1) Was the US Open the highlight of the year?
The last couple of weeks have obviously been fantastic. It's hard to choose between the US Open and NCAA finals though. The US Open was a great experience but after struggling to even get to the NCAA Regionals it was pretty exciting to make it to the finals.

2) How tough was Torrey Pines compared with the NCAA Championship course at Purdue?
Torrey Pines was firm and very long so obviously it was difficult, but the rough wasn't as bad as I was expecting. The rough at Purdue was a lot worse because unlike at the US Open, it was long and thick just off the fairway. At Torrey Pines it was graduated so if you only just missed the fairway the lie wasn't so bad. It was actually very fair.

Nick's iron play wasn't up to par

3) You were in the group ahead of Stewart Cink, Sergio Garcia and Vijay Singh; must have pretty loud behind you.
It was, but to be honest it was loud wherever you were. The grandstands were full all the time so there was always a pretty large gallery watching us putt. I had my brother on the bag and my parents came down too, plus about ten other family members and friends were there. Apparently there were a few UW supporters in the crowd shouting for me and Rob too (Taylor played the first two rounds with former Husky Rob Rashell), but I don't know who they were.

4) Do you feel you left a load of shots out there or was 77, 75 as good as you could do on that course?
I hit about 75% of the fairways and averaged 286 yards I think, so my driving was pretty good. But my iron play was a bit disappointing. I think if I'd hit my irons better I would have made the cut quite easily. I had to make a few good up and downs to maintain my score. But on the whole, I'm pleased with my scores. There was nothing embarassing and I didn't chop about in the rough.

5) Give you hope or fear for the future?
Definitely hope. I've got a lot of improving to do but I'd say the gap between me and the top players is not as great as I thought it might be.

6) Did you prepare as usual or was the whole event just too exciting for you to prepare normally?
I played nine holes on both Monday and Tuesday, then 18 on Wednesday. That's a bit more than usual, but really my routine was very similar to what it is at college tournaments. I watched Tiger on the range and I actually followed him for a few holes on Sunday. He was obviously very impressive.

7) What now?
I'm leaving for Calgary and the Glenco Invitational tournament tonight. I've got a pretty full schedule of tournaments this summer, then it's back to school in the Fall. I'm definitely going to finish school. We haven't decided who's going to replace Zach (Bixler) as team captain yet. As for the future, I'd like to turn pro and give that a shot.

8) What do you think you would have to improve to make the cut at the US Open and compete with the pros?
Obviously I have to get better at everything. But really I just need to firm everything up, get a little longer perhaps but mainly just keep improving steadily. There's not one department of my game that's holding me back necessarily.

9) Did you, and the UW team, over-achieve in '08 or under-achieve?
At the start of the season I, and the team, definitely under-achieved. But we got better as the season progressed and we ended up playing really well. I wouldn't say we over-achieved though. We just played like we know we can.

10) What's your favorite course in Washington?
Aldarra. I wish we could play it more often.