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MARATHON CLASSIC PRESENTED BY OWENS CORNING AND O-I


July 17, 2014


Laura Diaz


SYLVANIA, OHIO

Q.  Talk about your round.
LAURA DIAZ:  Yeah, I think that I've done a lot of work on my mental game and I know better than anyone that just because you make one birdie doesn't mean you're going to make 18.
It was great to get out and get five in a row.  I had a six, seven‑footer for six in a row.  I just kept trying to hit good shots and make good putts.

Q.  Playing well up to this point.  Have a good feeling coming to this stop?
LAURA DIAZ:  I've been playing better this year than I've played in the last four years, but still not where I would like to be.
But it's going in the right direction.

Q.  You don't win the tournament on day one, but you have to feel pretty darn good about the position you've put yourself in.
LAURA DIAZ:  I'm very happy to shoot 62.  I would be lying if I said I wasn't.  It's nice to get a good feeling after round one.
To see the ball going in the hole, I think that's always a boost.  To see it rolling and rolling in and then getting close on the ones that don't go in.
So I feel good, yes.

Q.  Did you sense anything like this?  It's silly, people talk about did you feel one coming, but...
LAURA DIAZ:  No.

Q.  What did you do in the off weeks?  Go back home?
LAURA DIAZ:  Cheered my son on in his swim matches.

Q.  How did he do?
LAURA DIAZ:  Great.  He's a swimming machine.  Yeah, he's on the swim team on the Brookberry Farm, which is our neighborhood.
My best friend from New York that I've known since I was six months old‑‑ well, she was six months; I was zero.  Came down with her kids the first week and spent time with my family.  Then the second week, tail end of the first week, after July 4th, started practicing and played a little at Forsyth Country Club.

Q.  Think that helped, a little time off?
LAURA DIAZ:  I don't have any idea.

Q.  Didn't hurt.  Not at all.  How old is your son?
LAURA DIAZ:  Eight, and my daughter is four.  Lily is here with me.  Cooper had to stay home.  He's in golf camp this week.

Q.  Little athlete.
LAURA DIAZ:  Oh, yeah.

Q.  Pretty good?
LAURA DIAZ:  Yeah, he's a good little golfer.  We don't really play holes.  We just do a lot of shot hitting.
But the swimming is really‑‑ he won four out of five races on Monday night, and his finals are Saturday.

Q.  All right.  Any the point at the start of the round did you have to calm yourself down or were you in the moment?  I know you said you been work on the mental game.
LAURA DIAZ:  No. Yeah, for a while I've done a lot of shaking when I start my round; today I didn't seem to be doing that.

Q.  Like physical?
LAURA DIAZ:  Yeah, physical shaking.  Nerves, I guess.  Today I was a little calmer.
When I missed the putt my sixth opportunity ‑‑ when the fifth one went in I laughed because it was a long putt and it went in.  So I kind of chuckled to myself‑‑ well, out loud.
And then when I missed the 7‑footer for birdie, I said to Pete, my caddie, I was like, That would've tied the most birdies in a round that I've ever had.  I didn't think about it when I was putting, but afterwards when I stepped back I said, Oh, that would've been six.

Q.  How long was the long one, do you think?
LAURA DIAZ:  30.

Q.  30‑sih?
LAURA DIAZ:  Yeah.

Q.  How long you been working with the new mental coach?
LAURA DIAZ:  His name is Josh Metcalf.  Train to Be Clutch.

Q.  I like that.
LAURA DIAZ:  Yeah.  And that's since the beginning of the year.  About a month before I went to the Bahamas I would say.

Q.  By recommendation?
LAURA DIAZ:  My husband, Kevin Diaz, met him at a coaching convention.  I wasn't really in a good place.  Kevin, he wasn't going to push me, but he said, I really think you would enjoy talking to him.
I did.

Q.  The first conversation you kind of...
LAURA DIAZ:  Just more about life, not about golf.  It's not a golf thing.  I think I was in a place where I didn't want to play.
(Hold on dad.  I'm doing an interview.  I'll call you right back.  All right.  Love you.  Bye.)

Q.  And your dad still calls you.
LAURA DIAZ:  My dad has been my coach my whole life.
Yeah, I think I was at a place where I didn't know if it was worth being away from my kids anymore.
I chose not to go back to Q‑School because that's the place I was in.  I got into Australia and had to decide, and that's when I called him actually.  I was torn physically about being that far away from the kids.
So I made the decision not to go.
His big thing is first things first.  So my kids and my family are first.  It makes this second thing‑‑ it still makes the second things rise, but if you can get your heart in the right place, you know.  So that has helped a lot.

Q.  Did you say six birdies would've been the most in one round?
LAURA DIAZ:  No.  I made six in a row at the British.

Q.  So in a row?
LAURA DIAZ:  In a row.

Q.  When did the shaking start?
LAURA DIAZ:  About four years ago, I think.  No, I mean, I can't‑‑ no, I can't remember exactly when it started.  I know that I've always been nervous.  I think that everybody says that nerves show that you care.
So I've always had the nerves my entire career.  But I don't know.  I think after having my second one, my second child, I tended to get a little more nervous out there and be a little more unsure of myself.
Usually takes about two holes and I settle in; goes away.  Could be the coffee I drink in the morning, the one cup.  I only drink one cup, so I don't think it's that.  And I always make sure it's two hours before I play.

Q.  It's been a few years since you played here.
LAURA DIAZ:  No, I played here every single year.  I think I've missed two maybe in my entire 16 years.  I shot 62 here.  That's my best score.  My pro‑am guys didn't believe I could do it again.

Q.  Take that.
LAURA DIAZ:  Yeah.

Q.  It's awesome.  You don't remember what year that was, do you?  I can look it up.
LAURA DIAZ:  It was a couple years.  Yeah, I can remember.  Maybe '05?  Did I have Cooper?  I think it was '05.  I don't think I had Cooper.  It was either '05 or '08.

Q.  Any particular expectations coming into this course?  Everybody said they love it but don't always score particularly well.  Then someone always shoots 8‑ or 9‑under.
LAURA DIAZ:  No, I love coming here.  I've shot everything here, but I just think it's a great community.  They really welcome us.  Most of us have housing.  Reminds me a lot of Corning.  Obviously that was one of my favorite tournaments.
No, no expectations.  The greens are in really good shape.  I think that's always fun when you get 'em rolling on your line.

Q.  Have you felt in the past following up a round that you shoot so well going into the next day?
LAURA DIAZ:  I don't really think about it.  You know, every day you have to follow up a round.  Every time we tee it up.  Unless it's Sunday, you're following it up the next day with a round.
I'm going to do what I do ever day:  practice, putt.

Q.  Keep it the same?
LAURA DIAZ:  Yeah.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports




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