PORTLAND CLASSIC

August 13, 2026

Maria Jose Marin

Columbia Edgewater Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Joining us after the first round of the Standard Portland Classic is Maria Jose Marin. 66 today; you're currently T2. Can you just talk about what was going well out there? We saw that you made five consecutive birdies on the front nine.

MARIA JOSE MARIN: I think I reached like a flow state that I haven't reached in a while. After the British Open I didn't play my best golf, and I think getting that confidence back with this round is all that I needed. I hit the perfect shots, I had the perfect numbers, and the putts just rolled in.

Yeah, as I said, I have my dad in the bag so I fully trust every break that he gave me.

Q. Like you said, you have your dad on the bag. We saw Coach Shauna out here with you. What does that support mean to you, especially when you're teeing it up in an event like this?

MARIA JOSE MARIN: It means a lot. I haven't had my dad in the bag for a long time, almost a year, and it feels amazing to have him. It's like he never left the bag for me. He knows my numbers. He knows every single break. Yeah, just rely on him so much.

Having Shauna here means to much, too. Going into my senior year and knowing I have her total support and the whole university support, it means a lot. I love it.

Q. And then we saw some devastating news come out of your home town of Cali, Colombia with the earthquake. Can you just talk a little bit about that? Your family is okay, but do you feel like you're playing for just a bit more this week?

MARIA JOSE MARIN: Yeah, what happened in Colombia, it's I think one of the most horrible news that you can get. We woke up Monday morning I think it was the earthquake with a voice message of my mom totally crying and panicking; same as my little brother.

So of course it was extremely scary. I told my dad I'm about to jump in a plane and just go back. I just want to hug them. And same with my friends. It's extremely sad and it's like a feeling of you can't do anything.

As you said, I'm playing for more this week. I'm playing to represent them, to represent them well, and, yeah, just hopefully make them proud in whatever I can with my golf.

Q. Going forward throughout the rest of this week, what is your focus going to be on the golf course specifically?

MARIA JOSE MARIN: Yeah, so today was the first round. Of course it was an amazing round, but I'm just going to keep doing what I'm doing: hitting my targets, being really disciplined on what I have to do, of course trusting my dad because as I already said I trust him fully, and, yeah, maybe practice on what didn't went as planned today. Yeah, just focus for tomorrow. It's a new round.