AUGUSTA NATIONAL WOMEN'S AMATEUR

April 2, 2021

Rachel Heck

Press Conference

Q. How did you find it out there?

RACHEL HECK: Unreal, actually walking down the fairways and thinking about everybody who has walked these fairways before, it was so awesome. The greens are crazy, but I have an awesome caddie, David. We just had fun out there. We are going to have another fun day tomorrow.

Q. Did you pay attention enough for the actual practice round portion?

RACHEL HECK: That part was hard for sure. My little sister was carrying a camera, I was like, Anna, every five minutes, take a picture of this, take a picture of this. It was a little bit harder focus on getting a feel for the course, but what's more important, you know, and I'm just going to soak it all in.

Q. Will your dad be on the bag for the final round?

RACHEL HECK: He's not. I have a course caddie. He caddied the first two rounds. Might jeopardize our father/daughter relationship if he was telling me to putt on those greens so we thought it was best to get someone who knows what they are doing. We were both in agreement he would hand over the bag on Saturday if I made the cut. It's a mutual thing.

Q. How was it having him out here the first two rounds?

RACHEL HECK: So much fun as always. It's so nice catching up with him. I've been in college the past two months. That's the longest I've been away from them. I'm a freshman. It was so much fun catching up, talking about everything, walking down the fairways. He's a caddie. He does pretty well.

Q. What was the biggest thing that surprised you?

RACHEL HECK: A lot of people told me that you just can't appreciate the elevation change on TV, and I believe them. Wow, actually seeing it is crazy. I'm putting like vertically up these hills and it's crazy.

So not that I didn't believe the people when they said it would be like that, but I was shocked to find something like that.

Q. You're a long hitter. Do you think you could be aggressive on the par 5s tomorrow?

RACHEL HECK: Yeah, I think it will just -- depend if I have a good drive that hole. I went for a couple today. It was fun. I like going for stuff. I think it's really fun. My dad was still walking with my caddie and me and we were talking about laying up, and I was like, are you kidding me? I'm trying to have fun here. I'm playing Augusta National, I'm going to go for it. We'll try to make a smart decision but it might be fun to go for some.

Q. Was it 13?

RACHEL HECK: No, that was actually on 15. 13 I hit my drive a little right, sadly.

Q. Do you think you'll be able to do that potentially tomorrow?

RACHEL HECK: It will depend on what the wind is doing. The wind was swirling a bit, so if it's downwind and I hit a good drive out there, then why not.

Q. What can you tell us about Rose Zhang?

RACHEL HECK: Rose is amazing. I'm so glad she's going to be part of our team. Her game speaks for itself. She's won like every tournament she's played in the last year. She's a humble sweet person, one of my best friends. I love Rose. I think everybody does. I don't think one person could say a negative thing about Rose.

Q. What do you admire most about her game?

RACHEL HECK: So solid. She doesn't miss. She stays calm. She doesn't get frustrated when something doesn't go her way. She's just a really solid player. She drains everything, also, which helps.

Q. How was having the golf program shut down?

RACHEL HECK: I was definitely disappointed, it's my freshman year of college and I was excited getting on campus. It was definitely disappointing to stay home another semester, but we got a puppy and I love that puppy, so it was good. I got some quality time with my family, so in hindsight it was alright.

Q. What kind of puppy?

RACHEL HECK: A black lab. It was her birthday yesterday. Her name is Scout. She's the best. My family's making fun of me.

Q. So what did you think the impact of this event has been since it started?

RACHEL HECK: Oh, my gosh, I mean, I don't think -- I know I personally couldn't have imagined it being as impactful as it was, but it caught the attention of everybody, every age, girls, guys. I know my guy friends are just so beyond jealous and all the little girls in my course ask me if I'm going to play Augusta. You know, growing up, I can picture myself being 10 years old, looking up to the pros. But to actually have that stage before that to look up to amateur golf for women, you know, to be able to look at these women playing Augusta is just really special, and I think it will continue to grow the women's game.

Q. What do you think you have to do tomorrow?

RACHEL HECK: Definitely hit it in the right spots. There's some parts of the greens where you really don't want to be with those pins, but if I can hit solid shots on the right side of the green, give myself good looks, just stay patient, but most importantly just enjoy it, just have a good time.

Q. Your dad is here, your sister, who else?

RACHEL HECK: My mom -- she's in the middle of her season at Notre Dame. We only got three guests, so it worked out.