NW ARKANSAS CHAMPIONSHIP

August 29, 2020

Maria Fassi

Pinnacle Country Club

Press Conference

Q. All right, Maria Fassi, a great round of 67 out here on Saturday at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship.

Maria, your first cut made. Can you breathe a sigh of relief now?

MARIA FASSI: Yeah. I mean, it's always good to play good out here. I've always wanted to kind of have a good tournament. I think it just kind of feels like home to me, so I'm kind of excited that I got that behind me and that I'm in good position for tomorrow.

Q. Tell me about your round out there today and what gave you a little bit of a boost on your 3rd hole.

MARIA FASSI: Yeah, I kind of, I mean, been hitting it good both yesterday and today; been getting good looks at birdies.

I couldn't really get anything to fall today. It was kind of a slow start. Was able to make a good putt on 3 and kind of gave me some more confidence and made birdies on 4 and 5 and kept hitting it good.

Made a little mistake on 6, but overall I think I'm just hitting it solid, getting good looks for birdies, and putt's working this week.

Q. I hear there might have been a different snack involved. Tell us about that.

MARIA FASSI: Yeah, so Coach Taylor was out there on No. 2 and we had a bit of a wait on 3rd tee. She gave me some strawberries, so now she's calling it the birdie berries. Got three birdies in a row after that, so I guess that's what's going to be for breakfast tomorrow.

Q. And how nice was is to finish with a birdie on your last hole, the 9th hole and heading into the final round tomorrow?

MARIA FASSI: Yeah, it's always good to finish with a birdie. Just gives you something good to go to bed with. Hit a very good shot off the tee. Hit it very close for birdie. Barely had a tap-in for birdie, so pretty happy about that. Happy that I was able to just go one deeper. I feel like it's just good overall.

Q. Going from playing no golf for about two months or very little golf to now just you're playing every week and overseas and back over here, how do you feel physically?

A. Yeah, my body is definitely not making me pay for it, but I can feel it. Just maybe not being as used to it as we were with the big break that we had.

But, I mean, I'm just trying to stay healthy. I'm being just very cautious with what I do. Practicing enough for me to feel ready but not overdoing anything. I'm really trying to protect my low back that's been giving me a little bit of issues.

But I feel good. If I play good I don't really think about my back, so I think that's the way to go.

Q. They moved the tee back on No. 2 this year and you still look like hit 3-wood there. Is that just to keep it in the fairway from there?

MARIA FASSI: Yeah, well I don't even have driver in the bag this week, so that wouldn't have been an option. Yeah, I guess with the tee being back this year kind of just made that decision even easier for me, especially this year with a driver not in the bag.

But, yeah, I think that's just the smarter play, just playing that hole as a three-shot par-5.

Q. How much did the rain affect the course today as far as birdie opportunities, things like that? Did that change it much?

MARIA FASSI: I think the course held up pretty good. I mean, the greens were still firm. We were still getting some roll. So of course it was playing a little bit softer, maybe a little bit longer than when we first started playing. I think the course was fantastic even after the rain delay.

So, yeah, that's just kudos for the grounds crews for keeping it like it is.

Q. Does that change any of your strategy after a rain or something like that when the course maybe softens up a little bit ore? Does that change how you play any of the holes? I know you got good course knowledge here, too.

MARIA FASSI: Yeah. Not for me really. I think it's just more of staying in rhythm after going in for a little while. Just kind of not just sitting down and losing all sorts of rhythm and just the pace that I had going on.

So it's more of that rather than maybe adjusting my strategy because of the rain. So it's just, like I said, the course was pretty much playing the same like after the rain delay than it did before.