MEIJER LPGA CLASSIC

June 17, 2021

Amy Olson

Blythefield Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Joined by Amy Olson. 5-under 67 on the day one of the Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give. Amy, scorable conditions out there and you found a low number. Take us through just how nice of a day it was out there to get off to a hot start.

AMY OLSON: Yeah, I mean, conditions definitely were perfect. I didn't start real hot but made three birdies right before I made the turn, which gave me some momentum.

I was steaming a little bit about that last putt that did not go in. I was literally picking it out of the hole and it just like veered off. So frustrated to end on that, but overall a lot of positives today.

Q. You mentioned you haven't played this event since I think 2017. How good is it to be back and does the course look any different from what you remember?

AMY OLSON: Yeah, the bunkers are different, some of the tee boxes are different, they've shaved a lot of the greens. Instead of it being thick rough there is some shaved areas.

So it's different, but the layout is still very similar. Yeah, I've always loved coming here. It just happened to fall on wedding week for some of my good friends, so the dates haven't worked, but I'm really glad to be back.

Q. I know you mentioned how frustrated you were with that last putt. How do you not let that ruin your round, move past and start fresh tomorrow?

AMY OLSON: Yeah, I'm definitely going to just look at the positives and the things that I did really well today. There were -- I mean, the greens, they were a little bit bumpy, a little spongy, and depending on spike marks there are some bumps out there. It's going to happen. I'm just trying to come to terms with it. (Laughter.)

Q. When you look at the type of scores that some other people put up today, this tournament has seen numerous times rounds in 7-, 8-, and 9-under. Seems like they have so many low scores. To start there, how much of a boost does that give you going into round two?

AMY OLSON: Yeah, to contend at this event you have to have a couple days where you shoot some really low scores. It's nice to have a good start, but you're going to need a lot of them and a lot of birdies to be in contention heading into the weekend.

Q. Whose weddings forced you to miss the event in previous years?

AMY OLSON: I am trying to think. I think it was a childhood friend, Hannah Kenny, who I grew up with, and then a teammate from college.

Q. Wedding back in North Dakota?

AMY OLSON: Yeah, yeah.

Q. When you go into day two having to find some low numbers, do you look much at a leaderboard in a week like this, or is it still just kind of focusing on your own game?

AMY OLSON: Yeah, I kind of like to know where I'm sitting. I was watching out there a little bit but just kind of expecting that it was going to go low.

More so chasing kind of a total number and knowing that you just got to make a lot of birdies to get there. I had an eagle opportunity. It would fun to see some of those fall at some point this week.

There are reachable par-5s, so that sets up well. Things can turn around really fast, so I think my biggest thing which is I stayed patient early when I wasn't making a lot birdies and that paid off. You can go on a streak really easily here, and so just knowing that can happen at any point.

Q. To have the fans back, I know you've had experience in the last couple weeks playing in front of fans, but obviously our first tournament here with fans back on the course.

AMY OLSON: Yeah.

Q. Do they boost you up? Is it nice hearing the noise on the course?

AMY OLSON: Yeah. I told Juli walking up there, it's so fun to see people milling around, and there is just that extra excitement in the air that we kind of got used to not having it. So it makes it extra special, and I think we probably appreciate it a little bit more now than we did before.