AUGUSTA NATIONAL WOMEN'S AMATEUR

March 31, 2026

Emily Odwin

Quick Quotes

Q. First question for you, you're representing Barbados. I'm just curious how much pride do you take in being able to represent your country here on arguably one of the biggest stage in women's golf?

EMILY ODWIN: First of all, nice to meet you. Honestly, I've said it before, and I think I'll keep saying it until I'm blue in the face, but it's something that means a great deal to me being able to fly the flag kind of all over the world in places that it might not have been flown before. It's on my bag. It's on my chest. It's something that I kind of carry with me as I'm going to walk around the golf course this week and even into my future career. It's something that I'm always going to have with me, and it means a lot.

Q. And another part of your identity being a black woman.

EMILY ODWIN: Yeah.

Q. Did you have any black women in golf that you were able to look up to growing up, coming of age in golf so to speak?

EMILY ODWIN: The first one that comes to mind is Mariah Stackhouse. I remember when I was a kid and Stanford won the National Championship that year, I remember watching in my parents' bedroom, like I remember her sinking that winning putt. So I think that's the easiest one for me. So, yeah.

Q. What does it sort of mean that you're going to be the Mariah Stackhouse for the next generation? Does that give you a sense of pride? What does that feel like for you?

EMILY ODWIN: I think it's incredible. If I can have, I think, half as big an impact that she had on me when I was a kid, then I feel like I would have done a good job. Yeah, I think that's something that is really important to me, just kind of showing people that this is something that you can do; this is an avenue that you can take. And, yeah, just kind of following in her footsteps.

Q. In Barbados I'd imagine, and correct me if I'm wrong, but there's a lot of people that look like you; right?

EMILY ODWIN: Yes, sir.

Q. Golf necessarily isn't the most populous sport over there, and similar here in America. You don't see too many black girls, black women in golf. Do you think the black representation is an issue? What are your thoughts on that?

EMILY ODWIN: I think part of it is the accessibility. I think the talent is definitely there. But I just think that the various entries for a sport like golf is so high. It's a lot easier to pick up a sport like basketball, soccer or tennis even.

I think once somebody can do it, it opens it up a lot. Like in tennis you had Serena Williams, and then over the years Naomi Osaka came up. So once you have that spark, it's like a spark with a fire. Once you have the spark, a fire is going to catch.

Q. Do you have any extra weight, extra motivation just sort of knowing the fact that, yes, you're playing golf, but also you're putting on for Barbados and putting on for black women, black girls? Is that something extra that you carry?

EMILY ODWIN: Yes and no. I think if I think about that all the time it's going to be pretty hard to make a five-footer, right? It's something that I know and that I acknowledge and I talk about it with my team, but it's not something that I want to just always have in the back of my mind just because it's going to be unnecessary added pressure when the moment is already going to be pretty big.

Q. And you talk about your mind, the mental aspect of the game. What's it like coming into this tournament for the first time, and just mentally how have you been preparing for it?

EMILY ODWIN: I think the biggest thing with a tournament like this is just making sure that your preparation is kind of something that you really pay a lot of attention to.

For golf courses like this, it's going to be a lot of the little things that are going to make a big difference because everybody can hit the ball well here. Everybody can make a putt. It's just really the little things that are going to be the separators. So I think just kind of spending that extra time in areas where I know, kind of, I have some weaknesses, it just kind of puts you a little bit more at ease maybe when you're standing over a shot on the fairway knowing, okay, like I've taken care of that in my preparation over the last week, two weeks, whatever. So it just kind of calms you down a little, and just being able to kind of lean into that it's a comforting kind of factor.

Q. What can you say about -- you're Catholic, so many public golf courses in Barbados, the fact of how you grew up, having the opportunity to play golf and to find yourself playing here?

EMILY ODWIN: I think it just speaks to the kind of support system that I've had over the years. I've been very lucky and very privileged to kind of have parents that support me and kind of push me into trying whatever sports that I wanted to try growing up, whether that was soccer, tennis, golf, anything.

And then even just back home, like there have been a lot of people who help me out and kind of allow me to be put in those positions where I can -- basically my success will be up to me. It's not going to be a situation where I don't have. It's going to be a situation where if I choose to utilize and succeed, that's entirely kind of in my own hands.

So I mean, again, like I said, it's not about me in that situation. It's kind of everybody around me there.

Q. Have you gotten any advice or tips from some of the girls that have played in this five or six times?

EMILY ODWIN: I think more so, if anything, I've been leaning a little bit on my teammate. She played out here last year. She's the one that had the hole-in-one. You guys probably remember. McKenzie Lee. But yeah, if anything, just kind of been leaning on her just with more so off-the-course aspects of the week. There's quite a few like activities and whatnot. So just kind of being able to navigate that.

And then my coach, Carly, who is going to be on the big this week, she caddied out here a few years ago for one of her former players. So just kind of being able to have that experience I think is just going to be a lot.

Q. I'm sure growing up you watched the Masters and you know about Augusta National and everything. From your perspective how meaningful and how cool is it to be part of such a really cool and fun week where you're going to get to play Augusta National?

EMILY ODWIN: It's pretty sick. I think I said this earlier today, but having these stages in women's golf and just having these platforms and having this visibility, it's just going to kind of push the sport forward and just create that accessibility that I kind of talked about earlier, kind of showing people that this is something that can be done, whether it's for people that might look like me or people that look like other people. But I think it's just massive for the sport in general.

Q. Anything you're most looking forward to this week?

EMILY ODWIN: I mean, I don't know. I think the biggest thing for me is just going to be kind of stay in the moment, one shot at a time. I'll deal with anything like that when it comes. But just trying to have some fun and just end up proud of myself at the end of the week.

Q. You'll probably have a lot to think about on the first tee, but can you even fathom what this is like for your parents as first-timers of an ANWA participant? Can you fathom what they'll be thinking about tomorrow morning?

EMILY ODWIN: Yeah. I think my parents are always going to be a little bit nervous. It's like, watching golf, it's a lot harder than actually following it, I'm sorry, playing it.

There's one thing I've learned in the last year, just following the leaderboard and walking and having absolutely no control over what somebody does is so much harder than actually being out there and hitting the shots.

Yeah, I appreciate them putting themselves in that position for me this week. I know that's taking a big one for the team, for sure.

Q. There's a lot to see at Augusta National, merch tents. There's a lot of good food. Do you think they'll follow you the entire time or do you think they may kind of hit the sights?

EMILY ODWIN: I mean, I definitely don't blame them if they take a little detour between 9 and 10. Take a little detour. I'm okay with that.