CAMBIA PORTLAND CLASSIC

September 18, 2020

Caroline Masson

Columbia Edgewater Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Caroline, 5-under, 67; nice bogey-free round. It looks like you were feeling pretty comfortable out there today. Tell us about how you feel coming off the course.

CAROLINE MASSON: Yeah, feel happy about my round; obviously bogey-free is always good; making five birdies is nice. I felt like it was pretty solid overall.

You know, switched drivers. I struggled a little bit with the driver the last few weeks. Definitely found something that's a lot more comfortable and a lot more solid. Just I think given me a little bit of confidence off the tee. It was just nice, especially on a tighter course like this. From there, it was pretty solid.

Q. Tell us about that driver change. What were you using? What are you doing now? When did you make that change?

CAROLINE MASSON: Yeah, I've been using the Ping G410 and we -- the idea was just to go back it a little bit smaller head actually because I just had trouble squaring it up.

Went back to G400, older model, but it's a little bit smaller. I don't know. I just feel like I just have a little bit more control, a little bit shorter with the shaft, different shaft. So whole new driver really.

I just said, It would be nice to see something different, and sometimes a little change, just a little different visual I guess, it helps, and you can kind of start over and forget about maybe some bad memories.

Q. Is this the first week you had that in the bag?

CAROLINE MASSON: Yeah. I really just tried it for the first time yesterday. Yeah, Scott our Ping rep, was nice enough to overnight it to me, because he couldn't really come out here and prepare any clubs. So it's been an effort, but, yeah, I'm really thankful that he did that for me.

Q. So a crazy week with the smoke, not a lot of practice, and throwing a new driver in. Was there any thought about not making that change considering everything else that's going on?

CAROLINE MASSON: No. It felt good yesterday, and like I said, I knew it was going to be nice to just see something different. Just tightened everything up a little bit.

Yeah, I only hit some -- I played nine holes yesterday. Hit some on the range, it felt good, and I have no problem putting that in play then.

Q. Coming back to today you had the five birdies. What was the story of those birdies? Long putts? Short putts? Just your game...

CAROLINE MASSON: No, I started off nicely. The first one was on 3 where I actually made a little bit longer putt, which was just nice to get me going.

I thought it was not easy to judge the distances right. You know the ball is not flying as far in the weather. It was kind of damp and wet, raining.

The greens are soft, but it's still tough to convince yourself that you have to maybe hit almost one club more than normal. Especially after last week where it was so hot.

So it was nice to make that one.

And after that, just made a few, hit a couple close on the par-5s especially, which was nice, and, yeah, just overall pretty solid.

Q. How did you spend your early part of the week? When we got here the air quality made it so difficult. We were trapped in our hotel rooms for a while.

CAROLINE MASSON: Yeah.

Q. What has this week been like and able to wrap your mind around it mentally everything that's going on?

CAROLINE MASSON: Yeah, it's not been easy. I think everybody is probably going through different stages asking themselves, What am I actually doing here? Should I maybe go home? Are we going to be able to play?

But the forecast was I guess what promising at least for three rounds. So, yeah, it was nice to get a couple days off. I thought last week was pretty exhausting; it was hot; it was a grind for me because of the way I played.

So it was nice to take a few days off, and I just tried to take it easy. Bought a puzzle, so that keeps you occupied. It's kind of strange. Can't got to the gym, can't go outside, can't go to dinner, so just been cooped up in the room. I was happy to actually come out today and yesterday and get going.

Q. It was nice to definitely have some cleaner air to breathe today; looked like it did well for you today.

CAROLINE MASSON: Yeah. Thank you. Thank you so much.