AIG WOMEN'S OPEN

August 22, 2020

Caroline Masson

Quick Quotes

Q. What was the key to your round today?

CAROLINE MASSON: There's trouble everywhere. I think we did a good job keeping our focus up and yeah, made a few birdies coming in which was nice.

Q. What's that done for you momentum-wise heading into tomorrow?

CAROLINE MASSON: It's great. You always want to have a good moving day. Obviously moved in the right direction. I mean, we'll see what the scores are like coming in, they are starting a couple hours after me. I did what I could today and it was solid golf and finally managed to make a couple putts which was nice to see, because I haven't seen many go in the hole. Just a nice setup for tomorrow and try to go about it the same as today and the last couple days.

Q. 68, played yourself into contention heading into the final round. Talk us through that hat trick of birdies down the stretch?

CAROLINE MASSON: Yeah, with tough conditions on a tough golf course, it's always really nice to make a few birdies in a row. Hasn't really happened to me yet. My reaction today was pretty good. Every time I made a bogey, followed up with a birdie, which was nice to get it back right away. I finally got the putter hot and saw a couple putts go in during that stretch, so I felt like I've had a lot of birdie chances, actually, good birdie chances this week, and haven't really made too many of them. So it was nice to finally see a couple putts go in, and yeah, just gets you a long way up here in these conditions.

Yeah, good back nine and see where it puts me for tomorrow.

Q. Your best finish in a major came at the 2017 Women's Open, tied third. What will you take from that experience heading into the final round?

CAROLINE MASSON: I think it's just play your game and to stay in it, and really, you can't afford to think about that kind of stuff too much, where you're at, what you have to do. On a course like this with this kind of wind, you have to really focus on every shot and be in the moment, and that's what I'm going to do tomorrow. Yeah, we'll see what the rest of the girls do today, and where it puts me. But it's just about posting a good score tomorrow and really focusing on my game.

Q. Still very windy out there but no rain. How do you find the conditions?

CAROLINE MASSON: It was a little bit easier than the last couple days. It was just a little less wind. But it's still stuff, no doubt about it. There's a lot of crosswind, more than the first day for sure. You know, always make the turn and think it gets easier but it doesn't, because it's coming in hard off the left on the back nine. Like I said, you have to really focus and you have to hit good shots and think your way around a little bit, and try not to have too many mistakes. If you get out of position, take bogey if possible and move on. I think we have done a good job doing that.

Q. What would it mean to you to win a major?

CAROLINE MASSON: No doubt about it, that's what we are all trying to do, especially here in Europe. Obviously it would be a huge deal.

But yeah, it's something you dream about, and I think it's something that you can use as motivation for practise and getting better and I think that's what I've done obviously my whole career. Tomorrow, it's not about thinking about that kind of stuff. It's about staying in the moment and playing your best golf and see where it takes me.

Q. Where does it rank in majors that you want to win?

CAROLINE MASSON: I wouldn't say no to any of them, but yeah, like I said, British Open being in Europe, being European, obviously it's a huge deal, and at a venue like Royal Troon, no doubt about it, would be an absolute dream come true. Obviously the U.S. Open is special. They are all special in their own way I guess. The ANA is cool because it has a lot of tradition which I like. Obviously this tournament has a lot of tradition.

Yeah, it would rank pretty high up there.

Q. You've been flying under the radar and catching the leaders up. Is that a position you like to be in?

CAROLINE MASSON: I think, yeah, if you can be ahead a couple shots, that's great, because you're ahead of everybody else. I like staying under the radar. I've played really solid golf, and I know that if I just stick to my plan, I think I'm capable of shooting a good round tomorrow. You never know what's going to happen on a Sunday. It seems like it's pretty dense. It seems like a lot of players probably have a shot to win, so I guess it's just important to focus on myself and I'll just do what I've been doing.

Q. What will you do now this evening; you can't exactly go out. Do you have any plans that you're doing to kill time in the bubble, so to speak?

CAROLINE MASSON: Yeah, there's really not too much you can do. Might hit a couple putts. Take it easy here. Have a nice lunch, coffee and slowly make my way back to my hotel room. I've seen a lot of it this week, so I'm not in a rush to get back there. Grab some dinner. We have kind of one spot where we can sit, obviously socially distanced in the hotel, which is nice, make the afternoon a little bit shorter. Just do that and take my mind off of golf a little bit. I think it's so intense out here that it's nice to get back home and just relax and just talk get away from the golf. So that's what I'm going to do.