HSBC WOMEN'S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

May 1, 2021

Gaby Lopez

Sentosa Golf Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Take me through this moving-like day for you here on Saturday.

GABY LOPEZ: Yeah, it was a solid round. Hit a bunch of greens. Made a good up-and-down on 1 to start the day. And yeah, I'm happy the way I kind of flowed today. It was solid all the way.

Q. You started off strong with those birdies in your first eight holes. What was building up to that strong start?

GABY LOPEZ: It was me having fun. My caddie and I are having a great time. The chemistry between us is probably the strongest it's ever been. It's helped me relax and commit to whatever he's telling me. I'm sure that he's doing a fantastic job, so just being confident and trusting him.

Q. I know you were saying the other day that you feel more loose when it's hotter outside. Are you still feeling as loose as day one?

GABY LOPEZ: Yeah, for sure. We as women we go through different periods in a month. Your hormones change your body completely. When it's cold and you have your period, it's tough. I can tell someone is struggling physically for that week being able to be loose and being able to be strong is typically our strongest week after a period. So this is my first week after that. That's probably not a detail I should tell this, but that's something that people have to know, you know.

Girls growing up, they have to learn how to deal with their bodies and being able to be rested and strong; that gives them and me confidence.

Q. Is it hard to have fun with your caddie when the heat can be overbearing or are you taking it all in stride?

GABY LOPEZ: It's hard. Sometimes the heat can take your focus out, and being able to have the umbrella with you, being able to hydrate yourself as much as you can, it's key. But yeah, having fun out there kind of makes you forget a little bit about the heat and makes you still be relaxed.

Yeah, I feel that the goal for today and tomorrow and should be for the rest of my career, should be have as much fun as possible. Enjoy myself out there and be proud of all the progress that I've made.

Q. You've really catapulted yourself into contention. At the moment you're two back from Inbee and tied for second. When you were going about today, I know you said a goal is to have fun but was a goal to just go as low as possible and take advantage of this no-cut style of play?

GABY LOPEZ: I didn't set up a number in my mind honestly. The goal was to be fearless. Was to be just as strong mentally as possible and not let one mistake take my confidence away, because we are going to make mistakes, and I felt a little down on one of the putts that I missed, very short, but I told myself that I'm going to miss and I'm not going to let one mistake take my confidence away.

Q. What's the mindset for you heading into tomorrow? This is another day to capitalize in Singapore before going on to Thailand?

GABY LOPEZ: Like I said, have as much fun as possible, smile out there and enjoy myself. Sometimes that sounds really easy but sometimes when you're in contention or close to the leaderboard, you want to perform well.

But just because you want to perform well doesn't mean you're going to perform well. So I think truly just trusting and honestly whatever happens tomorrow, I don't care. I'm just going to give it all. I'm going to press the gas pedal down. I'm going to go, go, go. I'm not going to protect anything because I don't have anything to protect. I'm one of those players that I'm very, very aggressive and my caddie has to slow me down sometimes when I'm going, and trusting when I'm hitting good shots; my caddie knows me too well to kind of let me go, and that's kind of what we did today.

Q. You really have this relaxed confidence about you where you are confident in the way you're playing but you're very calm, and I know you on the course, we see the vamos and the fist-pumps. What is it about how comfortable you're feeling when you're able to kind of reign in those emotions on the golf course? How much does that help your play?

GABY LOPEZ: A lot. I'm going to say, I'm that -- I'm this calm because of the hard work that we've put in, Horacio, my coach, my trainers, my physios, everyone around me has done a great job with my body and physically and mentally. To hit really good shots gives me confidence and to be honest, I'm out there thinking, if I miss, that's not a problem because I can hit any shot out there.

I know I'm going to miss; I know I'm going to need to make up-and-down sometimes for par, sometimes for bogey or birdie. But yeah, like we said, being calm that every shot is in the bag, and whatever happens tomorrow, it's going to be fine. I'm just happy to give myself this happy Saturday and we have no idea what's going to happen tomorrow, but I guess the key is just being calm and stay present.