MARATHON CLASSIC PRESENTED BY DANA

July 10, 2021

Mina Harigae

Quick Quotes

Q. Here with Mina Harigae who just shot a round of 68, 13-under overall. Mina, tell me what today was like. Nasa playing well, you and Elizabeth playing well, all the fans, a beautiful day. It had to be a great day.

MINA HARIGAE: Yeah, it was a great day. I mean, all the fans out there, it's been tough with COVID, but seeing so many people come out and cheer for us, it's amazing.

I mean, we played some good golf, too, so turned out to be a great day.

Q. You definitely played some good golf. Got off to a hot start with birdies on the first three holes and another on 6. Tell us about those holes.

MINA HARIGAE: Yeah, I think, let's see...

Q. No. 2, par-3.

MINA HARIGAE: Yeah, No. 2, par-3, I hit good shot and I rolled in a really nice putt.

Next hole I made a really long putt. Wasn't expecting it but those are always really fun.

Then the next hole, yeah, just two good shots and another good putt.

Q. Couple hiccups there. Bogeys a little 10 and 13, and then I think all of you birdied No. 18. Tell us about the story of the back nine. I know Nasa came back a little bit and then pulled out ahead. What's going through your mind during a round like that?

MINA HARIGAE: You know, just I think that three-putt on 10 kind of bugged me a bit. You never want to do that.

But I think I did a pretty good job of just trying to keep my head down, keep going forward. I wasn't hitting as good of shots the next however many holes, but made some good par putts coming in.

Then the birdie on 18 was really nice.

Q. You have been playing well of late, certainly dating all the way back to the Cactus Tour weeks last year. I think this is likely one of the first times you played in the last group on a Sunday. What do you think that feeling is going to be like?

MINA HARIGAE: You know, I'm sure there will be some nerves, but I feel like today it felt -- I felt pretty good actually, too, so hoping for more of that.

Honestly, all I can do is go play golf the best I can.

Q. And you're going to be with the same group.

MINA HARIGAE: Uh-huh.

Q. Does that help? Maybe you already know what the competition is looking like.

MINA HARIGAE: Yeah, I think we had a great group of girls, and, yeah, should make a really good Sunday tomorrow.

Q. I want to touch on the Cactus Tour there. You played well during that time and you've kind of carried it over the past year. Is there a correlation from that? Did you gain confidence from that?

MINA HARIGAE: Yeah, for sure. I definitely gained confidence that -- I guess late spring early summer last year on the Cactus Tour. Just making that many birdies, going low for an extended period of time, definitely gave me a lot of confidence coming out here.

Q. And then how much is the Solheim Cup on your mind, where you stand right now, and obviously this tournament will bode well for you going forward?

MINA HARIGAE: Yeah, I think it's -- you know, it's always in the back of my mind. It's hard not to think about it, but if you play -- if I just play the way I been playing, I feel like that should take me really far.

Inverness I had a good finish last year when we played the Drive On, and I think that course really fits my game well as well.

Q. You're in the final group but six shots behind. How do you approach that and is there still a feeling you can go out and win?

MINA HARIGAE: I believe so. I've seen the scores out here. Some girls -- you can go really low out here, but you just never know. Golf is a funny game.

I think if I just keep my head down and keep going forward, it might pan out.