KPMG WOMEN'S PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

October 9, 2020

Joanna Coe

Aronimink Golf Club

Quick Quotes

Q. 79 yesterday and 80 today; maybe tell us about your experience here and your play today.

JOANNA COE: Obviously a wonderful experience. Always great to play in this major. You know, didn't play, obviously, the way I would have hoped or liked. The golf course is extremely difficult. You know, and it's a year that I didn't exactly practice a lot this year. Golf was extremely popular with COVID and everyone wanted to be outside.

You know, I thought I could pull it off, but clearly didn't, and it's all right. It's all good.

Q. You've been out here before, but how do you measure yourself in two days, measure yourself against the best players in the world and then take it home and not only maybe help your game take a stride forward but also the people that you work with at your club?

JOANNA COE: Sure. What I learned this week was I was concerned about my ball-striking for like the last couple weeks, and every time I play in something, my ball-striking is not the problem, and so I focused all the practice rounds on all right, let's drive it well, irons, this and that, and what failed me was my putter and my wedge. You know, it's foolish, but I just thought that I've been putting well for months and maybe it would just work, but on these greens, they're absolutely brutal. You have to stroke it perfectly, your speed control needs to be right on it, and around the greens, if you're short-sided at all -- I hit a pitch today that I thought was a high, beautiful shot, and it hit like a rock and just went over the green. So I'm like, there's nothing I could do about that one.

You know, when you're playing tournament golf, your short game has to be so, so sharp. I'll just relay that to my students; obviously worry about your ball-striking but never neglect your short game.

Q. You're part of eight special players here, almost a sub-grouping within the field. Do you take a lot of pride in that, and did you enjoy sharing some time and some stories with your co-club professionals?

JOANNA COE: Of course. Alison and Seul-Ki, we shared that experience at the PGA Cup together. We're on a group text message and we talk every day. We're all like besties now. To kind of have the week with them and be able to share some meals and come out and practice -- yesterday evening I was watching both of them hit balls. I didn't feel like hitting any more balls. I'm exhausted, so I just watched them hit a couple balls, almost helping to coach them a little bit. It's always great to be with them and share ideas. We took a couple swing videos of the girls out here and we're texting them to each other, because we're coaches. That's what I do for a living, I'm coaching people to play this game. Hopefully I play better than I did today, so it's great to be with them this week.

Q. LPGA pros this week talk about it's the toughest test they've ever seen. Have you ever played a tougher test?

JOANNA COE: So they said it was the toughest test they've ever seen? I've played Oakmont on just a normal day, and I thought that was pretty much like this, and that wasn't in a major setting or anything. So I'd say Oakmont, Merion when it's super hard. But yeah, this was pretty much the hardest you can get in something that matters, at least in my career.

Q. How would you describe this, just the talent out there in the field, the Tour professionals, the LPGA rank and file, how would you describe their talents to someone that's maybe not even new to golf, knows a lot about it, but just that kind of spotlights how excellent they are?

JOANNA COE: Well, the LPGA is an excellent product. I always tell people, they just need to put eyeballs on it and realize how good they are. Everyone is focusing on Bryson hitting it 370, but these girls weigh 115 pounds and are hitting it 270. I mean, yards per pound, LPGA wins. It's absolutely incredible what they can do.

And then to have the composure every single day and then the touch around the greens, it's super impressive. I love watching it. I love being a fan. I played with Lindy Duncan the last two days, and she probably missed like two shots, and she just was just golfing her ball really well. It was fun to watch. I played a practice round with In Gee Chun. I recorded her driver swing and I'm going to use it with my students. It was awesome.