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MARATHON CLASSIC PRESENTED BY OWENS CORNING AND O-I

July 20, 2017

Dori Carter

Toledo, Ohio

Q. Talk about your round, first of all. High points?
DORI CARTER: Well, my ball-striking was really good. I hit 15 greens, so that helped, and hit a lot of fairways, which is key probably more than hitting the greens because placement off the tee is important here. It's a little more firm than it's been in years past, but I made a few putts, was able to hit it close a few times, and we were able to make those. So it was good. It was a pretty steady round. One bogey, one slip-up on that new hole over there, but I'll master it soon enough. But yeah, so I'm pleased. I'm hoping to keep it going.

Q. Talk about finishing; it could have been -- not disastrous, but it would have been a mental thing if you would have bogeyed the last hole. Talk about saving par there.
DORI CARTER: Well, I mean, yeah, that was maybe a mistake that I had made in the fairway really. I pulled that shot into the green. But I like where my bunker game is, and I kind of was like, well, I've gotten up-and-down before. I literally said to my caddie when we were in the bunker, I thought, this is just like what we've been doing over there. I'm familiar with the type of sand, and I was able to make that about four- or five-footer to save par, so yes, that's a boost. It would have been somewhat of a negative, so that was probably a really big putt, probably the biggest putt I had all day.

Q. After saving par on that last hole, it leaves you at 4-under, three back of the leader. Talk about what you need to improve upon in the next few days to put yourself in contention.
DORI CARTER: Yeah, everybody is making birdies here, so you've got to make birdies, too. I think I need to do better on the par-5s and maybe take advantage of those, especially the ones that are reachable like 18. I actually was able to reach No. 17, as well, today. I need to probably do a little bit better with my wedge game and hit it a little bit closer, give myself some more putts inside 15 feet and get those to drop. I don't expect anybody to lighten up and go easy on me. The competition is just going to get stronger and the scores are just going to get lower, so just got to keep it up.

Q. Can you talk about the pressure on a player like yourself; you're here to survive at this point. Does every round become more crucial to you?
DORI CARTER: Yeah, but you learn so much. You know, and I'm not saying that's a -- it would be nice to be in the top 10s all the time or win a tournament, kind of secure my card, but I've learned a lot about myself. It kind of really shows what kind of person you are if you can handle that. It's not easy, but it's also not easy being top 10 in the world.

I think it's just a learning process. How can you improve and how can you keep your attitude as good as it can be because it's easy to get down and a little too low out here, especially when golf is not going your way.

This time of the year, I've had a lot of rounds, played a lot this year, and I'm slowly kind of keeping it consistent, starting to hit more fairways, more greens, maybe not getting the top 10s, but I'm seeing some lower rounds, more consistent rounds, 2-under par, 3-under par. You know, you've got to just find positives. That's all there is to it.

Q. How do you keep yourself in check if you get toward a low moment? How do you block those things out?
DORI CARTER: Honestly I've been thinking a lot about that because it's kind of a tool to use like to get your mind out of that. But the beauty of being on Tour is that you have a crowd following you and usually there's like a junior -- a little girl, little kid out here watching, and I try to just stay humble with it, kind of remind myself, hey, there's millions of girls that would be glad to take my spot this week, so you've got to enjoy the moment, and that little girl doesn't care what you shoot, they don't care what you do on that hole.

I think that is a good thing for me to kind of say, you know what, it's tough, not where I want to be, but I'm definitely lucky and fortunate to do this. That's what's helped me.

Q. After day one, can you just talk a little bit about how the course is playing? We saw the weather, thought about turning a little dicey, but it seems like greens are playing pretty fair as well as the fairways.
DORI CARTER: I think it's in the best shape it's been in in a long time. This is my sixth year playing this event, so I think the golf course is in amazing shape. The greens are rolling really well. They're a little firm, a little tighter, so that's nice. Plays need that, and we want that. I thought it was going to rain. That could have softened things up and probably made it a today easier because you could probably fire a little bit more aggressively at the pins, but we kind of had to factor in extra roll-out today, so we'll see if it gets in the rain. I don't know what the forecast is tonight or tomorrow, but I'm assuming you have to come out tomorrow ready to go again. Probably need to shoot another 4- or 5-under, and there will be other 7-unders, 8-unders out here. It's just the way the Tour is going. The conditions, though, the golf course is in great shape. Looking forward to playing it.

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