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AIG WOMEN’S BRITISH OPENJuly 31, 2019Catriona MatthewMilton Keynes, United Kingdom THE MODERATOR: Catriona, thank you very much for joining us here at the AIG Women's British Open. It's obviously 10 years since you won this tournament, so lots of happy memories. Is it always nice to come back? CATRIONA MATTHEW: Yeah, it's always nice to come back. The only major we get to play in Britain, in your home country, so yeah, it's always great to come back. 10 years seems to have zipped past. Yeah, I've always enjoyed playing here. The last time -- was it four years ago or two years ago we played here, so the course is in great shape. Played the last couple of days, so looking forward to getting out there. THE MODERATOR: How much is Solheim Cup on your mind this week? CATRIONA MATTHEW: Yeah, obviously on my mind a lot. Obviously it's the last couple of weeks now before the picks, so yeah, it's kind of a tense time for the players, and it's obviously going to be tricky telling the ones who don't quite make it, so it's always on your mind. THE MODERATOR: When you saw the draw yesterday and you were playing with Bronte Law, who will need a pick -- CATRIONA MATTHEW: A bit more nerve-racking for her, I think. THE MODERATOR: Were you happy to see that? Was that a coincidence that you were playing with her. CATRIONA MATTHEW: Yeah, pure coincidence actually. But yeah, it will be nice to play with her and watch her on the golf course. I think you always learn a lot more watching someone playing in competition, so it will be nice to be out with her for a couple of days. Q. We've just heard they're going to be playing the Women's British Open at Royal Porthcawl in 2021. Do you know Royal Porthcawl at all? CATRIONA MATTHEW: Yes, I do. I played maybe a British there. I definitely played something there, maybe a British Amateur was there quite a few years ago. I remember it being a nice course, good links course. And then did the seniors not play there fairly recently? So yeah, that will be a great course, a good venue. Q. Catriona, how would you assess the Solheim situation? Is there a short list in your own head of how many players? And also, is it possible given the magnitude of this event, is it possible somebody can completely come from left field if they won this event? Would you then think about them for the team? CATRIONA MATTHEW: Yeah, I mean, obviously there's still lots of permutations that could happen. Obviously this being a major, there's loads of LET points on offer and world ranking points. Obviously if someone comes out and wins this event, or next week, as well, they could come out from nowhere. Obviously I've got a kind of group of people I'm looking at, but obviously kind of got half an eye on others who could still come out and have a great couple of weeks these two weeks. Q. On Georgia winning last year, if Johanna Konta had won Wimbledon, the nation would have gone quite berserk. Do you think that British golfers are getting quite the same sort of profile as world tennis players and other women's sports? CATRIONA MATTHEW: I mean, perhaps not quite the same as tennis or Wimbledon. I mean, I think women's sport in general is getting a lot more publicity now. I mean, I think Georgia got -- it was a huge story, even bigger than me winning nine years before then. So yes, I mean, I think Wimbledon and kind of tennis here is just in the fabric. It just seems to have a bigger profile perhaps than the women's golf, but I think women's golf is definitely on the up and up. Q. And is that one of the excitements of the Solheim Cup later this summer, that we saw a huge sort of involvement in the women's football World Cup, but we could sort of ride the wave with the Solheim hopefully? CATRIONA MATTHEW: Yeah, I think so. Obviously you've had the World Cup in football, you've had the netball, then had the women's cricket this summer, so all kind of culminating in the Solheim Cup in September. Yeah, I think it's great that golf is getting that same exposure. Obviously the World Cup was a huge success on television. So hopefully people who have watched that might gravitate to watching the women's golf if they didn't normally. I think it's just a bonus. I think if you see people are watching other women's sport, I think they tend to perhaps -- oh, we'll watch women's golf or watch the women's cricket. I think you'd tend to watch other ones, as well. Q. As a performer have you found it quite exciting to see the nation has got behind women's sports and it's growing in profile? CATRIONA MATTHEW: Yeah, definitely. I mean, I think just -- in the end you just want it to be called sport rather than women's sport. I think you just want it to be seen as just the Solheim Cup, you don't need it to be seen as the women's version of the Ryder Cup. But yeah, I think we're getting there where you can just say, oh, it's World Cup this year. So hopefully that's where we will end eventually. But I think definitely I'd say over the last 10 or 15 years it's really improved in exposure. Q. Now 10 years later looking back on your win at this event, what do you remember? Are there any moments that particularly stand out to you? CATRIONA MATTHEW: I think one of the moments I always look back on wasn't even actually on the golf course, it was the Sunday night. I remember my mom had been up doing the night feeds every night that week, and I had said I would feed Sophie on the Sunday night after winning, so I was sitting there at 3:00 in the morning holding Sophie feeding her and having a cup of tea, and my mom just woke up because she'd been waking up at that time. That's actually probably one of the best memories I've got of that week. Q. What has it been like for you as a mom on Tour and juggling having two kids out here, as well? CATRIONA MATTHEW: Yeah, I mean, that's probably something I look back on, travelling with the two of them was certainly -- at the time you just get on with it, but looking back, it was a challenge. You know, you are tired, you don't have as much time to practise. I always find the kind of late tee time -- late-early was always a struggle because you had to -- not that it was a chore, but you had to kind of entertain them all morning, so by the time you dropped them at day care you were kind of exhausted, and then you had to pick them up, feed them, get them ready for the next day and drop them early. Looking back you kind of wonder how you do it, but at the time you just get on with it. Obviously I was fortunate having Graeme out there to help me, but yeah, I mean, it's possible, but you just have to kind of get it done. Q. There are so many new moms out here now. Have you given them any sort of advice? CATRIONA MATTHEW: Not really. I mean, I think everyone just does it their way. I think you just have to find kind of what works for you. I mean, I think some are travelling with husbands and some aren't, so I think you just have to find what sort of routine suits you, suits your family, and how many weeks to be away, how many weeks to be at home, whether to bring the baby with you. It's all just a learning curve. It's like being a rookie on Tour again. Q. I remember a couple years ago Georgia Hall was struggling to really get starts, and she tried to make a Solheim Cup team. How is the overall health of the LET and that whole development of young players that feed into the Solheim Cup? CATRIONA MATTHEW: Yeah, I mean, obviously in an ideal world you'd like the LET to have more events to give them more of a chance to get some points. I think it's definitely improving. There are more events this year than there were last year, and hopefully some more in the pipeline for next year. Yeah, in an ideal world you would have liked them to have for events to give them more of a chance to get in. But unfortunately they have to just kind of play well the weeks they get the chances, and this is a perfect week for someone like Meghan or Esther to come out and have a really good week and have a good showing. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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