KPMG WOMEN'S PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

June 23, 2021

Mariah Stackhouse

Atlanta Athletic Club

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We're here with Mariah Stackhouse. I think you're kind of our host for the week. We're hearing we're in your home city of Atlanta, you've got KPMG on the hat. This has to be an exciting week for you to get here. How are you feeling right now?

MARIAH STACKHOUSE: You know, you said it as well as I could. I'm incredibly excited. This does very much feel like a hometown event for me. It is a hometown event. I actually have a bit of history practicing out at this facility, not playing the course as much, but I spent a lot of my junior days out here practicing on the weekends. I actually feel like I have a lot of support from the membership, as well, so this definitely has the vibes of a home course event.

Q. When we were here for media day I saw your smiling face up in the practice area. You mentioned the members. We had Kerry Haigh and Heather Daly-Donofrio in here before you and said they were playing off mats for the last six weeks to make sure the course was right, was ready for you guys. What does that mean to you to hear how much you've got the membership, not just the club, the ownership, et cetera, but the membership behind you to bring this world's best event here?

MARIAH STACKHOUSE: Yeah, absolutely. I think this is a really historied, storied course, and you can tell that the members are incredibly proud of this facility, of this golf course, and so I think the excitement to host this women's major, I can feel it.

This year in particular I've come out a few times over the last few months to play the course, and every single member I went by was, "good luck," "we're excited to have you all," "have a great event," and you can tell. Hitting off the mats and honestly sparsely playing this course in the weeks leading up to the event was a show of dedication and how excited and honored the membership is to host this event, and we are to be here, as well.

Q. Tell us about Atlanta Athletic Club. I know you said it's still pretty new to you as a competitive course, but having spent time here, what are your thoughts on this course? We're hearing long, challenging, bunkers, all sorts of stuff. What kind of challenges does this course present?

MARIAH STACKHOUSE: I think this is a strategic and shot-making course from tee to green. I think the fairways because of how tough the greens are and the areas around the greens are relatively generous, and I told my caddie, if you hit it in a bunker out here, you hit it in a bunker because it's designed to give you a chance, a fair shot into the green because that's where the quality and the strength of the course really comes into play is around these greens.

You're going to see people, I think, having a lot of shots from the fairway but not even being able to sleep from there. You've really got to think your entire way around this golf course.

The greens are super fast. There's about seven greens out here that you absolutely cannot be above the pin or you're going to have a rough time. So it's just knowing that and being comfortable with it, and I think the players that spent time around the green getting really comfortable this week, it's going to show in competition.

Q. Knowing this course as well as you do, I would think the finish sets up for some great drama. Once you get to that 15th tee and you're facing that, could you take us through the finish?

MARIAH STACKHOUSE: Yeah, once you get to 15, it's a long par-3, water up the right side, a bunker on the left, a bunker in the back, and I think that's a hole where you take your medicine. If you've got a perfect club in, then that back right shot, okay, you're feeling good and you're hitting it well, go for it. But that's one where you take your medicine. If it's in the front, you just hit it right into the center of that, putt over to wherever the pin is, in the back or on the right, just kind of hit something short of that mound, roll it over and give yourself an opportunity for birdie.

15 or 16 you're headed back up that hill on the par-4. I think the tee shot is pretty fair, and then take your medicine on that approach shot, find the center of the green. That's another one you really do not want to be above the pin, so front center there I think is the smart play, and yeah, like I said, have an opportunity for birdie or easy par, and that's what you're looking at those coming in.

And then I think 17, definitely a challenging par-3, but with the downhill if you've got a good number in your hand, I think you can potentially get one back there with a quality iron shot, so it's a fair one, gives you an opportunity for whatever might have happened on 15 and 16.

And then 18, another one. If they play it back, it's a three-shot hole. If they play it up, depending on whether or not it's been raining, how soft or how firm the fairways are, you can have a good shot at, too. So that's going to be kind of a risk-reward setup there when they move that tee up, but another hole to -- if you're not going for that green, lay it up to a good location, good number in and have some fun. I think the approach shots into 18 really suck back.

Yeah, like you said, those are some fun holes. I think they offer a great challenge, and if you're where you need to be off the tee, then you're in a good position to play them smartly.

Q. Is that an exciting setup as a reachable hole? It's certainly a challenging shot into that smallish green.

MARIAH STACKHOUSE: For 18 year? Yeah, absolutely. I have a rule actually for 12 and 18 this week, and it's if I'm a yard outside of 200 I'm not even considering because you kind of want to come in with some height into those greens, as well, if you're going for it. So everybody will kind of have their own strategy, but yeah, I agree with you 100 percent. I don't want to be coming in howling with a low shot because then you're in that back bunker, but I also don't want to be pushing it from the fairway.

I think that's one you go for in two if you've got a nice, smooth swing.

Q. You have so much going on this week, very busy. How do you separate all that you have off the course and making sure you get all the work done on the golf course?

MARIAH STACKHOUSE: You know, I think I actually took care of a little bit of that stress in the weeks leading up. Or the last few months actually. Prior to this year, I maybe played this golf course a total of two times my entire life, and so what I really wanted to do was since I'm here in the off weeks, it's such a short drive for me to get over here, I wanted to -- I reached out to the PGA and tried to get out every now and then and get comfortable with the course, and I think that's been a huge help for me this week because as my caddie and I have gone along, it's less like I'm studying and more so like I'm just familiarizing myself with the conditions now that they're going to play for the tournament, but I already know, okay, this is where you don't want to be, this is the landing area on that hole.

It kind of relaxed me a bit, and I don't feel as -- yeah, I don't feel the need to be as studious on the course as I would have had I not gotten familiar with that already. I think that makes the off-course obligations a bit less stressful because I don't feel like I need to be out here 24/7. I'm just trying to get used to the speed of the tournament greens, and that's the biggest difference.

THE MODERATOR: You're standing here with us right now, something else KPMG is doing right now, they've got the Women's Leadership Summit that just kicked off. I know you've been involved with that, and with their Future Leaders program. If you could tell us about what KPMG has done for this event and how proud it is for you to be one of their ambassadors pushing to grow opportunities for women in the game.

MARIAH STACKHOUSE: Absolutely. I think through this event, the courses that KPMG has gotten us on to for the last few years, I think right off the rip, when they took sponsorship of this event, it was like, okay, we want to host a women's major but we want to elevate the majors and the courses that we travel to and get the opportunity to play, and I think from the course experience to the facilities that we're practicing on and even the off-course experience, our dining experience, our player hospitality, it has really been first-class each and every year, and I think this is a tournament that we're all excited to because we know it's going to feel like we're walking on to a PGA event this week. You just feel really special and you feel like you're playing at a major championship.

So I think that that's a testament to their dedication.

And then through like you mentioned, the Future Leaders program, the Women's Summit, it's not just about elevating women in golf, women in sport, it's about elevating women across the board, in the corporate world, as well.

So I think I'm really proud to just be a part of Team KPMG, an ambassador, and the work that they're actually doing. It's not just about saying, hey, we're going to invest in women. You see the steps that they're taking to put -- as the saying goes, your money and your intentions where your mouth are. It's a great testament to their support.

Q. Another place they're putting their support inside the ropes is with this new stats program, which I am so excited about. I can only imagine what it means to you players to know you're finally going to be able to say yeah I'm a good putter or good from this -- now we have a way to actually show it. It's going to be really cool for you.

MARIAH STACKHOUSE: Yeah, I think that's going to be cool for us not only to be able to analyze our games with much further detail, but I think that's going to be fun for the fans, as well. I think they'll get a better insight into not only how the Tour shakes up overall but how their favorite players are playing from certain areas, and it's going to be fantastic from a player experience, a caddie experience and a fan experience, and it's really going to elevate the Tour and the statistics that we have available all around, so that's awesome.

Q. I know you have a big four days ahead here, but I know Monday is a big day, too. What's your relationship with Renee, and how inspired are you by what she's done?

MARIAH STACKHOUSE: Yes, what Jeff is talking about is the Renee Powell Clearview Legacy Benefit that's going to be hosted at Bobby Jones Golf Course in Atlanta on Monday and put on by KPMG and the LPGA. Renee, the second Black woman player on the LPGA Tour and truly a pioneer for the game of golf and growing the game for women, for kids, for minorities in the sport, she's one of my biggest inspirations, and I always say that, I recognize everything that she endured through her time at the LPGA to make my experience so much better and so much fun and relaxing and a lot easier than it would have been for herself.

That's one of the reasons she's such a big inspiration and a huge inspiration, and I think this tournament, the 75th anniversary of that foundation and her golf club, and just the world of golf showing her her flowers while she's here and dedicated to preserving that legacy, I think it's incredibly special. It's going to be a great event, and for anyone interested I encourage you to look it up and see ways that you can get involved and support.

Q. We're hearing this golf course is so difficult. It's wet, it's long, it's challenging. How do you shake off a mistake? How do you shake off a bogey, a double bogey. You try not to make them, they're going to happen. How do you shake it off?

MARIAH STACKHOUSE: I think one of the ways that I like to shake it off is I think it's tough, right, because in golf it's a game of -- it's a calm game, and it's a game where we emphasize sportsmanship, so you want to stray away from outbursts and things like that, but as an athlete we have to let off our steam. I think it's about mentally figuring out a way, okay, I'm going to allow myself 10, 15 seconds to feel what I feel about that shot, and then as I'm walking towards that next shot, look at where you are and go ahead and start assessing the possibilities. Go ahead and refocus your mind on what's going to be ahead of you and resetting.

I think that's the key. As long as you've left it behind after that shot, feel it. I won't tell anybody, oh, you've got to just pick it up and move on. That's impossible. We're humans. We feel. It's about managing that feel, accepting it, and then focusing on that next shot. I think that's what works for me.

Q. We're seeing so many first-time winners right now, Matilda a few weeks ago, Yuka before that. You're still looking for that first-time win. It seems like the game has gotten so much wider. How hard is it to play out there amongst some of these best players in the world?

MARIAH STACKHOUSE: You're absolutely right. The Tour gets deeper and deeper, wider every single year. I think, like you said every single year, you see more and more first-time winners. I think what that's showing is the depth of the Tour is increasing, and at this point it doesn't really matter where anybody is in the rankings. You know that each player out here has the capacity to connect at the right time, at the right week. So I think you see each of us showing up every week with the understanding that this could be my week, let's study the golf course, let's get comfortable and let's stay positive the whole time we're out there.

I think the more you see those first-time winners, the more every single one of us believes it, and that's why you're seeing it happen more and more.