KPMG WOMEN'S PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

June 22, 2023

Leona Maguire

Baltusrol Golf Club

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Leona, I believe you said last week at Meijer that Baltusrol was a beast of a course. Did it live up to that?

LEONA MAGUIRE: Yeah, I mean, they moved up a couple of tees this morning, which was quite nice given the weather that was forecast and everything. I think our first few holes played really tough into the wind that bit of rain and everything, so it was just a case of trying to level par through them, and gave myself a couple of chances after that, which was nice. Hit every fairway and nearly every green, which in a major championship is as stress-free as you can make it.

Q. How much of a mental flip is it to go from a place where you have to be so aggressive, making birdies, to a place where par is a very good score?

LEONA MAGUIRE: Yeah, absolutely. It's a completely different test. I think you had to drive the ball equally well last week I would say, but you were going gung ho at a lot of pins. Today you had to be really disciplined. There was a few pins it was tempting to go at, but we just had to play a little bit more conservatively on a few of them and just two-putt and get out of there. Yeah, very different approach this week.

Q. What did you do best today?

LEONA MAGUIRE: I think like that, I was disciplined, stayed patient, hit a lot of fairways, hit a lot of greens. Didn't putt quite as well as I would have liked, but the greens were a touch slower. I don't know if they didn't cut them as much this morning with the rain or if the rain slowed them down. They weren't quite as fast this morning. But gave myself quite a few chances actually, a few more than I expected to have.

Q. You talked on Sunday about how important it was going to be to keep your energy levels high. What did you do early in the week to kind of make sure you maintained that?

LEONA MAGUIRE: Yeah, I didn't do much Monday. Played the pro-am early Tuesday. Just did a little bit of putting after. Hit a couple of balls, not much.

Then yesterday, went off early with Anna, played 18 early and that was it. Went back, had a nap. Probably have another nap this afternoon.

Not a whole lot of extra practice. I think this week that's going to be -- not going to be on the range beating balls or hitting a lot of chips and a lot of extra putts on the greens after. Just play, and so far it's working pretty well.

Q. I know your coach is here with you. What do you work on after a win?

LEONA MAGUIRE: Yeah, I mean, he went home yesterday afternoon, so to be fair, not a whole lot. It was nice for him. He hadn't been at a major in quite a few years I would say, so nice for him to sort of see how the golf course is set up, the shots that we need. It was just kind of making sure everything was in a good spot, which it was, and we were good to go.

He didn't have a whole lot of work to do, but it was nice just to sort of have a check on everything after last week and be ready to go again.

Q. What specifically is different with this week compared to last week, and how does that kind of change your mindset this week?

LEONA MAGUIRE: Yeah, I think it's just a mentality. I think you need equal amounts of patience, but this week it's definitely more conservative targets; middles of greens are good. If you're between clubs, a lot of the time we were taking the shorter one, just trying to stay out of that rough around the greens as much as we possibly can, and the greens are obviously firm, so you just have to really respect the golf course and know that par is a really good score on any hole as opposed to last week where you felt like you could almost birdie every hole.

Q. When you're playing well, does your swing just carry over from week to week, or is it you're more confident or what?

LEONA MAGUIRE: I think a bit of everything. For me it's making sure my rhythm is good and just committing to my targets. When you're swinging well, that's easier to do.

I mean, golf doesn't always go according to play, but when it does, you might as well ride the momentum as long as you can.

Q. Mentally how was it for you out there, and what are you kind of thinking about during a round like this on a test like this?

LEONA MAGUIRE: Yeah, I think just picking really good targets on every hole, both off the fairways and into the greens. The wind was a little swirly, a little gusty, so just taking a few extra seconds to check where that was and committing to that.

It got really slow on the back nine. We had a lot of waits. There was a lot of standing around. I had a nice group. Me and Austin were chatting quite a bit, and chatting with my caddie Dermot. It's just kind of staying loose, staying relaxed when it's as slow as that.

Q. What's the sense of accomplishment standing on that 7th tee under par given the start here and can you take us through a couple of your birdies?

LEONA MAGUIRE: Yeah, like I said, it was a case of trying to get through those first five holes in level par. Made a really nice birdie on 6, hit it to about 10 feet there and then was on 7 in two. 7 is probably the best birdie chance out here apart from 18 maybe. Nice to get a birdie there.

Q. What did you hit in there?

LEONA MAGUIRE: 5-wood into 7.

Made a little bit of a scrappy bogey on 8 and then kind of bounced back, hit a really good shot into 10. Would have been nice to birdie 10, but then birdied 11, hit a really nice shot to two feet on 11 to sort of get the momentum going again. Yeah, finished off on 18 with a birdie.

Q. You hit a hybrid into 10, didn't you?

LEONA MAGUIRE: Yeah, 5-hybrid. I hit 3-wood off the tee to avoid that bunker.

Q. What did you hit into 11?

LEONA MAGUIRE: 7-iron.