BANK OF HOPE LPGA MATCH-PLAY

May 25, 2022

Elizabeth Szokol

Shadow Creek

Quick Quotes

Q. Okay, here with Elizabeth Szokol, who took a 2&1 win over Yealimi Noh. It was a back-and-forth match for you; looked like a battle. Ultimately you came up on top. What is the mentality when you're out there, you're up, she's up, you're up, she's up. It's the beauty and the weirdness of match play, right?

ELIZABETH SZOKOL: Yeah, it was a lot of fun. It was a great match, a lot of back and forth. I won the first hole, she won the next two. I think we hardly tied any holes.

But just kind of tried to play own game and hit the shots that we had planned. It was great to come away with the win.

Q. You went 2-up on No. 15. Looks like might have been some issues there maybe for Yealimi on that hole. What happened there?

ELIZABETH SZOKOL: There was unfortunately a rules issue, which was disappointing, yeah.

Q. Yep. So you went on with that. She was able to take the next hole back, but you ultimately took the win at 17. Had to be a good feeling to take that win, huh?

ELIZABETH SZOKOL: Yeah, definitely. I had about six feet left to win the match and was really happy to make that putt and move on to tomorrow.

Q. Awesome. It's especially good to see that victory because we haven't seen you out in a while. I think the last time you tee'd up was in January at the Gainbridge. I know you said you've been struggling with a back injury. Do you mind tell us what's been going on with you.

ELIZABETH SZOKOL: Yeah, struggled with back injury for about a year and a half and got to the point where I needed to take some time away from the game and figure that out.

After the event in Boca, found some great doctors and help and got everything under control, and I'm just really happy to be back out here and playing, so it's really nice to be back.

Q. Was it surgery or just rehab?

ELIZABETH SZOKOL: It was injections and rehab. So happy to not have surgery and get back out here in four months.

Q. How was it affecting your game and your personal self?

ELIZABETH SZOKOL: It was definitely tough. It was the longest I've actually taken off of golf. I didn't touch a club for about three months. It was a bit of stretch to get back in time playing for this, but playing in Vegas in the match play event seemed like the perfect format to come back.

Definitely happy to win my first match and really happy to be back out here and feeling healthy.

Q. We've actually heard that from a few other people who are saying, it's match play. Yeah, this is a hard walk, but you're not putting out every hole. You're not finishing. Was that maybe something that was on your mind that this would be a good place to start?

ELIZABETH SZOKOL: It was, yeah. Just if I didn't know kind of where I shot was going to go or had some misses, it's kind of nice. You can just pick up on that hole, so it seemed like a great place to start.

Probably not as much pressure on myself, so I was just looking forward to just coming out and playing golf and see where it took me.

Q. Now you got first win under your belt. What's the game plan?

ELIZABETH SZOKOL: Same thing: just stick to our game plan, hit the shots we talk about, and just have fun. I'm just so happy to be back and enjoying playing golf again.

Fastscripts by ASAP Sports...