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U.S. GIRLS' JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP

July 29, 2017

Erica Shepherd

Augusta, Missouri

Q. Talk about how you and Jennifer chatted this morning and what she said to you.
ERICA SHEPHERD: Yeah, so the first time I saw Jennifer this morning, I was down on the putting green, and she just kind of walked toward me and gave me a hug. She just asked if I was okay, and then so I kind of broke down and started crying, then she gave me this whole speech about like how it went down and how there was nothing I could have done about it, and that just really boosted me back up and got myself to regroup.

Q. You said, too, that on the first hole you hadn't really felt pumped up and a little nervous. You were a little maybe down before that?
ERICA SHEPHERD: Yeah, I was definitely down before that, but then like as soon as I got on the tee, I just -- I was looking at the trophy, and I'm like, I have a chance to win the U.S. Girls' Junior today, so I'm not going to let any of that get in the way.

Q. Talk about the 16th hole, how it's been such a tough hole for you this week, and you turn around and you clinched your victory on that hole. How sweet was that?
ERICA SHEPHERD: It was sweet. I mean, probably just should have tried to kill a 5-iron every day because I know that club is better than my hybrids. But I just talked to my gut today, and it paid off.

Q. You said you typically hit it 185, so you pushed it a little bit to get to that hole today?
ERICA SHEPHERD: Yeah, but I knew with all the adrenaline that I had, it would probably be okay.

Q. So we also talked about the lull there; you were four ahead but you never felt comfortable.
ERICA SHEPHERD: No, not at all. I guess I did get up to four, but even during the second afternoon match, I felt like I was behind almost the whole back nine because she had all the momentum. That gave me like the motivation like five back because I felt like I was down, so I needed to play better.

Q. You obviously seemed to have played better, really thrived on coming from behind this week. You were behind in four of your five matches coming into this.
ERICA SHEPHERD: Yeah.

Q. What is it about your mentality with match play that way?
ERICA SHEPHERD: Well, actually at the Wyndham Cup, I really learned just how to play match play and how to come back. In one of my matches, we were 5 down through seven, and we ended up coming back, so that just put in my mind that you can come back from absolutely anything, so I never got down this week at all.

Q. So you enjoy match play, I guess?
ERICA SHEPHERD: I love match play.

Q. What is it about -- there's a mental part to match play, too. What is it about that?
ERICA SHEPHERD: I just think how competitive I am. I grew up playing other sports my entire life, so taking that competitive edge and putting it in golf, that just really helped me this week.

Q. And do you feel like you had any advantage at all being -- several of your opponents, ahead of them off the tee maybe 20, 30 yards at times. Was that at all an advantage?
ERICA SHEPHERD: I think it was a huge advantage. Having wedge over like an 8-iron, that's a huge advantage.

Q. No. 14 when you sort of stopped her comeback a little bit, you had that shot from about 50 yards. Can you tell me about that shot after she was up there for birdie?
ERICA SHEPHERD: Yeah, I knew she hit it good because people were clapping around the green. I had a 50-yard -- I could barely see the top of the flag. Had to hit a high kind of flop on top of the tier, and so I guess I did just that and made the putt and got the momentum back.

Q. We talked about Leigh Anne. Can you tell me what that means to you to put your name on that trophy alongside hers?
ERICA SHEPHERD: Yeah, ever since I was little, I mean, I've looked up -- this has been like the U.S. Girls' Junior, I've always told everyone when making my goals, this is the goal that I have to accomplish. So yeah, and then her -- I can remember when I was -- like I have her -- I had her as my background holding the Girls' Junior trophy to try to motivate me to do that. So yeah, that's -- yeah.

Q. And you spoke with her last night?
ERICA SHEPHERD: I did.

Q. What did she tell you?
ERICA SHEPHERD: She just told me she knew how I felt because she can kind of relate to me like caring too much about what other people think. But should told me to just be Erica and to not let what other people were saying get in my head or try to distract me.

Q. What are you looking forward to with that Women's Am coming up now?
ERICA SHEPHERD: Yeah, I'm looking forward to going to San Diego because I think that will be really nice, and then hopefully just making it to match play and trying to use like all the experience that I gained this week to go far in match play.

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