THE LPGA DRIVE ON CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY VOLVIK

March 4, 2021

Gaby Lopez

Golden Ocala

Quick Quotes

GABY LOPEZ: Yeah, solid day. I think the course is in great shape and like the course setup, the par-5s are challenging to be able to get on two of them.

And, yeah, I think off the tee I play a little solid and made some good putts out there.

Q. The tribute holes, do those catch your eye at all? Do they actually feel like you're there?

GABY LOPEZ: Yes, yes, for sure. When I was on hole 4 for sure reminded me of No. 8 in Royal Troon. It was not same memory thankfully, but I hit a good shot there.

Yeah, it's really awesome to go play 11, 12, and replicate those holes of Augusta.

And I think overall the golf course is long of what we used to play and it's very challenging off the tee. You got to hit the right spot to be able to hit on the green, because the greens play firmer than normal. So being able to just judge that is very important.

Q. I heard the greens are new within the last year or so and takes, what, about two years for them to really get seeded the right way.

GABY LOPEZ: Right.

Q. How are they playing with how new they are?

GABY LOPEZ: Actually I had no idea, and that's actually the answer to my question of every single hole. Yeah, they're playing firm. You see shots and they're not spinning at all, they're actually going forward. So you just got to play with those bounces and be smart where to hit them and not get into the runoffs.

The pins are in tricky positions at times, and just being able to play smart when you have to ask take your medicine when you have not a good number or you don't have a good angle to the pin.

Q. You had a nice warm afternoon today. Looks like it'll be chillier in the morning. How does what affect the game a little bit?

GABY LOPEZ: Yeah, for sure. It was warm. It was nice and warm, so I think just tomorrow being able to just make a good warmup of my body, being able to get in rhythm since the beginning and not kind of wait five holes to get in rhythm.

And yeah, knowing that the holes are going to play longer and iron shots are going to spin even less and we're going to have longer shots. But I guess it's a marathon, not a sprint.

So being able to stay calm, present, it's very important in this golf tournament. Seems that four days is not enough of golf, but once you're competing it takes a long process and a long time to be able to get to the last 18 holes to be close to the leaderboard. So, yeah.