THE LPGA DRIVE ON CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY VOLVIK

March 4, 2021

Jennifer Kupcho

Golden Ocala

Quick Quotes

Q. Jennifer, how do you feel now that the first round is under your belt?

JENNIFER KUPCHO: Great. Honestly, about on 14 I was ready to get off the golf course, so glad I'm off. Yeah.

Q. I mean, just going off that though, you had such a great bogey-free round today starting with four straight back-to-back birdies starting on hole 4. Would you say that's when the momentum started to kick in?

JENNIFER KUPCHO: Yeah, I definitely played well on the front. I actually ended up getting a migraine on the back nine, so struggling through that, still continue. So trying to get through that and that's -- I was really just focused on playing the best that I could with that on the back nine.

Q. Some of those are crippling. Some people get them and they have to lay down. What's it like when it comes on for you?

JENNIFER KUPCHO: It's pretty bad. Even right now it's really blurry. I can't really see anything over to the left. So, yeah, it's definitely really hard. I pretty much just leaned a lot on my caddie and just trusted him ask tried to do the best that I could.

Q. How often do they come on?

JENNIFER KUPCHO: Recently decently often. I think I've had three during off-season.

Q. Okay.

JENNIFER KUPCHO: Usually before that not super often though.

Q. Is it something that you don't know when it's coming and when it's going away?

JENNIFER KUPCHO: For sure. Usually the blurriness goes away within 45 minutes, but they kind of just come on at any point. I was standing over a shot and that's when it kicked in. I never really know.

Q. Do you have to go to a dark room and close yourself in?

JENNIFER KUPCHO: Oh, for sure. That's what I'm doing this afternoon.

Q. Was there a memorable birdie out there for you then?

JENNIFER KUPCHO: Honestly, the one on 13 that I made. I mean, I hit a great shot into the green and had little tricky putt and couldn't really see it, so trusted it and it was a really good birdie. Yeah.

Q. I know you've got to go. Last question is: What's your goal for the remaining three days pending no migraines hopefully?

JENNIFER KUPCHO: Yeah, just go out and play my best. Obviously anyone out here can win any week, so I'm just out here trying to do that.

So I'll just go out and play my game.

JENNIFER KUPCHO: (In progress.) When I played Augusta, so I think that kind of took over at the end. But out here, I'm out here just playing, so I feel like it's a little bit different.

Yeah, not feeling great.

Q. Is that what happened with the second shot into 18, the decision not to go for it?

JENNIFER KUPCHO: Yeah, actually I don't know what happened on 18 tee. I kind of just started feeling numbness in may hand. I think I have a little bit of stiff neck going on. So going to figure that out. That's really it. Just came down to that. I stood over it and I was like, There is no way I can trust myself to hit the shot right now.

Q. I think every single one of our crew had you picked for a good contender this week. Do you think your golf suits this course?

JENNIFER KUPCHO: Yeah, for sure. I think, yeah, it's a great golf course. The greens are tough to read for sure, so having patience, I've definitely gotten that more over the off-season, so I think that's helped as well.