Jack Nicklaus Award Recipients Announced Transcript

DUSTIN ROBERTS: Good morning. I'd like to welcome everyone to the announcement of the 2009 Jack Nicklaus Award recipients as the collegiate players of the year. My name is Dustin Roberts. I'm with the Golf Coaches Association of America.

Joining me on stage, Jack Nicklaus; our Division I recipient, Matt Hill from NC State; the Division II recipient, Brent Witcher from Valdosta State; The Division III recipient, Mitchell Fedorka from La Verne; and the NAIA recipient and two-time recipient, Sam Cyr from Point Loma Nazarene University.

We have a couple of special guests. We have Matt Hill's parents, Bob and Barb Hill, and Brent's coach Jared Purvis at Valdosta State.

Matt Hill, our Division I winner is the second player in history since the inception of the regional format to win conference championship, regional championship, and national championship. The other player was Tiger Woods. His eight wins this season, is believed to be an NCAA record for most wins in a season. The old ACC record is five. And what is believed to be the old NCAA record is seven.

At this time, I'd like to ask Matt Hill to come forward, please, to receive his trophy from Mr. Nicklaus.

JACK NICKLAUS: Matt, congratulations to you. That's a pretty special year for you.

I also mentioned that Matt will still probably be playing golf at North Carolina State next year. But the Division I winner does get an invite to the Memorial Tournament.

MATT HILL: Thank you.

JACK NICKLAUS: If it's the week after the NCAA, then you can play.

DUSTIN ROBERTS: Brent Witcher, our Division II winner, is a two-time first team all American and the Gulf South conference player of the year for the second straight season. He's finished top five on five occasions this season. He has eight top ten finishes, nine finishes in the top 20, and he also had two wins this season. Brent Witcher from Valdosta State.

Mitchell Fedorka was the top ranked player in Division III golf and finished second at the Division III NCAA championships. He was a Ping All-West state honoree and named the SCIAC player of the year. He won three times this season and only finished outside the top ten twice.

DUSTIN ROBERTS: Our final honoree is Sam Cyr, who is also the 2008 recipient of the Jack Nicklaus award. He won his second consecutive NAIA championship this season. He won five times this year to get to 12 in his career. Four time Ping All-America selection. This time he has four finishes in the top five in addition to his five wins and only finished outside the top ten twice in 12 events. Sam Cyr.

JACK NICKLAUS: Wait a minute here. It's like they put the club in backwards, didn't they?

Sam came from Hawaii to do this. Last year was the last time he had a tie on was when he was here last time. Tell him just leave the outfit here if he knew he was going to play this well again.

DUSTIN ROBERTS: Now I'll turn over to questions for Mr. Nicklaus and our four recipients.

Q. Just want to ask the four of you guys what are your plans for the summer? What are you playing this summer?

JACK NICKLAUS: Hey, now. You mean real jobs. What do you mean by that?

MATT HILL: I have a U.S. Open qualifier coming up, and after that, I plan on playing hopefully the Canadian Open and then the Nationwide event I got invited to here at Ohio State. And then I will be playing at the Canadian Amateur and U.S. Amateur after that.

I plan to take a couple of weeks off during the middle of summer.

BRENT WITCHER: I plan on playing amateur tournaments throughout the summer. I'm going to play the Walker Cup team. Play the Northeast and the Dogwood and take a week off and play the Porter Cup and U.S. Am qualifier and do all that and see how everything plays out. I plan to turn pro sometime after U.S. Am or the Walker Cup and then go to Q School.

MITCHELL FEDORKA: I plan on doing a couple of amateur events. The Pub Links, South Coast Amateur, and U.S. Amateur. I also plan on taking summer school and working a little bit for the SEPGA Junior Tour.

SAM CYR: I'm also planning on playing the Amateur Tour. I'm not positive yet, but I have committed to the Porter Cup, the Northeast Am, the West Am, and plan on playing the USAM also and then turning pro right after and go to Q School.

Q. I'm just curious. What kind of influence is Mike Weir for someone of your age coming out?

MATT HILL: He's been pretty much my idol growing up, just growing up in the same town. I think, when I was about 10 years old, it was the first time I got to meet him when he first got on the tour. And I watched him hit balls and have a clinic. And ever since that, I kind of wanted to do exactly what he's doing and tried to work hard to accomplish that.

Q. Have you read anything with him?

MATT HILL: No.

Q. Jack, I'm just curious. You talked about the match play format that the NCAAs had out at the back porch last year. Did it really come off the way you thought it would?

JACK NICKLAUS: I think these guys would have to answer that. I think it did a couple of things. The reason that I was pushing for match play to the NCAA is that somewhere in college golf -- it didn't necessarily have to be NCAA -- that's what Chris chose to do. They chose to use it in their team championship.

There were those who didn't understand what we were talking about. The NCAA this year went to 54 holes of play to determine the individual champion, which Matt won, and then the level eight teams went to match play. They had five players, and the best 3 out of 5 matches would win. It went down to the last shot of the last match, and I guess Texas A&M beat Arkansas in that match.

Now, you know, whether that's what the NCAA wants or doesn't want, I don't know. But from my thoughts are that after coaching -- or captaining several Ryder Cups and several Presidents Cups, I found that the American players particularly were having trouble finishing, you know, tournaments. And my philosophy has always been that, you know, to be an American player to get on the tour, you probably have to be in the top 20 or 30 players in our country to get there. You don't necessarily have to be the top player.

Now, Matt's in a different situation. He's going to -- he would be on the opposite team, being a Canadian. But he'd have to be one of the one or two best players in Canada to get out to make that team. That's what Mike Weir was. And most of the guys in the Ryder Cup, a lot of countries that comprise the European tour, for those guys to get out there, they've got to be basically the best in their country to be out there to get a chance to be on the Tour. The Americans didn't have that.

This is a lot of college golf, U.S. and Canadians playing a lot of college golf. U.S. players, I was trying to figure out how to get them tougher, how to learn how to finish. The only way to finish to me is to play head to head. When you play head to head, you have to finish, and you have to be able to learn to do that.

So it's not that you want to do it all the time, but to have some of it to be that way. They chose a team to do that. I was surprised they chose a team. I thought they'd probably have a 54 or 72-hole metal play tournament to take the team championship or take the top -- we used to take 64. Became more emphasis on the team championship in the NCAA than they did on the individual, which is okay. It used to be 36 holes for the team championship and then 64 tied to play match play for the individual. So you ended up playing match play through.

They decided they could do it this way or have like a 72-hole metal play, maybe the top 8 or 16 players play match play.

But what it does, it gets the guys a little tougher coming down to the end. So they had a match play experience. They know when they come down to finish a golf tournament, that they know they've got to beat that guy they're playing with coming down the end. It was an element, and the NCAA bought that element. Whether I had an influence on it or not, I'm not too sure. I must have had some influence on it, but they did do that this year. They'll probably modify it or change it or keep it the same. You don't know at this point, do you?

DUSTIN ROBERTS: I think they're going to keep it the same.

JACK NICKLAUS: Oh, they're going to think about keeping it the same? See, I don't know. Also, from a television standpoint, they had teams on television and ended up having the excitement of actually coming down through the last match to finish it. So it actually worked from a television standpoint pretty good. I don't know, but you understand where I'm coming from.

DUSTIN ROBERTS: It came down -- I wasn't there and didn't see it, but it came down to the fifth and final match, 2-2.

JACK NICKLAUS: That's right. Nice wedge in to birdie the last hole.

Q. Beautiful win, et cetera. It seemed like an awful lot of pressure playing for a team championship. I wonder what your thoughts were.

JACK NICKLAUS: But every time you play -- and most of these guys that are really the top players that finish in the NCAA, they're very -- not like all colleges that it's something else playing pro and something else other than their sport. In this sport, a very high percentage of kids are going to play professional golf, particularly those that are finishing down that road. To have that experience and finish it knowing how to win.

The best thing that ever happened to me is in 1959 when I won the U.S. Amateur. Charlie Coe was the best amateur player in the game, and I came down and hit it up at the last hole. You know, having to make a birdie to win the national amateur, and I holed that 8 footer.

I think that was probably the most important putt I ever made in my career because it gave me the confidence to know that head to head finishing the tournament, that I did it and I won it. So I knew that I could do it. It wasn't something I thought I could do. It was something I did. I think that was a big, big factor in my career.

Q. 17 at Augusta?

JACK NICKLAUS: That was the finish up. First in the Am.

Q. Matt, just talk about -- I'm sure you've been asked this already, but what did you find over the winter? Did you make a change that kind of set off your hot streak this spring?

MATT HILL: I wouldn't say I made a huge change. I kind of got hot during the summer. I really only played three events during the fall, and I felt like I did pretty well. I just kept working on the same old things and just kept getting better at them.

After my first one in the spring, I got really comfortable in that position and knew I could do it coming down the stretch. I think that was the most important reason for what has happened for me in the last three months. I felt comfortable coming down and after putting myself in a good position coming down the stretch and trying to win the tournament.

Q. How many of your wins this spring -- how often did you play with maybe the guy you're trying to beat? Typically in college golf, you're not grouped by pairings, you're grouped by team. Were you in the same paring with somebody who was the guy who wound up being runner-up? Did you know the guy you played in the end of match play is what I'm asking?

MATT HILL: Maybe two or three.

Q. Also ask all four of you guys. Jack just mentioned his most important stroke of his career. If you guys -- is that what you can come up with? Even if it was in junior golf, you've got to say what's most important.

Sam, what was the most important stroke of your career so far?

SAM CYR: Probably my 17th hole at Nationals this year, like 71st hole on the last day. I actually have a five-shot lead going into the final round and made the turn 2 over. The gentleman in second place maybe turned 3 under, so I knew it was tight. And they came up, and they told me when I was on like 12. I had just bogeyed 10. So I was 3 over.

Made a couple birdies down the stretch, and I knew I had to because I knew I was blowing it. And this is bringing back memories because I actually came in second my sophomore year, and I had a four-shot lead going into the final day my sophomore year, and I blew it.

I just kept telling myself, when I got on the 71st hole, I had a 30 footer down the hill. Okay, you have to make this to pretty much like seal the deal. And made a 30 footer. Up to the last hole and hitting the trees and had to punch out. Hit a 70-yard shot to like eight inches and tapped in for par and shot 71 the last day. Won by three.

I think that was probably the biggest putt just because I knew I had to make it to kind of put pressure on the kid because he had to birdie the last couple of holes, which were the toughest couple of holes playing nationals this year in the John Deere Classic. Those last couple of holes were pretty tough holes coming down the stretch. I knew that would close the deal. So that was probably my biggest putt.

Q. Pretty tough to top that one.

MATT HILL: I might be able to top that. You'll find out.

It was probably this year too for our conference final. I went into the last round and ended up tying going into the playoff. Our first playoff hole tied. Our second playoff hole -- we had carts too. So drive back down to the tee, and one of my teammates is in the passenger's side, and two are on the back. So I hit my tee shot down the middle. I pulled out in reverse and kind of whipped the car a little bit too much. I think it was all away on the back just kind of turning the cart, started to tip a little bit. So he went flying out, and I went flying out of the cart.

My buddy actually helped push the cart up and drove down the fairway. He hit his shot on the green. I hit mine to about nine feet. He hit a good lag putt, and I drained my putt for birdie.

Q. Kind of a tension breaker.

MATT HILL: Yeah, I think so. It took a lot of pressure off. Made me kind of laugh a little bit and get out of the moment for a second. I think it helped a little bit.

BRENT WITCHER: I don't have one particular instance. Mr. Nicklaus talked about confidence, a putt. A tournament for me is I went to junior college my first two years. I won the Division II junior college championship my first year. For me that was a turning point.

I've won tournaments in the past, but knowing that I had -- I think I set the overall scoring record in knowing that I had to shoot a certain score and knowing that our team, you know, everybody was relying on me. I think that was probably the main turning point for me was to finish up and make sure that I played well in order for us to win as a team and individually. I think that gave me the confidence for the rest of the years.

MITCHELL FEDORKA: One that I can really think of is three years ago. I was battling my brother. It was a small tournament back home, and I think he was two ahead of me. Actually, three ahead of me with three holes to go, and I'm pretty sure third place might have been 12 or 13 back of us. I knew I had to make a charge coming down the stretch and ended up birdieing 16 or 17, and he bogeyed 17.

We were tied going for the last hole. And he hit his approach to nine feet, and I had 30 feet, and I made it. I ended up birdieing the last three holes to beat him by one.

Q. Older or younger?

MITCHELL FEDORKA: He's an older brother. I think after that finish, it just kind of gave me that kind of confidence that I could do that coming down the stretch.

Q. Have you ever spoken about it with him since?

MITCHELL FEDORKA: A couple of times.

Q. Do you bring that up with him, or is that too sore of a spot for you?

MITCHELL FEDORKA: A few times if he's bugging me, yeah.

Q. As you guys watch out here, where do you now have to take your game, you think, to be out here in a few years and grinding and competing with this level of player?

MATT HILL: I think one of the biggest things is just realizing that we're probably as good as these guys. There's maybe a few areas of our game that maybe need to be a little bit more consistent, but just having the confidence and in your mind thinking that you can do that. You can come out here and shoot under par. That's probably one of the biggest things.

BRENT WITCHER: I would say the same thing. Confidence and also short game. Consistency of the ball striking and things like that. We all obviously can play very well, but the consistency in which they hit the shots, you know, day in and day out, I think that tends to be the differences. The putting and the short game and everything and the way that they go about their own game. You know, they're very, very confident, very comfortable with their own game.

I think confidence, like he said, is also a big deal that we have to realize, that we have confidence as well.

MITCHELL FEDORKA: I agree. Believing that you belong up there and just kind of owning it.

Q. Given the talk about golf becoming on Olympic sport in 2016, how important would it be for you to play in the Olympics? In your own mind, would a gold medal mean as much to you as a Major championship?

MATT HILL: I think it would be hard to put those two together right now because it's -- I mean, we haven't even had Olympics -- golf in the Olympics yet. It would be hard to say if it would be as important as winning something like the Masters that had so much tradition in the game already. So until they really put it in there, it would be pretty hard to say. To win something for your country would be pretty special.

MITCHELL FEDORKA: I agree. I've been on several national teams and stuff representing our country. I feel like it's a pretty special thing. Like he said, I don't know exactly from all the tradition and stuff, U.S. Open, Masters, stuff like that, but it is super special in representing your country and winning a gold medal for your country would be pretty awesome for sure.

BRENT WITCHER: I think, unless we won a major ourselves, it would be kind of hard to compare because, like you said, playing for your country is such a big deal. You know, Olympics has been going on forever, and that's something that you take with the rest of your life, obviously, as well as a major championship. That's just, I think, a completely different experience because you're doing it not just for yourself necessarily, like a Major championship, it's for your country and for a team necessarily.

SAM CYR: I have to agree. I played on a National Championship, for the U.S. against, actually, Canada, in St. Andrews, but we unfortunately lost. It's a big deal. I don't know, maybe you were on the team.

JACK NICKLAUS: Just to sort of add a little bit to that, golf in the Olympics is scheduled to be an individual sport, not a team sport. So you wouldn't be representing your team as -- or your country as a team. You'd represent as an individual. Much the same way tennis is done. And most of the other sports you're playing as an individual sport.

Here I've won obviously a couple of majors and never had the opportunity to compete in the Olympics, and obviously I'm not going to. I would have loved to have had that opportunity when I was playing. I think it would have been a tremendous thrill and a tremendous thing to have been part of the Olympic scene that was not just golf but other sports combined and the Olympic feeling. I think it would have been a tremendous thing to do. I think these boys will have the opportunity to qualify to do that. I think that's great.

Certainly, if golf becomes a sport, and I think we've got an awfully good shot of having that happen.

Q. You have top trophies. Where's this one going to go?

MATT HILL: It's hard to say right now. This one's going to be probably a pretty special place in the house and all. Maybe my dad will decide where it's going to go.

Q. Have you got a place where everything else goes right now? They're kind of scattered around?

MATT HILL: They're kind of scattered around. I'll try to think of something good for it.

BRENT WITCHER: Mine are also scattered and moving a lot. This one is definitely going to be in my room on my dresser where I keep my more recent trophies. I think this one will be maybe more towards the front.

SAM CYR: Mine's going right next to the other one from last year. I kind of have a shelf thing in my room and stuff like that. On the top is actually this one, and the Arnold palmer that I won, and the national championship trophies with it, and they're all lined up on the top. The Arnold one is actually a plaque.

MITCHELL FEDORKA: This one will be stored in my room. Knowing my mom, she'll want to pack it in the garage. She thinks they're dust collectors.

JACK NICKLAUS: First thing we've got to do is fix the clubs on the trophies. They're all backwards. Maybe you all hit with the back of the club.

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