MEIJER LPGA CLASSIC

June 20, 2026

Riley Smyth

Blythefield Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. All right, here with Riley Smyth after her third round here at the Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give. Not only have you made your first cut of your LPGA Tour career, a phenomenal bogey-free round for you today. Just take us through all the emotions you're feeling right now.

RILEY SMYTH: Yeah, I mean, obviously making my first cut is definitely super thrilling this week. You know, struggled at the beginning of the year just to kind of get the game going and get the game sharp. But I knew it was coming, so it was kind of just a waiting game.

So definitely took the time to enjoy that last night, but locked back in for today and just had some good mojo coming into today.

You know, definitely the adrenaline going and then the crowds out there, fed off those. I mean, really, really great crowds this week, so I was able to feed off that and kind of get some birdies going today.

Q. I was going to say, had the nice finish on 18. Big roar from the crowd.

RILEY SMYTH: Uh-huh.

Q. How nice is it to come to these kind of communities and see that support?

RILEY SMYTH: Yeah, I mean, it's unbelievable. You know, it's part of what we play the game for. You know, playing other sports growing up you always feed off the energy of the crowd, and so just being able to be in that atmosphere and have these great crowds was absolutely amazing today.

Q. Did making this cut today or this week, did that kind of free you up to have a round like you did today?

RILEY SMYTH: Absolutely. I mean, you know, first round is definitely a very free round every week; second round, having cut day, always a little bit more stressful; and then getting past the cut and being able to go play the third round, it definitely frees me up a ton, and just being able to go play today and see what happens and hopefully put myself in a good spot going into the final round.

Q. Yeah, you've had a ton of scoring opportunities this week. How does this course suit your strengths?

RILEY SMYTH: It really suits me well. I think especially with a lot of the rain early in the week and last week the fairways are a little bit softer, so being able to really take advantage of my distance off the tee has been massive.

And just being able to get to a lot of par-5s or get close and really take advantage of those scoring opportunities on those holes.

Q. Riley, about a year ago today you got a win on the Epson Tour right down the road.

RILEY SMYTH: Yeah.

Q. What is it about this area of Michigan? Is it something with the courses, the game, or positive vibes all around?

RILEY SMYTH: I think definitely just positive vibes all around, but this style of golf up here is just amazing. I mean, Michigan in the summer is hard to beat. Just being able to come up and, you know, have some big courses where there is a lot of space, a lot of advantage off the tee of being able to get it out there in good positions.

But, yeah, I think just a lot of good vibes being up in Michigan again.

Q. And then lastly, Yana and Gina ended up winning. You played with them on the Epson Tour. Got multiple wins last year. Yana had multiple wins. Gina had multiple wins. Does that give you a little bit of confidence out here seeing them win and be like, you know what, I can do this, I can compete out here?

RILEY SMYTH: Yeah, definitely. You know, seeing competitors that I've seen for a while, especially Gina I've known since high school, you know, and just being able to know exactly how my game stacks up against them and be able to kind of build off that.

But also just, you know, that closeness that all of the Epson Tour grads have is really awesome. And just being able to, you know, cheer them on last week and kind of be able to get some momentum from them winning has been really helpful.

Q. And one of our longer hitters out here. You also make quite a few birdies.

RILEY SMYTH: Uh-huh.

Q. Going to have to chase down the leader tomorrow. Do you feel like you can do that on this golf course?

RILEY SMYTH: Yeah, I mean, I think there is definitely a lot of scoring opportunities, especially having five par-5s that I can either reach or get pretty close to.

You know, it's going to be a grind tomorrow. I mean, the leaders are still out there. They got a lot of holes left to play. There is definitely a lot of birdies out there for them today.

And so I think it's just being able to put my best foot forward tomorrow and try and capitalize on as many birdie opportunities as I can.

Q. Just last one: Heading into a new situation or new situation for you on the LPGA Tour.

RILEY SMYTH: Yeah.

Q. Probably in a later group, TV, all that stuff. How do you control the emotion and excitement for that to play your game?

RILEY SMYTH: Yeah, I mean, I think part of it for me is feeding off the energy and just reminding myself that I have been in this position on Epson.

You know, it definitely is a different level out here having the crowds, having the TV, but just being able to, you know, kind of feed off of also the struggles from this year. I would've given anything to be in this position, you know, two months ago.

So just kind of putting it in perspective and just, you know, taking whatever the course gives me tomorrow.