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U.S. WOMEN'S MID-AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

November 15, 2017

Mary Jane Hiestand

Houston, Texas

Q. You said yesterday that this is a total surprise.
MARY JANE HIESTAND: It is.

Q. Still a total surprise?
MARY JANE HIESTAND: Still a total surprise. I'm out here having fun playing the golf course. Like I said to you earlier in the day, I said she's got a golf course out here and I have a totally different golf course. I'm playing my golf course and she's playing her golf course.

I love this golf course.

Q. You you've been here before. You played here in 1998, too.
MARY JANE HIESTAND: I did. I played in 1998 and the golf course was really long because it was really wet. The conditions are 180 degrees from what they were in '98, and all I can remember is sitting in that locker room waiting for the rain to stop.

Q. Now you're playing for your first USGA Championship after all these years. What's that mean to you?
MARY JANE HIESTAND: That means a lot. I'm still in shock. I didn't expect to be here. The Mid-Am was kind of -- I was going to give it up for a while, and I went to qualify because it was in Naples, and here I am in my first final ever.

Been in the semis, but never finals. This is very exciting.

Q. A little bit like a move script, isn't it? Unfortunately there was a disaster in Naples, but here you are coming to Houston and you qualify for your first championship match.
MARY JANE HIESTAND: Yeah, it is. I couldn't have scripted it better. If you wants to call to a movie script, I like that.

Q. Tell me about making that putt. Every kid, every adult, dreams of making a putt like that to win a match or any championship. To make basically a bomb like that to win a match, what's that feel like?
MARY JANE HIESTAND: Well, it feels really good. All I was trying obviously to do is get it up there close. I had the same chip this morning, and then I had that little short putt on the 19th hole in this morning's match that I knew how much it broke up there.

So to have that putt just get up there and start riding that ridge and go in was amazing. Amazing.

Q. When did you know it was...
MARY JANE HIESTAND: Well, I could see the look on Jeff's face. He was kind of giving the, Oh, my gosh. This is going to go in. He was standing right there obviously tending the flag.

At that point, when I kind of ran up toward the top to see it coming down on its line, I thought, Oh, my gosh, this really could go in.

Q. (No microphone.)
MARY JANE HIESTAND: 48 feet, 16 paces.

Q. Was there very much actual break to it?
MARY JANE HIESTAND: Oh, my God, yeah. It gets up on that ridge and rides that same ridge. Like I said, I had the same chip this morning and the little putt in this morning's practice hole. I knew what that ridge was there.

Q. (No microphone.)
MARY JANE HIESTAND: Like I said, she's got a golf course, I got a golf course. Her golf course is different than my golf course, but it worked.

Q. Final hole you saw where you were getting ready to hit and I couldn't find her ball. (No microphone.)
MARY JANE HIESTAND: Well, she hits it way farther than I do. I just play my game. Just got to play the golf course, so make a lot of pars. In match play, if you make a lot of pars you're going to win.

Q. One area you were strong today's is either your lag putting, or when you were just off the green you chipped pretty close. You never put the yourself in harm's way.
MARY JANE HIESTAND: That's kind of the way I play. I'm a safety player anyway. I don't go for a lot of pins in certain situations, like that one, for example. Because to me, play the safe shot, get it up on the green.

Years ago I was in a state final match with a gal that hit it way past me. My brother called me up and said, Don't worry about it. You're going to be hitting in first every time. Get the ball on the green and make her make a good shot.

I kept that in my memory bank ever since.

Q. What was your club and yardage into the final hole?
MARY JANE HIESTAND: I had 184 to the front edge; I hit a 3-rescue, and that -- I had 191 flag but 184 front edge. I his the 3-rescue knowing it would get up there. I didn't know how far it was going to tumble on, but it was perfect, I guess. (Laughter.)

Q. And also talk about the chip at 17 where you played to the front of the green and you came across the green to about two and a half feet.
MARY JANE HIESTAND: Oh, yeah. That hole has kind of been my hole. You know, since they moved the tee back I've made fantastic chips and putts on that hole.

I got up and down in the morning yesterday, and then again against Meghan in the afternoon. Then today I was trying to play to the front right hoping it would draw a little bit, but I guess I had to chip it today.

Like I said, I like this kind of grass. I like everything about it. I like the way the ball tumbles, the way the greens hold when they need to.

Q. What club did you use there on 17 for that chip?
MARY JANE HIESTAND: I hit an A wedge, so like a little gap wedge. I wanted to get it up -- I have a little bit of trouble. You probably saw one of them. I kind of chunked a chip with my 54. That leading edge gets a little sharp on me.

I said, I don't want to get that one. I need to get it up on the green over the rise a little bit, so I hit the A wedge.

Q. So here is the million dollar question: Not only are you playing for the Mid-Am title, you're playing for Women's U.S. Open exemption and also playing for a Senior Women's Open exemption.
MARY JANE HIESTAND: I think I should get a Senior Open just for being in the finals, because they both got Senior U.S. Women's Open exemptions for the finals at the seniors.

I think this should get me in the Senior Open. That's all I'm going to say. I won't probably ever think about going to the U.S. Open. I can't play that yardage. I'm not taking a spot from somebody that can.

Q. But you still like playing for it.
MARY JANE HIESTAND: I love playing for it, absolutely. But I'm going to get an exemption into the Senior Open, trust me.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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