AUGUSTA NATIONAL WOMEN'S AMATEUR

April 1, 2021

Olivia Mehaffey

Quick Quotes

Q. You had quite the opening stretch there on your first eight holes. Can we hear a little bit about that?

OLIVIA MEHAFFEY: I mean, recently I've been trying to be better about not reacting to bad shots and getting on with it a bit. It's something I talked to my coach about, and everyone is going to hit bad shots. I think I hit really great shots, and then I hit some bad ones. On the really great shots, it was pretty easy birdies. I wasn't too far away from the hole. Then a couple of bad ones, where I missed the greens. But I struggled a little bit with the chips. It was quite wet and the green as well. So it's definitely something I want to work a little bit on.

Q. How do you think the morning affected the greens? Were they more receptive? Could you tell?

OLIVIA MEHAFFEY: I think they were a little bit more receptive. The speed was the same but a little more receptive, I would say.

Q. There were bogeys in there, but the birdies you made, no one else got this morning. What do you attribute your edge there to?

OLIVIA MEHAFFEY: I feel really good about my putter. I changed my blade a couple of months ago, and I've never used one. My coach said it to me, and I was like, you're crazy. I just started putting with it, and I loved it. So I've been feeling really good with my putting recently. Then just hitting it in to 15 feet, giving myself opportunities, and thankfully today I made them.

Q. What was the explanation from your coach behind try the blade?

OLIVIA MEHAFFEY: I told I am I was struggling a little bit with the mallet, and I just told him, I'm really struggling. I just don't feel good. I want to order another putter, just something similar, something fresh. He was like, can you order two putters? Can you order a blade and can you order what you want to order? I'm like, wait, why do you want me to use the blade? I trust him a lot. So I was like, okay, I'll try the blade, and he was there. I really liked it right away. Since then, I've had the blade.

Q. Things cooled off a little on the back. The closing five, six holes are pretty difficult. What's your take on how the back compared to the front?

OLIVIA MEHAFFEY: I think the toughest thing is the wind. It's so swirly. I'm standing over a shot with my caddie Brian, and we're like, it's downwind. Two minutes later, we're like, no, it's into the wind. I think that's the hardest thing and being able to adapt and really commit. I was very committed out there today, and kind of committed to, if I commit and it's the wrong decision, that's fine. I'd rather make a committed swing. So I think the wind on the back side was a lot swirlier.

Q. Were you pleased at where you got to play, at what point in the day both days?

OLIVIA MEHAFFEY: You don't really know how it's going to go. I kind of thought playing in the morning it was going to be colder, so the ball wasn't going to go as far. But you don't know what the wind is going to do. It's just the weather. I'm happy to have been finished yesterday, had that time to rest. This is my fourth week in a row, so I think it's good for me to have the afternoons just to relax and chill out.

It's worked out very well for me, so I'm happy about that.

Q. Not having to sweat out the cut line too, maybe did that allow you to get more comfortable getting ready mentally for Saturday?

OLIVIA MEHAFFEY: Yeah, I think the hardest thing about this tournament is you can feel like you're in contention, but you also feel you're so close to the cut line. I think that's the hardest battle out there. You know a couple of mistakes, especially how difficult it's playing, you can drop down so fast, but then you can also move up quite quickly too. I think that's kind of the hardest battle out there.

I was telling myself, don't be close to the cut line. I don't want to wait around for playoffs. That was in my head at one stage out there, which is kind of crazy. Definitely it's nice to know it's good, and I can go in and prepare for the next few days.

Q. You know you're not going to be far off the lead at the end of the day today. How does that change how you'll go into Saturday?

OLIVIA MEHAFFEY: I mean, it's Augusta National. We're on this stage right now that the whole world's watching, and there's going to be more pressure than I'm sure anybody's ever felt. I think it's obviously going to be difficult. You have to kind of go in prepared for that. You don't really know what's going to happen. It's definitely nice to be in contention. Any time you're in contention, it means you're playing great.

That's why we're all here. We want to compete. We want to win. We want to show the world what women golfers are capable of, and I think that's the exciting thing.

Q. Do you draw anything from last week, the Symetra Tour, and being in the position of contending on the last day?

OLIVIA MEHAFFEY: Yeah, definitely. I think that was the most nervous I've ever been. I didn't think I would be, but professional event and in the lead, and you have all these matches coming in. That was definitely the most nervous I've felt. I think that experience will be really good coming into this week being in contention again.

Q. Just the familiarity with Augusta National, what's going to happen on Saturday, does that play a role in you playing there on Saturday? Do you think it's an advantage?

OLIVIA MEHAFFEY: Yeah, I think experience this week is huge. Knowing how the event works, knowing the formalities, knowing where you go, knowing what you can do, knowing the courses -- I think it's one of those courses, the more you play, the better. That's why I'm very grateful this year I have an Augusta National caddie, Brian. He's great. He caddied for Jennifer in the final round last year. To utilize him out there, I think is going to be huge.

Q. What is he doing? Does he give you yardages? What's the relationship?

OLIVIA MEHAFFEY: I give him my yardages in the practice round. We're laughing and having a good time. He's great. We're having fun. He helps me with putts as much as I ask, but I think when we go to Augusta National, it will be every single putt.

Q. Do you think you came here this week with more expectation than you did two years ago?

OLIVIA MEHAFFEY: Yeah, I mean, I've been playing decent in the past few weeks, so it's definitely there, but I think I've done a good job of just enjoying the week and really taking it all in. It's probably one of my last amateur events, and I want to enjoy it as much as possible. We're so lucky to get this opportunity, and there's so many players I know that wish they would have it. I think yes, but park it and leave it and just have fun and really enjoy the week.

Q. How much would it mean just to even be in the hunt in the back nine Saturday to have a chance for this as one of your last amateur tournaments?

OLIVIA MEHAFFEY: It would be incredible, of course. There's a lot of golf to be played before then, and obviously anything can happen out there. You see what Maria and Jennifer did last year -- or two years ago, I'm sorry. It was incredible, and it really shook the golf world. I think that's something that we have the ability to do this week again, and that would be very special to do.