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ANA INSPIRATION

March 29, 2018

Pernilla Lindberg

Rancho Mirage, California

Q. Pernilla, obviously a great round for you today, taking the lead heading into Friday. Can you just talk about your round, please?
PERNILLA LINDBERG: Yeah, I started off solid and ended even better. The whole day it was pretty steady. I was never in too much trouble. Sure I was in the rough a few times and had to make a couple of good up-and-downs around the greens, but I never put myself under too much stress. Rolled in a few good putts and just gave myself a lot of good chances.

Q. You've obviously played here quite a few times and you've had some good finishes here. Can you talk about if you've made any adjustments coming into today?
PERNILLA LINDBERG: As a professional golfer, I often get the question, favorite tournament, favorite golf course, and I always say this event and this course. So, obviously, I like this place, and I always feel good playing here. I just feel for each and every year I probably learn how to play it a little bit better, but no major adjustments.

Q. Can you talk about that too, what makes this course your favorite?
PERNILLA LINDBERG: This backdrop and this weather is just gorgeous. Seems like I've just always liked playing in the desert. I think it's just something with the weather. The ball flies a little extra far and the greens are just rolling so pure that it feels like as long as I just started where I want to, I know it's going to have a good chance of going in.

Q. Can you also talk about compared to earlier this week you're seeing a lot better conditions. Does that put more pressure on you to go lower knowing that there will be better scores out there today?
PERNILLA LINDBERG: Not really. I kind of just set a number for myself in my head every day. Today I kind of kept adjusting that all day when I kept making birdies, and I even kind of upped my own number. That's what I'm going to do every day.

But all the girls out here are so good and everyone's going to try to play their best the week of a major, so that's all I'm going to go out there and try to do, shoot my number every day.

Q. Day one at the ANA Inspiration, low round of the day here. Your low round so far of 2018 with a 65. Did you feel like you had this round when you came out here today?
PERNILLA LINDBERG: Yes and no. I felt better and better about my game every day last week at the Kia Classic. And when I got here, I played nine holes on Monday and Tuesday, and I felt really good about my game. It was almost like I wanted the tournament to start already then. I didn't feel like I played as good yesterday in the Pro-Am. I feel like I lowered my expectations a bit, and then I had it again today.

Q. You had your first top 20 here last year. How do you feel about this course? Do you like the layout here?
PERNILLA LINDBERG: I just love this course. As a professional golfer, especially the pro Ams and things like that, I always get the question about favorite golf course, favorite tournament, and I always mention this place. I just tend to play well here. I love the conditions of the course. The weather is always great. So for some reason, it just seems to suit me well.

Q. You're currently atop the leaderboard here on day one. How do you feel being in that position?
PERNILLA LINDBERG: Obviously, it's great. You just want to stay up here for as long as possible each and every day. But there is a lot of golf left. But I put myself in a good position after the first day, and that's all I can ask for.

Q. What is the feeling like, does it feel differently to play majors?
PERNILLA LINDBERG: Yeah, probably a little bit because the courses are just, you know, set up a little bit tougher, so it's just a little bit more penalizing. So I tend to feel that I might feel a little bit more restricted because your misses are going to cost more. So that's kind of what I'm working on the whole time, trying to free myself up and just play it and hit the ball as fearless as I can, even though you know it's penalizing maybe both sides of the fairway or things like that.

Q. Obviously the conditions are tougher and the stakes are kind of higher as well.
PERNILLA LINDBERG: Yes, exactly. So I mean everyone just wants to bring out their A-game. So I think what everyone is trying to deal with, and me the same thing, is just you're trying to handle that pressure and the expectations you have on yourself. So it's just kind of an inner battle going on up here in your head, I think, every day during a major.

Q. Did you think before the round started today that you had your A-game going into it or did it kind of build?
PERNILLA LINDBERG: It actually felt like it was building throughout the day. I started steady, but I finished even better. I felt -- I missed the cut in Phoenix. My score was awful, but I knew I wasn't that far off. Then my coach came out to Kia, and we worked really hard the week of Phoenix and the Kia week, and I felt better and better about my game every day. I kind of felt that I'm going in a good direction each and every day. I just knew that I just had to kind of trust it and let it happen.

Q. What is your coach's name? Any specifics on what you worked on?
PERNILLA LINDBERG: Patrick Johnson is his name. He's Swedish, and he's also the head coach for the Swedish Women's National Team, so he works for the Swedish Federation.

It's just I had gotten a little bit off in my set-up, which was causing me to kind of come over the top a little bit. So that's just trying to adjust for that in my set-up and trust it from there. That kind of brought my swing back on the plain where I wanted it.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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