U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN

June 3, 2021

Marina Alex

The Olympic Club

Quick Quotes

THE MODERATOR: Marina Alex, 1-under 70. There was a lot of talk about how tough the course was going to play. We've seen a lot of red numbers today. Talk about how tough it was compared to the practice rounds.

MARINA ALEX: The conditions are relatively similar. What lent itself to a few more lower scores was how the USGA set up the course. There are some holes out there that are absolutely brutal, and they moved a few of the tee boxes up on the par-4s to allow it to be fair.

You still have to hit really good golf shots, which is probably what lent itself to a couple more birdies. If you're playing solid and you're not making mistakes, you can turn it into an under par round.

THE MODERATOR: What about the course suits your game?

MARINA ALEX: It's just so hard. I think that it just requires you to hit really good golf shots. There are no bail-outs on this golf course, and a lot of times major championships is about course management and strategy and looking for where you can miss the ball and where you can get up and down to save par.

Truthfully, there is nowhere on this golf course that is a bail-out, so you have to hit a good shot, and it almost makes course management simpler because you don't really have that much to think about other than executing the shot to the best of your ability.

If you do it, great. If you don't, you're in trouble and you're going to have to figure out a way out of it.

Q. Obviously, a lot of live golf on TV today, and fans are seeing a course they're familiar that they're used to the men. Talk about what it means to play here.

MARINA ALEX: I wasn't able to play last year because I was hurt, and that's a bummer. I'm taking every major that I can participate in as a bonus at this point. To be able to play this, it's unbelievable. It's the best. It's the hardest golf course I've ever played in my nine years out here on Tour in any major championship, and we've had a couple of really great venues and really challenging KPMGs and British Opens.

But this absolutely takes the cake in terms of test of golf.

Q. You obviously have some fun chemistry with Mel. What does she bring to women's golf, just her personality and her flair?

MARINA ALEX: Mel's open. I love hanging out with her on and off the course. We actually played our practice round the other day together. She's got good energy, good attitude, just overall an awesome person to have out here. I love hanging out with her, love playing with her, love battling.

She had a little talk about Solheim there, but at the end of the day, I just love competing. In my experience, Solheim is unreal. She's had several experiences. At the end of the day we like the competition, we like the battle, but we can have fun off the golf course.

Q. What do you like most about her game?

MARINA ALEX: Everything. She hits it great. She's been working really hard on her game the last three or four years. She's obviously very comfortable in it now. She's a solid ball striker.

Her and I played together at the U.S. Open at CordeValle whenever that was, and I think we both played poorly and missed the cut.

To see her game as well as my own evolve from that point to where we are now in 2021 is really cool.