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CAMBIA PORTLAND CLASSIC

September 2, 2018

Marina Alex

Portland, Oregon

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THE MODERATOR: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much for joining us. We are here in the media center, where I have Marina Alex, your 2018 Cambia Portland Classic champion, a first-time LPGA winner. Amazing. You shot a 62 on the first day, back-to-back 71s, again shooting low, 7-under today. How do you feel right now, Marina?

MARINA ALEX: Pretty amazing. This is just such a surreal experience. I played the best round of golf today that I've ever played, I think, given the circumstance. The first round was incredible, too, but to go out and shoot the score that I did today -- I'm just really proud of all the work that I put in and just was able to manage my emotions and hang in there until the very end.

THE MODERATOR: You were pretty dialed in today. The last two rounds you came off the golf course saying, meh. How did you manage to pull that out again today?

MARINA ALEX: I think I had a lot of just built-up nervousness on rounds 2 and 3, trying to back up a 10-under and knowing I was near the lead, and I think that that kind of luckily all just got itself out of the way in rounds 2 and 3, and I was just able to go out today and really just play freely. I was so far behind to start the day. And the way the scores had kind of panned out, I also was kind of a bit ahead of players that were behind me. So it really worked out to just be a great recipe to just go out and just fire at flags and try to make as many birdies as I can. It just felt like I had absolutely nothing to lose today.

THE MODERATOR: Yesterday you said that you felt a win coming any time now. Did you think that it was going to happen 24 hours later?

MARINA ALEX: I honestly didn't. I mean, you always want it. I went out today with a goal, a number goal in mind, and I still thought that the number that I had in my mind wasn't going to be good enough. I mean, Georgia and Minjee are incredible players. I expected them to go out and shoot 3-, 4-under par and kind of battle between them to kind of push the lead. I just wanted to go out and shoot a good round and hope for the best. Luckily I didn't even look at the leaderboard at all until the 18th green, and that definitely helped me.

Q. Second hole you made a nice birdie putt. What does that do for how you feel on the greens, because a little later you continued to just get hot.
MARINA ALEX: Yeah, it's great to make a putt early, whether it's for par or for birdie. It's just good to see the ball go in the hole with nice pace, and you feel good about your stroke. I had a really good look on the first hole, hit a great putt, didn't go in. So I felt like the putter was going to be pretty on point today, and it was.

Q. Was there anything in your warmup? How did that feel?
MARINA ALEX: No, I just tried to be as relaxed as I could be. Like I was just telling Kristen, I felt like today I was less nervous than I had the past two days. I really just had nothing to protect, so I really went out and kind of felt at ease. It was kind of similar to round 1, just going out and trying to get off to a good start, and I was really lucky to turn at, what, 6-under maybe through the front nine.

THE MODERATOR: You were on fire, five birdies in a row --

MARINA ALEX: Yeah, I was like blacked out at that point. I didn't really know what was going on. I was just making putt after putt. I made an incredible putt on 7. I probably got away with one there. It shouldn't have been a birdie. It went in with some pretty good pace. I don't think I would have had anything less than like five or six feet coming back if it didn't go in. That was lucky, but you know, you need that to win a tournament, and to at least get yourself in position, you need some good fortune, and that was definitely great momentum to push in the right direction and just keep me playing aggressive from that point.

Q. Your shot at 7, your pitch, that went past the pin.
MARINA ALEX: Oh, yeah.

Q. Was that all you had in that shot?
MARINA ALEX: I mean, it was a tough shot to begin with, and the ground was pretty firm, and the grass was pretty dry. I didn't really feel like it was a shot that I was going to risk trying to play a perfect pitch at that point. I mean, I was having a really solid round going, and that's not a place to make a mistake. If I take a par, I take a par. Obviously it's a birdie hole. It's probably one of the easiest scoring holes on the course, but it's also not an opportunity to make a mistake and make a bogey.

To me, I just was like, okay, let's just get it on the surface. We had a spot that we wanted to land it. I kind of overcooked it by maybe like five or six yards from that, but I wasn't disappointed because I still had a putt for birdie.

Q. I know you didn't watch the scoreboard, but do you sort of not hear in the group behind you, hmm, I'm not hearing anything --
MARINA ALEX: I had no idea. We're so far apart, too. Like we were being pushed a little bit to pick up the pace of play, so I didn't really feel like we were that close to the group behind us, and we weren't that close to the group in front of us. So it's kind of difficult to really assess what anyone is doing behind you.

You're just focused on your own game, and yeah, I try not to pay attention to that.

Q. That was easily one of the coolest player receptions I've seen waiting around 18. How aware were you of everyone that was gathering and just what was that like?
MARINA ALEX: I had no idea anyone was still going to be here. I really -- like I had no idea what was going on until we got down 18, and I hit a terrible drive, and then I chipped it out, and we hit it on the green, and I said to Travis, I go, what do we need to make sure, and he goes, you have a four-shot lead, and I go, oh, okay. I had two friends come watch me play on Thursday and Friday, and then they came back today to watch. Those are the only two people that I knew that were out there.

It was so great to see my Tour friends out here. I love those girls so much in a variety of different ways. Jacqui I've known forever. We went to college together. I stayed with Jodi and Maria JosÃ© this week. Lindy is another great friend of mine, and Cindy, as well, and Jaye and Matt. We kind of all hang out in the south Florida area. So it's like unbelievable to see that kind of support from my friends. I'm glad that they were still here.

Q. You mentioned Jacqui, teammate at Vanderbilt. You're the first LPGA winner out of Vanderbilt. What does that mean to you?
MARINA ALEX: It's really cool. Brandt has been kind of like our poster pro for years now. He just won, I guess it was a couple weeks ago, two weeks ago maybe. He's incredible, and it's just awesome for our team and our program to have a Tour win. And I know that Jacqui has been so close, and I truly believe she's going to get one in the near future. It would be great if she did and we would have two different Tour winners representing Vanderbilt.

Q. And I caught up with Travis after the round, and he said everyone has seen this win coming for a while, and he was so glad he got to be the one to help get you there. Talk about having Travis on your bag this week.
MARINA ALEX: Yeah, he is just awesome in so many different ways. I've known him since I've been a rookie, and he's always been really nice and friendly. When I got out here, Stacy was probably -- I mean, one of the best players on Tour, and she still is an unbelievable player, but was playing phenomenally, and he just always just makes everyone out here feel comfortable, and having him on the bag for the past three weeks, we were just like two friends just having a good time. Last week was tough in Canada, just really struggled mentally more than anything, just getting myself focused, and I just felt like I was kind of like out there just not really in it. You know, he just was very reassuring about our last week together, and we had so much good vibes coming in from his win last year. I mean, the city is incredible, this golf course is incredible, and I was just really happy to share it with him. He's such a great guy, and he just has such a calming presence. So for me, that is super helpful. I mean, I was just trying to keep it together. I was so nervous the last five or six holes. To have him just there, to just talk with me and crack jokes, it really just helped me get through the final stretch.

Q. He said it was a three-week deal; any thought of extending?
MARINA ALEX: Yeah, I mean, Stacy is his girl, so she'll be back, I think, I would assume, at the beginning of the season. I don't really know what her plan is. So no, probably not. That's their deal, and I'm just so happy to have done the three weeks with him.

Q. You mentioned your family, parents, brother, texting them or something like that. Tell me, what have they meant to you in your golf career?
MARINA ALEX: I mean, each of my -- my mom, my dad and my brother have meant so much in different ways. My dad got me started with golf. He still competes, and he's taught me so much of what I know, especially at a young age, teaching me how to play, teaching me the swing, always being there as like a second set of eyes with everything that I'm working on with my coach. My godfather is my putting coach, and he's my dad's best friend. I have so much influence from a golf standpoint from my dad.

And then my mom emotionally is just always there for me. She traveled to pretty much all of my tournaments growing up. Like my dad would be kind of coaching from the sidelines, and my mom would be there with my brother and I to take us. It's just great to also be able to share golf with my brother. We can play together. He's turned pro, and he's aspiring to do the same thing. So we do have that in common, and we're just always there to support one another, and it's great to have all three of them part of this, even though I wish they were here, but they're not.

Q. You mentioned how competitive it is out here on the Tour; we see some rookies getting multiple wins their first year. This was your 124th start. For you, what did it take to win this week, and what did you learn about yourself this season?
MARINA ALEX: You know, I was -- I felt like the way I played today was similar to how I played at Phoenix, and I just felt that like I had a really great weekend at Phoenix. I didn't let the nerves and the pressure of like what was going on get the best of me, and I came up short that week solely because Inbee played phenomenally. It was just too difficult to catch her. And I felt like today I was in a position to kind of channel some of that same experiences and just good memories and like good vibes and bring it into today and see what resulted from that. I definitely think I played better today than I did there.

It's for me just kind of what my tendencies are to be as a person and trying actually to work with that but also not let it like overtake. So like I definitely have some stress and anxiety, and that's good, it gets me heightened, it gets me focused, but if I let it overpower what I'm doing, then that's where I kind of get lost and I kind of let the situation take control of me, and so today it was really important for me to just kind of manage that.

You know, maybe talking with Travis and cracking jokes when I would probably be stressed and want to just like be inside myself was good for me to do, to like get out of my own way and just kind of take a break from everything that's going on in your head. It was definitely -- I was different today than I have been.

Q. Now you are an LPGA winner; how does that change your short-term goals, or what does the rest of the season look like for you?
MARINA ALEX: I don't know. I don't think it really changes. I mean, it was a huge goal and I've accomplished it, which I'm so happy. I think I still have a lot to learn. I would love to be in this position again. I would love to get a win where maybe I like have a 54-hole lead and I can go out and really close the deal and not let any of that kind of stress or pressure change how I play. So there's definitely steps and levels.

I just would love to put myself back into contention a few more times before the season is out and see how it goes.

Q. Will you be looking for a new caddie the rest of the season?
MARINA ALEX: I have some -- without talking too much about it, I've been in talks with like a couple people and just trying to figure it out, so yeah, I mean, this may change some things. I don't know.

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