THE G4D OPEN

May 15, 2026

Daphne van Houten

Quick Quotes

Q. Daphne, good round today. How do you feel you played? How was your form?

DAPHNE VAN HOUTEN: It was a lot better today than yesterday. Yesterday I was struggling a lot because it was much colder, and then my back is much more stiff and it's much more harder to make a good swing.

I also don't train a lot. So like yesterday felt like training for today, and today I went to the range and started to hit the ball a lot better. I got a bit more confident out there at the finish of the round, and I am looking forward to tomorrow to bring that back in the course.

Q. Do you think you can win tomorrow and do it for a third time?

DAPHNE VAN HOUTEN: I hope so. I hope so. If I play like today, I am quite sure that I have a very good chance.

Q. How was it to play with Jennifer today?

DAPHNE VAN HOUTEN: Amazing. It's always amazing to play with Jennifer because it's so impressive. Her short game is the best short game out there. So it's amazing to see that.

Also, to feel the tension in the group, like you know you need to preferably beat the ladies in your group, but you know there's also two days left and there are other ladies out there.

Now I know who I need to beat, and it was amazing to feel that tension in the group and see Jennifer get nervous. I get nervous. It gives me some extra energy.

Q. Amazing. You did talk a bit about earlier in the week that you were feeling fatigued. How have you coped with that this week?

DAPHNE VAN HOUTEN: It's been very, very tough. It's been three years now that I have long COVID, and I need to manage my energy so fine. Sadly before I arrived here, I needed to go to the dentist three times. I had the birthday of my boyfriend. We had to travel here for Kipp's event. So I also travelled here earlier and we've done many hours by car. It was not the best preparation, not the one that I would have wanted.

Normally before a big tournament like this, I would do nothing for a whole week and just stay locked in the house and manage that I will have all the energy I need for this tournament. Now sadly, mainly because of the problem in my teeth, I couldn't have that.

But I managed the day before the first round quite fine to sleep and rest and don't go here and don't go to speak to people, just stay in the hotel and stay in your room and try to catch some sleep. I felt a bit more ready than the days before.

Q. Good. This week is Mental Health Awareness Week. Why do you think golf is so important for mental health?

DAPHNE VAN HOUTEN: I had a conversation yesterday with my boyfriend about this -- not because it's mental health week, but just because for me, many people tell me why are you still playing golf if you are not playing your game like you used to? Many times you come off the course also quite sad and frustrated because I cannot do what I would want to do, so I need to adapt to a different level of golf that I'm playing now, and that is quite difficult. I'm trying to manage that now.

And he asks me, well, why are you still playing? I said, if I don't play, I don't know how I would be mentally because it's doing so much for me to see all my friends, to go out, to do the sport that I love, get some fresh air. I am so much stuck in the house because I can't go out of the house much with my illness. These three days where I put in all my energy in, that one week in bed doesn't really matter because I can go out and I refill myself mentally.

So it's quite funny that we just had a conversation about that, and he doesn't understand completely, but it does a lot for me mentally to go. Physically it's not the the best thing to do, to go here and make myself so tired that I stay in the bed a week. But mentally it just gives me another boost that I can go again.

Q. Who's your favourite person to play golf with?

DAPHNE VAN HOUTEN: There are many, but in this case, I need to say my boyfriend, Tommaso Perrino. I need to say also because it is like that, but also, all the ladies here, Aimi, Jennifer, Mette, all of them are like friends, and there's a good atmosphere and we're all happy and we all are cheering for each other, which for me is amazing to see.

But my favourite is my boyfriend. I should also mention my parents, but it's my boyfriend.