ANA INSPIRATION

September 10, 2020

Nanna Koerstz Madsen

Mission Hills Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Nice 4-under to start the ANA Inspiration, six birdies today. How did it feel to get in major competition mode ^ check and perform like that?

NANNA KOERSTZ MADSEN: It felt good. I haven't really done that well at this course before, so yeah, I'm excited to start this way. Yeah, it's always nice playing a major championship.

Q. You said you haven't played this well at this course specifically. Do you like the changes then with the type of grass and some of the changes on the course?

NANNA KOERSTZ MADSEN: To be honest, I haven't really noticed that much change on the course, but definitely I did the grass. I'm not very good at Bermudagrass, so I think I prefer it the other way. But it worked out pretty well.

Q. You played in the two events over in Europe as your first since the restart. This is your first event in the U.S. since January. What's it been like? Take me through the whole process of getting back over here and just the changes you've seen.

NANNA KOERSTZ MADSEN: Well, I was really excited going back here because, well, yes, as you said, I played the two events in Scotland, and then I was planning on taking the two weeks off because we weren't really sure how long the season was going to be and what are we going to play and so on, and then I was like, we just had a half a year break so I didn't want to take two weeks off anymore. So I'm just really excited to be back playing, and playing more than just a couple events. It's nice that we have a few events in a row, so it's good.

Q. How quick are these greens?

NANNA KOERSTZ MADSEN: They're quick, but I like them quick. That's what I'm best at.

Q. That plays to your strengths?

NANNA KOERSTZ MADSEN: Yeah.

Q. In terms of your overall game?

NANNA KOERSTZ MADSEN: Putting?

Q. The speed of the greens, does that play to your strengths with ball-striking and putting ability?

NANNA KOERSTZ MADSEN: Yeah, I would say I'm definitely better at faster greens than slower greens. I definitely saw that in Scotland. Yeah, so I like them fast and firm.

Q. The heat probably wasn't too big of an issue today I would imagine. It started out fairly hot in your round and cooled down to what it is now. Good glimpse of what you would expect from a morning tee time tomorrow?

NANNA KOERSTZ MADSEN: Yeah, well, the weather didn't play that big of a -- I don't know how you say it. It wasn't that bad at all. It was actually quite nice out there. Definitely better than Monday and Tuesday.

Q. You had a pretty good finish in Scotland at the Scottish Open. Heading into round 2, obviously one round at a time, but can you draw on what you accomplished there to perform well here, especially with what you accomplished today and where you're at on the leaderboard?

NANNA KOERSTZ MADSEN: Yeah, well, in Scotland my long game was really good. I was struggling a lot on the greens, so yeah, I was really trying to just take that with me here because I know if you're a good ball striker then the greens are so true and they roll really nicely. You are going to make some putts. So yeah, I know if I can bring that long game to here, I'll probably play all right.

Q. What do you think of the backstop there on 18?

NANNA KOERSTZ MADSEN: I like it. We were actually talking about it before coming here because we know there's not going to be any grandstands, if they were going to do something like that. It makes players go for it more than if it weren't there. I think you wouldn't probably see -- you would not see that many going for it if it wasn't there. And I like that you're able to go for par-5s.

Q. When you heard that you could take carts, how was that approached in your talks with your caddie, and what do you think of it with the heat?

NANNA KOERSTZ MADSEN: Well, actually my caddie twisted his ankle a week ago, so he was really excited that he could ride in a cart. It doesn't really bother me that much. He was just riding next to me, so we were talking on the way on the fairways and stuff. It was all right for me.