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HUGEL-JTBC LA OPEN

April 20, 2018

Marina Alex

Los Angeles, California

Q. Marina, another steady day for you. Is it kind of just more of the same, just building on the performance from yesterday?
MARINA ALEX: Yeah, I think I hit a couple better shots today. Still making some nice putts. I feel like I'm rolling it well, which is good on these greens out here. I feel like if you get a good read and they're rolling really true, so if you get it started on line, you have a good chance of making it, but yeah, just kind of building a couple things I'm going to work out on the range and hopefully get a little bit tighter ball-striking for the weekend, and we'll see what happens.

Q. What are your thoughts on -- the first time you saw your name up there leading in the tournament and what kind of confidence that gives you when you're playing well?
MARINA ALEX: Yes, definitely confidence. There's still two more days and a whole afternoon wave to play, but we'll see what lies for the next two days. But definitely been building on confidence all of this year and a little bit of last year, so it's nice.

Q. (Indiscernible).
MARINA ALEX: Yeah, they're great. Fans are nice. It's good to see people out here this afternoon, and it's only Friday, so hopefully when people have more time off on the weekend, they'll get out here. But it's a great spectator's golf course. There's a lot of shots you can see from one vantage point, so I think it'll draw a good crowd for the weekend.

Q. I think you said yesterday it was your first time in LA; is that right?
MARINA ALEX: Yeah.

Q. What did you do last night?
MARINA ALEX: Because I had such a late tee time and an early turnaround, I got takeout from this place down the street, Republic. It actually has really, really good food. I've been there twice now. But I'll check out some other spots this afternoon and tonight.

Q. Is there anything in particular that you've wanted to do in LA?
MARINA ALEX: It's tough, like eat really is the one thing I've wanted to do, but beyond that, I don't really care that much about the sights. I'm more here for the food.

Q. What did you have last night?
MARINA ALEX: Yeah, I had just pasta and some vegetables at the Republic. It's a really, really cool restaurant. They have a great vibe there.

Q. You said you don't really care about the sights. I know obviously this is your job and the most important thing, but Hollywood sign --
MARINA ALEX: Yeah, it's awesome. It's really cool. I just haven't had a chance to do the star walk or anything that is very, I guess, tourist driven. I would like to if I had more time off. Maybe next year now that I've seen the golf course, I can come and just take Monday and explore a little bit more. But I kind of wanted to get here and get my homework done for the course before doing any exploration.

Q. And your thoughts overall on the course?
MARINA ALEX: Yeah, it's a great golf course. I'm really glad that we've added this venue to the rotation. Hopefully we play here for as long as we can. I think it's a nice, fun golf course. You've got a lot of variation, some short holes, some long holes. I feel like you hit a lot of different clubs into greens, whether it's a wedge all the way to I had a hybrid -- yesterday I had wood into one of the holes, so it's definitely a good test. We're all really glad to be here. I think the whole field is very pleased with coming to Wilshire.

Q. Any of the particular shots on the birdies you had today that stood out?
MARINA ALEX: Yeah, probably my last birdie of the day on No. 6, I hit a nice drive and I hit a hybrid from I think it was 177 into the wind, and that hole was playing really, really difficult yesterday. I hit 3-wood in because the wind was so strong, and I didn't really hit a great tee shot, and I made a birdie. I hit it to about like 10 feet short of the flag, and I hit a really nice putt, and that's a tricky green, so to walk away with a birdie there was probably my best one of the day.

Q. Can you speak to any of those specifics, you said you're going to go work on the range? Anything in particular?
MARINA ALEX: Yeah, just working more on my setup. I just feel like I could be making a little bit more aggressive swings through the ball. I'm kind of a little hesitant. I'm not quite sure why, so I just want to go figure it out. Could be just lined up left or right of the hole and I'm just not really committing because I feel a little off, so I'm just going to go try and figure it out. I don't know exactly what it is I'm looking for, but just a little bit more solid contact.

Q. Have you had any experience with LA traffic yet?
MARINA ALEX: No, I'm like terrified. I haven't even rented a car. I have been here before, and I've rented, and I was here with my coach a couple years ago, and I just remember the drives are pretty treacherous, and I'm staying really close to here, and I'm kind of staying right around here. I've been to Korea town for some food and was down at Sunset not last night but the night before at a sushi place, Sugar Fish, and yeah, it was good. And I made a quick stop for a King's hot dog after. But I'm trying to eat everything that I can.

Q. Have you ever been to Pink's before?
MARINA ALEX: No.

Q. That's kind of an iconic LA --
MARINA ALEX: No, the first day I was here, I went to the ramen place next door, and we were coming out, and our Uber driver was like, oh, that's like a really famous hot dog place. I had no idea. And then we were driving home Wednesday night and we passed it, and it was like, okay, we've got to just stop and have a hot dog. It was like 9:00.

Q. Do you remember which one you ordered?
MARINA ALEX: I don't remember which one I ordered to be honest. There was like a ton of variations. It was good, though. It was really cool. And there's like a ton of photos on the wall of all the celebrities that have been there, so it was a nice spot.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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