KPMG WOMEN'S PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

June 24, 2021

Austin Ernst

Atlanta Athletic Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Austin Ernst, tell us the story of your round today. How do you feel you played?

AUSTIN ERNST: Really solidly. Nothing was really off. Hit a lot of good iron shots early in the round. 12, 13, 14 had three really short birdie looks and then kind of had a bad number and I kind of picked the smarter club to hit it in the middle of the green and have a putt.

I made some good putts for par kind of coming in, but overall everything was solid. Drove it well, hit my irons well, putted well. Just a very solid day.

Q. I was going to ask you about those three in a row on 12, 13 and 14, all short. About how long were they?

AUSTIN ERNST: 12 I hit it about three feet, pitching wedge. 13 I had a pitching wedge again and hit it less than a foot. And 14 I hit it about six feet. I'll take more of that.

Q. How do you try and get more of that? Is that a thing?

AUSTIN ERNST: I think you just have to pick your spots. When you have the good numbers and you can attack the pins -- the greens are still pretty soft, so it'll kind of be interesting the next three days if it doesn't rain how firm they get. They definitely got a little bit bouncier kind of as the day went on, but it's kind of whenever you have those shorter clubs in your hand and you can attack, you really need to because there are a few holes where you've got longer clubs coming in, pins are tucked and they're just a little bit harder to get to.

Q. How familiar were you with this course? Never been here before to Atlanta Athletic. Had you done any research?

AUSTIN ERNST: I had never played it. I had actually been out here for a photo shoot with one of my former sponsors but we didn't play any holes. I watched a little bit of the PGA when Keegan won, but I wasn't that familiar with it, even though I grew up an hour and a half from here.

Q. There's a lot on the line this week, major, double points for a lot of things, Solheim Cup, Olympics. How are you keeping your mind focused on potentially the championship?

AUSTIN ERNST: If I win the tournament all that stuff takes care of itself. I think my only chance at Olympics is if I win, so that's an added bonus if I do.

But I'm worried about this week. I'm not really worried about any of those other things that come with that.

Q. What do you take from today's success that you hope to use tomorrow for another good round?

AUSTIN ERNST: I think it's just continue doing what I'm doing. I've got a good game plan out here, and we'll just kind of look at it and see what I have when I have those numbers and I have those pins that I can kind of attack. Hopefully I can do more of the same tomorrow and get some short birdie looks and maybe get a few long ones to fall tomorrow.