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OLYMPIC GAMES RIO 2016: GOLF

August 18, 2016

Marianne Skarpnord

Rio De Janeiro, Brazil

Q. How does it feel to be leading the Olympic golf competition?
MARIANNE SKARPNORD: Yeah, it feels great. I played well today. I hit the ball much much better than I did yesterday. Yesterday I was a bit everywhere and I putted really well to save myself to be honest. Today was a bit more relaxed game for me. I thought I was going to hit it straight and yesterday I was surprised if the ball went straight. It was better today.

Q. You said this was a similar course to the Melbourne Sandbelt; do you live near there?
MARIANNE SKARPNORD: Yeah, we have two courses in the backyard, and they are not exactly like this, but it's the same type of course. We played a lot on it and I really like that type of course. Not 100 percent links, but a little bit linksy, a little bit firm. I think that's a proper golf course. Not a Mickey Mouse soft course like you get in Europe.

Q. Not so keen on the target golf?
MARIANNE SKARPNORD: No. Just proper good greens, and you can run shots up, you can run chips up. I think it's a really, really good golf course.

Q. Is there anything you did last night after the round to help bring about this improvement? Did you go and hit balls?
MARIANNE SKARPNORD: Yeah, we went to the range, because I didn't feel good yesterday. Wasn't comfortable over the ball, at all. But the day before on Tuesday, I played really well and felt 100 percent, so I was a bit surprised that I came here, and was like, shoot, where has it gone.
So we worked on it yesterday and I felt that I found the feeling again. And it was good this morning.

Q. So was it nerves?
MARIANNE SKARPNORD: No, it's usually my setup that I get a bit confused with. Sometimes I'm a bit too upright. Sometimes a bit too much bent over. It's just finding exactly where I need to be. As soon as the setup feels good, then everything just goes automatically.

Q. So you live in Melbourne, but you're Norwegian born and bred?
MARIANNE SKARPNORD: Born and bred. Still live in Norway half the year, and then when it's getting a bit cold, then we jump on a plane and disappear down to Australia.

Q. You've got your fiancée, Richard, on the bag. Did he help your game at all today, or hinder?
MARIANNE SKARPNORD: Today he helped me. He's reading these greens pretty good and he's finally learned how far I hit all my clubs, so he's helping me a bit there. It's just nice to have someone to talk to to be honest, someone that knows me well enough to say certain things that maybe other caddies wouldn't say, and just tell me straight up how it is.

Q. So was there ever a question of if you would bring him here or not, or when you qualified, did you say, right, yeah, you're coming?
MARIANNE SKARPNORD: No, we actually decided when we first knew that the golf was going to be in the Olympics, that that was‑‑ if I got in, that was something that we wanted to do together. Regardless of the caddie I'm using at home, he would have still come to this event.

Q. So tell me the story again, you got engaged, when exactly?
MARIANNE SKARPNORD: Must be a year and a half ago in Dubai, Burj Khalifa, on the 148th floor, he asked the question. Yeah, as I say, obviously I couldn't say no. It would have been a bit awkward being in the tallest building in the world; I couldn't jump.
Yeah, so I've been engaged for over a year and a half, and bought a house in Australia about two years ago. We have a course in the backyard, not exactly like this, but it's a similar type of course. We play there a lot, so we both really like this type of golf.

Q. How do you describe this type of golf?
MARIANNE SKARPNORD: I think it's fairly generous off the tee. It's a bit of roll and they have got proper, big, nice bunkers. The greens are receptive, but they are not too soft. You still get release with longer irons. The ball rolled really good on the greens. I just think it's a really good golf course.

Q. He won the Victorian Open the same week you won it when you were over in Australia, so you've sort of won together before in a way. Do you think you could sort of win together here, get the Gold Medal?
MARIANNE SKARPNORD: Yeah, I think we could. If I play‑‑ if I have another two days like I had today, absolutely. And I think that's probably what you're going to need, probably about 10‑under over the weekend; 8‑ to 11‑under over the weekend.
I think my biggest job is just to go out there and continue to play my game and be calm. I'm hitting it a bit shorter than a lot of the girls right now, and sometimes it's a bit frustrating when somebody is smashing it 30 past you.
So I think it's just very important for me to ignore my playing partners and how they are playing and how far they are hitting, and just play my own game and just accept that I have to hit wedges on to the par 5s and not a 3‑wood on the green.

Q. Are you staying in the athlete's village?
MARIANNE SKARPNORD: Yes, I am.

Q. In the Team Norway house?
MARIANNE SKARPNORD: Yes. It's great. We have the handball girls, they are doing really well, playing the semis against Russia today. There are a lot of girls and really happy; they are also nice people. Like we're all here for the same reason, but just different sports and we understand each other. I think it's just a really cool thing.
When I first came there, I was thinking, God, this is like going to camp or something, border school or whatever. The food isn't great. The beds aren't great. The apartment isn't great. But the atmosphere and the experience is better and a lot more than I would ever think that it would be. I'm loving it. I think it's really cool.

Q. Are you going to follow the girls at handball tonight?
MARIANNE SKARPNORD: Oh, yes, match at 8.30. We will be there. We're going to be there. It's going to be cool.

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