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MANULIFE LPGA CLASSIC

September 1, 2016

Maria McBride

Cambridge, Ontario, Canada

Q. What does it feel like going into your last tournament this week?
MARIA McBRIDE: It feels good when you finally make the decision that you're going to cut down. I mean I still might play some next year, I mean like two or three, whatever. I probably won't have status next year, so whatever I get into I might play. But playing full time, I've had enough, I've done my part out here, and I just want to be home more and not having to build my life around a golf schedule, kind of more around my daughter's schedule.

Q. Can you tell me a bit about what golf has meant to you throughout your life? You devoted so much of your life to the game. What does golf mean to you and what do you love so much about the sport?
MARIA McBRIDE: Yeah. I started playing when I was five. So I've played for almost 40 years now, for 38 years. So it's been obviously a huge part of my life. And yeah, it's just meant everything. Golf is great in the way you travel around the world and you get to see places and you get to go to places where you would probably never go otherwise. And just the experience of being out here and making a living which is amazing that you can. And also with everything, being able to have a child and the help with the day care that we have out on tour and still being able to play and continue with everything. Yeah, just everything has been really, really amazing experience for me.

Q. I remember last year around this time you said that you were trying to make your shots a little bit more aggressive than before. How is your approach to golf or your strategy changed in recent years since you're sort of nearing the end of your golf career?
MARIA McBRIDE: I mean I'm still trying to swing as well as I can and whatever, but I think it's more in a way enjoying it more rather than feeling that this is a job, I have to go out there and do this and that. And the last year pretty much I've been trying to enjoy it more, and obviously I tried in the beginning to get into the Olympic team because I had a chance. And once I didn't get into the Olympics team, it was kind of hard to get that motivation to kind of keep going and keep grinding. And I still love the competitive part of golf, but I think it's everything else with travel and all the practice that comes with it that you need that it's really kind of gone away from me.

Q. And lastly, what are you most looking forward to now, then, in your spare time? You'll be traveling less, you'll be on the road less?
MARIA McBRIDE: Yeah, exactly. On the road less. But like I said in the beginning, it's just not having a golf schedule. I think that's the biggest part.

Q. Are you going to pick up a new hobby or a new sport?
MARIA McBRIDE: Yeah. We'll see actually. We'll see. I'm going to do like a mud run, a four and a half kill meter mud run the 24th of September. Yeah, I'm going to train for that one and see how it goes. If I enjoy it there might be some more around Orlando that I might do and try out, and just a little bit to challenge myself because I'm still a competitor deep down, so it's fun to do something different.

Q. And very last question. How have you seen the LPGA Tour change throughout your career since the tour in general you have a lot more international players now. How have you seen it change throughout your career?
MARIA McBRIDE: I think the biggest thing, everybody is like younger now. They come out, they don't go to college that much. That kind of turn pro early and come out and play professional golf, and I think that's the biggest difference than when I came out. I mean I was 23 when I came out, so I was kind of old compared to others as well. But I think that's the biggest thing. And I think that most players have like a lot of teams as well. They have their personal trainer. They have their coach. They have their mental coach. It's a lot more teams. That has changed a lot I think since when I came out, because when I came out there was one coach that a lot of players had, and I think it's more kind of segregated now. I see that as the biggest difference. But obviously the competitive part has grown incredibly and the players are getting better, the scores are getting lower. So it's really competitive out here for sure.

Q. So you're not retiring.
MARIA McBRIDE: Yeah. I never want to say I'm retiring, because if you come back and you play an event, I always find, like, why did she say she retired.

Q. Just less full time?
MARIA McBRIDE: Exactly. And I don't know if I get into any next year. I might not. I might get into one or two if it's not like a full field. I look forward to maybe getting if they have the senior tour, if that keeps going, I got two years till that and maybe play some of that once I get to that age. So that'll be fun.

Q. Do you think you'll have that itch to get back out there?
MARIA McBRIDE: I might by then. Yeah. I might. I mean right now, I think they have seven or eight events, and they're all in America. So it will be perfect for me. And you have a cart. So it's more of a simple game than out here. So we'll see if that's something that once I get there I'll make the decision, but I think it'll be fun, because there's a lot of other players that play out here that were out here when I started playing. So I think it would be kind of fun to go out there and play with them, too.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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