U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN

December 10, 2020

Amy Olson

Champions Golf Club

Press Conference

Q. Amy Olson, 4-under 67 on Cypress Creek. It was just a phenomenal round. Talk us through what was working.

AMY OLSON: Thanks, yeah. I hit the ball really well off the tee. It ended up I gave myself some good chances for birdie, but I really made some putts that I definitely wasn't necessarily thinking birdie on, and that helped. And then obviously the hole-in-one was kind of the highlight of the round. I was pretty excited to be able to do that at the U.S. Open.

Q. I was curious on details on that hole-in-one.

AMY OLSON: Yeah, I had 141 to the flag, and the pin was tucked -- it was just more on the right side of the green with the wind kind of coming from the right, so I hit a fade to try to hold the wind, and it landed two paces short of the flag, had some good spin on it and just trickled in. We saw the whole thing, which was fun.

Q. What club?

AMY OLSON: 8-iron, sorry.

Q. That came early in the round. How do you bring yourself back down to be able to just refocus and reset? I would imagine that could get your adrenaline and it could be easy to get distracted I suppose.

AMY OLSON: Yeah, you know, I definitely allowed myself to celebrate there and enjoy the moment, and then I had a little bit of time before -- honestly pace of play was really slow out there today, so I had some time to kind of calm myself and come back to it.

I think it is important to enjoy the little things and the moments along the way and not kind of get ahead of yourself, so I just enjoyed the moment.

Q. We talked a little bit yesterday about shot shapes and how you like shaping it in various directions. Was that all working for you today, and how many times did you kind of force yourself to hit that cut?

AMY OLSON: Yeah, I didn't really hit that cut off the tee very much today, but I definitely did into the greens. The greens are definitely firming up, so I needed the ball to stop once it landed. There were a couple holes -- I felt like all the par-3s were just downwind to front pins, so I needed it to stop, so I hit a lot of cuts into par-3s. But I would say my stock shot, which is my draw, was probably 70 percent of the time.

Q. How many aces do you have in your life and on the LPGA?

AMY OLSON: Yeah, I have five total but only two now in competition. I made my first one in competition in Phoenix two years ago I think it was, and that was fun because I had a whole like crowd from North Dakota down there, and so this one was a little bit different, but there was some people, I think, having a party at one of the houses nearby, and they cheered.

Q. Weren't you leading the Women's Open before a rain delay in your first one if I remember correctly?

AMY OLSON: Yeah, that would have been like 2011? I think I was a junior in college, and yes, I think I shot 2-under and the afternoon wave didn't get a chance to finish because there was a rain delay so I was technically leading after day one. But definitely that was just such a different time in my life, but it's really fun to look back at that. I've always had great experiences at USGA events.

Q. What do you remember about sleeping that night when your name was on top of the board?

AMY OLSON: I don't know that I really thought about it too much. I don't know. I definitely had a pretty carefree attitude, especially in college and growing up, so I didn't really think a whole ton about it, to be honest.

Q. Where is Grant now? Is he doing football? What's going on with family?

AMY OLSON: Yeah, they had one game this fall, but their season is going to be in the spring, so he's taking the time to do a little bit of hunting, which he hasn't gotten to do all the time in the fall. He'll be out next week and my parents will be out next week.

Q. For someone who was such a prolific winner in college, has it been difficult to keep your patience out here?

AMY OLSON: Yeah. You know, I definitely would say I think coming out here I expected to win really early. It always kind of came easy to me in college. I won the U.S. Junior Amateur just my second time playing the event, so it definitely was easy for me early on. Coming out here, the play is absolutely fantastic. It's not easy to win out here. You have to put four really good days together. And so it has been, I think, a test of my patience. But the biggest thing I've learned is just perspective and what do I consider success, and at the end of my life it's not going to be a number of tournaments that I've won, it's how I live my life, so trying to maintain that perspective, I think, is really important for me.

Q. In a non-pandemic world, would Grant have flown out for the weekend? Now he can't because he would have to pass a COVID test and wait and whatnot --

AMY OLSON: No, he definitely would have been out here this weekend. The testing just kind of added an extra element that he couldn't -- it didn't make sense because he really only has the weekend. In another world, in another year, yes, he'd be here this weekend.

Q. And is it true that after he beat you soundly in Connect Four that you went and spent all day on the internet looking up strategies?

AMY OLSON: When he beat me in four moves in Connect Four? Yes, I studied hard (laughing).