NW ARKANSAS CHAMPIONSHIP

September 25, 2026

Gaby Lopez

Pinnacle Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Here with Gaby Lopez after her first round at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship presented by P&G. Really solid round for you to start off round one. You started on one, right?

GABY LOPEZ: I started off ten.

Q. But to have those closing three holes, 16, 17, 18, birdies, what went into that?

GABY LOPEZ: Yeah, it was solid round. I would say that, you know, I was rolling my putts very well. I think the golf course is set up probably in a little different way than other years, and it's great.

So, yeah, I love the atmosphere here. I love the community. It's a home game for me and I just love playing at Pinnacle.

Q. Is that a nice mental challenge for you when you've come to a course year after year and see it set up a little differently?

GABY LOPEZ: Yeah, I mean, especially the greens are always soft so you just have to be aware of the spin. When you hit your wedges it can spin back quite a bit.

Yeah, I'm honestly, very happy with how the golf course is playing. The temperature dropped so that's also a bonus for us.

Q. Six birdies for you. Everyone said in pre-tournament it's a birdiefest out here. How important is it to keep this momentum going forward?

GABY LOPEZ: Yeah, it's very important to keep the momentum because, yeah, everyone is making a lot of birdies and you want to make sure that you're not giving anything away.

Yeah, very happy with how we wedged it today. Very happy with the momentum we got kind of being able to make some up and downs.

Yeah, I'm happy and ready for the weekend.

Q. What's the key to putting yourself in those birdie situations?

GABY LOPEZ: I mean, you just have to give yourself some good angles to the greens and be aggressive. You can be really aggressive to these kind of greens because they're very soft.

Q. What shot or stretch of shots really shaped your round today?

GABY LOPEZ: I think for sure 16, 17, 18. Being able to hole that putt on 16 and hit it to six feet on 17, to putt birdie for 18, that for sure kind of feels nice to get in a roll.

For sure also the closing -- on number nine, seven, eight, nine, also that was very nice to have some good putts dropping and hit it close on eight.

So, yeah, feel like it's a combination between good shots and putts.

Q. What is it about Pinnacle? What does it demand from you today as a golfer?

GABY LOPEZ: I feel that it demands a lot of patience because there is a lot of birdie opportunities out there and everyone is making them. So being able to kind of bubble up, stay patient and be aggressive and stay committed.

Q. What is your score today -- how does it change your approach for Saturday and Sunday?

GABY LOPEZ: Yeah, getting to know that the golf course is soft and being able to have the aggressive mentality that you can go at the pin and you're going to have probably closer opportunities, whereas if you play a little more conservative.

Q. Lastly, thank for your time. How do you balance the Arkansas familiarity with the need to be able to post a high score and potentially make a run for a championship?

GABY LOPEZ: Yeah, I mean, playing at home is always tough. Not being able to play here for the past -- coming up to this year, it's helped a lot to kind of feel that my game is in a good place. Being able to trust that I can be aggressive.

I feel that like in any other golf tournament you just have to know that you're sharp. You have to hit the -- you still have to hit the tee shots. You still have to hit some wedges and you still make some putts.

So at the end of the day it's another golf tournament. Of course as a Razorback you always want to hoist that trophy, but at the end of the day if you stay patient, you be aggressive, if it goes your way great. If not, proud of all the effort you put behind.