AUGUSTA NATIONAL WOMEN'S AMATEUR

April 2, 2026

Meja Ortengren

Quick Quotes

Q. You had shots here, top 15 a couple of times before, and Sweden has done very well and had Ingrid and Beatrice and all these people contend. How much do you think it would mean if you are able to break through on Saturday and get a win for Sweden?

MEJA ORTENGREN: It would mean a lot. I think this is the biggest kind of amateur tournament there is, and it's been a dream ever since they announced it to win it. I also think that seeing the Swedish girls before me doing well on this stage is a little bit of a confidence boost. I know how they practice, and I see them a lot back in Sweden, so that definitely helps.

Q. Can you try to convey how big golf is in Sweden? Annika is the best who has done it in the women's game. Is that when it really started? Kind of how big is it there?

MEJA ORTENGREN: It's quite big. It's getting bigger and bigger. The last couple of years there's been kind of a little boom with young people starting to play golf. It's been more of, like, elderly peoples playing before, but now it's starting to be, like, a junior sport, which is really fun.

I love to see young girls playing in Sweden, but, yeah, Annika is definitely the biggest kind of supporter of women's golf as well. So it's really great to see her, being from Sweden.

Q. You've met her I assume before?

MEJA ORTENGREN: Yeah.

Q. She's very likely to be here on Saturday. What would that mean to be able to compete in front of her on that stage?

MEJA ORTENGREN: Yeah, it would mean a lot (smiling). I've met her a few times. I've played her tournaments, and I have also been part of the ANNIKA Cup when I was very young, so I've kind of taken the steps in her kind of stair with golf tournaments. So it would be great.

I remember one of -- the first time I was here walking up to the first tee and hearing, Hey, Meja, from Annika in the crowd, being very surprised by her standing there next to the first tee.

Q. Did it make you nervous?

MEJA ORTENGREN: Yeah (laughing), I was very nervous.

Q. Did you have a goal for today?

MEJA ORTENGREN: Not like a result goal. I was just trying to get out there and play my best golf and give myself a lot of opportunities. I think the few opportunities you get out here, you need to take advantage of them, and I made some longer putts, which really helped with the score today.

Q. What's the American comparison for what Annika means to Swedes, like young Swedes? Is there an American?

MEJA ORTENGREN: I don't know.

Q. Who would Meja or Kelly, who would they be star-struck?

MEJA ORTENGREN: I think that's the thing, I think there's a lot of people in the U.S. you can look up to, but from Sweden it's very obvious that Annika has done so much and also is giving back so much to golf in Sweden right now. So it's very, like -- it's very fortunate to have her in Sweden right now, but there is a lot of, like, younger players coming up right now from Sweden who the younger players are looking up to more.

Q. I was talking to Coach. She said your lag putting speed in the last few months has gotten significantly better.

MEJA ORTENGREN: Yeah.

Q. Why do you think that is?

MEJA ORTENGREN: Well, I grew up on Swedish greens, which are very slow. Coming to the United States and studying at Stanford these last, like, year and a half I've really gotten the opportunity to practice every single day on fast greens. I think that has helped super much.

The last, like, year I think my speed control has been so much better than when I first got here.

Q. What was working so well for you on the front nine on the way to 31?

MEJA ORTENGREN: Well, I made some longer putts, but also was giving myself a lot of opportunities, good birdie chances, and took advantage of a few of them.

But I also think I played pretty smart out there, hitting a lot of good shots to the bigger parts of the greens when I didn't have the best look at birdie from the fairway. So I was smart out there and also hit some very good shots.

Q. Which putt are you most proud of, and how long?

MEJA ORTENGREN: I made a really long one on two, the par-5, my eagle for the day. It was, like, ten meters on the green, so almost a 25-meter put that I made, so that was a huge one.

Q. Number three?

MEJA ORTENGREN: Sorry. Number three, yeah.

Q. Did you go home at all this winter to Sweden?

MEJA ORTENGREN: I went home for almost three weeks. I spent a little time with my family and went ice skating and skiing, all of the things that I've missed about Sweden, so that was nice.

Q. Is it allowed, to go skiing midseason?

MEJA ORTENGREN: Yeah, I guess so (laughing).

Q. Which is more dangerous?

MEJA ORTENGREN: Skiing, definitely, yeah.

Q. What level of skier are you? What would your handicap be in skiing? Ice skating as well.

MEJA ORTENGREN: I would say my skiing is better than my ice skating. I have grown up skiing ever since I was very young, so maybe I started skiing when I was 3, I would say.

We have a cabin in the north of Sweden, so we go up there every year. I would say I'm maybe a single-digit handicapper in skiing at least (laughing).

Q. Do you ski blacks? Do you have the same blacks, double blacks?

MEJA ORTENGREN: Yeah. We do.

Q. What's the biggest you've ever done?

MEJA ORTENGREN: Oh, I think we only have double black diamonds in Sweden. I've done it maybe once or twice, but I like the reds most of the time. You can go fast, and it's not getting out of control.

Q. I'm guessing you never played hockey?

MEJA ORTENGREN: I did, actually, yeah.

Q. Any fights or anything?

MEJA ORTENGREN: No fights, no fights.

Q. This is your fifth appearance. You have experienced a championship, but also experienced navigating a practice round at Augusta National before the championship round. How will your experience help you basically take 24 hours off of competition leading into the final round?

MEJA ORTENGREN: I think I'm just trying to try and enjoy tomorrow as much as I can. I know that I'm going to be tense and nervous on Saturday, so I feel like I'm going to try and enjoy the experience of playing Augusta National completely empty and walking with my family inside the ropes. So that's going to be my game plan for tomorrow.

Q. Is there a go-to way for you to relax and get golf out of your brain? Like even throughout the season at Stanford, what's your go-to relaxation just to kind of empty your head a little bit?

MEJA ORTENGREN: I would say talk to friends and family. I often call my parents or my brother or any of my friends from back home just to get my mind off of golf and talk about something else for a few moments.

Q. Is there one person that you wish could be there on Saturday, maybe an old instructor, someone from Sweden? Who would just be over the moon to see you competing at Augusta National?

MEJA ORTENGREN: There are a lot of people. I would really like my best friends to be here. They are in school, so it's kind of hard for them to get off and get here, but I would say my best friends.

Q. The reason I was asking you about your goal for the day is how do you compare this with your first time here? It's exciting to play Augusta National for the first time. It's a great week, but we're still in a tournament that you have dreamed about winning. Is it hard to lose sight of the goal side, the competition side to make sure you're in a good position going into Saturday?

MEJA ORTENGREN: Not really. I would say that every single time I get on a golf course, I feel like I have a good game plan, and the goal is definitely to play my best golf and doing that by giving myself opportunities.

But I think the more you play here -- I heard Andrea say yesterday -- that this course gets a little bit less intimidating every time you play it, and I definitely agree with that. I think I was very young and maybe a little bit naive the first time I played here, but the second, third, and fourth time was a lot more nervous and tense, but I think this year I've settled down a little bit being more comfortable with my game.

Q. Is your brother going to caddie Saturday?

MEJA ORTENGREN: Yeah, that's the plan.

Q. What kind of golf is your brother?

MEJA ORTENGREN: He's decent (laughing). He used to compete, but stopped when he started going to university in Sweden.

Q. Did he caddie for you at all at Augusta or anything?

MEJA ORTENGREN: He's caddied a few times. He caddied for me last year all three rounds and also some tournaments in Sweden. Whenever he can get off school and get out to caddie for me, he will do it.

Q. What does he say to you? Is he quiet? Why are you guys such a good partnership?

MEJA ORTENGREN: I think we both are a little bit quiet, but also very comfortable with each other, obviously being siblings. So I think that takes off a little bit of the pressure of playing here, having someone that you know really, really well on the bag and can talk about pretty much everything and not always having to talk about golf on the golf course as well. Talk about different stuff.

Q. What did you learn from the competition rounds in the past at Augusta that you think might help you tomorrow or Saturday?

MEJA ORTENGREN: From the kind of tournament rounds I think I've learned that you need to have a lot of patience out there and be disciplined with your approaches. It can get away from you quite easily if you hit bad shots into the greens, but also you can get a lot of opportunities if you hit the right spots at Augusta.

So I think that will be the most important thing, staying disciplined from the fairway and also knowing where the right and bad spots are.