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U.S. WOMEN'S MID-AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

September 17, 2019

Julia Potter-Bobb

Flagstaff, Arizona

Q. This morning, you had a lead and it started to slip away a little bit. Did that make any difference?
JULIA POTTER-BOBB: I mean, she played great in the morning, and I was 3-up with four to play. Hit a terrible tee shot on 15 and she capitalized on that. Then she made birdie on 16, which was an amazing birdie. Then she actually had 3 1/2 feet for birdie on 17 and missed that putt.

You know, I just feel like this course and the way that it's set up really kind of keeps anybody in play if you're able to hit the shots and hit in the right spots, and she was able to do that down the line. You know, I was keeping pace with pars, but you can make birdies when they are out there.

Q. In the afternoon, sometimes just like the second shot on 1, can set a tone.
JULIA POTTER-BOBB: Yeah, I think when I realized the only way I was going to catch her was she made that chip-in on par 5, was with birdies, because I felt like I had put -- I didn't start off that great. The wind changed on me, I think last-minute and that's how I airmailed the green on 1 and I understand that those things happen especially with how gusty it's been out here this afternoon. But she makes that putt for birdie on 2. She makes that eight-foot sliding putt for par on 3. We both halve 4 with birdies. As a player, I've been on both sides and I've seen when someone's on, and she was on today.

Q. 5, being the idea that you were up there -- she didn't concede it but probably would have, make or miss the chip. But then she makes it and a chance to chip away?
JULIA POTTER-BOBB: She did a great job. Every time I hit a great shot in -- on 6, too, I hit it to 15 feet; she hit it to 10. 9 is a great example. I hit it to eight feet and she hit a putt to 20, and I left the putt on the low side. So every time it looked like it was going to come in my way she was able to turn it back into her's, and that's just the sign of a great competitor.

Q. There is such a group of you, that you're all after it, you're all getting calf it. There's the camaraderie, but everybody knows you have to bring your A Game when you go out there, right?
JULIA POTTER-BOBB: Yeah, that's what I expect of Lauren. This is actually the first time I ever played with her competitively either in match or stroke play and I played a practice round with her at the women's am, but she's got a great game and when she's on, she's on. I thought we had done a really great job in the beginning of the round, and then towards the end of the round of kind of going back and forth and really putting great shots out there and trying to make some putts. In a match like this, there's a person who takes advantage of those opportunities, and she was the one to do that today.

Q. You've been Medalist a few times now. The first few times, you won it all. Were you feeling at all any external pressure, any thought of, okay, I've really got to somehow --
JULIA POTTER-BOBB: No. Because -- yes and no. I think I've always put pressure on myself. When you've won it twice, and I was able to have a really solid summer, being the only Mid-Amateur to make the cut at the am, I know what -- I don't want to say a target on my back but I know what expectations are out there for me.

But I've kind of this summer and this year, have worked really hard on kind of forgetting other people's expectations and really just worrying about what this game means to me and I want to go out there and have fun. That's really all that matters. I love playing in this event, and if I start putting more and more pressure on myself, I'm not going to love it and I'd be so saddened by that.

So I understood it but it's hard to win -- it's hard to do twice and I knew it was definitely going to be harder three times. I tried to putt that to the side and focus one match at a time, because I played such great players all the way through. For a draw for No. 1, it was hard. These were all just very great competitors that played well all week and all summer. It was not the easiest route for No. 1. The one thing I would say is that when I started playing this in 2013 to now, and the amount of competition, the players and the scores, it has just increased in regards to the talent of play that's coming out to this tournament year after year.

I think that speaks to more mid-amateurs understanding how important it is to continue to play golf, and then the other thing is, is that you now have the U.S. Women's Open exemption on the line, and I think that is that little carrot that's being dangled out there for those really great mid-amateurs who have maybe put their bag away but decided to come out and see what happens.

I still think the trophy is the most important part. I've been very lucky to be a USGA Champion and I understand the benefits that come with it I still think it's the more important aspect of this event but I also think that has been the carrot that has brought people back out to the game.

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