NW ARKANSAS CHAMPIONSHIP

September 18, 2025

Brooke Matthews

Pinnacle Country Club

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: All right, here with Brooke Matthews ahead of the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship Presented by P&G. Back in Arkansas for your fifth start. Talk about how fun this week is for you and how excited you are to tee it up this week.

BROOKE MATTHEWS: Yeah, I'm really excited. This is my first or fifth year teeing up now. I didn't get to play last year but still came out and watched and supported all my friends.

So it was something I was really looking forward to being back out here competing. It's a special week. The community loves this event. I have a lot of people who support me and a lot of family and friends that get to come out and watch.

Yeah, just a lot of energy around it.

Q. Can you speak to a little bit about the community-driven event like this is? Walmart, P&G, they put a lot into making this a community-forward event.

BROOKE MATTHEWS: Yeah, I think that's one of the things that makes this tournament really special, is the community involvement. All the fans, you know, everybody that goes into it, they just really come together and they love this. We don't have a big professional sports presence in Arkansas, so kind of when the LPGA comes through I feel like people get really excited about it.

They also just do a lot of cool stuff. You have the Confidence For Kids things, Fassi's Friends, The Bite event. So many things that make it more than a golf tournament. I think there is really something for everybody, even if they're not a golf fan. So a really cool introduction for them, too.

Q. Two pretty good finishes your last two starts. Where do you feel like your game is heading into this week?

BROOKE MATTHEWS: Yeah, I had two good finishes my last two starts, couple top 15s. I feel like I had been close all year, and kind of to see a couple numbers get put together felt good.

Yeah, game feels good. You just never know what's going to happen. Going to go out there and do my best. I've been playing well, you know, but every week writes its own story. We will just have to see and not be judgmental of whatever happens and just enjoy it. Not every week do you get to play at home.

Q. You mentioned not a lot of professional sports in Arkansas. You Razorbacks are kind of the celebrities for the week. A former Razorback, Stacy Lewis, retired earlier this week. Speak to what she has meant to the game and you as an Arkansas grad as well?

BROOKE MATTHEWS: Yeah, definitely. I remember watching Stacy when I was a little kid. I had always wanted to be an Arkansas Razorback. I was born and raised here in North West Arkansas, so it was the number one goal before I even really took golf seriously. I was like, well, I want to be an athlete for Arkansas. I didn't even know which sport. Yeah, obviously ended up being golf.

Last night when I saw Maria's interview and all the announcements about Stacy retiring I kind of remembered, I was like, wrote a letter to myself when I was 12 years old in 2011 after Stacy won the Kraft and jumped in Poppie's Pond. It was not a well-written letter, but it was like, you've been inspired by Stacy Lewis. You want to jump in that pond someday. It was really cute and i sent it to my college coach, Shauna, and she was like, this is so awesome.

It's like how many people Stacy inspired, I mean, I was one of them for sure. I also remember whichever year she won most recently, I think I was 13 or 14 or something, and I got to walk inside the ropes when she won. I'll never forget that moment when she made that putt on 18 to win and the crowd went crazy.

Yeah, even being out on Tour, Stacy been an awesome person to have around. She's so much more than just a golfer. The way she cares about the Tour and Solheim Cup captain, she really has done the most for us players and kind of the game of golf in general.

Q. If you would've told a 12, 13, 14 year old Brooke she would be at Stacy's last event, how do you think she would react? Not just be at it, but playing with her.

BROOKE MATTHEWS: Yeah, it would be wild. I'm sure she would be so excited because I was starting a little bit behind when I was 12. Also in that note it was like, your goal for this year is to break 50 for nine holes. We have definitely come a long way there.

Yeah, I'm sure it puts things in perspective. When weeks aren't going well out here, this is exactly what I wanted and I'm get to go live it and it comes with the good and the bad and that is all part of it and what makes it special.

Q. Do you remember your first time meeting Stacy, the first conversation you had with her?

BROOKE MATTHEWS: I think the first time I met Stacy was probably when I walked inside the ropes with her that year. I can't remember exactly what year. I want to say 2014, '15, somewhere in there. I'm sure I was really shy so I probably didn't get much of a conversation in.

I do remember my rookie year on Tour in 2022 I just randomly, just by chance, showed up to the first tee in my practice round and Stacy was there and I got to play nine holes with her and she kind of helped me settle in.

I won't forget, whenever we walked off the green of that practice round she told me, you belong here. You earned your spot here. Just go take it. That was something that I was like, wow, that's really cool that Stacy is saying that to me.

Q. Talking about this tournament, you've been coming here since you were a kid. The community aspect of it and the little kids that will be in the autograph valley, going back when you were coming here, do you remember the first time you got autographs from some of your heros and who were they? Do you kind of take that to heart when you go to tournaments and see all the little girls lined up for you to sign autographs?

BROOKE MATTHEWS: Yeah, absolutely. I still have the hat I got everybody to sign. I honestly didn't even care who it was. I just wanted everybody's signature. I remember I chased Paula Creamer probably 300 yards past where I was supposed because I had to get her autograph.

Yeah, it's really cool to be on the other side of it and to see some of those girls in the same position just having fun out there. If we can inspire a couple of them, I think that would be so awesome. And to know that I was that girl and somewhere around the Tour stops, one of those girls is definitely going to play in the LPGA and that's really cool.

And if we can be a small part of their moment of inspiration, I think that's everything and why we should be doing what we do.

Q. Since you've had two really good finishes in the past couple weeks, coming to a course that you're very familiar with, does that give you a kind of leg up or advantage or comfort level, or is it a, I just got to keep practicing and preparing and doing what I'm still doing?

BROOKE MATTHEWS: Yeah, it definitely goes both ways. I know this course kind of like the back of my hand. I've always told people that can be a good and bad thing. Yeah, I'm just going to go my best to relax. I would be lying if I didn't think that there was -- I felt a certain amount of pressure and kind of like all eyes on you kind of thing.

At the same time that's a privilege, so I'm just looking at it like that. Just treating it as another golf tournament. At the end of the day once I'm out there that's what it is. There is a lot of noise, but trying to take that as the cool part instead letting it stress me out.

Yeah, just the perspective of me being out here as a little girl watching all the girls and now I'm out here, that's the real win. No matter how I play this week that's kind of the goal. I'm here. That was my goal. I want to play well, of course. Going to do everything I can to put myself in a position to do so.

But, yeah, I feel like I've already won.

Q. When tomorrow and Saturday when you come to the 17th hole and it's Gatorade, loudest hole. When you call the Hogs, talk about that as a Razorback and fellow Razorbacks that call the Hogs. Does that give you a piece of adrenaline, energize you? Talk about that experience as a player. Also because you saw that and experienced it as a kid.

BROOKE MATTHEWS: Yeah, it is a really cool part of the tournament for us Razorbacks. I guess the first thing you have to do is kind of explain to the other players in your group what is about to happen; maybe teach them how to call the Hogs; see if they want to or not.

It's definitely an adrenaline boost, kind of our moment. We're waiting kind of the whole round for the 17th hole because we know what's coming. It's a really cool tradition I think that we have here. Yeah, something I'm looking forward to being a part of.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Brooke, that's it.

BROOKE MATTHEWS: Thank you.