HSBC WOMEN'S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

February 29, 2024

Xingtong Chen

Sentosa Golf Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Talk about how you managed to calm your nerves to have such a great round?

XINGTONG CHEN: It was unreal on the first tee because I was so nervous. Didn't seem it but when I was on the first green, the 10th green, my hands were shaking over the putt.

Overall, I didn't have a good first nine but after the first nine, I was able to calm myself down and recover a bit. So yeah, it's a learning experience.

Q. What did you say to yourself to calm yourself down?

XINGTONG CHEN: I was like, these are pros. You don't have anything to stress about because you're the Amateur on the field anyway.

Q. And you had a big crowd following you at the end. How did you feel teeing off on your last hole?

XINGTONG CHEN: Pretty unreal. I couldn't believe that so many people just came out and watched me. I'm grateful for everyone that came out.

Q. And we had fun looking at the leaderboard, and what did you notice on that?

XINGTONG CHEN: I think same score as Lydia. Obviously they didn't play well but small wins.

Q. What's the plan for tomorrow having played the first round today?

XINGTONG CHEN: Just stick to my game plan. Try not to change too much. Don't be too stressed about it.

Q. How is it competing against the world's best? Was there anything in particular you enjoyed?

XINGTONG CHEN: I mean, it's always nice to, usually like this tournament, I'll come out and watch on the last few days, so it's unreal to be the one playing this time. I don't know, I haven't really thought about it.

Q. So you had a very special person giving you some advice yesterday. Can you tell us a little bit about that?

XINGTONG CHEN: Annika was telling me just stick to my process and trust, and also have fun on the course, which I think I managed to do on the last few holes.

Q. And spending an hour with her doing clinics, what impressed you about Annika yesterday?

XINGTONG CHEN: She's just so calm about everything. Yeah, she just -- I don't know, it's unreal, being with a living legend.

Q. Do you think spending that time with her yesterday helped calm you down today? Because you were with the greatest player of all time yesterday, so it's not so nerve-wracking today maybe.

XINGTONG CHEN: Yeah, I was so scared to meet her yesterday, I felt like today wasn't that bad. So like calmed me down a bit more. I managed to focus on my game and stuff just like being so starstruck about everyone around me.

Q. And the start yesterday or thinking about your round today, what would you have thought, that's a great round?

XINGTONG CHEN: Today?

Q. Yeah.

XINGTONG CHEN: Well, there's always things to improve on. But I think all things considered, like especially looking at my first nine holes, I think it's a great result.