AUGUSTA NATIONAL WOMEN'S AMATEUR

April 1, 2026

Vanessa Borovilos

Quick Quotes

Q. This is your first time at this event. Can you just give some first impressions?

VANESSA BOROVILOS: We came here -- honestly, I don't know what day it is today, Wednesday? We came here Monday to practice, and immediately once you step on to the grounds, everything is so pure. I remember being told as a kid, if you find a weed at Augusta, you get a thousand bucks. I'm not sure if that's true, but there's no chance of finding one here. It's incredible.

Q. Last night, obviously you're staying in a new place. Can you talk about if you were so excited you couldn't sleep or anything that went into your routine to make this feel a little bit more normal?

VANESSA BOROVILOS: Honestly, I had a great sleep last night. I woke up and I wasn't really sure where I was. That's how good of a sleep I had. It's almost like any other event, early wake-up calls most of the days, so just try to treat it like that, and the chairman's dinner was pretty cool last night, so it was a nice end to the night.

Q. Talk a little bit more about that. You're out here with a lot of the best amateurs in the world. How is it to see all of them in one place for one of the few times a year that it happens?

VANESSA BOROVILOS: It's crazy. I know almost everyone here from collegiate events and junior events, and for us to all be tested on a course like this, Champions Retreat, it's cool to test your game against theirs and ask them how they played some holes or how they did. I think everyone is just enjoying being here. It's a once-a-year opportunity to do, and I think we're all enjoying it no matter how it's going out there.

Q. Throughout your round today, 6-under, was there anything that was going through your mind throughout it?

VANESSA BOROVILOS: I was just joking a lot with my caddie. We were swearing a lot, which we can't say on here, but just keeping it loose out there. I think speed on the greens was pretty good for me today. But just having a good time, not trying to think about the score since it's so early in the tournament, but just try to pick the best lines off the tees and on the greens.

Q. You spoke to it a little bit, but how are you managing your emotions out there and just the excitement of the week in general?

VANESSA BOROVILOS: I saw this post on Instagram actually a couple weeks ago where it said, "take the E off emotions," and that's kind of stuck with me because if you have no emotions out here, you're not really scared to hit it anywhere because it's not going to matter.

I kind of took that with me today, and it was nice. I was more joyful out there. I was a bit happier because I didn't really care where the ball was going. I think that's going to stick with me for the rest of the week.

Q. I didn't think Canadians swore.

VANESSA BOROVILOS: Yeah, we do. I think Texas has kind of changed me a bit, which is nice. But we try to keep it under our breath if we do.

Q. Obviously you've had a great season so far, but was there anything that you've really changed in your game or worked on in these months with this tournament in mind?

VANESSA BOROVILOS: I've been working a lot on my irons and my wedges. I'm actually taking divots now, which is so fun because before I was just sweeping the ball. But it's nice. It gives me better distance control, and I'm able to hit the ball up higher, especially on fast greens like these. That's one thing that I've worked on a lot with my coach.

Q. How recent are we talking about were you just picking the ball?

VANESSA BOROVILOS: I would say up until December I was picking it most of the time, not really getting much height on it. I had a good lesson over the winter with my coach where I was just trying to get my chest over the ball a bit more, and it seemed to help a bit.

Q. Who's your coach?

VANESSA BOROVILOS: Scott Cox, up in Toronto.

Q. What did G say about the way you used to hit the ball?

VANESSA BOROVILOS: He knows I'm a sweeper. Every time I make a divot, he's like, oh, my. It's nice for him to see. He's laughing back there.

Q. Are they like big juicy divots now?

VANESSA BOROVILOS: Big juicy ones with my wedges. I can see a little bit of dirt with my 5-iron, which is nice.

Q. Talking about playing freely, have you ever had this mindset before today? Is this new for you playing like that?

VANESSA BOROVILOS: I would say as a kid I was playing a lot freer than I have in my teen years. Just with social media and everything going on around you, it's easy to kind of get caught up in that. But my Instagram algorithm is pretty good right now with mindset stuff, so I've just been scrolling on there.

You see all the top athletes talking about it. If you just have fun, the game is most likely going to be better for you. I just try to be happy out there. It's definitely hard in some cases, but if you're happy, if you're enjoying yourself out there, the game is going to treat you well.

Q. Is the algorithm that way because you've been searching for it?

VANESSA BOROVILOS: I think my coach ended up sending me something one time and then it just switched, but I've got a lot of stuff on there, so...