	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

SOLHEIM CUP

September 14, 2019

Gleneagles, Scotland, United Kingdom

Q. You've been involved in some fantastic matches so far. How does that one rank?
MORGAN PRESSEL: That's up there. Gosh, so many emotions. It was a hard-fought battle. We obviously got off to a bad start. We were 4-down early, but we really didn't feel like we were playing that poorly. Anne and Anna played great golf, got off to a great start in really tough conditions. And the putt Marina that made on seven was really the turning point in our match. From there they started to get a little shaky and all the momentum went toward us and we just kept playing our game.

Q. Marina, what were you thinking going on the seventh green?
MARINA ALEX: It just kind of felt like after Anna's first put, left a testy one for Anne -- I don't remember how long it was, but had to be between five and six feet. I was, like, I feel if I can make this this just could change a lot for us. I don't have anything to lose. It was an aggressive putt for sure. But --

MORGAN PRESSEL: Front and center.

MARINA ALEX: It went in, thank goodness. And when we got on the tee, I said, let's just get a fresh start here, let's start the match over, really. They played awesome to start. Really, Anne hit some just unbelievably good golf shots. And I was struggling on the approaches but we battled through it. And then we really got a breakthrough.

Q. How proud are you of the golf you played after that?
MORGAN PRESSEL: Definitely never gave up. We're both pretty tough. And, I mean, after I missed the birdie putt after Marina hit such a great shot on six I just got kind of mad. I was pretty angry, but not angry right now.

MARINA ALEX: No, she made an awesome putt on eight for par and that kept our momentum going in the right direction.

Q. What about the conditions? Have you ever experienced anything like that?
MORGAN PRESSEL: On 16, I hit my drive and it was pretty bad. And I was, like, oh, my gosh, I don't think it's going to carry the first pot bunker, which is maybe 155. So, yeah.

MARINA ALEX: It did.

MORGAN PRESSEL: Barely.

Q. Are you playing this afternoon?
MORGAN PRESSEL: We have not heard anything. We're going to go in, get some lunch and figure it out.

Q. Morgan, what a match that was. Looked a little bit at one point that it was there sneaking away from you guys but what a fight back.
MORGAN PRESSEL: It definitely looked like it early. Looked like we were going to be eating an early lunch. But we never really thought that way, and we kept grinding. Four down is a tough deficit, but we just said chip away, keep chipping away and that's what we did. We gave ourselves a lot of opportunities on the back nine.

The only hole we didn't play very well was 16. But other than that, we were forcing them. In the beginning they were playing great and at the end we were really forcing their hand to have to play more aggressively and hit good shots.

Q. What did you think the turning point was, if there's a turning point that you look back on?
MARINA ALEX: Definitely number 7, getting away with a win on that hole after the tee shot left me with a little tricky shot, and it wasn't an easy up-and-down. So to get that par in and force their hand was a huge deal for us. And we just chipped away as fast as we could.

Q. How tough is it out there? The wind is blowing.
MARINA ALEX: It's getting hard I would say the last since maybe 15.

MORGAN PRESSEL: Yes, it's really starting to get gusty. Sixteen was nuts; it's so exposed and the wind was really strong. It's not easy out there.

Q. You formed a great partnership today as well?
MORGAN PRESSEL: I love playing with Marina. It's been a lot of fun this week. We have similar games, similar energy, similar emotions on the golf course. And excited to play for her and proud of her in the way she's played this week.

Q. Some very, very happy Americans here. Well played. What made the difference, do you think?
MORGAN PRESSEL: I think we just never gave up. I know that sounds so cliche, but we really got off to a poor start in terms of scoring being 4-down, but we weren't playing all that poorly. And so we never really gave up.

Not to say that we were waiting for them to make a mistake, but we were just grinding away at our own game and trying to play the best that we could.

And Marina had a huge putt on seven where it looked like they were going to win the hole and we were going to go 5-down and Marina made par. And we ended up winning the hole because Anne missed a short putt.

That's what match play is all about. That's how this event, the emotions can change at the drop of a hat. And once the momentum shifted towards us, we rode it the whole way back.

Q. You got off to a slow start yesterday as well. Been a similar scenario.
MORGAN PRESSEL: The opening holes are hard. Tee shots and approach shots are challenging on holes probably one through five, especially. If you don't come out firing on all cylinders and feeling good, you're going to get exposed a little bit, which I have the first few days.

But that doesn't mean anything in terms of the end result, because we battled back. And the conditions are so tough that you put together a couple good shots with your partner and it really puts the pressure for your opponents to answer with a lot of elements going on. So the conditions make anything possible.

Q. Morgan, you guys were 4-down at one point in the match. What was the turning point to turn it around?
MORGAN PRESSEL: Yeah, we were 4-down early, but we said to each other, we're not doing anything poorly; they just played really great, got off to a really hot start.

So, we said we're waiting for the momentum to change, waiting for the momentum to change. And it really did on seven. They had about a four-footer which looked like it would be for par to win the hole and go 5-up. And Marina made about a 15-footer off the green for par, and they missed, and all of a sudden we win the hole to go to 3-down, and just chipped away at it from there. That was kind of our first sign of life and we tried to ride the momentum all the way back.

Q. Marina's playing in her first Solheim Cup. Describe her as a team member, what she's been like out there.
MORGAN PRESSEL: Rock solid. Just like me, she's tough out there. We don't give up. We just fight the whole way, and she's played great.

It's definitely different playing in a Solheim Cup than playing in a typical event, and the first few holes yesterday it was how much do I play for adrenaline. We've already got wind and rain and everything else going on here. But managing that adrenaline was, I think, maybe a little bit difficult for her yesterday morning. But she really figured that out as the day went on yesterday and played great today and rock solid with the putter for sure.

Q. Have you had a match like that in any of your prior Solheim Cup appearances?
MORGAN PRESSEL: I don't know, that's a tough question. I've had some really intense matches and I'm sure at some point I've come back from some kind of a deficit. I don't know. I'd have to look back.

Q. Did any of those experiences, though, you think help you today to stay patient, to be able to turn it around?
MORGAN PRESSEL: I think even watching the girls yesterday afternoon fight back. You never give up until it's over, to fight back for those two halves on 18. And we got a half point yesterday and half points are important. But full points are better.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297

SOLHEIM CUP

September 14, 2019

Morgan Pressel

Marina Alex