U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN

December 10, 2020

Megan Khang

Champions Golf Club

Press Conference

Q. Megan Khang, 1-under 70 on the Jackrabbit course. You got off to a hot start. Talk us through what was working at the beginning.

MEGAN KHANG: Honestly our game plan coming into this week, especially with the greens being this big, was to just kind of play to the fat portion of the green and take our putts at it when we got a chance, and fortunately I gave myself a lot of good chances out there. Was able to make some longer putts for birdie to start, and I was just telling Kurt that I didn't realize we had three in a row. I thought when we went to scoring that that was wrong.

So it was a nice little surprise after the finish I had to be 1-under instead of even, and just kind of making sure we keep a cool-headed mind going into the rest of the week.

Q. How is this course playing?

MEGAN KHANG: The course is playing great. For the maintenance to be able to keep both courses in this great of shape, especially this late in the year, it's definitely impressive. I mean, they're both very in good shape, greens are rolling great, and you can't really complain.

Q. A little different on the back nine. Did you feel like there was something that changed?

MEGAN KHANG: No, I mean, in the end I still was trying to keep cool. I mean, bogeys are going to happen. You're just going to have to deal with it. It's acceptable. I mean, I gave myself good chances even after the bogey. Putts weren't dropping as much, but that's the name of the game.

Q. Interesting position now in an Open Championship to obviously play a different golf course tomorrow. What was your kind of experience with Cypress during the practice rounds?

MEGAN KHANG: Cypress is definitely a little different than Jackrabbit. Cypress has way bigger greens so definitely more lag putting to do. I was telling my caddie, Kurt, looking through the yardage book today, I played Jackrabbit Monday, and I was looking at my notes, and I'm like, I don't remember what line I picked, so I was asking him like what did we mean when I said "tallest point in the tree line" and stuff like that. It's definitely going to be good going back into Cypress and being happy that I get to play the same course for the next three days instead.

Q. It's not unusual to have such a hot birdie streak at a U.S. Open to start. What were you expecting when you got here for what kind of scoring conditions might be like, and how have you learned how to keep cool in a situation like that?

MEGAN KHANG: I've been very pleased with my ball-striking coming into this week, and I knew mentally that there were going to be some pins that we can't attack, and I was happy with my pace this week with putting, and so I was very confident with my speeds. Just kind of staying out there, making sure I match the line and the speed and just taking pars whenever.