U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN

December 12, 2020

Amy Olson

Champions Golf Club

Flash Interview

Q. Tough conditions out there but you played extremely well. Talk about being in this position now at the end of the round 3?

AMY OLSON: Yeah, I'm really pleased with how I played today. It was such a grind, I just, pars were a great score on every single hole today. Fortunately made a couple good birdies, especially the one on 17 coming in. Some really solid par putts and that's really what it comes down to is making those putts whether they're for birdie or par. So I'm very pleased with how I played.

Q. What club did you hit on 17?

AMY OLSON: An 8-iron. Same shot as I hit for my hole-in-one actually on Thursday, like a little cut 8-iron, almost the same number.

Q. Your ball striking has been good leading into this and now suddenly you're able to grind out and find yourself in a really good position going into the last day of a major. How important is it to remain level headed? You led this after the first round, you fall back and now you're right back into this.

AMY OLSON: Obviously your mental fortitude and perspective is extremely important and you can never get too high, you can never get too low. I've definitely had some times of adversity already this week and I'm proud of how I've bounced back and just never given up.

Q. To follow on that, you made an early bogey and you just like smiled and it looked like you almost cracked a joke. And then you came back and made a birdie and you did the same thing. So I was wondering if that comes naturally or whether that's part of the maturation process that it was like I'm just going to take what this course gives me and not get too bothered by it?

AMY OLSON: Yeah, it's definitely part of the maturation process or something that I've definitely worked on. My goal, even thinking back to college, was when my coach walks up to me I don't want him to know how I'm playing, like by how I respond or how I act. So that's always kind of been a bit of my goal. It's definitely not easy to do and I'm, you need to react to shots and not bottle everything up, but once it's kind of over you really do need to let it go and try to enjoy the walk.

Q. What was your mud ball situation today? How was the count?

AMY OLSON: Which one? There were about 18 of them. (Laughing.) I mean, at one point I laughed and it was like, is it going to be in a divot or a mud ball, because it was one or the other pretty much all day. So I'm really hoping that we either do lift, clean and place or it's so wet tomorrow that the water just pulls the mud off, I don't know.

Q. Do you want really tough conditions on Sunday? Do you think that favors you?

AMY OLSON: You know, I'm not necessarily sure. Definitely -- I mean, probably playing long favors me, but I just want it to play fair, that's kind of the ultimate hope and generally the U.S. Open does that.

Q. Did it play fair today?

AMY OLSON: Other than the mud balls. I hit some really good shots that just went straight left and I was so frustrated because, I'm like, that was such a good swing. So that was the only, that was definitely my main frustration today.

Q. Is that what happened on 5? It looked like you just hit a little rope hook out there and you looked at it like what in the world happened there?

AMY OLSON: That one and -- maybe that was 5 -- and then there was another one later on 13. Yeah, 13, that did the exact same thing.

Q. Why did you know you would need your sunglasses this morning when it looked like there was going to be no need for such a thing?

AMY OLSON: I should have forgotten them because then the sun would have come out, right?

Q. What would winning this mean to you?

AMY OLSON: You know, it obviously would be a huge accomplishment, something that you dream about as a kid. But obviously that's a long way away and my whole goal is to really stay in the moment and not get ahead of myself.