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THE EVIAN CHAMPIONSHIP

September 16, 2016

Angela Stanford

Evian-les-Bains, France

Q. Really solid day; start us off with what you've been working on.
ANGELA STANFORD: I seem to always be working on something, huh? I think the older I get, the more I'm learning that it's the same thing. You just have to be dedicated to working on it. I think I get lazy, and I think I did get lazy, and so I'm just committed to working on kind of the same thing. The club gets behind me. Just kind of rededicated to working hard at it.

Q. You're looking forward to having some time off; I saw you're going to dial back a little bit in the fall?
ANGELA STANFORD: Yeah, and I learned -- again, I'm a slow learner. It took me a while to figure out that working on your game is December is really hard unless you live close to the Equator. I'm learning that October is a much better month in Texas to work on things.

I have three weeks, I think, to really work on some things, and then in December you can kind of really take some time off, and it seems to work better that way.

Q. When did you rededicate?
ANGELA STANFORD: Oh, you know, I think after the Canadian Women's Open, that was probably my low point. That was as frustrated as I've been. It's kind of been building all year, and I just -- I'd had enough, not knowing where the ball was going and just not being in control of what I'm doing. That's been all year.

Q. That was your sort of lightbulb moment?
ANGELA STANFORD: I think that's when the gauntlet -- I had had enough.

Q. And we know how hard the Koreans work. How would you compare what you do probably as far as what they do? You say you're working hard now, but what is hard?
ANGELA STANFORD: You know, I think for me, it's repetition, and I say when I get lazy about it, it's lack of repetition. I think everybody goes about it very differently. For me, it's being at home, being in my own practice element and working hard there. It's hard, though, because we're on the road a lot. That's where I feel like I get the most out of it.

Some girls can work really hard on the road and do it really well, and maybe that's what the Koreans do. Maybe because they're so far away from home all the time, they've learned how to do that.

Q. But you're experienced enough to know what works for you now.
ANGELA STANFORD: Like I said, I'm a slow learner. It took me about 16 years.

Q. Did you have a different game plan coming into this year? I saw you had two missed cuts coming in here. Did you change anything or did anything click?
ANGELA STANFORD: No. No. I think I'm trying to be more patient this week. I mean, it's a tough week. It's a major, and it's supposed to be tough. But there are just a lot of little things that you have to be patient with. I'm not known for my patience.

Q. What's the toughest aspect of the course would you say this year?
ANGELA STANFORD: For me it's the length. I mean, especially when it gets this wet. The ball is not rolling out. Today I hit 7-wood into No. 4, and then I hit 4-iron into 5. I mean, for me, if they don't push up the tee box on 18, I might be pulling off a head cover there, too. For me it's length when it's this soft and there's not any roll.

Q. Do you have a new caddie on the bag?
ANGELA STANFORD: Yeah. He started in Arkansas, in June.

Q. What's his name?
ANGELA STANFORD: Kenny Davis. He worked at Shady Oaks, where I play golf, and then he just wanted to do something different and actually moved to Colorado. And then I was just struggling with finding somebody, and my instructor Mike Wright said, give Kenny a call.

Q. It's worked out so far.
ANGELA STANFORD: Yeah, it's been good.

Q. Do you still feel as dedicated as ever.
ANGELA STANFORD: Yeah, you know, I love it. I mean, I feel like my results haven't shown, but I love working at it. I mean, I love working hard. My parents are hard workers, and I feel like it's just kind of the fabric of who I am. So it doesn't bother me, and I'll tell you, when I get lazy and I do a lot. But I love working at it. I guess that's why I'm still here.

Q. When you dedicate yourself, do you take other aspects into it like your fitness and your nutrition? Is all that rededicated?
ANGELA STANFORD: Nutrition is never going to be -- I'm never going to be the healthiest girl in the world. But fitness has actually been something that it's been about a year and a half now that I've really -- and I can tell the difference. Usually by Friday, this course has killed me, but I still feel like I have a little energy right now. I can tell a difference. I've been trying to -- when I played my best in 2007, 2008, 2009, back then my legs were really strong, so I've been slowly working on that.

Q. Getting some squats in?
ANGELA STANFORD: Well, we hiked the Grand Canyon.

Q. How did that go?
ANGELA STANFORD: We did rim to rim in one day. It was good. It was something I never thought I could do.

Q. When was that?
ANGELA STANFORD: The first week we had off in August, right before the Olympics. Yeah, me and the other player was Dori Carter, and then a couple of my friends from home. We did it in a day.

Q. How many miles is that?
ANGELA STANFORD: It's like 23 point something, so we went in the north rim at 4:48 a.m. and came out of the south rim --

Q. 4:48 exactly?
ANGELA STANFORD: Yeah, I was watching. At 6:36 p.m. Yeah, it was cool.

Q. Was that harder than playing in major?
ANGELA STANFORD: No, because I didn't have to think. I just had to stand and put one foot in front of the other and not fall over.

Q. What has experience taught you about being near the lead or on the lead right now, but going into the weekend?
ANGELA STANFORD: Honestly, I don't know if I have that experience. I think my wins were so long ago, and I think it's something that if you're not doing it all the time, it feels new again. Having cameras around all day felt new again. For somebody that hasn't been in that position in a while -- I don't know, I think for me it's going to be new again, which is fine. Maybe it needs to be, since there is so much negative. Maybe it needs to have that new feeling.

Q. This is where you've done it.
ANGELA STANFORD: Yeah, I keep coming back.

Q. Do you feel more hungry for this one because it's a major?
ANGELA STANFORD: I think people always want to win majors more. I had to kind of back off that a little bit because I think I made it so important that it was really becoming a problem. I think if you don't want to win every tournament, then you probably shouldn't be out here. I think people define their careers by majors, but for me to get over the hump I need to kind of take a step back and take some of the emotion out of it.

Q. Have you got any little tips, little things you do to stay in the moment and all these other things that everyone says?
ANGELA STANFORD: Yeah, that's what I've found. The weeks that I feel like I'm really kind of in control and more patient, I have a really good song in my head. If you're singing and you're kind of -- you have no time to think about all that other junk.

Q. What's the song?
ANGELA STANFORD: You really want to know?

Q. Uh-oh.
ANGELA STANFORD: It's actually an Eric Church song right now. I'll give you the artist.

Q. And you're humming it in your head?
ANGELA STANFORD: Yeah, I'll sing it.

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