U.S. WOMEN'S AMATEUR FOUR-BALL

May 14, 2025

Natalie Yen

Asia Young

Oklahoma City Golf & Country Club

Press Conference

Q. All right, so congratulations on becoming USGA champions. Talk about how it feels to know your name goes in the Hall of Champions.

NATALIE YEN: I didn't know that. Yeah, so I forgot about that completely. So they put our names on a plaque. It's there forever.

ASIA YOUNG: Wow, that's just amazing. You know, this Tour has done so much for me, and to be able to be just as a part of it is really, really cool feeling.

Q. Yeah. Asia, how did it feel to make the winning putt?

ASIA YOUNG: It felt like redemption, to be honest. I felt like it kind of let us down a little earlier. My partner let me go ahead and putt that one. I felt like it was going in and ended up going in; it was just kind of surreal.

Q. You mentioned a couple times this week having the feeling the letting the team down a little bit. Did you feel like you came out into this match with something to prove a little bit?

ASIA YOUNG: I would say just kind of this whole year. I know for Natalie, too, went out early last year and felt like we just didn't really give it our all.

This year I know even though it felt like I let our team down a lot, it didn't last because the partner was there to be like, new hole, new match; we're here for you.

NATALIE YEN: Yeah, that's the beauty of Four-Ball, is Asia has a bad hole, if I have a good hole -- you know, she talks about letting the team down. There were a lot times where I was basically out of the hole and she was in there tight looking at birdie a lot.

So Four-Ball, it's far more ham and egg than people give it credit for.

Q. Yeah. You guys seemed in full control the whole week. You mentioned just now obviously ham and egg. How important was that teamwork aspect?

NATALIE YEN: I think it's crucial to playing Four-Ball well, especially given that everyone else also has a partner in this instance.

I think overall, ham and egging it, it's more just we trust each other to play our games and we know we're trying our best. We may have different styles (wind) on certain holes. At the end of the day I think we both know that we're both able to score.

Q. Yeah. Can you talk about from your perspective what were some key moments in the match? Obviously when you made par on the (Wind interference.) Any other like that?

ASIA YOUNG: I think it's good to get off to a wonderful start, but I also think Natalie made a putt on 3 that --

NATALIE YEN: 4.

ASIA YOUNG: Oh, was it 4?

NATALIE YEN: Yeah, yeah.

ASIA YOUNG: That made us 2-up. There I felt like the momentum was really going with us.

NATALIE YEN: We won those three holes in a row from 4 to 6, and I think my putt on 4 really helped us kind of feel like, okay, now we have -- we can really start firing.

Because when you're 1-up or one bad hole it can go away fast. Two, it's like, okay, now we can play aggressively and know we have a cushion we can fall back on.

3-, 4-up, once you're 4-up it's like -- no lead is ever too big, but it is more comfortable.

Q. How much did it come through and help free you up and play a little better?

ASIA YOUNG: I think in general, knowing just like you haven't really won anything yet, so being up a little with momentum on your side just let's you play a little more fearlessly.

Q. Can you talk a little bit about your confidence going into the match, the championship match, coming off the win in the morning?

NATALIE YEN: I felt like we were both -- honestly, felt like we both didn't play our best this morning. I think we were both a little off. Maybe a little a little bit on an adrenaline low.

Once we got up late in that match I think we both kind of started playing better, and, you know, I felt like we had momentum having won a couple holes late from being all square starting our match.

Yeah, I think we just had momentum, more momentum than they did maybe because they were up in their match and kind of fighting Bella and Sophia off.

Q. Now with this win you get a couple exemptions. Exemption into the Girls Junior if you're age eligible, as well as the Women's Am in your home state, Bandon Dunes. What are your thoughts there?

NATALIE YEN: Bandon will be cool for me. My mom grew up in Coquille, which is about ten, 15 miles I think from Bandon. I've played the Oregon Am out at Bandon Trails and played at Junior Am out there, but for me to go out there and be in my home state, kind of last tournament as a junior before I start college, you know, to be in Bandon somewhere close where my mom grew up is going to be really special.

ASIA YOUNG: Yeah, I remember playing like scrambles with my dad at Bandon. (Wind interference.)

Q. What about the Girls Junior? Any thoughts about that one?

NATALIE YEN: I mean, I love the Girls Junior.

Q. Ou played a few times.

NATALIE YEN: I played it twice.

ASIA YOUNG: Another USGA we get to go to, so that's just huge.

Q. Lastly, I know you're committed to A&M, Texas A&M. What are you thinking? Any excitement or anything like that?

NATALIE YEN: I'm super excited for this fall. I have some great teammates incoming with Scarlett, Avery, and Brynn. I think our team, we are really ready to hit the ground running this fall and get some miles on it before we hit postseason next year.

Yeah, I'm excited. It's going to be bittersweet to leave junior golf because I've had a lot of fun and had a lot of good results and stuff like that. I'm excited for the next thing.

Q. And then just last question: (Wind interference.)

ASIA YOUNG: I get to start talking with coaches in about a month. We'll see.

Q. (Wind interference.)

ASIA YOUNG: I'm Oregon. It's really cold there. I'm super open minded, but I would like to go someplace where I can golf all the time.