AOW EXTRA: Matt Tressler, Scranton Prep golf

You had a rough start with three bogeys in your first nine holes. Was there a shot that got you on track? Believe it or not, the hole that probably got me going was the hole that I bogeyed because it was probably one of the best bogeys I could have made out of that situation. It was on the 17th hole, which was my eighth hole of the day. It was up in the weeds to the left. It was a very hard shot and I somehow got it out of there and got away with bogey, so I was very happy with that. Any reason for the rough start? I started on the back nine there. I believe the back nine for me I struggled more with that. I thought if I could just keep it around even (par). I made a couple bogeys here and there. I wasn’t too pleased with my front nine. It wasn’t really jitters, it was just starting to get used to the round. Considering it was my first round at states, it was okay. I didn’t really see you see the leaderboard but I kind of figured I was a couple shots behind and I needed to make up some ground going into the back nine.
You did that and you chipped in for a birdie on No. 8 to take the lead. Describe the shot: Well, at that point, I already had made five birdies on that side, which was unreal at that point. I kind of was in a dead spot. Either I was going to have 10 feet for par or that shot was going in. It was just unreal for that shot to go in and give me a one-shot lead, which I didn’t know at the time.
When did you start to think about winning the tournament? It started to settle in when I hit my tee shot on the ninth hole, which is a very daunting tee shot. Out of bounds left and water to the right. I put that one play and it did start to creep in my mind that I might just win this thing.
Instead, you wound up going to sudden death. What was your mindset heading into that? I had a different type of approach to that hole all week. I played up the opposite fairway and I played that hole just how I wanted to and it just didn’t end up working out. I can’t say I didn’t give everything I had.
After seeing Swan hit his improbable shot, can you appreciate it as golfer or are you mad that he hit a shot like that? In the moment, you have to kind of appreciate it. After the fact, it does start to hit like, Wow, I can’t believe he pulled that off. But you just have to appreciate it for what it was.

You and your teammates are participating in the PIAA Team Championships today. What do you guys have to do to be successful? Last year we lost by one to Sewickley Academy, which was a heartbreaker. What happened to me last week, also a heartbreaker. So we kind of have have a real hard mindset coming into this. We’re coming in here ready to take care of business. Everyone needs to do their job. Do you feel maybe the golf gods owe you one? It’s a thought, but the thought on our team is we have to earn everything we do. So we’re gonna go out there and earn everything. If a bounce here or there goes our way, we’ll take it. But we’re going to try to earn everything.

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Post-graduation plans: I plan to go to college. I’m not sure where. I’m applying to schools, I’m in that process right now. And I’m not sure if that entails playing golf for college or not. I’m thinking about majoring or accounting or finance or economics,something in that type of field.