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ANA INSPIRATION

April 2, 2016

Charley Hull

Rancho Mirage, California

Q. Charley, I know you missed some putts early, but you finally got the putter working late. How were you able to sort of avoid getting frustrated and have that happen down the stretch?
CHARLEY HULL: Well, I felt like I hit some good putts early on. Even though I wasn't quite driving it well today, I still managed to get myself on the green and give myself opportunities. But I missed a short one on 10 because I felt like that putt was downhill and it was quite slow, but I kind of gave myself a talking-to and made a couple of birdies in.

Q. When you close with four straight birdies, I'm going to guess it makes you really eager to get back out there on Sunday?
CHARLEY HULL: Yeah, I'm buzzing for it. I love this golf course. It reminds me of a couple years ago. I was in a similar position a couple behind the lead going into the final round. I'm going to hit a couple of balls, work on my driver in a minute, and have an early night.

Q. What's been working for you best this week to get you in this position?
CHARLEY HULL: I feel like all around my game has been pretty solid, touch wood for tomorrow, but I feel like my irons have been pretty good, but it wasn't quite -- nothing stood out for me today, I feel like I scrambled quite well.

Q. You said this golf course you love; what's the best thing about it that's suiting your game?
CHARLEY HULL: I don't know. I like all of it, to be honest. I like -- like even outside the golf, I just like the food and everything. I've been here for like four years, so I know what restaurants to go to. But I like the look of the golf course. I feel like it just suits my game, and I think the greens are in pretty good condition, and I like all of it.

Q. Have you ever had a finish like that, four in a row? How good did you feel finishing like that?
CHARLEY HULL: Yeah, I felt great. I haven't really thought about it, to be honest. I was just out there playing golf, and I holed a couple putts coming in. I scrambled well, hit some good shots, and yeah, I'm buzzed for tomorrow. I'm going to go to the range, hit a couple of golf balls and work on my driving because I didn't hit it quite well off the tee today, but I managed to make a score out there today, so I'm happy.

Q. What was the turning point or was there a specific turning point today?
CHARLEY HULL: Not really, no. I missed a putt on 10, but I actually felt like I hit a decent drive down 10, and my shot into the green, I was just like fooled by the wind a little bit, and then my putt down the hill wasn't fast. But hitting driver from the deck on the 11th kind of got me buzzed and I hit a good shot there, just finished in the rough, but it was pretty much on the edge of the green and out of the thick stuff and chipped up and holed the putt, so that kind of got me going into that back nine, so to finish strong like that, I'm happy. I could have holed a couple of putts on that back nine. I had a couple of chances, but I holed a couple long ones instead, and I was happy about that.

Q. How far do you hit driver off the deck?
CHARLEY HULL: I don't know. I'm just guessing at those, how far.

Q. Michelle said you guys had a lot of fun out there. Can you give any examples of any good moments?
CHARLEY HULL: Well, we've both got a cold, so we're both sniffing our way around today, but it was just like normal chit-chat. I always get a lot out of playing with Michelle. It's pretty cool because you look back four years ago and thinking, wow, I'm playing with Michelle Wie, or I could be playing with Michelle Wie in the future, and now you're just playing with her in like a third round in a major. It's pretty awesome. That kind of inspired me when I was younger, and hopefully in a couple years' time someone will come up to me and say, wow, I watched you when I was younger, now I'm playing with you in a major, so it's pretty cool.

Q. What does she still inspire in you?
CHARLEY HULL: I don't know, really. She's just a good girl. I just think she's a great person.

Q. When the leaderboard is as packed as it is, how much are you going to pay attention to it tomorrow?
CHARLEY HULL: Well, I actually don't really look at the leaderboard even on my phone. I always used to. I used to like look at it, but now I don't really take much notice because off the golf course I don't even think about golf, and on the golf course I don't even think about golf to be honest. I just look at a leaderboard sometimes if I'm bored and I'm nosey. But I'll look at it tomorrow a couple of times, but apart from that, I'll just go with the flow.

Q. What's the biggest difference when you played here as an amateur?
CHARLEY HULL: Yeah, I played here four years ago as an amateur when I was 16. It was actually my first-ever pro tournament I was playing in, and it was a major, and I loved it. It was fantastic. I remember shooting 1-under the first round, and then the second round I only just made the cut, and I shot 4-under in the third round, and I played with Jaye Green and she was my best mate because we had played a couple of junior golf tournaments together. But from then the difference to now is I feel like I'm a little bit more mature, and actually someone -- the guy who first caddied for me in this tournament four years ago is a pro here, and he came up to me, he was like -- I said to him, you look like you've lost weight, and he goes, so do you; you're less chubby now. I'm like, yeah, I've lost my puppy fat I reckon. No more Chubby Charley hopefully, but I will be eating plenty of chocolate.

Q. You have to wait almost a whole day to begin again, but when you close that way, when you finish out with four birdies, is there momentum that carries over to the next round?
CHARLEY HULL: Yeah, there is. It's like I'm looking forward to going out there to play tomorrow. It was quite funny actually, early on in my round when I was 2-over par, I was like, damn, I need to get some birdies out there. I thought, well, thinking on the upside, I might be able to make lunch and have the ice cream tomorrow, but no, I made a couple of birdies and it was good.

Q. Have you made it to In-n-Out yet?
CHARLEY HULL: No, I haven't. I was going to do it last Sunday, but I didn't. But Jay said she went the other day, and she said, she didn't know what the fuss was about. I think I'm going to go to Cheesecake Factory tomorrow, have the Oreo cake.

Q. Can you just talk about where your game is at maybe compared to when you first came over to start playing the LPGA, how much more complete or better your game is?
CHARLEY HULL: I don't know, really, because I've just kind of like been me. My dad probably knows that, even compared to like four months ago is the last time he watched me, and it's improved. I've just become a bit more mature on the golf course. I used to like rush when I hit a bad shot, and now -- I used to when I was younger plan thinking, oh, I can birdie 10, I can birdie 11, and now I just go play.

Q. Adam is on your bag now, and he has probably the most memorable leap into Poppies Pond when he was caddying for Sun-Young. I heard you were thinking belly flop, you two together. I don't know if that would probably go down all-time. Have you thought about it?
CHARLEY HULL: We'd cause a tsunami I reckon, not that -- yeah, it's funny that would be. But definitely I would say Adam is the main key to my success now. I've had a quite a lot of top 10s in the tournaments I've been with him, so I'm pretty happy and lucky to have him on my bag. He's a great guy, and he's fun.

Q. Would you mind giving us the length of your birdie putts on the last four holes?
CHARLEY HULL: I can't remember, actually. I was kind of in the zone. I'm not very good at judging my birdies. I think it was like 15 to 20 feet, like 40 feet, like 10 to 8 feet, and like a foot on the last. Yeah.

Q. What was the one you missed on 10?
CHARLEY HULL: 10? It was like six feet. But it turned more than I thought.

Q. When did the idea of a belly flop come into your head?
CHARLEY HULL: Well, I looked at it the other day, and it didn't look that deep to do a dive, so I thought belly flop, half and half. Leave a mark on my face. Memorable.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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