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MARATHON CLASSIC PRESENTED BY OWENS CORNING AND O-IJuly 14, 2015Emma TalleySYLVANIA, OHIO Q.  This isn't brand new to you. I know you played in some other pro events, and you've played at a high level for a long time. The goals: play well, compete, maybe contend, but what else do you want to get out of a week like this? What do you hope to get out of it? EMMA TALLEY: This is my seventh or eighth professional tournament. Every time I keep getting to know the players out here better and better, more and more. It's just really good because they give me so much good advice. I just want to play well this week and make a difference to others and have fun. Q. Is it a matter of getting comfortable with the setting or surroundings or pressure? What's the type of advice that you most welcome? EMMA TALLEY: You know, at the beginning it was all about golf advice, and now it's more about giving me advice for my future. How to go about things and what to do. How to get on tour and, you know, where to live even. Just how to live out on tour, because it's much different. Even coming from the Open to here, I don't want they do this every week. It's like I drove here Sunday night and played yesterday, so it's definitely a grind out here. So just getting really good advice about how to live on tour. Q. Is this the first time playing back‑to‑back professional events? EMMA TALLEY: It is. First time. Last year I played in all the majors, so they were broken up. This is actually my first regular season LPGA tournament. Q. So all the previous ones were... EMMA TALLEY: Majors. Q. What other events do you have going on this summer? EMMA TALLEY: Actually only other tournament I'm playing in is Q‑School, first stage of Q‑School. Q. When and where is that? EMMA TALLEY: In California and it's the first week of August, I think. Not sure. Q. How much is this going to prepare you for that, having two weeks like this in a row? EMMA TALLEY: Every time I go home from a professional event it just seems like you have fire to get better and better. You know, playing out of the rough last week, having different kind of shots that I usually don't have, just everything is about the process. The more practice I get with the best players in the world, the better I'm going to get as a player. Q. Couple Alabama girls out here as well. Is that pretty comfortable? EMMA TALLEY: Yeah, saw Jennifer Kirby yesterday. Haven't seen her since last year, so that was nice. I think we'll go to supper one night. It's really exciting to see all my old teammates. Last week Brooke and Stephanie were be there. I think both of them will be back. I'm not sure. Q. Yeah. EMMA TALLEY: So it's really exciting to see everybody. Q. This is the next step, right, trying to get on tour? EMMA TALLEY: Yes, but I'm going to finish my last year of school. Q. Okay. EMMA TALLEY: So just try to get through first stage; if I get through first stage, I'll try to go to second stage. I'll stop after that and just have amateur status and then make sure I finish school. Q. So will you turn pro or not? EMMA TALLEY: Not until after I finish school. Q. Okay. Okay. Shoot for another NCAA title? EMMA TALLEY: I'm shooting for my degree and to have fun and play good golf. So whatever that is. Q. What are you studying? EMMA TALLEY: Communications. Q. So... EMMA TALLEY: (Indiscernible) golf. (Laughter.) Q. What was that NCAA win like first time on national TV? EMMA TALLEY: It was is fun. I think it was real special since it was on Memorial Day. There were so many people watching, and definitely was really fun. The course was really hard and it was a new experience for everyone. I think it went really well. Q. Not sure this is the first year, but it's the first time this tournament has had that deal with the NCAA individual champion and the team champion representative or however they chose that. Did you know that going in? How neat do you think that is that an event would do that for college golf? EMMA TALLEY: Yeah, it's funny that you ask, because I wanted to get the sponsor's exemption, so I tried to get into the tournament a long time ago. They sent back and they said, We've changed the exemptions this year. We're going to give it to the NCAA champion, one of the girls off the team. I was like, Oh. They said, Good luck. You can do it. And then after I won they sent me an e‑mail and they were like, Well, you did it. So that was really nice to get that e‑mail. I think it's a great just source for NCAA and the LPGA to kind of be together. Because not everyone knows that if you win you get to play in this tournament. I think that's really cool. For the college players, that's something else to just go after, you know. Q. You've won a team national title and an individual now, haven't you? EMMA TALLEY: No, just individual. All‑team the year after. I have some football wins, though. Q. You do? How well do you know Lauren? EMMA TALLEY: She's a great girl. We've texted back and forth a little bit before this tournament. She's super nice and really good player. Q. This tournament is pretty famous for getting huge crowds out here. Was that pretty good preparation last week seeing those crowds, largest attendance in U.S. Open history?  Crowds at the US Open? EMMA TALLEY: Well, the good thing is I love to talk, and I like to talk the whole way up the road, so I hope there are a lot of people here so I can to talk to everybody. (Laughter.) Q. Using that communications thing. EMMA TALLEY: Exactly. Q. How much did you know about this particular tournament before? EMMA TALLEY: Well, Stacy Lewis is one of my good friends. I got play with her my first every U.S. Open. I don't think she was involved with this yet, I'm not sure. So I knew what this was. You know, any tournament with the LPGA is like a dream come true because you're getting to play with the best players out here. Ultimately my dream is to be out on tour, so every tournament is special to me that I get to play in. It's another experience that I can put under my belted and another part of the process that I just want to keep getting better and play my game and see what happens. Q. How did you get to now Stacy? EMMA TALLEY: From the first U.S. Open. She's been great to me. I don't know if I can consider her my mentor, one of my best friends out here, but I do. I don't know if she does. She's helped out so much. Her and her family are great. We got to know each other I guess my sophomore ‑‑ think she said 2010 or 2011 at the Broadmoor in Colorado it just happened that we played in a practice round together. It was me, Natalie Gulbis, Betsy King, and Stacy Lewis. That was a practice round that I won't forget get. They were so encouraging and they gave me so much good advice. I think that was kind of the beginning of, I want to do this. Q. How did ya'll stay in touch after that? How did that relationship develop? EMMA TALLEY: Well, after that I saw her last year. Got to play in four tournaments or whatever and at the Kraft the year before, so just seeing her on different occasions we just became closer and closer. Now we usually eat lunch or supper together one time. Q. That's pretty cool for her to take an Alabama grad or golfer under her wing. EMMA TALLEY: Yeah. I'm sure she's doing it to do Arkansas girls, too. (Laughter.) But she's great. All the players out here, you're kind of star struck at the beginning, but all the players out here‑‑ Natalie Gulbis last week and Laura Diaz, they were so nice to me as well last week. They're fantastic people. Not just golfers but real people, and they have really helped how the out. Q. Trivia your question? EMMA TALLEY: Okay. Q. 1990, who was the head football coach at the university Toledo? EMMA TALLEY: I have no idea. Q. You should know this. EMMA TALLEY: Nick Saban, Nick Saban. Someone told me that yesterday in my Pro‑Am group. Q. I know you beat Gabby by one shot at the NCAAs. Stacy reach out to you after that? Talk to her bout that? EMMA TALLEY: She tweeted after I hit the bunker shot before I won, so she was talking about how great the bunker shot was. She congratulated me since. But, yes, it was fun. I mean, Gabby played a great final round. I think she shot 66. She's a great player. That's going to happen out there. Q. Who are you playing practice round with today? EMMA TALLEY: I have no idea. Go with the flow. Q. As far as you mentioned it, how many pro tournaments are you looking to play this year? EMMA TALLEY: This is it. This is my last one for this year. Hopefully I can get in to some next year when I turn pro. I don't know how all that works yet. I'm trying to figure it all out. I know there is a system. The first step is Q‑School, so I'll do that first. Q. So even if you get all the way through Q‑School still playing the whole year? EMMA TALLEY: Well, I don't think you can play third stage ‑‑ if you ge through third stage you're pro. So I think I'm just going to do the first two. Q. What did the U.S. AM win do for you? EMMA TALLEY: That was kind of definitely a starting point in my career. After that I had to go‑‑ I kind of failed that year after I won. I didn't play as well through the fall with school. It was kind of cool for me this year after winning NCAA, I win the NCAA and then very next week I had my qualifier for th U.S. Open. When I qualified, I thought the U.S. AM helped me so much. It gave me that experience to learn how to regroup group and play again. Just like this week. You're back to back. You can't think about last week because got this week. The U.S. AM is a great tournament. I love th the USGA and the tournaments they put on. I had a really good time there. Definitely was the start of my college career. Q. You said you kind failed after the U.S. AM. It's hard to maintain that level of play; how did you get it back? EMMA TALLEY: Every time you go somewhere everybody is like, She's like she won the U.S. AM; she's supposed to win. That's not how it is in golf. You don't win that much. Tiger, the best players in the world don't win half the time. I guess Jordan is starting to. But, you know, just people don't do that. So I had to learn how to just play a tournament and then regroup and focus on the things I need to get better at. Eventually I figured that out. My coaches at Alabama and at home, they all helped me to get my game back to where it needed to be. Q. I know it's a little different on the women's side but seeing some of the guys like Jordan and Justin Thomas who you played college golf with, seeing them succeed on the men's tour, does that help out here? EMMA TALLEY: It's so fun. I mean, after I won the National Championship Justin called me, and him and Justin and Patrick usually room together at tournaments, and so they were all together and they had me own speakerphone. Patrick was asleep so I didn't get to talk to him. But him and Jordan just talked to me. It was like it was back to junior golf. Like we were in Europe at the Junior Ryder Cup again. It's just great to know that those guys are still themselves, truly themselves, and they're still really good golfers. Definitely giving you some motivation. Q. And they're still willing to pick up the phone. EMMA TALLEY: Yeah, they did not have to call me. I should be calling them, right? Just gives you some motivation to work hard. If all my friends can do it, hopefully I can do it. Q. You think Jordan can pull off three in a row? EMMA TALLEY: We'll see. (Laughter.) I'm always rooting for my friends out there, so I would love to see it.. Q. I think it might happen. EMMA TALLEY: It's he's on a roll. Q. Especially with Rory out. Are you a football fan? EMMA TALLEY: Oh, yeah, oh, yeah. We get together a lot at the games. The cool thing about Alabama is Nick Saban loves golf, first of all, so we see him on the golf course all the time. And the players. I think that's part of the system that Saban runs, is he wants them to have a genuine heart about them, I guesses. They're real people. After I won the National Championship and the U.S. AM, some of the best players on the team come up to me, and they knew what was going on with my golf. You don't have that in every sport. As soon is I got home from National Championship, OJ Howard and Derek Henry and all these guys were fist pumping, congratulating me. So I thought it was really cool. At Alabama all the athletes know each other and everyone wants to be the best in their sport. That's the coolest thing. Like my roommate Mya Jansen just won her back‑to‑back National Championship in doubles; she's my roommate and best friend. Then my other roommate, (indiscernible) has the most minutes on the soccer field as anybody on our team. Her brother was the one that passed a way in the car wreck at Auburn a couple years ago. So you'll see me in a 43 hat this week. And my boyfriend just got drafted by the Padres. Everybody want to be the best in their sport down there. It's just a real fun atmosphere. Q. What's your boyfriend's name? EMMA TALLEY: Kyle Overstreet. He was a second baseman all through college, won the Gold Glove and all this stuff, and then got drafted as a catcher. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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