AUGUSTA NATIONAL WOMEN'S AMATEUR

April 3, 2025

Kiara Romero

Quick Quotes

Q. Kiara, you kind of got -- looked like you got a little maybe kick in the rear after 4 and 5 and birdied each of your last three holes. What was the conversation like after that two-hole stretch where you dropped three shots and obviously finished strong?

KIARA ROMERO: Honestly, much didn't change. I knew I've been playing really good and bad holes happen, so I wasn't too worried about it.

I feel like I had a lot of fans out there kind of cheering me on to keep the spirits up, so I was really grateful for that. Yeah, I just kept rolling, and things were coming back together towards the end.

Q. What did your sister say towards the end of that? She's training to be a psychologist of sorts. Did she have any advice for you?

KIARA ROMERO: Yeah, she was like, you know what, that will happen. You're fine. So let's just move on. I was like, perfect. Sounds good.

Q. Were you looking at the leaderboard at all, looking particularly at what Lottie was doing and maybe had a number in mind of how much is too much to be back going into Saturday?

KIARA ROMERO: I wasn't really thinking about it too much, but obviously there's some pretty big leaderboards out here, so it's kind of hard to avoid.

I saw it when I was making the turn over here, and I just had a really good idea of where I was. But I wasn't like trying to chase anything or had any goals to set for the rest of the round. I was just playing my game.

Q. What's the best part of your game right now?

KIARA ROMERO: I would say my irons. I feel like I'm giving myself a lot of birdie putts out there.

Q. How have you matured as a player from this time last year to now?

KIARA ROMERO: I feel like I have a lot more control over the mental side of it. I had a double and a bogey back-to-back on 4 and 5, so I didn't let that get to me at all. I actually ended up with birdieing the last three holes.

So I feel like that kind of shows the way my game has matured from last year.

Q. How might you have handled that in the past?

KIARA ROMERO: I feel like I was really competitive and like super just like into like the leaderboard and scores and just trying to keep up with everyone at the top. And I would like try to push to make those birdies; whereas here I just kind of kept playing my game and sticking to the game plan and give myself good opportunities.

Q. When was the last time you think you shot yourself out of a tournament because you did that? You let the bad shots --

KIARA ROMERO: I feel like this tournament last year I kind of did that. After the first nine holes of the first day last year, I think I was like 4-under, and everything just went downhill after that.

I think I was just kind of pushing too much into the thought of me winning the tournament. This year I'm just kind of out here just trying to play my best game and see what happens.

Q. What was the feeling like going home last year from this tournament?

KIARA ROMERO: It's not the best feeling missing the cut, and especially like missing the opportunity to play in the final round at Augusta. But I feel like I learned a lot, and I kind of just took it as an opportunity to learn and move on from it.

Q. How much did you really pay attention during last year's practice round on that Friday kind of knowing that you'd get more cracks at this one?

KIARA ROMERO: Yeah, just kind of seeing it all unfold, I wasn't too worried about it. I knew like this year I would do better. Just kind of gave myself another opportunity, and yeah.

Q. Tomorrow how are you going to balance the excitement of playing Augusta National while also trying to stay focused and treat it like a practice round for an important round on Saturday?

KIARA ROMERO: I think already being there once kind of lets me know what I'm preparing for and stuff. I'm definitely going to enjoy the moment being there, but just going to try to do my best to take notes of the course and see where are the good spots and create a good game plan for Saturday.

Q. Who's going to caddie for you on Saturday?

KIARA ROMERO: Right now I'm thinking about having my sister stay on the bag, but we're just going to go out tomorrow, have a local caddie and her kind of walk with me throughout it. I'll just go from there.

Q. What's the benefit of having her on compared to anybody else?

KIARA ROMERO: I feel like this week I've been like the happiest I've ever been on the course. I feel like, if you see me last year making a double, I'm definitely not happy. I'm definitely not looking around smiling at anyone.

Today was a lot different. I kind of was really proud of myself for the way I handled it and kind of moved on from it.

Q. How would you describe your relationship with your sister? Growing up, were you really competitive with each other? How has she shaped who you are?

KIARA ROMERO: Yeah, I think playing with both of my siblings growing up kind of taught me how to compete. It kind of taught me how to love competing and love this sport a lot.

Yeah, I've learned a lot from them, so I look up to them a lot.

Q. She's four years older than you?

KIARA ROMERO: Yeah.

Q. So it's not close enough to where you guys were probably like bitter rival siblings; she was probably more of a role model for you.

KIARA ROMERO: Yeah, for sure. She started golf before me, and I just kind of copied everything she did. That was one of the things I just fell into because of her.

Q. What was the course you guys kind of grew up playing on?

KIARA ROMERO: There were a few around our home, but there was Santa Teresa and like Coyote Creek, Cinnabar Hills, Cordevalle.