KPMG WOMEN'S PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

October 9, 2020

Stephanie Connelly Eiswerth

Aronimink Golf Club

Quick Quotes

THE MODERATOR: Stephanie, thanks for joining us today. Real bounce-back round, opened with a 78 yesterday, 71 today. Maybe talk about the bounce-back, how it came about and what you saw out on the golf course today.

STEPHANIE CONNELLY EISWERTH: Sure. I felt really good this morning when I woke up. I was kind of nervous yesterday. Still a little nervous this morning, but went and hit some balls yesterday after the round because I hit it pretty terrible. But I still kind of managed myself around. It was a bear yesterday.

But knew if I was patient today I could get to hitting it solid. Just give myself some chances. I really just wanted to make more pars today, more pars, and I was really successful with that. I made quite a few putts today, which helped, so that was a lot of fun, just gave me confidence early. I made probably, I don't know, like a 15-footer on 1 for par and then just had it going pretty good from there.

Again, just kept hitting it solid, put myself in good places, stuck with my game plan. I knew there was some holes that were going to be pretty tough for me, but I was hitting driver really good, and that allowed me to hit a few less clubs into the green instead of 3-wood all the time like I was in the practice rounds. It was a lot of fun. It was a good round.

THE MODERATOR: Maybe talk about -- this is your second straight here in this championship, I believe.

STEPHANIE CONNELLY EISWERTH: Yes.

THE MODERATOR: And what you learned from last year and what you plugged in here this week at Aronimink.

STEPHANIE CONNELLY EISWERTH: I think -- I have so much experience really playing tournament golf that I really have to trust that I've been here and believe in myself a little bit more. Sometimes when I'm out playing a lot, I get into that, well, I can scrape it around and get it around, and you can't do that at the highest level of golf. You can't do that at all. These girls hit it really well. They make putts. And in order to do that, I needed to have the confidence in myself that I can do that because I qualified to be here, and I've played really well in many instances.

It's just after last year, I was very nervous, I was really disappointed in how I played, and I wanted to make sure that I got a little bit more playing coming into the tournament here at Aronimink this year, and I did, and I think yesterday I probably didn't have as much trust in myself in that I have been playing pretty well, and today I just kind of kicked myself in the butt and said, let's go.

THE MODERATOR: Maybe talk about the anticipation leading up to championship week, and maybe the friendships or relationships you might have made with some of your fellow club professionals this week. I know you guys got together a few times for some photos and such and what being part of that team means.

STEPHANIE CONNELLY EISWERTH: Sure. The week before, lots of lessons and teaching, did a bit of fishing to kind of relax myself. My dad and I actually were in a fishing tournament on Saturday, which was a lot of fun. Kind of take my mind off of everything, knowing that I put in the work that I could and that I was ready to go and just enjoy this week.

Got to play some practice rounds with some old friends from the Symetra Tour and even college golf, and then some of my fellow teaching professionals, made very good friends with a few of them, and it's nice to have that camaraderie and just kind of knowing, hey, we're meant to be out here. This is a great opportunity for us to show off for the PGA and the LPGA teaching professionals that just because we teach doesn't mean we can't play by any means. There's a lot of good teaching professionals out there, and I think it says a lot for both organizations that we have a lot of knowledge in the game and are able to share that with our students and also to play and compete. We can do it, and it's a good experience to take back home.