairway, because more than likely you're not going to be putting if you're not in the fairway. So I think hitting your tee ball in the fairway is a big, big key to this course.

Q. Do you like playing the harder courses like Oakmont because you're doing well here and you did well at the NCAA?

LEE WILLIAMS: I like hard courses better.

Q. Does that kind of bring out the best in your game?

LEE WILLIAMS: I don't know. It just it maybe makes me concentrate harder. I like courses that you have to think a lot on where there's so many options to every hole. And you got to really think about where your miss needs to be. You might not always miss it there, but I just really like courses that you don't just bomb it as far as you can and then hit it up somewhere on the green; doesn't matter if it's behind the hole, left of the hole, right of the hole. It doesn't matter; the greens aren't fast enough for it to matter. I like courses like this where you got to know and think on every single shot. Even three-foot putts you got to think on and be real cautious. I like that.

Q. You played six rounds in five days. Now, physically, how has that affected you and as you said, it's a thinking man's golf course; how has it affected the mental approach?

LEE WILLIAMS: Physically I think I'm good. When you get sleep it's kind of like plugging a golf cart up to a charger. You re-energize me. So tomorrow I'll feel, hopefully, just as good as I did three days ago. I'm not old enough, I don't think, to get tired this quick. I know at the end of the week if I'm still here I'll be pretty tired, but mentally probably more tired than physically just because you got to think a lot. I think everybody's at the same point as far as that goes. I feel just as good now as I did the first day I was here. Actually, I feel better because I feel like I know the course better and I don't feel like like I'm having to think as much what's going on on the greens because I'm catching on to them a lot more now.

Q. Where is Alexander City?

LEE WILLIAMS: It's right between Birmingham and Auburn in Alabama. It's in the center of the state on the far east side.

CRAIG SMITH: Has the adrenaline kicked in? Do you have butterflies when you're going now, that you didn't have early in the week.

LEE WILLIAMS: Well, I think that if you don't have butterflies, it probably doesn't mean anything to you. Even when I played in high school golf matches, one-day little matches on the first tee, I had butterflies. I just think that if you're not nervous, then it doesn't mean anything to you. The more nervous I am, the more it means to me. So I got butterflies. I hope everyone here does. But as the match goes on you get more comfortable with the course and on the first tee I think everybody's a little nervous.

Q. Do you have pretty high expectations coming into this week?

LEE WILLIAMS: Sure. I think everybody does though that comes here. It's an honor to get here too because there's so many good players that try to qualify. So few spots at every  -- well, at most of the qualifiers. So you get here, you might as well be thinking about winning. Especially when you put in a long, hard summer's worth of work in; you would be crazy not to be thinking about winning. You might as well go back home. I'm happy to still be here. It's been awesome. A great week so far.

CRAIG SMITH: Thank you, Lee.

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