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U.S. WOMEN'S MID-AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

September 15, 2016

Julia Potter

Choudrant, Louisiana

Q. So here we are again. Congratulations.
JULIA POTTER: Thank you.

Q. Two in four years, plus another final. What is it that gets you so focused for this championship year after year?
JULIA POTTER: I mean, one is I love playing this event. I love the women that play in this event and what this event stands for. It's a lot of working women or mothers, that type of golfer. So that always gets me pumped for it.

Then it's just a national championship. You want to play your best at the best tournament you can possibly can. Then that's what gets me going.

Q. Last year was disappointing for you. What did that feel like and did it harden your resolve for this year?
JULIA POTTER: Of course. I've been very lucky in the first two years I played in this championship, I made it to the final round. So to be on the other side and not be playing on the Thursday but following the scores online, it kind of lit a fire under me that this is where I want to be. I want to be there on Thursday, I want the opportunity to win this championship.

When I won when I was 25, I really didn't understand the implications, I didn't understand how hard it was to get there. I was riding that wave of really good golf.

After last year, I knew I needed to buckle down if I wanted to win this again. That's what I did. My whole focus starting January 1, fitness wise, golf wise, everything in between has been towards this championship.

Q. So today, I don't know how you would classify your game, but I know that Shannon hit a lot more fairways, hit a lot more greens and you were able to skate through, made a couple pars when you needed to and also when you did get on the green, you won those holes pretty much. How was the first nine holes? Tell us about that first.
JULIA POTTER: The first nine holes, I was not hitting it well off the tee. I can't tell you one good drive. The only good drive I had was on 7. Other than that, I really wasn't hitting it well.

The front side you can kind of get away with that. I got lucky with a couple lies in the rough where I was able to get after the golf ball. That's going to catch up with you on the back nine and that's exactly what happened.

The thing about my game, even though I've been working on my distance and being more accurate off the tee, when push comes to shove and those things don't show up, I fall back on my short game, which has been my strongest part. Even though I was missing fairways and greens, there wasn't a chip I had out there that I didn't feel confident that I was going to be able to turn into a par. Now, did that happen all the time? No. But I still had that confidence to be able to do so.

Q. As you said, it seemed you had a case of the rights there. A lot of times you went to the right off the tee. Couple of times in bunkers. I know on 13 you bunkered and you didn't have a shot at the green. You almost escaped with par there. Like you say, you can't count on getting up-and-down all the time?
JULIA POTTER: You can't count on it. 13 is a really hard one for me, all week, I actually hit that tee shot well and I have never once gotten to that bunker with a 3-wood and I did today. I was like okay. It was a great swing. I ended up hitting the next shot out and catching it cleaner than I thought I was going to and it ends up in this mud area. My third shot, I was pretty impressed with it. I almost skirted out with a par. I just think match play there is this ebb and flow. I was making putts on the front side, so I think it was catching up to me on the back side right then and there not making those putts.

Q. Talk about Shannon. How well do you know her and had you played with her before?
JULIA POTTER: No, I had not been lucky enough to play with her before, but she was wonderful to play with. It was interesting that she had an Indiana tie, as a graduate of IU university. I actually was recruited by the same coach that she had there. I know she's a phenomenal player. I was at the women's state team last year where she medaled and played great all three days.

I knew coming out here it was going to be a test of golf. When you get to the sixth day of championship play and the eighth day, including practice rounds, you are starting to get tired. I think that's what ends up happening. That's when you do fall back on that short game. I was lucky enough to be able to do that.

Q. Let's talk about you lost the four holes in a row. You were both in great shape on 16 fairway. Tell us about the second shot there and the birdie.
JULIA POTTER: I actually hit a really great tee shot that made me feel confident for the next shot. Then I had about 80 yards into the pin. So I just took a choke 54 and tried to play the wind and bring it from right to left and I was lucky to do so.

She had left her putt short, but I still knew she had a chance to make it. I really wanted to win that hole, so I put a good putt on it and it went in.

Q. Was that about ten feet?
JULIA POTTER: Probably 10 or 12 feet, yes.

Q. Then 17, again, you split the fairway. That hole has been -- it's called Ross's enigma for a reason?
JULIA POTTER: It is. You could be hitting 10 feet off your target line and roll all the way back. The interesting part of what's happened to me the last two days was it usually would roll and roll down into that front part and you would have an uphill chip. Where I was on that back part, really was not that hard of a chip. I liked what I was look at. I didn't have that much hill to work with.

Q. So Shannon was in that part that you were talking about?
JULIA POTTER: Yeah, Shannon was up on the front part and I was lucky enough to actually hit it long enough that I was kind of even with the back side of the green and had more of a flat chip to work with.

Q. Just as you had done all day, another outstanding up-and-down. I saw you out here a lot this week on the practice green here. You seemed to be concentrating on that knowing that you were going to need those shots this week?
JULIA POTTER: Yeah, my chipping wasn't that great at the beginning. I just know with my experience with match play, it's really those up-and-downs that can make or break a round. So I really focused on those the last three days, especially when I knew I wasn't going to have the opportunity to hit the ball as great. I just know how I was. I was getting tired out there and I wasn't going to be able to put a great swing on it every time. So you need to be able to answer for that and that's what the practicing of the chipping did.

Q. I heard when you were a kid you would go out and chip around the greens with your dad when he was out putting?
JULIA POTTER: I definitely would. The interesting part about it is I started playing golf when I was six, but I did not hit a full swing until about a year later. My dad would just cut a wedge and putter out and he would go out and play. My sister would play and he would drop a golf ball around the green and be like, okay, Julie, go ahead and chip and putt on. So I kind of learned the game a little bit backwards, where my full swing didn't come into play until a year afterwards. I mean, ever since I can remember, it's always been my putting and chipping that has been my strong suit.

Q. In an event like this, every day is different. I was talking to Shannon about where your swing, you are just not sure exactly every day what you are going to have. In some cases it's just the best you can do, it's not necessarily perfect, right?
JULIA POTTER: That's the thing, when you are playing and playing this much, you really don't know what your swing is going to do. But the greens are always going to roll the same, the chips are always going to be the same. So focus on that and feel confident in those chips and you can do well.

Q. How was the dynamic out there with Kiel and with dad and the support you get from them?
JULIA POTTER: It was wonderful. My dad probably won't admit this out loud, but he kind of did, that Kiel was kind of the better man on the bag for this week. Just with the changing conditions, changing winds, Kiel is kind of like that calm in the storm for me where he was like, you've got this, you can do this, you can hit this shot, you can make this putt.

Even when I missed those putts on 13, 14, 15, he was like you still put a great stroke on it, it just didn't happen. He was like that's all you need to focus on. Don't get down on yourself. When you have someone like that out there supporting you and believing in you, you start believing that you can really do it, too. That's what he was for me throughout this entire week.

Q. You get up on 16 and you still feel like you can make it?
JULIA POTTER: He looked at me and he was like you have got there. You can hit a great shot. Honestly, that was a big break for me when the tees were moved up on 16, because there was no question if I was going to take driver or 3-wood. It was straight up 3-wood and 3-wood was what I was hitting well.

Then when we made the turn and I hit 17 and I was in the fairway, he just looks at me and goes you've got this. I was like, okay. It wasn't a great shot into that green, but he was like you are going to hit this chip, you are going to be fine and the rest was history.

Q. Looking back at the whole week, what has the experience been? You said you had the ups and downs and everything that comes with match play?
JULIA POTTER: I really feel like I have ran the gauntlet. I have been up on matches and lost some holes. I have been down and fought back. I've had two matches go into extra holes. So I've really feel like I've experienced it all, I felt it all. It's nice because next year when I'm playing or whenever I'm playing in match play, these are the instances that I can pull from and say hey, you are not out, you are not down, this can happen or hey you are far up, try not to mess this up.

Q. You said yourself in your match against Audrey on 17, you were ready to walk away?
JULIA POTTER: I thought for sure I was done after 17. You honestly just do not what's going to happen until the last putts hit the hole. I think that's what it's been for me. I mean, I think it's a lot of people in that crowd would have thought that Shannon had the momentum going into 16 and the next thing you know I win 16 and 17 and the championship. So things can change and that's what's been really nice about having Kiel out there is that he's been so level that no matter what happened or what changed, his demeanor didn't and that was nice to rely on and depend on.

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