SHOPRITE LPGA CLASSIC POWERED BY WAKEFERN MEDIA DAY

May 4, 2026

Jeremy Friedman

Cheyenne Knight

Seaview Hotel and Golf Club

Press Conference

JEREMY FRIEDMAN: Good afternoon, everybody. Thank you for joining us for media day for ShopRite LPGA powered by Wakefern, so 2026 edition of the event. 38th year of this championship. This is one of the longest-running tournaments on the LPGA Tour. ShopRite is the longest-running title sponsor on the LPGA Tour by a mile.

So this tournament has donated more than $45 million to various organizations and charities since its inception. Planning on, I believe it's Friday or Saturday ShopRite and Wakefern are going to do their annual charity luncheon this year.

We will have more than 50 organizations that will be here for tournament week. So their donation is TBD, but that number is going to approach $50 million total. Not this year. It will be a big donation, but it will be $50 million in total.

It's going to be a great week. Pleased to have Ms. Cheyenne Knight, LPGA Tour winner, here with us. She is a proud alum from the University of Alabama, so this Georgia Bulldog is going to -- you know, I'm sporting the red, you know, just fully repping.

But just a couple of quick housekeeping notes.

We announced our early commitments for our event. We've got eight of our past champions and major champions that are headlining our early commitments. I'm going to do this off the top of my head so I don't look at the sheet. Defending champion Jennifer Kupcho, Brittany Lincicome, Annie Park, Anna Nordqvist, two-time winner, Brooke Henderson. How many was that? Celine Boutier and Ashley Buhai and Linnea Strom. There we go. That gets to the eight. All that's in the news release you have on the tables.

We also announced today our first sponsor invite. Her name is Brooke Biermann. She's an Epson Tour pro. She's an All-American from Michigan State University. She just played for the first time at the Augusta National Women's Amateur this year and decided to not turn pro until after the Augusta National Women's Amateur so she could play in that event. So this will be her first LPGA Tour event as a pro.

She played in another LPGA Tour event while she was in college at Michigan State, but this will be her first LPGA Tour event as a pro. She's awesome. She's super, super excited.

Cheyenne here, can you see on her collar, she is a proud member of Team ShopRite. ShopRite announced last year in advance of this tournament the formation of Team ShopRite where its several players are more or less the company's ambassadors. Not only for tournament week, but throughout the year for various charity initiatives and community initiatives.

So Cheyenne is a proud member of 2026's team.

We will announce the future -- we will announce the 2026 edition of Team ShopRite probably later this week along with several other enhancements.

Some of the things in the news release that we announced today that ShopRite is helping with the tournament -- so a few things. The tournament purse is $2 million this year, so it's an increase of $250,000 over last year.

One of the cooler things -- and we'll have you talk about this in a little bit, which is compliments of ShopRite. Every player in the 144-player field will be staying here at Seaview and will receive complimentary hotel lodging accommodations for the entire week.

ShopRite is fronting that bill for LPGA players, especially players that are rookies and who are just starting. That is huge for them, right? That's kind of one of the things that ShopRite is trying to do, help offset the costs of players chasing their dreams on the LPGA Tour.

In addition, which we'll talk with Cheyenne about this too, but the tournament for those of you that have been here for a lot of years. It is already kind of one of the most fan-friendly and family-friendly events on the LPGA Tour. We're going to take that up another notch. We're going to do a few things here inside Seaview for the players. They're going to have a dedicated family lounge, a dedicated player lounge, and some other incentives for the players.

Also, on the course we're going to have some increased and enhanced fan experiences on the course as well. So it will be really, really cool. Then I'm kind of burying the lead. The name of the tournament, ShopRite LPGA powered by wake fern. New name. Wakefern is, for lack of a better term, the parent company for ShopRite, so they're the new presenting sponsor for the event.

It is a tip of the cap to the past and looking ahead to the future. That's kind of what ShopRite and Wakefern are trying to do with this event and with everything that they're looking to do.

Anyway, enough about me or enough about me and the tournament. Cheyenne, I'll ask you a couple of questions, and then we'll turn it over to the group.

Most of y'all who have covered the LPGA for a long time, you know Cheyenne, LPGA Tour winner. She won the Dow Championship a few years ago with her tag team partner Elizabeth Szokol. She's also a Solheim Cup veteran.

You may not know her full story and kind of how she grew to where she is now and how as a veteran on the LPGA Tour mentors the younger generation.

I hate to be just the (sigh), but let's start with when you grew up playing golf, you and your brother, just played every day. Talk about that a little bit and the accident with your brother, and then how that kind of recharged and refueled you to want to chase your dream and play on the LPGA Tour.

CHEYENNE KNIGHT: Yeah, thank you, everyone for being here. I'm Cheyenne Knight. I'm 29 years old, and I'm from Fort Worth, Texas.

So a little bit about me, I started playing golf when I was 9 years old. Grew up with my brother, and unfortunately in 2008 he got hit by a drunk driver and passed away. Everyone's family has stories and hard things that they've gone through, but it was just such a tragedy for me and my family and something that we all struggled with for a long time.

I think just it's kind of hard to keep going after something like that. Especially with something like golf, you know, he watched me play. We did a lot of things together. But, you know, kept going. I played college golf at Alabama, but I think kind of just what everyone goes through, I kind of had doubts if I was good enough to play in college and go to a prestigious school like Alabama. I didn't know if I was going to make the traveling team or anything like that.

I had a great career at Alabama and then kind of something that happened, like, full circle with my brother. My first LPGA event I won in 2019, the Volunteers of America Classic in Texas. The final round I shot 33 on the front nine and 33 on the back nine, and that was my brother's football jersey number. It was definitely, you know, he was there watching over me. On the ninth hole I actually chipped in to shoot 33.

There was a lot of -- I'm a Christian. I believe in God, and there was divine intervention. He was definitely with me there on that day and just me and my family going forward.

JEREMY FRIEDMAN: That 33, you take that with you even to this day, right?

CHEYENNE KNIGHT: Yes, yes. It's everywhere. If you play golf with me, it's on my golf ball, it's on my bag, it's everywhere.

JEREMY FRIEDMAN: Moving ahead to Alabama, you said that you didn't know if you were going to be a part of the traveling team.

Back when -- I mean, still today, but Alabama's women's golf team when she played was just amazing. Talk about a certain senior who kind of took you under her wing not only at college, but when you became a rookie on the LPGA Tour.

CHEYENNE KNIGHT: So my freshman year, I wanted to go to a college that was going to push me. I didn't want to go to a school where I was going to be the best player. I wanted to be surrounded by really good players, good people to push me.

So when I was a freshman a senior that took me under my wing was Emma Talley, and Emma has played on the LPGA, so I bet all of you know her or know of her.

She just helped me so much. I mean, a freshman, I didn't know where my classes were, I didn't know how to get to places, workouts. She took me under her wing, and we're best friends. Even out here she's helped me when I was a rookie. Again, didn't know where to go, didn't know how to do things. I mean, we text almost every day.

So she was a huge mentor to me and really helped me. Honestly, when she was a senior, she won a national championship, she won the U.S. AM, and she is the player I wanted to be like. Honestly it's a huge credit to her that I got my card on the LPGA and have had the success that I've had.

JEREMY FRIEDMAN: Moving ahead to your LPGA career. You've been playing since 2019. We'll talk about her little one. She had her first son earlier this year, so she's on maternity leave. She will be returning to the LPGA Tour full-time in 2027, but she will be here during tournament week.

Now we talked about this earlier, when you see the LPGA leaderboard and see all these up-and-coming players, in addition to basically being a mentor on Tour and a part of Team ShopRite, how much does that mean to you to help groom the next generation of the LPGA players?

CHEYENNE KNIGHT: Yeah, I had so many girls mentor me in college and especially on the LPGA. Being a rookie is so hard. It's just so different. You're out here. You're playing for a living, competing with girls that you've never played with before and that you think are a lot better than you. But you know, you got on the LPGA; you deserve to be there for a reason.

So it's amazing that Team ShopRite -- it's crazy to think I'm a veteran. I remember when I was a rookie, like, just like yesterday. It is intimidating. I remember my first LPGA event in 2019, my rookie year, I was hitting next to girls like Cristie Kerr, and I was thinking, I don't think I was meant to be here. I was very overwhelmed.

It's great to have a mentorship program just to have a friend and just girls to help you and root for you.

Golf is an individual sport. It's highly competitive, but just to have some people in your corner, girls to kind of help you, because golf is an individual sport. It's not a team sport. You know, it's a cutthroat sport. Last year I was also honored to be part of Team ShopRite and to meet rookies, and to kind of still have a relationship with them has been really special.

JEREMY FRIEDMAN: Let's talk about this event specifically. You played in this event going back to your rookie year in 2019. With some of the things that we talked about at the top about what ShopRite is doing to kind of enhance and increase and elevate this event, in the past 6, 7 years-ish, how have you seen this tournament grow in the past several years since you were a rookie on the LPGA Tour?

CHEYENNE KNIGHT: Oh, gosh, I mean, you know, I've watched the ShopRite tournament, now the ShopRite LPGA, for years. You look at the past champions. Angela Stanford was one of my mentors. We practice at the same place in Texas. There are so many names of people that have come in here and won. It's a place that I've always dreamed about winning. It's such a huge list of people.

ShopRite, what you said about the hotel and paying for the hotel, that is so huge, especially for girls that are just starting out. They just strive to make the tournament better, raising the purse, and little things like that. Just starting out or just -- I mean, paying for a hotel for a full week is not cheap, and to be here onsite and to be so close to everything is just such a huge advantage. People don't even realize that.

All that they do to help the LPGA and help the players, it goes -- they're raising the purse, but it goes far beyond just to make the week enjoyable for everyone.

JEREMY FRIEDMAN: The support from this event and the fan base that's here, everybody is here. They know what an amazing fan base is in Philadelphia. The PGA Championship is here in Aronimink next week. The (indiscernible)Championship was here last year.

Talk about the golf fan base and the fan support that comes out to this event each and every year.

CHEYENNE KNIGHT: Wow, yeah. I've played in a lot of LPGA tournaments, and we have played in some communities where we don't maybe get the same amount of fans as we do here. Just to see, honestly, walking to the first tee and the tunnel and the huge crowd of people, and it's a great crowd throughout the week.

Honestly throughout the course, I feel like it's a great course to spectate. You can see a lot of holes. It's easy to walk.

I have done junior clinics here for multiple years. Just to see the amount of juniors that come out and watch and get to learn -- because I never got to go to an LPGA event growing up. I've never got to do anything like that. Just for them to be able to come see us and learn and for me to see the little kids is amazing. It's always a great crowd.

I was just talking to other Jeremy from Outlyr and just kind of what they're doing on 18. It's just a great arena. It's a great arena to play. The village, so many people come out and watch.

I feel like that's one thing that I was never used to in college. You just don't really get a crowd. You get a huge crowd here, and it's an amazing place to play. I feel like I it was always an exciting finish. There was always a playoff or something like that.

JEREMY FRIEDMAN: There usually is. It's a good transition, good segue. You mentioned little kids. You have a little kid. Talk about motherhood, how that has changed you, how that's made you into who you are right now, and then kind of your future when you plan on returning to the LPGA Tour.

CHEYENNE KNIGHT: Yeah, so my son Cooper was born December 16th, and it's crazy being back here because I played here last year and I was pregnant. It's kind of brought back a lot of memories of playing while pregnant. I wasn't feeling my best that week. I had a little bit of some morning sickness.

He is just the absolute joy of my life. I didn't really know how it was going to change me, but he is almost 5 months old. Just to see him smile and laugh and take everything in is amazing.

You know, coming here -- I've played a little bit, but more so just getting back in the gym and working out, trying to get my strength back. But it's kind of made a flashback to my old life of playing every week on the LPGA. It's kind of made me more excited to come back in 2027 with him along. The LPGA does a lot with daycare.

So being able to drop him off while I go play, I'm really excited and looking forward to that.

It's funny. I lost in a playoff at the 2020 Scottish Open to Stacy Lewis, and that was her first event -- first-ever -- it was her first event winning since becoming a mom.

At the time I was, like, oh, that's cool, but I didn't understand that at all. I was, like, yeah, it's cool. I mean, it's a huge deal, I guess, whatever.

Now thinking back to that, it's incredible that she did that. I would love to do that. Yeah, he's just amazing. Honestly he loves to be outside. He loves to be moving, and I think that's just because I was pregnant with him and played golf for a long time. So we go to the golf course, but I'm normally holding him in the carrier and stuff.

The moms on the LPGA, it's hard. My number one job is being a mom, and golf will kind of come second. But I'm really excited for the challenge of that, and, you know, to say that I did play and hopefully win as a mom.

JEREMY FRIEDMAN: Talk a little bit about the Moms on Tour Program. Stacy and Juli was kind of the pioneer of it, but just talk about that, just seeing that while you're playing and looking forward to being a part of that crew in 2027.

CHEYENNE KNIGHT: Yeah, I feel like the last two years there's been a lot of babies. Again, when you're playing and not a mom and you see the kids at breakfast or just, like, walking around at daycare, you're, like, oh, they're really cute, but you don't understand.

The mom had to get up, feed them, you know, get them dressed, get them ready for the day rather than just, okay, I'm going to wake up and play golf today. There's a lot more that goes into it.

The LPGA does a great job with the daycare. I mean, without that, you couldn't play golf, or you would have to have a full-time nanny. It's amazing that the LPGA does that.

Yeah, I've had to talk to a lot of the moms that played, like Gerina Pillar, Austin Ernst, and kind of ask them some questions how they did stuff.

Yeah, it's amazing that golf is a sport that you can come back and play, and the LPGA really helps you with that.

Even on maternity leave. When your child is born, you have two years to come back. So it's not a paid maternity leave, but it's different than when my son turned 3 months old, I was, like, wow, some moms have to go back to work. I'm very grateful for ShopRite to continue to sponsor me while I'm taking maternity leave.

Even at the end of last year I kind of shut it down and stopped playing. Just for them to support me and just LPGA in general is great.

JEREMY FRIEDMAN: Last one from me. Have you brought Cooper out on the course?

CHEYENNE KNIGHT: Yes. He's only seen me chip, though. He kind of gets -- he's very -- I call him a Velcro baby, but I'm also a Velcro parent. He wants me to hold him. He likes his stroller, though, but he really likes me to hold him, and he has his little sun hat on.

Once he starts to crawl, he'll go out there and kind of burn off some energy.

JEREMY FRIEDMAN: Raise your hand if you have any questions for Cheyenne.

Q. What is your game plan going into this year's tournament, compared to last years that you have played?

CHEYENNE KNIGHT: So I'm not going to play this year just because of the baby, but I will be here kind of supporting. I haven't had the best track record here, and I think for girls it's really important for you to take advantage of the par-5s and birdie those, because there are some tough par-4s and par-3s.

I feel like that's kind of how girls -- you can eagle some of these because you can reach them in two.

It is really important to play those well.

Q. Congratulations on the baby. I feel a need to strike a blow for fatherhood, because you didn't do this alone (laughing). How is Easton?

CHEYENNE KNIGHT: Easton is good. My husband, yeah, he's good. He had to solo parent, which is really hard, but he's doing great.

To see my husband become a dad, my son looks exactly like him. My son doesn't look anything like me. He's blond-haired, blue-eyed. It's copy/paste of my husband.

Just to see Easton become a dad is really special. He's an amazing father and husband to me. Yeah, they're identical, so it's really cute.

Q. You were married early last year, right?

CHEYENNE KNIGHT: Yes.

Q. In terms of golf, last year the LPGA had 29 different winners. This year Nelly Korda is dominating. Do you think it's better to have a dominant player or 29 different winners ?

CHEYENNE KNIGHT: Yeah, I think it's always good for the tour to have a dominant player, but I think on the flip side of that, last year it really just showed the depth of the LPGA, and that's what I kind of tell people.

Compared to a few years ago, there might have been a handful of girls that can win, but the depth of the tour, all the girls are good. It's hard to make the Tour Championship or to even keep your card because everyone is so good.

To see what Nelly did this year or is doing this year compared to two years ago, she's always been a dominant and great player. I think last year kind of bad luck really how she didn't win, but to see -- I grew up watching Tiger woods and him being so dominant and Lorena and Annika. I think it is great for the tours and -- well, for the LPGA to have a dominant player, because it gets people watching, you know?

Q. Do you have a different perspective watching at least Nelly's start to the year this year being able to watch it as opposed to competing against it two years ago?

CHEYENNE KNIGHT: For sure. I think me just watching it, I think I can be a little bit more -- I mean, you're always in awe of it when she won five in a row two years ago, but I think watching it now and actually watching it on TV, I can actually see how well she is playing and ball-striking and just certain areas of her game that she might have struggled, like putting and stuff. She's really overcome that.

I think just honestly being able to watch it on TV you can just kind of see close-up how she attacks the golf course rather than looking at the scoreboard and saying, oh, she shot 5-under.

Me not playing, I think it gives me a greater appreciation just being able to watch it on TV and just see how she doesn't have a weakness in her game. You know, it is kind of intimidating, because I'm going to come back and play. I'm, like, geez, I need to really practice and get better, but it's amazing what she's doing.

Again, I think last year she should have won a few times. Just kind of bad luck. Her stats were great. But, yeah, I was on the Solheim Cup team with Nelly. She's a great player. Even in the short offseason, she really improved, honestly, when you didn't think she could improve anymore, which is amazing.

Q. So on that note, the LPGA has a new Commissioner, new head of marketing this year. Do you think they are taking advantage of her play this year better than they were two years ago to promote the game? Is there something you think that they could be doing better?

CHEYENNE KNIGHT: No, for sure. I think, unfortunately, two years ago when Nelly won Chevron, that was her fifth in a row in a major, I think the tour kind of missed an opportunity, unfortunately, to just show how amazing that was. We may not ever see that again.

She's won two in a row, right? Two in a row? Yeah. But I think Craig and his team really understand our market a little bit better than maybe the previous Commissioner did and just how big of an opportunity it is with Nelly as an American, No. 1 player in the world. I do think they're doing a lot better with that. I think the marketing team and their goals and stuff.

I'm actually going to Craig's house this month to kind of meet him and stuff with the Dallas-based players. They have a huge opportunity, and I think they're taking advantage of it just with social media. I think if she continues to play well and it being a Solheim Cup year, I think they can really get kind of a bigger market going.

Q. Do you hope to see yourself in some of those highlight reels that they cut of her last week?

CHEYENNE KNIGHT: Sorry. Can you repeat that?

Q. Did you see the highlight reels they cut with her press conferences and what not from last week?

CHEYENNE KNIGHT: I did, yes. Yeah, when she won Chevron. It was incredible and how happy she was on and off the golf course. Huge pressure. She had such a huge lead, and that was really hard, but how she handled all that -- it's hard to play with a lead, especially a six-shot lead or whatever she had. She played great.

I talked to Angela Stanford, Solheim Cup Captain, and she's really pleased with how Nelly is playing, so it will be good.

Q. What has Nelly's success meant to people maybe who are looking at the LPGA Tour for the first time? Maybe they paid no attention to it at all, and they see a player performing at this level. What does that do for the rest of you in terms of giving you exposure and letting the public see what you all are capable of doing?

CHEYENNE KNIGHT: Yeah, Nelly is definitely a superstar. She's a great player; always has been. It definitely has a trickle-down effect. People that may have not heard of the LPGA but follow Nelly, will just kind of maybe just look at the LPGA as a whole and see how many other good players there are.

Or, you know, like Hyo Joo, for example, beat Nelly. She's the only player that has beat Nelly, or Lauren Coughlin. Just to see some of the other big names that the LPGA has and realize, you know, maybe who is in the top 10 or who has made the cut and just maybe some other story lines of those girls that are up there competing with Nelly or close to beating her.

Q. Over the course of your career, how has the level of play on the LPGA evolved compared to your rookie year?

CHEYENNE KNIGHT: Yeah, gosh, I feel like the last few years it's gotten a lot better. I think maybe the cuts might have been around even-par, but now they're definitely like a few under par.

I think just the depth of play from the girls internationally, a lot of really good Japanese players in the last few years, and that's what we want on the LPGA is to showcase the best players around the world. Yeah, I think you play with girls, and there's only been a few girls that -- like ball strikers that I'm, like, okay, wow, that's different. But I would say the last few years there's a lot of girls that they don't have a weakness in their game.

It's really evolved. We're a global tour, which is amazing, but yeah, there's a lot of girls that can win week in and week out. So it's been good, but it's been hard because you're, like, wow, I got to get better. There's a very fine line of, you know, shooting a few under or even-par, and that's what the difference makes to win out here.

Q. Which is tougher, being an NFL quarterback like your husband or being an LPGA Tour player?

CHEYENNE KNIGHT: I would say being a quarterback is harder because in golf you don't get hit (laughing). No, I think it's hard. I think golf just being an individual sport. I don't understand the team concept at all. So with my husband, it's like maybe the offensive line, maybe they kind of didn't do their job. Yeah, I mean, I hate to say that, but -- or the receiver ran the wrong route, but it all falls on the quarterback, so that's hard.

I think it's definitely harder, because they have to change their game plan week in and week out based on who they're playing. Golf, you know, you kind of just do a few tweaks here and there. It's a lot. It's very complex in the NFL.

Q. You were 12 when your brother died?

CHEYENNE KNIGHT: Yes.

Q. How does your religion -- how did you jive that with God? When bad things happen, did you challenge God? Were you angry with God? I'm sure God could take it if you were, but how did that impact you? How did you figure that all out through your religion?

CHEYENNE KNIGHT: Yeah, I think one of the hardest things that people get asked if they're a Christian, well, why does bad things happen? Why is cancer there? Why do bad things happen?

Unfortunately, we live in a fallen world. This is not our forever home, and there's a lot of things that happen that we're not going to understand why they happen, but you just have faith that even though these bad and terrible things happened to my family, I have faith knowing that God, whatever the reason was, he has everything planned out in our life.

I believe that my brother is in heaven with him in his forever home. I believe that whatever is meant for me here on earth, it is part of my story, and I want to continue my brother's legacy.

As I've gotten older, you know, I totally -- and especially with my son -- I totally wish his uncle was here or he could have met my brother. I do believe he met my brother maybe, like, before he was born.

I know I will see my brother again. Of course, the things here are so temporary, especially with golf or just anything in life, but just with my religion, I just believe that one day I'll see my brother again and be reunited with him. It's a hard thing, but I think just, yeah, this is just so temporary, and our forever home is up there.

Q. My last question is when you were at Alabama, you had a black teammate. I believe Abe, is that the last name?

CHEYENNE KNIGHT: Lakareber Abe.

Q. The LPGA, PGA always says we're growing this game. 35 years can ago when I covered this tournament, people were saying we're growing this game, we're growing in game. This game is not growing in the African-American community. If you look at professional tennis, you see how that game is growing, and it attracts so many more people and eyes and dreams of little girls to be tennis players, to be the Williams sisters, to be Coco. Why isn't this game attracting black kids and black girls? Do you have any idea why that is not happening?

CHEYENNE KNIGHT: I would say being on the golf team with Lakareber and her sister, Tezira, played college golf at Texas, you know, they said that just growing up, they didn't see anybody that looked like them, so it was hard.

Especially now with tennis with Coco and all the girls, I think it's so important for little girls to see someone that they look up to and see, oh, I can do that. Like it's not crazy for me to want to play on the LPGA or the PGA TOUR.

I'm not sure what it boils down to, but I do think -- yeah, I think -- because like Amari Avery, I just saw that she won on Epson. I know that Michelle Wie and the Mizuho tournament that's going on this week, they really want to diversify the tour and to get kind of girls involved in stuff like that.

Well, I think it takes someone like Michelle Wie or a player that has, I don't want to say power, but maybe that is -- like Michelle Wie is the host of the tour. So she did a sponsor invite this week to Amari, and I think that kind of -- I think it takes someone like that to maybe kind of get some girls into the events so that little girls can kind of see, oh, I want to be like her and kind of start a dream and stuff.

I think I grew up going to the First Tee, and I know Lakareber and her sister did that. I think there's a lot in the local communities, especially with what ShopRite does with the junior clinics to get people involved that may not know anything about golf, but the LPGA Girls Golf, First Tee.

I think it just takes someone to mentor them and just for them to see and hopefully fall in love with the game.

Q. 47 years and only seven or eight black women in the entire history of the LPGA that has ever teed up in a tournament. I mean, that's --

CHEYENNE KNIGHT: I know, it's a staggering number, yeah. That's one thing that's really interesting about golf, and it is an expensive sport, and it's really -- my parents gave up everything for me to be successful, and I'm very thankful for that, but I think, yeah, maybe just -- for me I want to mentor some girls, but maybe just taking a step back and diving into the local communities and see kind of what girls really love the game or just kind of help push them that way.

Q. It's a great game to love, isn't it?

CHEYENNE KNIGHT: It is, yeah. Play it forever.

Q. You're entering or passing your seventh year on the tour. I want to know personally how has the game change and how has the tour changed in the seven years for the better both professionally and personally as a golfer on the tour?

CHEYENNE KNIGHT: Oh, wow. I've seen the tour change a little bit. We're on our third Commissioner, and I think Mike Whan did an amazing job. He's now at the USGA. I think if you just take the last few years we're playing for better purses.

I've seen a lot of tournaments come and go on the LPGA. ShopRite has not come and gone, and I just think that the LPGA has really in the last few years done a really good job maintaining their relationships with the sponsors and just working with them and great people like ShopRite to elevate the tournaments for the players. So I think that's one thing that's for the better that has changed.

Unfortunately, a few years ago we had a tournament. The sponsor backed out. We were supposed to play in California, and then it didn't happen. I just think that working with great people that want to put on a great event like this week.

And then, let's see, personally how has it changed? I love competing. I think that's why I love this game is I love to compete. I've met some of my best friends out here, girls that were my bridesmaids, I talk to every day. It's a huge community out here.

Personally, yeah, I've met some best friends for life. Personally my son is going to see me play next year, but I would say the LPGA, like what people don't see, is the stuff inside the locker room or just chatting with girls on the range. I wish people did see that, because we have some great personalities out here, girls that are really funny, really nice.

I don't know kind of how the tour can do that. Maybe just kind of more of an inside look of what we go through week in and week out, but it's definitely trending.

I know Craig, the current Commissioner, is doing a lot of work with our TV deal and just getting more coverage and stuff. The girls were on CBS yesterday getting more network coverage, and hopefully that will continue to grow the game.

I mean, when I first started, we were always tape-delayed on Golf Channel. You never saw a live LPGA event, but they're doing a lot, like shot-tracer technology, more like walk-and-talk. So I think it's heading in a good place.

Q. The ShopRite Classic is one of the longest stapled tournaments in LPGA history. For you to be a veteran member of the team for ShopRite and to be able to compete, having competed in this tournament already four times, what does it mean to you to be such a stapled member of the tournament and now this year as an ambassador?

CHEYENNE KNIGHT: Yeah, it's a huge honor just for me to be representing ShopRite as an ambassador. I remember playing here my rookie year and just being so excited to tee it up, just how prestigious this event is with all the history.

So for me to unfortunately not to be playing this week but still get to be a part and mentor the rookies, I'm super excited to meet them and be around. I'm really looking forward to that.

I think it just shows that ShopRite and just the tournament, it's more than golf at the end of the day. They've always done a huge impact or impacted the community positively.

The guy that drove me here yesterday, he's, like, I'm bringing my son and daughter out, it's huge to our community. I think just for ShopRite to also put it back on the players and for us to give more of that community feel, like for me to be a mentor to some of the girls, I'm really looking forward to.

I think it's a huge thing that they've gotten right. It just goes beyond the tournament and the play. It also goes back to the players.

Q. I wanted to ask you a quick question about obviously being a mom now. They talk about dad strength. Are we going to see 10 or more yards out of your drives? Are you going to get mom strength because of having a kid? Will that be a thing?

CHEYENNE KNIGHT: I think so; I hope so (laughing). I mean, carrying him, at least my left arm is going to be really strong and my back, but I hope so. Yeah, he loves to be picked up. If I put him down, he's not happy. So I hope so.

Yeah, that would be great, because I do need to hit it further. If I'm playing next year, I need to hit it further. Yeah, I need some wider clubs or something, but mom strength for sure, that would be nice.

Q. My question to you is what makes the ShopRite Classic a good springboard for young and rookie golfers, especially with Brooke Biermann joining for her first professional tournament?

CHEYENNE KNIGHT: I think honestly it's -- I'm going to say something I don't think anyone has ever said. I know for me my rookie year I was so -- my only thing is I have to make the cut. I just want to make the cut. I get a paycheck if I make the cut. If you just make the cut, you're not keeping your card and you're not playing to your full potential.

Honestly ShopRite being a three-day tournament, you need to come out of the gates ready to go, because by the time the cut, you only have 18 holes left to play. I think that kind of mindset playing for the first time, I was, like, oh, it doesn't really matter if I make the cut, because come Sunday, the last day, I don't have that much ground to make up.

I think it's really, you know, a good mindset for rookies playing in this event to kind of -- how you need to approach any event. Like a four-day event, a three-day event, whatever it is, you need to be ready to go.

For someone like Brooke, I remember my first LPGA event. I was in college, but just so nerve-wracking. To play with the girls and you realize they might be a little bit better than me, but just stay true to yourself, because you got here for a reason.

I know Brooke is a great player. I've heard about her. It will be exciting for her to feel the nerves. It's a great springboard to hopefully a long career for her on the LPGA.

Q. As an ambassador, how are you relaying the information not just to ShopRite golfers, but to all the golfers that you mentor?

CHEYENNE KNIGHT: I hope girls think of me as a mentor. I think I'm pretty approachable and nice. I think one of the hardest things, just like in anything in life, is comparison. You can compare yourself to anyone, whatever you do in life.

I think for here, yeah, you can compare yourself to Nelly. Yeah, she's the No. 1 player in the world. There's a lot of things that you can appreciate of her game, but you kind of just have to stay true to yourself, and you're not Nelly Korda. You're Cheyenne Knight or Brooke Biermann.

You need to hone in on who you are and not try to be anyone else and just kind of stick to your game, because it's easy to compare yourself out here. I've never been the longest hitter, but it's kind of, like, you know, I'm going to be out-driven all day, but I get to play first, and I'm going to stick it closer than her and put the pressure on her.

Just kind of stay true to yourself, because it is easy to compare and get down on yourself. Yeah, so just to kind of -- and if you are focused on keeping your card, you're going to finish around No. 100, because you need to focus on winning the tournament. That was a big thing I had to learn. Yeah, making the cut or keeping my card, you're going to be right around that number.

That's kind of how I won my first event. I needed a top-5 finish to keep my card. That was, like, really the first time I was, like, okay, well, let's try to do this. I actually won that week.

Playing this and realizing, yeah, you don't need to play to make the cut. Then later that year it really clicked being, like, okay, I need to just play within myself and not scared or fearful of missing the cut or losing my card.

Q. You mentioned you want to hit it further next year. You know that because of strokes gained data, but the LPGA doesn't really have so much strokes gained data except at the U.S. Women's Open since Pebble, I think, right? How did you take advantage of those tournaments that do have it? I think there are a couple of others, right, that do have it?

CHEYENNE KNIGHT: Yeah, U.S. Open and KPMG are the two that have it.

Q. How do you take advantage of those majors and getting that data to then -- because we're seeing Fitzpatrick is so data-oriented and winning so much. How do you take advantage of those limited times?

CHEYENNE KNIGHT: Yeah, it's huge. I remember the first time at Pine Needles at the U.S. Open when they had it and just to see kind of where -- you know, you look at seeing someone that won that week. Their first in strokes gained putting or whatever it is, but it's a really broad thing. You're, like, oh, she just made everything. It's like, no, but the strokes gained you can kind of see --

I've always heard if you have the best percentage of making putts inside 8 feet that week, you're probably going to win. It's just like these little things that kind of go into very vague of why people win that week. But just to have the data of those tournaments, you can really dive in, especially a major.

Because for each tournament, you kind of have to do it on your own or get someone else to do your stats and kind of, like, your caddie might keep it and give it to someone to kind of input into a program. I've dabbled in the stats a little bit. For me, I do need to hit it further because -- when I was watching the Chevron at Memorial Park, that's a long golf course. I would be hitting a lot of woods and hybrids, and it's hard to hold greens like that.

To see someone like Matt Fitzpatrick, who you kind of think he's kind of nerdy, because he always journaled every shot he hit or whatever it was, but the data doesn't lie. Yeah, I know there's a few apps, like Upgame Golf, that you just have to manually input it and see where you can improve.

But I think for some girls, your strokes gained inside 150 yards is really big. If you can kind of -- I feel like the magical number is, like, 10% of the yardage. So if you are 150 yards inside, like, 15 feet, you're gaining a stroke on the field.

So, yeah, it's huge. In those tournaments the data is really cool. I feel like I hear a lot about it from my dad because he doesn't come to tournaments, but he'll watch the app. He'll be, like, why did you hit it there? He has that golf dad still in him a little bit. It's really cool, the technology, that the majors are having.