BANK OF HOPE LPGA MATCH-PLAY

May 29, 2021

Shanshan Feng

Shadow Creek

Quick Quotes

Q. What a day.

SHANSHAN FENG: (Laughter.) I know. Such a long day.

Q. Can you remember the last time you played 41 holes?

SHANSHAN FENG: I never played 41 holes in my life. Never. I think 36 was the most like for U.S. Open qualifier.

Yeah, but 41, it was kind of painful, but good thing was I had Eun Hee in the group -- I mean, Eun Hee and -- sorry.

Q. And Brittany.

SHANSHAN FENG: Yes. I will restart.

Q. No, you're good.

SHANSHAN FENG: So I think, yeah, it was a long, long day, but at the same time, I'm happy that I got Brittany and Eun Hee in my group, and they were both very, very nice and very good players.

So it really inspired me and we really had fun over there, out there for 41 holes. Yeah, made it feel little better.

Q. 41 holes and you drained the long putt on No. 10 to win it over Eun Hee. How gratifying was it, and at what point did you know it was going to find the bottom of the cup?

SHANSHAN FENG: Well, to be honest, I mean, like many time like -- there were quite a few times when I was on the course I was like, You know what, you've tried your best already. Yeah, maybe you just -- you don't have to give it your 100%. You know, if you make any mistakes, it's acceptable.

But at the same time I said to myself, I said, Hey, I said, Well, if you win today you just need to beat two more person to win the tournament. So my last time to have a chance to win a tournament was 2019, I mean my last victory. So I thought about this and I was like, I'm getting close and just don't give up and fight until the end.

I was very happy that the putt finally fell in the hole on that 10th hole there.

Q. You had a great match with Eun Hee in regulation just over the first 18, really back and forth. You made the turn at 1-up, took an early lead, she bounced back, you took one back, she came back, you took two more, back and forth. What was the emotional rollercoaster on the front nine after a long opening match this morning?

SHANSHAN FENG: Well, I think both of us played really well. Like the first three rounds I would say that I actually won many holes with pars, but actually today playing with an Eun Hee I had to make birdies to try to win the holes.

Which I thought both of us, we did really well, especially or like the -- like more than 30 or 40 holes.

So, yeah, I think I'm very -- I really respect what Eun Hee has done for her career, and I just felt so happy that I could be playing with her.

Q. You'll meet Sophia Popov in the semifinals tomorrow. What do you know about her game and how excited are you to play with her?

SHANSHAN FENG: I've never played with Sophia, but I'm very happy to get to play with her because I know she's also a major winner and she's very, very young, so it's good for me to actually learn a lot of good things from the younger players.

Like what I do at ANA playing with Patty. I mean, yeah, I'm a lot older, more experienced, but I still learned a lot from her.

So I would say that we'll have fun tomorrow morning.

Q. You changed caddies. What happened with your other caddie to make the switch?

SHANSHAN FENG: Let's not talking about it, sorry.

Q. Okay. How did you know Taneka to pick her as a replacement?

SHANSHAN FENG: Well, she was my replacement at ANA actually in the final round. Yeah, so at least -- oh, she's right there. So at least we worked for seven holes together before today, and, I mean, she's a very nice person.

Really enjoyed it, working with her. She is very inspiring and very positive. I think that's really helping me to get through those 40 holes.

Q. How much time did you have between the conclusion of your first round and second round today?

SHANSHAN FENG: I had 32 minutes. Yeah, thank you.

Q. Do you call her boss?

SHANSHAN FENG: New boss. (Laughter.)