Q. You're one of the few guys to navigate those final four holes in the last couple hours; how did you do it?
BEN SHIPP: Yeah, the wind really started picking up when we got off of 14 green. Me and my caddie knew what we were up against, and when the wind picks up, all you're trying to do is hit greens, just get the putter in your hands as fast as you can.
We just picked out good targets, good conservative targets and were aggressive towards those. Just hit a lot of quality shots coming in.
Q. You had a great front nine; what did you do well?
BEN SHIPP: I think it was important that I got off to a good start. I birdied the first two holes, kind of gave me a little cushion for maybe some of the tougher holes coming up. And from there I just kept getting some looks. Made a couple of key par putts to kind of keep the round going.
Q. What holes did you make par putts?
BEN SHIPP: I made a really good par putt on 5, about a 15-footer on 5. 8, I made a good birdie putt. It was like 20, 25 feet. And then 9 I played really well. I kind of hit a drive off to the right a little bit in the rough and ran a 4-iron up to the front of the green and had a good two-putt there to finish off the front nine.
Q. With it being your third Amateur, were you more relaxed coming into this one or did you learn something in the previous two that helped you today?
BEN SHIPP: I don't think I was more relaxed. I think the two years prior, just more maybe the atmosphere of the U.S. Am. It's our biggest tournament that we play in, so that in and of itself is a different feel, and I think having two prior definitely helps. I mean, this is a tough golf course. You just kind of go out there and grind for four and a half to five hours and just kind of see where you end up.
Q. For those who wouldn't know, obviously Riviera and Pinehurst are different than playing here. What's different about this kind of golf?
BEN SHIPP: I mean, you can't let the ball get up in the wind. That's the biggest thing. It's just a four and a half hour grind. At Riviera and Pebble, you can kind of get it going and get on a streak, and there's even some holes you can relax a little bit. Out here it's just constant, constant pressure on every shot. It is, it's just a different type of golf with the firmness and the wind.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports