BANK OF HOPE LPGA MATCH-PLAY

May 26, 2021

Patty Tavatanakit

Shadow Creek

Quick Quotes

Q. You started 1-up today and then Sarah found par on No. 3 to get it back to all square and then things were kind of stalemate until you birdied 9. Take us through the front nine and just the challenge to really maybe get your feet under you.

PATTY TAVATANAKIT: I hit really good on the front nine. Didn't make too many mistakes, but feel like this course is set up so, so tough that you got to like always have to -- almost to have execute your shot.

I feel like I hit a bunch of great shots out there but they still like ended up being a good enough shot or not as good. I actually didn't hit a single green from 11 to 17, so it has been a grind last couple holes there.

Made some really, really tough up and downs to get the match going. Won one hole with that up and down as well. I feel like you got to be so, so patient out there, which I feel like I was.

At the same time, I was getting really frustrated with how things weren't going my way. At the end of the day I feel like I fought really hard to try to get that one point. At the end, I was fortunate enough to hit it long and kick the slope so I had like a pitching wedge into a 5, a par-5 on the last hole.

Q. Nice. So what -- I see on the scorecard --

PATTY TAVATANAKIT: 18.

Q. You birdied -- but you guys tied, so where in that...

PATTY TAVATANAKIT: So. Oh, here. So I -- I'm the top one. I don't think they got the score right.

Q. Yeah, no.

PATTY TAVATANAKIT: But I parred and I bogeyed this hole and then I -- well, I missed a green here and I had like basically like 12-footer for par on...

Q. Which one was the other one where you won here to tie it back up?

PATTY TAVATANAKIT: Here.

Q. 16?

PATTY TAVATANAKIT: Yeah. 16 she made a double and I made a bogey.

Q. So that's where they got it wrong. You mentioned 11 through 17 you had trouble with finding greens.

PATTY TAVATANAKIT: Yeah.

Q. And that's kind of where she started making her move. She found par on 11, birdie on 12, and par on 13.

PATTY TAVATANAKIT: Uh-huh.

Q. To win three straight and go 2-up.

PATTY TAVATANAKIT: Uh-huh.

Q. Obviously still a lot of golf at that point, but when tides turn like that, how do you right the ship and get back into the good form?

PATTY TAVATANAKIT: Well, I knew I was getting really tired just because this course is such a hike, and actually didn't feel like it was five, four and a half hours like getting to 16, 17, but we were out there for so long for how much we were playing.

We weren't even finishing holes. We were just putting and tapping -- I mean, like we were playing fast but we were also waiting a lot. I feel like that energy has been used without me knowing and noticing.

So I just feel like down the end of the stretch I told myself like, Come on. Walk faster. Just try to bring that energy level up to hopefully have some good finishes. Didn't really put the ball in play, but I grinded it out.

Q. So 16 you came back and then 18 you birdied. Take me through 18 again when you're 1-down to tie it up.

PATTY TAVATANAKIT: Actually 17 was like...

Q. Big hole?

PATTY TAVATANAKIT: A big hole for me. Because I hit it in the right bunker and it had to like -- it's a long par-5 so I had to layup. Like I had to hit a pitching wedge out of the bunker to layup and I basically had 190 to the hole.

Q. On 16?

PATTY TAVATANAKIT: On 17. Wait, sorry, 16, the par-5.

Q. Yeah, 16.

PATTY TAVATANAKIT: And then it was just like, Well, what do I do here? It's basically like a par-5 again. So I hit it over and -- because I think by then I was -- oh, was I 1-down?

Q. You were 2-down at that point, so you won 16 to go 1-down.

PATTY TAVATANAKIT: Yeah, so with that hole I hit it long and the pin was back right. I hit it long. Really tough chip to like -- I had to make that up and down.

Q. And you did.

PATTY TAVATANAKIT: And I did. And again on 17.

Q. The par-3.

PATTY TAVATANAKIT: I hit it over. I hit it almost into the water back. So I was in that little bunker behind and I had to make an up and down to basically extend the match.

Q. Yeah, and you did that.

PATTY TAVATANAKIT: And -- well, not there yet. But I basically like hit my bunker shot on the fringe and I could putt it, but I had the little ball mark right in front of my ball, so I didn't putt. I had to chip that and it went in.

Q. Wow. Nice.

PATTY TAVATANAKIT: Yeah.

Q. So you chipped in on 17?

PATTY TAVATANAKIT: Yeah, it was like, Oh, my God, like that to extend the match basically.

Q. Yeah, nice.

PATTY TAVATANAKIT: Tough grind.

Q. That's some pressure.

PATTY TAVATANAKIT: Yeah.

Q. When was the last time you played match play?

PATTY TAVATANAKIT: Probably US Amateur?

Q. What year, do you remember? 2015?

PATTY TAVATANAKIT: Tennessee, 2017.

Q. Okay.

PATTY TAVATANAKIT: '18, sorry.

Q. '18, Okay. Do you remember how it went? No, you don't want to remember?

PATTY TAVATANAKIT: It was a long time ago.

Q. It's only three years ago.

PATTY TAVATANAKIT: I don't know, you know, like going out there was a little weird, like the feeling was like, wait.

Q. Today?

PATTY TAVATANAKIT: Yeah, because I've been playing stroke plays for so long and I have had that mentality in there. Sometimes I'm just like it's a little bit of an adjustment think certain ways. But I felt weird. Like I went out and I haven't even holed any putts or like even tap-in.

Q. So trying to get that groove back?

PATTY TAVATANAKIT: Yeah.

Q. How tough is this golf course?

PATTY TAVATANAKIT: It is tough. It's like PGA TOUR setup, that's how tough it is. The greens are rolling probably 13, 12, 13, and with how thick this rough is, it's so -- like it's difficult to chip out of.

You have to have a lot of shots to play around here.

Q. Okay.

PATTY TAVATANAKIT: Yeah, you got to be like solid.

Q. I was going to ask you though, it was cloudy much of the morning and then the sun came out. How much of a difference did that make?

PATTY TAVATANAKIT: Yeah, it was kind of muggy this morning. I could feel the heat like it's going to be hot today, but I feel like the cloud was kind of covering it. Once the sun got out it was just like burning.

But thank God I stayed hydrated.