AUGUSTA NATIONAL WOMEN'S AMATEUR

April 3, 2026

Lauren Kim

Quick Quotes

Q. Let's talk a little bit about your progress here, third time: T-14, missed the cut, and now you're in contention. What's the difference between those three?

LAUREN KIM: I think the first year was just not a lot of fear. Didn't really know what to expect, and I kind of just came and played well and had a lot of fun during my final round.

Last year I think it was just a lot of pressure on myself, knowing that I made the cut the year before and I know the course and whatever. I just made a lot of pressure, put a lot of pressure on myself to make the cut and shoot certain scores.

Then this year, I'm coming into it with like an open mindset, thinking like, all right, whatever happens happens. I'm just going to stick to my process and make sure that I hit to places where I want to go. If I miss the green, make it an easy up-and-down.

Doing that the past two days has been obviously successful, and I'm at the top of the leaderboard.

Q. You think the mindset was key for you?

LAUREN KIM: Definitely. Mindset and also some technical things. I think mental prep was the biggest key.

Q. So the difference between coming to Augusta the first time for you, the practice round on a Friday, like last year when you know you missed the cut and then a year like this when you are in contention, how do you practice?

LAUREN KIM: I played with one of my best friends. We just kept it light out there. I know that I am going to play tomorrow and be competitive and have a game plan. I just treated it like a practice round, nothing more, nothing less.

Q. Can you talk a bit about the game plan? What are the keys for you?

LAUREN KIM: I know Augusta can bite when you're too aggressive. So I think the key is hitting greens, hitting fairways, being aggressive when I can be to certain pins, but just being conservative when I need to be as well.

There's some go pins out there, and there's some that you can't go for and you're just happy to walk away with par. So that's my game plan.