BANK OF HOPE LPGA MATCH-PLAY

May 26, 2021

Angela Stanford

Shadow Creek

Quick Quotes

Q. Angela, 1-up win this afternoon on day one of the Bank of Hope LPGA Match Play. You said you made it tougher than it needed to be. 3-up through six and had a couple stumbling blocks. Yesterday you talked about the fight, and seemed like you exemplified that today.

ANGELA STANFORD: Yeah, my putter was definitely MVP today. My driver needs to sit on the bench for a little while. I didn't hit it good off the tee again. My putter really saved me. Ashleigh made some birdies coming down the stretch and I just made a big putt on 13, I think. She stuffed it in there and I was only 1-up at the time, and so I made a really good putt there.

So it was really the putter that kept me afloat today.

Q. On the par-3?

ANGELA STANFORD: Whatever the par-4 is, 12.

Q. Par-4, 12 and par-3, 13.

ANGELA STANFORD: No. 12. She stuffed it in there on 12.

Q. And then she got it back to all square on 16 and you responded immediately. Take us through that 16 and 17 swing.

ANGELA STANFORD: Yeah, I thought I hit a good putt on 16 and just missed that, and she made a great birdie there and we went to 17. 17 is pretty intimidating and she hit a great shot there, and I told my caddie, I just got to do the same thing, just hit it to the middle of the green.

But I had a perfect club in my hand, so I just hit it as -- just hit it hard and kind of drew a little bit and got fortunate it just carried the bunker, and made the putt coming down the hill.

Q. When you can get 3-up like you did, we saw that in the match ahead of you guys, Brooke Henderson went 3-up through three and then the wheels fell off. When you can go up three early like you did, what's the difference between grinding it out versus coming away with a 5&4?

ANGELA STANFORD: Yeah, it's hard. Everybody out here are such good players. Nobody is just going to lay down, and I think that mentality, when you get three down early, is I got a lot of holes, so I don't have to do anything crazy. I can just fight back.

So I kind of knew when I missed the birdie putt on 7 that I could have pushed it to 4-up and I didn't. I thought, Okay, we still have a lot of golf. Even though I'm 3-up, there is still so much golf.

So, I mean, really you have the advantage either way.

Q. I don't know if you saw the group ahead of you finish, but Jenny Coleman came out on top, upset of the day so far over Brooke. When you can have someone like Jenny come through and win on day one of the match play, does that make -- is there a little less pressure knowing the top seed in your group has a loss, or does it make it more intimidating knowing you have another real contender in the group?

ANGELA STANFORD: Now I think we're in trouble, because Jenny now, she has the underdog mentality and she went in and beat Brooke and she probably thinks she has nothing to lose. Now I'm going to going to take confidence from that, and now I am going to get Brooke on the third day where she's ticked off and needs to win.

If anything, yeah, I'm looking at an uphill battle the next two days. But I knew today was important. I think if you can get that first one, it doesn't make the rest of the week easy, I think it just makes it -- you don't feel like your back is up against the wall after the first day.

Q. Good battle the rest of the week.

ANGELA STANFORD: Yeah, again, I think there is something to the underdog mentality, and I'm sure Jenny looked at her group and said, I got nothing to lose and I'm going to take it to them. Those people are hard to beat.

Q. Sounds like something an assistant Solheim Cup captain might be looking out for.

ANGELA STANFORD: Yes.