SOLHEIM CUP

September 4, 2021

Lizette Salas

Jennifer Kupcho

Inverness Club

Team USA

Flash

Q. What's going through your mind? You know you've got to make that putt from there.

LIZETTE SALAS: Yeah, I knew what I had to do, and I just said, I'm ready for this moment. Jennifer was just rock solid all day, and just kept me in it. I think we worked well together, and it was a team effort to get the job done today?

Q. Jennifer, we talked about this before you got on here, but on 8, she chips in, changes the momentum. Was that a key to the match there?

JENNIFER KUPCHO: Yeah, all our -- her chip-in, my long putt on the back 9, I think those helped get us to the end and really fight it out.

Q. The greens seemed to get a little bit firmer. What adjustments did you have to make from the practice round?

LIZETTE SALAS: Yeah, we had to make some drastic adjustments, and I still like I still need to make some more adjustments for the coming days. To get that red point up on the board for our team on 18 on home soil, my legs are still shaking. I'm just so proud of Jen and our whole team.

THE MODERATOR: Lizette, I want to start with you. That last putt there on 18 green, just take me through the emotions.

LIZETTE SALAS: I just embraced it. I just embraced the moment. I knew what I had to do. Jen pretty much carried me all day. It was a great partnership, and I didn't have to tell her anything before the round. I said, just do your thing and I'm here for you.

It was definitely a team effort, but I wanted to make that for her and for Team USA and for all the fans.

We played our hearts out for that whole entire round, and to get it done on 18 in front of our team and our fans, our family, it meant a lot.

Q. Jennifer, it was a grind out there between the teams going back and forth. What did you like most about your first day here at the Solheim Cup?

JENNIFER KUPCHO: Honestly, all the cheering. I mean, all you have to do is throw up your hands and everyone starts yelling. It's pretty cool to just walk up a fairway and be able to do that.

Q. What kind of words of advice has Lizette been giving you? How excited were you for this pairing today with someone like Lizette who has the experience here at the Solheim Cup?

JENNIFER KUPCHO: Honestly she didn't really give me a whole lot of --

LIZETTE SALAS: I didn't have to.

JENNIFER KUPCHO: I think it helped, actually, we were just talking about it. She played in the Colorado Solheim Cup, and I actually spectated it as an amateur. I got a little bit of nice Juju from that, I guess.

Q. I want to talk about that Eagle putt where we saw the patented fist bump by Lizette there. Take me through that hole.

LIZETTE SALAS: I think that was a double fist pump and a chip-in Eagle on 8 to really change the momentum. I wasn't hitting a lot of greens and I was getting frustrated. When I hit that 7-wood on to that -- into that green, I said, okay, I'm back. When that went in, I said, I told you, I'm not going to leave you by yourself.

You know, she picked me up when I needed her and vice versa.

It was definitely a team effort, and she was a great partner.

Q. We don't know what's going to be happening tomorrow yet, but Jennifer, if you get the opportunity to play again, just how excited were you when you got to that first tee and got to see your first tee experience there?

JENNIFER KUPCHO: Yeah, it was definitely really exciting. I mean, just to be on the putting green, you can hear all the cheers from the group ahead. I came out this morning and watched the first groups come off. It was pretty cool. My knees were definitely shaking. But it was a lot of fun.

LIZETTE SALAS: And she pured it. I was more excited for her drive.

Q. What was the vibe like after the morning when you have the emotions of the very beginning of the morning and then four and a half hours later suddenly the score is not what anyone had anticipated? As a team how is everyone handling that?

LIZETTE SALAS: We didn't really have a chance to get together as a team after the morning pairings. That doesn't really change our game plan. Hour game plan is to win our match and get a red point up on the board for Team USA. Especially not getting off on a hot start this morning gets our point kind of a momentum switch for tomorrow.

JENNIFER KUPCHO: For me, I honestly didn't even know what the score was until I looked at the scoreboard for any of the matches on the 18th hole. I didn't even know how the morning turned out.

Q. Was that the same in the afternoon early on in that round for everyone? At one point the Europeans were up in all four matches. Did you see a board at any point and realize what was going on?

LIZETTE SALAS: Yeah, well, I definitely saw the board. It was mainly blue and I didn't really like it. I finally showed up. Yeah, I don't like blue right now, so that definitely got me fired up and got us fired up as a pairing.

But Sophia and Carlota were playing solid all day and making really good shots, and we just had to play our game and stay confident.