May 22, 2010
– Bruce Heppler, Georgia Tech Head Coach
“We got better every day, and today was really good, everybody was in the game, and we had five guys under par for most of the day. You are moving on, you would like to win, but that’s not really the point but I think you try to, and when you try to you get closer to the front and you don’t have to worry about it. I think this was a good round to go into Chattanooga with.”
“I think the first day, you have just waited for so long. We had been practicing for eight, nine, ten days and again, I think a lot of times the hardest round to play is the first one because you can kind of mess it up and be anxious. I think they got more and more relaxed and more and more comfortable. They had some pizza last night and sat there and enjoyed themselves so I think they came out today pretty relaxed.”
“I think to play well when it matters, if you look at the final round of the ACC, that mattered, and they all played good, and today mattered and they all played good. That is what you want them to stick in their mind, that I can play good when it matters. This was a good round to take into Chattanooga I think.”
[On being close to fifth place in the morning] – “I don’t know that it was a concern. You just know what reality is. There were a lot of good teams, and I think if you go on your internet website tonight and look around there is a lot of good teams that are going home. Now that we play for five spots rather than ten, it will be more and more competitive. You just never know how they are going to react. You just don’t know. We got off to a decent start, and they just kept playing and played all the way around.”
“I think winning the conference, those guys now know that they can play together and win. Today they played together and had a good round. I think that builds confidence in each other.”
John Tyler Griffin, Georgia Tech
“I putted better today. I putted terribly yesterday. I kind of figured out some things last night on the putting green. It went okay, my speed wasn’t great. I had putts at it coming down the stretch just to make something but I was there. I was within sniffing range I guess. Not birdying 12 kind of hurt me. I hit a great drive up there, hit a 3-wood, and it kind of slipped a little bit, didn’t catch at all right on front. I hit up there to about eight feet and just lipped it out. That was kind of the point I lost a little bit of wind in the sails. Peter [Uihlein] had a three shot lead at that point so I kind of needed to cut into it to scare him at all.”
[On the whole team doing well] – “It definitely takes pressure off of me when I look up at the board and we are -8 or -9 under for the day and I know I am only at -1 or -2. It was nice to make the turn with what I think was a 20 shot cushion, so that was nice. Everybody is playing well which is good and we are looking forward to going to Chattanooga.”
“I kind of figured that it was the last day and you are kind of going to separate yourself if you play well. I wasn’t worried about us at all, I was just trying to catch Peter [Uihlein]. I figured that if I could catch Peter, the rest would take care of itself.”
Larry Penley, Clemson Head Coach
“The key to us for the week was our lag putting. It might have been the best I have seen from a Clemson team. We were not comfortable with the greens at The Old North State Club (ACC Tournament site), but we got the feel of them during the practice round here and that was very important.”
“Our freshmen did a great job. I thought this course might set up well for Corbin Mills and Crawford Reeves and it did. They kept the ball in the fairway and hit greens. Crawford was our second best golfer for the tournament and Corbin had a pair of rounds at even par. That was big.”
“I am very proud of this team. Overall it has made great progress over the course of the season and we should go to the Honors Course with confidence. We played just about even with the number-one team in the nation over three days.”
Ben Martin, Clemson
“My sophomore year we finished sixth at the conference tournament, then finished third at the regional and fifth at the NCAA national tournament. This reminds me a lot of that.
“Last year we were the number-one seed in the East Regional and did not advance so this really feels good.
“We set our minds to come back strong after we were disappointed at the ACC Tournament. Finishing just two shots back of the number-one ranked team in the nation ( Oklahoma State) shows that we can play with anyone and it will give us confidence at the nationals.”
Mike McGraw, Oklahoma State Head Coach
“In the five years that I have been head coach we have only come from behind to win a tournament twice. We haven’t had a history of doing that so I am very happy that it happened. The golf course I thought held its own and played really tough the whole week. Our guys played our best round today so I was real happy with that for sure.”
[On what the team can improve on] – “I would say short game. I think where we lost most of our shots this week was around the greens. Guys seemed to be hitting the ball great, so I liked that, but we need to do something around the greens and get a little better hopefully. I was very happy with the week, and thought that Georgia Tech did a great job of hosting the championship. It was a great place to have it.”
Peter Uihlein, Oklahoma State (medalist)
“We are doing fine. We are getting better each week. This was a good week, we played really well, and just hope to keep it going for next week.” “I positioned the ball pretty good. At the tee, I really made sure to see where the pins were before I teed off and tried to position myself so I had the best angle coming in. I was able to execute and do that. I might not have hit every fairway but I was on the right angles so I was able to attack all of the flags.”
Larry Mays, Georgia Southern Coach
“Well we played a great round of golf, and we knew we had to do it. We kind of got ourselves a little behind the eight ball after yesterday’s round. I told them last night that we needed all five guys to play well. We counted a 79 in the second round and you can’t do that under this competition. I challenged all of them to be there all day, and I don’t think we were more than +3 over all day long. We shot +2 over, so I am just real proud of them for all hanging in there. We counted three 70’s and had two 72’s so just a great round of golf with all five guys contributing.”
“We have been waiting on that round all year. We have been close in a bunch of tournaments, we won a tournament early in the fall but it wasn’t against the top competition, we played well in other tournaments, but we were always one score off maybe two out of the three rounds. We have been talking about this round all year, saying that we were going to have this round and to do it when we needed it the most was pretty special for this group of guys.”
Logan Blondell, Georgia Southern
“I played good, played solid, and just hung in there.” [On Pressure] – “We handled it pretty well. We just did what we have been doing the last few days, just keep playing.”
Randy Lein, Arizona State Head Coach
“We finished strong, and we played really well at the end which was good to see because we were not looking good after 12 holes. We played solid, we got through, and it all starts over again in Chattanooga.”
“I didn’t have to say much [to the team] because they knew what they did. They knew last night and early this morning what we needed to do and we just didn’t start out well. It was not looking good at all with six holes to go, but then Knut [Borsheim], one of my seniors, birdied four of his last five, Scott stuck and birdied the last hole and they did what they needed to do to be in the position that we are now in.”
Scott Pinckney, Arizona State
“I played good. I hit the ball really well but I didn’t put it close enough to make putts. I was playing conservatively because I knew that it was hot out there. The pins were tough, so I was just trying to hit fairways and put it into the middle of the green.”
[On handling pressure] – “Obviously good, but we knew we had it in us. I never had a doubt that we weren’t going to make it. I was telling myself on the back nine that there was no way I don’t see myself not playing in Nationals, it’s just not going to happen.”
Robbie Fillmore, BYU
“I played well, but I just didn’t make the putts that I had made the last couple of days and that was the difference.”
“It was really disappointing. We fought hard, and were just one shot short.”
