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U.S. WOMEN'S AMATEUR FOUR-BALL CHAMPIONSHIPMay 12, 2015Alyaa AbdulghanyEllen TakadaBANDON, OREGON ELLEN TAKADA: We were all square on hole 17, right, and I birdied the last hole, and we won the match. It was really -- my hand was really shaking, and it was really tough, but yeah. Q. You made the winning putt, didn't you? ELLEN TAKADA: I did, yeah. It was like six foot. Q. You gave a little fist pump there at the end? ELLEN TAKADA: Because I knew I've got to make it. Q. Do you think that's kind of one of the most exciting golf memories you have or the best kind of clutch putt? Have you done something like that before? ELLEN TAKADA: No, I guess not. Yeah, that putt was really special for me, yeah. Q. And you have your mom on the bag, right? ELLEN TAKADA: Yeah, I played alone the last three days, but yeah, I asked my mom to help me. Q. So you didn't have a caddie the last three days? ELLEN TAKADA: No. I played alone. Q. Were you getting some help from Alyaa? ELLEN TAKADA: Yeah, Alyaa's caddie Tom helped me to read my line, and yeah. He's a great caddie. Q. How is your mom adjusting to -- has she done this before, caddied for you? ELLEN TAKADA: Yeah, she's done it, like USGA women's other tournaments, but she encourages me. Q. How were you guys feeling this afternoon? ELLEN TAKADA: Really good, yes, really good. I have to miss school, but it's good. Q. It's worth it? ELLEN TAKADA: Uh-huh, right. Q. Tell me about the afternoon. Were you feeling tired at all or maybe a little pumped up from the morning? ELLEN TAKADA: I'm really tired right now, yeah, I am. I played 36 holes today -- not 36 holes, but almost. Q. Any particular spots in the second round or in the second match today where you thought you guys played particularly well? ELLEN TAKADA: No, I don't think so. We work on staying very consistent, and we tried not to make bogeys. She made birdies and I made birdies, so it was good. It was good not to have like birdies on the same hole. Q. That's helpful. ELLEN TAKADA: Yeah, yeah. Q. You'll be coming up to the Northwest for college. Is this kind of a cool look at what it's like? ELLEN TAKADA: Yeah, it's going to be really exciting, yeah. I have one more year to get. Q. Do you think you're ready for this cold? ELLEN TAKADA: Uh-huh, yeah. Not yet. Yeah, I still need to work on my putter and short game, but yeah, uh-huh. Q. What brought you to Washington? Why Washington? ELLEN TAKADA: Well, Washington, that's a really hard question. I like the culture of the West, so that's why I came here. Q. Have you been following the team this year? They've won like six times. ELLEN TAKADA: I think they are still like second or third right now. Yeah, they're doing really well. They're going to play Pac-12 this month. Q. I think they already did. They're headed to nationals. ELLEN TAKADA: Yeah. Q. Where did you grow up? You didn't grow up in the U.S., did you? ELLEN TAKADA: I grew up in Japan. Q. Tell me that story, about where you grew up and came from? ELLEN TAKADA: I was born in Irvine, actually, California, and I moved to Japan, and I came back here like two years ago. Q. So why did your family leave Irvine? ELLEN TAKADA: My dad works at like a company in California. Q. And then he went to Japan -- you were born here and then you moved to Japan, so his job took him there? ELLEN TAKADA: Yeah, uh-huh. Q. What kind of company is it? ELLEN TAKADA: It's Sigmax, it's CEO. Q. When you job brought him back to Irvine, how old do you think you were when that happened? ELLEN TAKADA: Not sure. Sorry, I'm not sure. Q. Do you remember like middle school, elementary school? ELLEN TAKADA: Oh, when I came here? Q. Yeah, when you came back. ELLEN TAKADA: It was sophomore year -- freshman year. Q. So pretty recently? ELLEN TAKADA: Pretty recently, two years ago. Q. What was your first language that you learned? Was it English or Japanese? ELLEN TAKADA: Japanese. I'm still learning English. Q. You're doing well. ELLEN TAKADA: Thank you. Q. Do you know any other languages, just Japanese and English? ELLEN TAKADA: Only Japanese and English. Q. That's probably enough. ELLEN TAKADA: I think so. She likes watching like anime, Japanese stuff. Q. Do you teach her Japanese ever? ELLEN TAKADA: No. Q. And then you're a former tennis player; is that right? ELLEN TAKADA: My mom, yes. Q. Did you ever think about playing that? ELLEN TAKADA: Yeah, I used to play tennis when I was really young, like five, six, I don't remember. But yeah. Q. When did you decide golf was when you wanted? ELLEN TAKADA: Because I liked golf better, and I didn't like tennis that much. Q. It's fast. ELLEN TAKADA: It's fast, yeah. Q. Can I ask Alyaa, can you come join us, too? Congratulations, semifinalist. ALYAA ABDULGHANY: Thank you. Q. Did you have a goal set up when you came in this week? ALYAA ABDULGHANY: No, definitely not. Q. How does it feel to reach the semis then? ALYAA ABDULGHANY: Feels good. I mean, like it's definitely the work hard paid off. Q. Ellen was telling me that you didn't really have any one standout hole today in the afternoon, that you just kind of played well? ALYAA ABDULGHANY: Yeah, we played well. I mean, like, even if one person was doing bad, we always -- we stepped up, we knew we had to cover up for the other person. We were pretty good in the afternoon. Q. Legs tired from the morning the last couple days? ALYAA ABDULGHANY: Oh, my God, I need a massage later. Q. What was that reaction when you saw that fist pump from her on 18 this morning? ALYAA ABDULGHANY: I was stoked. I was just like, yes, because I was doing terrible like the last couple holes in the morning, and I was just like, I wasn't chipping well, and my putting just wasn't there, and I was just like, oh, my God. Good thing I had Ellen here. Q. What are your plans for tonight and tomorrow then? ALYAA ABDULGHANY: I need to do homework. I need to catch up on so much homework, and that's literally my plan for all night. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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