MARATHON CLASSIC PRESENTED BY DANA

July 9, 2021

Alison Lee

Quick Quotes

Q. Here with Alison Lee. You were talking yesterday about how last two years have kind of felt a little bit of a struggle to you and you really are feeling so much more confident in your game. After a round like this, are you feeling more confident?

ALISON LEE: Yeah, of course, 100%. You know, it's been a really long time since I've seen my name on the leaderboard like this, and putting myself in contention for the weekend, it feels really, really good.

It almost makes it as though two years didn't happen, which is awesome to feel. Almost like just scratch everything that happened last few years of going back to Q-School, missing cut after cut.

Yeah, going into the weekend in contention to win really just kind of let's you let go of all that stuff and makes you believe in yourself.

So...

Q. Let's start with this nice round that you had here. You open with a birdie after starting on No. 1, and then are able to notch another one before making the turn. Talk about the opening birdies.

ALISON LEE: You know, it's always really important to start your round hot. Just us making a putt, a birdie, really sets up for the rest of the round. Sets the mood and the tone for the rest the round.

So it's always nice to open up with a birdie like that. It just gets the ball rolling and kind of changes your mindset.

So once that happened, for the rest of the round it just kind of felt like, Okay, let's make another one, let's try and make another birdie, as opposed to playing it safe.

So I felt like I tried to play really aggressive out there and thankfully ending with two birdies on the par-5s, taking advantage of those par-5s, was huge.

So, yeah.

Q. Ending with three consecutive birdies. By the end of the round how comfortable were you feeling here at Highland Meadows?

ALISON LEE: Really comfortable. I've been feeling comfortable all week. Been hitting my irons really, really good, so just trying to have faith in that and take advantage of that and knowing that -- just trying to attack the pin on every single hole.

Especially on a course like this. We have a lot of the short clubs coming in on approach shots. So, yeah, just trying to take advantage of it and aim for the pin.

Q. You also talked about taking advantage of the par-5s today. How did they set up for you? Do you think they really brought out some really good parts of your game?

ALISON LEE: I don't know. (Smiling.) Par-5s are always tricky. Every week we go to a new event. Definitely making a birdie on the par-5s is like the number one goal. It really sets the tone for the whole round. You want to take advantage of every par-5.

This week we only have three par-5s I believe, so yeah, we got to make the most of it. Thankfully on 17 I was able to get on the green today and have a nice chip, one-putt, and on the last hole as well, just a chip and one-putt and try and make it easy on myself. It was a huge advantage.

Q. And you talked about it earlier, but just being in contention heading into the weekend, what is it about this place that you think you'll be able to really come out here strong this weekend?

ALISON LEE: Like I said, I think the strong point for me in going into the weekend, I think this course sets up well for me because I'm hitting my irons really well. I'm hitting my driver pretty well as well.

So having a lot of short irons into the greens is forcing me to play really aggressively. Having a pitching wedge or 9-iron or less in my hand really forces me to try and attack the pins, so I feel like it's really benefited my game.

And even on this course if you hit your driver a little left or right there is no water or anything, too much trouble, so you can really recover from that.

So, yeah, I mean, I did make a few mistakes today. I had one bogey unfortunately, but mistakes happen. But, yeah, I just need to tap into all that confidence and positive energy and really lay into my strong suits for this week, which is -- I mean, I'm hitting my irons great, so hopefully I can keep doing that.

Q. I just had Lauren Stephenson in here, and I asked her, she's been playing pretty comfortably as well. I said, when is the last time you've felt this comfortable in your game, and she said, Probably junior year of college. For you, you talked about it, but the last two years have been kind of that struggle up and down for you. When have you felt as confident as you are in your game the last time?

ALISON LEE: It's honestly been a blur. Like this is my seventh year on tour. A lot has happened. I've had major up and downs. But I would say being in contention going into the weekend feeling this good about my game, it just kind of makes me forget about all the bad stuff.

That's kind of the mindset I want going into the weekend. I feel like I've been playing really good over the last few months now in 2021. I've just had a few mistakes here and there. I've been really, really close, and so I feel like this week has been really good for me.

I've really been limiting my mistakes and taking advantage of all the birdie opportunities I have out there. That's the thing. Any time you want to win an event you need to make putts.

That's something I really need to try and take advantage of this week.