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U.S. WOMEN'S AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIPAugust 15, 2015Hannah O'SullivanPORTLAND, OREGON Q. Today and yesterday you played more holes than you have in any of the rest of the matches. It seemed like you skated through the first few matches and played really well. Tell me about how it was different the last couple days than the first few matches? HANNAH O'SULLIVAN: The last two days I guess I didn't really play as consistent as I would have liked. My ball-striking wasn't quite as -- quite where it was my first two matches. The first two matches I just played so solid. But I think it was a really good experience for me to be able to battle it out and come from so much behind the last few matches, and I think it's a good learning experience for me to have going into the final tomorrow. Q. Tell us about that little turning point, 16, 17, 18. HANNAH O'SULLIVAN: Oh, my gosh. 16, the tee shot, I mean, I missed it -- you want to miss it on the right if you miss it on that hole. So I just hit it a little bit off line, but I had a terrible lie. But I knew she was going to get on the green. I knew there was a slight chance I could get it up by the hole, so I just went for it. I knew I was 1-up so I just went for it. Yeah, I hit it in the water, but then I hit a decent wedge shot, but she got a par, so all square going into 17. As soon as she hit her tee shot on 17, I knew it was probably short right, so I just wanted to get my shot up there by the hole. I drew it a little bit, so I had about a 20-footer, slightly off the green. I thought it was going to break about a foot, a foot and a half, and I just stood over the putt. I guess I didn't really think that much while I was over the putt now that I look back on it. I just picked my target and stroked it, and to see it go in was incredible. Q. That's some of the most emotion I've seen out of your mom. HANNAH O'SULLIVAN: Oh, my gosh. Q. I noticed for the first time this week you can kind of tell when you make a good putt or you can kind of see a pep in your step. You seem to really build off of those. Is that something you're working on or maybe I just didn't notice it before, kind of take the good and build on it when you do something like that, make a swing in a match? HANNAH O'SULLIVAN: I've always had it inside of me, I guess. I'm a very, very, very competitive person. But I don't know, I think match play is totally a different dynamic, and I guess having my mom on the bag, also, gives me that extra confidence. I think if I'm just by myself, I might feel a little awkward if I do that. But just having a lot of fun out there, and yeah, it's -- the matches have been pretty intense, so to see a putt go in, it just means a lot to me, and I kind of get wrapped up in the moment. Yeah, a fist pump here and there. Q. Your mom is so calm and like so grateful and seems to be kind of like a really kind of intangible for you there. Can you talk a little bit about what that means for you to have her beside you for all of this? HANNAH O'SULLIVAN: It means a lot. I mean, she's my mom, but she's very calm. I think she's definitely helped me when I've come from behind the last few matches. I mean, being 3 down through 8 today, I mean, I'll admit I was a little frustrated at times, and she's always right there. She makes me say one positive thing before I walk to the next shot. Sometimes it's a little hard for me, but it helps a lot. I'm just having so much fun out there. Q. If you hit kind of a bad shot one positive thing, or every shot one positive thing for the next shot? HANNAH O'SULLIVAN: If I hit a bad shot and I'm clearly frustrated, then she makes me say something. Q. She said that another thing you guys do is she's says she prays for you on every shot, you pray together at the beginning, and she's been telling you, you have to pray, you have to pray. Tell me a little bit about that. HANNAH O'SULLIVAN: Yeah, it helps a lot. I just feel so blessed to be in this position, especially when I'm in the tough situations. I mean, I kind of repeat my favorite verse over and over, Philippians 4:13, "I can do anything in Him who gives him strength," and I think that's really powerful for me, and it's helped me a lot, not just in this tournament but in general. Q. What's it like to come into something like this and everywhere you go you're playing people you know and people who are friends and going into tomorrow playing Sierra who you played with all growing up. What's that like? HANNAH O'SULLIVAN: I think it's pretty cool, actually, to see -- we've known each other since we were so young, so to see that we've both grown up together and we're both really good at golf, it's going to be a lot of fun tomorrow. It's really an incredible experience. Q. A year ago when you made it -- you made it to the quarters a year ago? HANNAH O'SULLIVAN: Semis. Q. It seemed to be a good boost and stepping off point for you to then have a really strong spring. Can you talk a little bit about how that kind of kick-started you and how that changed your mindset about where you could take your game? HANNAH O'SULLIVAN: Yeah, I think that that was definitely like my breakthrough moment, I guess. But it gave me the confidence. I knew that I could compete. I felt like I was one of the best amateurs in the world, and it gave me a lot of confidence, and to know that I deserve to be there, I belong there, it's helped me a lot. I've had a pretty good beginning of the year, but I think I've matured a lot, also, from that experience, my golf game and my mental game. It was very disappointing to lose in the semifinals last year, so I didn't want that to happen again. I'm just grateful that I was able to pull it out today. Q. Who's your kind of LPGA or maybe you have a PGA Tour, like your role model who you've tried to model yourself after? HANNAH O'SULLIVAN: I have a few. Juli Inkster is probably my all-time favorite player. I had the opportunity to play with her a few times, as well, and she's just such a great person and I really admire how she's able to stay so competitive for so long, and she won this tournament three times in a row. I've just looked up to her for so long. And on Tour right now, I really look up to Stacy Lewis. I think she's a very competitive person, and I just admire how driven she is and motivated, and I like that she graduated from college, as well, and has got a good education, and she gives back. Q. Have you gotten to talk to Juli at all this week since she's been on-site? HANNAH O'SULLIVAN: I actually haven't -- I don't think I've seen her yet. Maybe once by the -- yeah, once by a fairway or something. Hopefully I'll get to say hi tomorrow. Q. You juggle academics and you seem to be pretty intent on school and a smarty-pants with your high test scores. How much does Juli inspire you? One of her things is she had kids and was able to be a mom on Tour and do other things. Does that kind of make you know that maybe I can do that, that's okay, that might be something I want to do? HANNAH O'SULLIVAN: Definitely. I'm just so inspired by how she was able to stay competitive for so long through having a family and on Tour and just everything about her I think is very inspiring. I'm excited, I guess, I'll see her in Germany next month when I'm there for the Junior Solheim Cup. I think she's just an incredible role model. Q. What's your self-talk like when you walk off the 8th hole and you're down three? HANNAH O'SULLIVAN: I told myself if you can go 3-up in eight holes, I can do the same thing, so I just needed to stay patient and just take it one shot at a time. You know, when she gave me an opening, I knew I had to take it, and I was able to do that, and it worked out pretty well. Q. I guess so. And that par on 13 when you hit it near the tree root. HANNAH O'SULLIVAN: Oh, gosh, yeah. Q. You kept your momentum alive. HANNAH O'SULLIVAN: Definitely, uh-huh. Q. What was that shot like by the tree? How close was it to the root? HANNAH O'SULLIVAN: It was right by the root, so I knew the only thing I could do was chip it out. I was trying to get it into the fairway, and unfortunately I didn't. But I had 132 in to the hole from out of the rough, and took a three-quarter 9 and stuck it, and it was just a really good boost of confidence and kept the momentum in my direction. Q. I know you have to do some schoolwork on the side. Is it hard to come off of this where you've got to be like on a high and then have to sit and read 40 pages or whatever? Do you struggle with that or are you able to compartmentalize? HANNAH O'SULLIVAN: I think it's good for me to just separate my mind from golf a little bit, too. It's not good to think golf 24/7, especially in the situation we're in right now. We've already had such a long week. I think it's kind of a good distraction for me I could say. Q. Are you on the golf team at your school? HANNAH O'SULLIVAN: So I was the first two years of high school, and then I transferred, so I had to sit out a year. I was going to try this year. Q. Is that Xavier Prep? HANNAH O'SULLIVAN: I was, and now I'm at Hamilton High. But the season already started, so I've already missed four weeks, and I'm going to miss like two and a half more, so I don't know if it's possible. Q. It's a fall sport? HANNAH O'SULLIVAN: Uh-huh. Q. How long was your putt on 17? HANNAH O'SULLIVAN: I'd say a little over 20 feet, and it broke about a foot and a half. Q. So we'll say 21 feet? Does that sound good? HANNAH O'SULLIVAN: Okay. Q. And it was on the fringe, right? HANNAH O'SULLIVAN: Uh-huh, yeah. Q. I was watching the scoring from home for Junior, and was surprised to see you go down in the first match. Regrouping from that to come here and look so strong and confident, what was the last month or so like after that, or did it bother you that much? HANNAH O'SULLIVAN: Oh, it definitely bothered me, especially when she holed out on 19 from 150. Q. That sucks. HANNAH O'SULLIVAN: Yeah. Q. So was that for birdie? HANNAH O'SULLIVAN: That was for eagle. But yeah, that was a very tough loss for me. It was my last Girls' Junior. I thought I could maybe give it one last run. But it's definitely good motivation for me. I kind of want to get revenge, I guess, on match play. Q. You had a lot of reasons to be vengeful today. HANNAH O'SULLIVAN: Yeah. But after that we played in Wyndham Cup, and that was so much fun. I got some good tests out there in match play. But coming into this week, I was feeling good about my game and pretty confident, and it's been going well so far. Q. What's your Wyndham Cup record? HANNAH O'SULLIVAN: 1-0-3. Q. Did you play Sierra? HANNAH O'SULLIVAN: So I played her three of the matches. Q. Oh, dear, wow. HANNAH O'SULLIVAN: Okay, I played Sierra and Bailey in four-ball, and then Sierra and Carl in mixed four-ball, and then we played in the singles, but they had to call our match on 17 because of weather. Q. So what was the status on 17? HANNAH O'SULLIVAN: We were all square. Q. So you can finish it tomorrow? I like it. You just wrote my lead. What happened in the other two matches? HANNAH O'SULLIVAN: Okay, we won the four-ball against Bailey 1-up, and then in mixed four-ball, Carl made a 30-footer for birdie to halve the match on the last hole. That was a tough one. Q. Carl Yuan? HANNAH O'SULLIVAN: Yeah, and then I was with Brad (Dalke). It was a lot of fun. Q. Where are you all staying this week? HANNAH O'SULLIVAN: We have a rental house for the week. It's nice just to have a washer and dryer. Q. Is part of that to kind of keep your team the same, too? HANNAH O'SULLIVAN: Just like more convenience, I guess, yeah. Q. What's the deal with those bracelets? Where did they come from? HANNAH O'SULLIVAN: So this is our Wyndham Cup bracelet. It just says "Believe" on it, and then 2015 Wyndham Cup. And this says, "Fear nothing, attack everything," and it's for my dad's friend that passed away a little over a year ago, and I just think it's good to remember him, and I think it's a really good message. Q. Where did you get it? HANNAH O'SULLIVAN: So I guess they gave them out at his Memorial service, and my dad gave it to me. Q. So what was your relationship with your dad's friend? Was he like a golfer? Was he just someone you always kind of knew? HANNAH O'SULLIVAN: I met him a couple times, but he was one of my dad's best friend in college, so a good supporter of mine. Yeah. Q. Does your mom say anything to you walking off the 8th green, or is it like silence? HANNAH O'SULLIVAN: I think she's told me to stay positive, but I guess I didn't really want to be talked to at that moment. But yeah, I think just stay positive. She told me there's a lot of golf left, and I knew that. There was 10 more holes, and I did it yesterday, I won four holes in a row, and I knew I could do it again. Q. What's the best part of Sierra's game? HANNAH O'SULLIVAN: I think her scrambling. I think we actually have really similar games. We both hit it pretty -- Q. Straight off the tee? HANNAH O'SULLIVAN: We both hit it pretty far, I guess, and we're good scramblers. Q. Do you hit about the same distance? HANNAH O'SULLIVAN: I'd say so, yeah. We kind of go back and forth, I guess. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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