An Interview With:

David Oh after semifinal round on Aug. 23, 2003.

PETE KOWALSKI:   David, thank you for coming in and a great championship.   You should be proud of your finish and obviously 18 wasn't the way you wanted it to go.   But if you could give us a little snapshot of what you felt were the key points in the match the way it swung back and forth.

DAVID OH:   I think the key was on 14, when I made bogey like 80, 90 yards from the fairway on 14.   I tried to play conservative, play safe.   He hit driver left.   I think I should have asked where the ball was.   Instead I just took out my 2-iron and laid up.   I really think that was a mistake that I made there.   But that's what cost me the match there.

Q.   You've hit driver there all week, have you not?

DAVID OH:   Yeah.   Yeah.   It was downwind.   The wind was right.   You could hit just like a driver a little left.   And I can fly the bunker, so I don't have to worry about that first bunker.   I don't know.   I just thought I would be smart and hit the 2-iron.   But it didn't work out.

Q.   Was that choice of club more troublesome than the pitch shot or was that pitch shot not far from where you wanted to hit it?

DAVID OH:   I hit it really solid.   I just didn't hit it hard enough.   It was downwind again.   It took me in the bunker and I guess I just tried to get it too close, got a little too greedy.   It was just a bad shot.

Q.   Did his birdie on the previous hole make you think about doing something different than you had been?

DAVID OH:   Not really.   I've been two holes up going into 14.   I've been one up on both Trip and Haas.   And I birdied that hole to go two up.   So going into the hole I felt fine.   I just shouldn't have changed my game plan.

PETE KOWALSKI:   Is that match-play experience do you think.

DAVID OH:    Yeah, I think so.   I guess today I just started thinking about getting to the finals.   Started thinking about Majors and holding that trophy.   You can't do that.   It's a cardinal sin.   And that's -- you live and learn.   Hopefully I can learn.

Q.   What was your lie like on the back of 18?

DAVID OH:   The rough was trampled down.   My ball was -- I knew I could hit it clean.   I didn't have to worry about duffing it or anything.   But when I went to hit it, it felt good, it looked good and I guess it just hit hard and just rolled off the green.   I wasn't sure if it went in the rough or was hanging on the first cut.   But when I got up there, that was a horrible lie.   I think the best anyone could have done was maybe 10, 12 feet.

Q.   Was the course playing more difficult today?   Was it firmer?   Were the greens faster?

DAVID OH:    Yeah, definitely.   The greens were faster today.   It was a lot firmer around the greens.   I got away with some stuff, especially with holes 8, 9, 10; I got away with a good shot there.   So you just got to be smart about that.

Q.   He was kind of a little crooked.   He missed a lot of greens, but he kept saving himself and surviving?

DAVID OH:   Yeah, he played great coming in.   He made a lot of putts 15, 16, so going into 15 after I hit my putt I really thought that I most likely would go one up.   Even on 16 when he hit it left, I thought, okay, most likely I'll go one up just as long as I don't 3-putt.   But he made two really solid putts.   That gave him the tournament, that gave him the match.

Q.   Do you feel like you've kind of gained some momentum?   You were down early but you righted the ship a little bit.   Did you have that feeling at one point?

DAVID OH:   Definitely.   I won five in a row.   So I went back two up and on the par-3 I hit the pin someone said.   So I was feeling really good.   And then I just heard him hit it and I went over and he hit it to like a foot, a foot and a half.   So that's just -- he stopped me right there.

Q.   What do you think about your Walker Cup chances now?

DAVID OH:   I played well, but I think with the Walker Cup it's, they look at your past two years, they look at college and all that stuff.   And I didn't really play as well as some other guys.   A close friend of mine, Peter Tomasulo I think most likely will get picked.   He's ranked like two or three right now as an amateur.   So I'm sure he would go.   And Brandt Snedeker, he won the Public Links.   I'm sure it's between those two.   So maybe if I would have won, I would have got picked.   But that didn't happen.   I'm not real worried about Walker Cup right now.

Q.   What did you have in on 18?   What did you hit?

DAVID OH:    I think I had 205 to the pin.   And I hit a soft 5-iron just trying to roll it up.   I caught it too good and just landed it too far and it rolled over the green.