NW ARKANSAS CHAMPIONSHIP

August 28, 2020

Maria Fassi

Pinnacle Country Club

Press Conference

Q. Maria, a little bit of a different atmosphere out there. Little quiet. Sum up your first round out here.

MARIA FASSI: Yeah, like you said, definitely different feel of just how we're used to playing this tournament.

But always happy to be back here. Happy to be in Arkansas, to be able to compete out here. The course is always great. Good challenge today. I made some good putts, saved some good pars, and just kind of was taking advantage, I guess, of some of close looks that I had.

Was fortunate to convert some of those, and just excited for tomorrow and hopefully be in a good position for Sunday.

Q. And can you just talk about your strategy this week and taking driver out of the bag?

MARIA FASSI: Yeah, I mean, I think for me this course is not one that fits maybe like the long play as much as I would've liked.

During the practice rounds we only used driver two or three times maybe, and, I mean, hitting 3-wood was not going to be that much of a difference instead of the driver.

I do have to use some of my other clubs more than the driver this week, so we just kind of thought, Why not? Let's try something new. And it worked just fine today. Hopefully can continue to work and maybe get better.

Q. Anything you're going to do different or change of mindset heading into the weekend?

MARIA FASSI: No. I mean, think we have a very strong game plan. I really like our strategy. I think we stay as aggressive as we can, of course being smart when we have to, but pretty positive off the tee, trying to hit it as close as I can of course, and hopefully that keeps working and we can keep playing good.