BANK OF HOPE LPGA MATCH-PLAY

May 28, 2021

Patty Tavatanakit

Shadow Creek

Quick Quotes

Q. Patty Tavatanakit, a 5&4 winner over Stacy Lewis. First player to advance to the round of 16. Obviously gratifying; still work to do. Just the excitement level to advance to that next step.

PATTY TAVATANAKIT: Yeah, it's a great feeling walking off the course today only playing 14 holes. You know, long weekend ahead, so a lot of positives here. Played really solid today. You know, I feel like I just keep making pars, and this course is such a beast that if you make par, eventually -- if you keep making pars, eventually you'll get your point.

So I've just been having that mindset of no matter what, I'll just try to get par first and then hit it to a good spot, give myself a chance to make a birdie, roll one in, and two went in, so that was good.

Q. Not that you need more validation for yourself after a major championship victory, but for fans who maybe didn't quite believe in Patty Tavatanakit yet or thought it was a one and done, whatever it may have been, you continue to show up on the top of the leaderboards and you go out in a match play setting and beat a match play extraordinaire in Stacy Lewis.

PATTY TAVATANAKIT: Yeah.

Q. What does that say about your confidence in the game in general, and especially at an event like this?

PATTY TAVATANAKIT: You know, match play, it's just one round and a little bit of luck in it each day, and I just feel like today I played solid. It wasn't Stacy's day, but still she was a solid player. She made a couple runs on the front nine. She hit a lot of good shots and made some good putts coming in.

I just told myself that I need to also hit solid shots and make some putts to be -- to win this match, which eventually I did. Just kept being patient.

And, you know, I have just been really confident ever since ANA, and I don't know if -- how much do I have to prove to everyone else. I don't feel like I have to prove to anyone how I can be out there and compete and be in contention all the time.

Just what I did at ANA was already kind of -- the biggest -- sorry, confidence booster for me just coming off my rookie year. I feel like I'm still hungry for more. I entered a field to win and to try my best to finish as high as I can and climb up that world ranking and just try to win more majors.

Q. You were one of three winner-take-all matches today. Obviously you won. How much more gratifying is it beat someone of the quality of Stacy and to automatically not have to worry about the other match in your group. You punched your ticket solely based on your performance.

PATTY TAVATANAKIT: Yeah, it's a good feeling. You don't have to stress and use your energy on that. I just feel like just I need to just rest and get ready for the weekend. It's a long weekend ahead.

Not only that, it's a U.S. Open week next week, so I'm just going to do my best to recover as much as I can. That's really important for next week.

Other than that, just let my golf game do its job, however far it would take me to this week, and I'm already really happy just with how I played. This course is really tough.

Q. You brought it to its knees with birdies at 10, par at 11, and then pars at 13 and 14. So you won four of your last five holes to close the match out.

PATTY TAVATANAKIT: I did? I didn't even know that.

Q. Yep. At the turn you were 1-up. Take us through that. You guys kind of had a back and forth start. You won hole 2, she won 3. You guys remained all squared until 6, and then you won 7 and 8 and she won 9. Kind of a back and forth front nine. What did that kind of back and forth feel like?

PATTY TAVATANAKIT: Like I said, she's a solid player, and I kind of have an idea what I'm up against. I go out there and I know it's not going to be easy. I just kept pedaling and doing my own thing, playing my game, and trying to hit good shots and make good putts, which I did. Didn't make that much mistakes today.

If anything, my take on that is towards the end like she didn't play her best, but it was still a really good match.

Q. She might not have played her best, but you played pretty outstanding to win four of the last five. Did you tell yourself anything during that stretch?

PATTY TAVATANAKIT: Actually, I was really present. I was really in my own world. Like the whole round I didn't even know the match was going to be over until I basically two-putted the last hole and she was putting for par and I was like, Wait, this could be over, and she missed it and was -- like I was just really in my own world and just was so present in the moment and just didn't really think much about anything, yeah.

Q. Seems like if you can maintain that over the weekend it'll be good for the results.

PATTY TAVATANAKIT: Yeah.

Q. Yeah?

PATTY TAVATANAKIT: Yeah. Thank you.