ISPS HANDA WORLD INVITATIONAL

July 29, 2021

Sarah Burnham

Galgorm Castle & Massereene Golf Club

Quick Quotes

Q. 68 to start your week; tell us how pleased you are with it.

SARAH BURNHAM: I'm pretty pleased. I feel like I putted well. I hit good shots, and it's a great start to the week.

Q. It's really been a lot of rain over the last few days here. Tell us how the conditions of the course are.

SARAH BURNHAM: I think they're well. It's still pretty firm out there, greens are running really great. Every putt I had I hit the line and it was pure, so it's in great condition.

Q. It's your first time here in Northern Ireland. How are you enjoying it?

SARAH BURNHAM: I like it a lot. It's not too different from where I'm from, just driving on the other side of the road. A little bit more rain, but other than that, it's good.

Q. It's your third year on the LPGA Tour. What are you learning about yourself and your game this year?

SARAH BURNHAM: I learned a lot just throughout even the last few years on Tour, just who I am as a person, who I am as a golfer, and as I get further and further into my experience, I just learn more about my game and how mental and physical play a role all together. Yeah, it's been great.

Q. Whenever you're standing on 14 tee, 2-under, would you have taken 5-under then very happily?

SARAH BURNHAM: I knew I had -- I was putting well, so I knew I had some opportunities, and if I just hit good shots maybe I could see how far I went. Even at 2-under I was pretty satisfied, but I just thought to myself, you know, just see what you can do. I traveled so far to get out here basically; I don't usually travel this far. It was just like see what I can do today.

Q. What made you make the decision to travel here then?

SARAH BURNHAM: Just because I've never been here before, I was kind of like, Northern Ireland, I've never been. I'm just going to go and I'm just going to put my game out there and see what I can do.

Q. So far, so good.

SARAH BURNHAM: Yeah.

Q. Do you put a number on tomorrow? Do you try and think about what the game plan is for tomorrow?

SARAH BURNHAM: No, I don't want to do that. I just want to like go out and play every shot by one and just hopefully have the opportunities to make some putts again, and I think that will be my game plan overall.

Q. What were you hitting into the 1st today, just because it's a par-5 --

SARAH BURNHAM: I hit a 4-hybrid in. It's not as firm so I feel like it didn't roll out as much. Still, it plays like a par-5.

Q. Career-best opening round on Tour for you. How good does it feel to put such a low number out there right out of the gate?

SARAH BURNHAM: It feels good because I feel like my game has been kind of a work in progress throughout the years. I definitely feel like this is my best on Tour so far, but I think that comes with just like growing and learning.

Q. Do you feel that this is the best state of your game on the LPGA Tour?

SARAH BURNHAM: Like right now? Yeah, like overall the whole year I would say yeah. Last year I only made two cuts. I'm like every other cut I feel, so this feels nice to have a good start to the week.

Q. When you say you don't normally travel this far, what's the farthest you have traveled?

SARAH BURNHAM: Probably Hawai'i.

Q. That's still pretty far, just the opposite direction.

SARAH BURNHAM: Yeah, but like same country, so yeah.

Q. Is this your first Europe trip?

SARAH BURNHAM: I've actually been to France once. There was like the Junior University World Games or something for golf.

Q. Do you remember what year that was?

SARAH BURNHAM: Oh, I don't know. I think 2015 or '16.

Q. Can you take me through -- can you kind of walk me through 18, and was that kind of --

SARAH BURNHAM: Oh, also I don't want to make a mistake because I went to Australia last year. I forgot about that. But that was a long time ago. That's really far. But that was such a long flight; it was double the flight of what this was.

Q. So Australia once, France once, and other than that it's Hawai'i and here?

SARAH BURNHAM: Yeah.

Q. Can you walk me through 18 and just kind of how important of a par save that was to keep the momentum and keep that low number?

SARAH BURNHAM: Yeah, I made a big putt on 17, my 17th hole, and I was like, oh, my gosh, I'm at 5-under. I kind of got to the stage where I was like, don't mess up, and then I put it in the fairway bunker and I hit it out just like barely hit the lip, so it went way up.

I didn't hit a great third shot to lay up, and then I don't know, I miraculously hit it to five feet and made the par to save for par, and my caddie was like, this is going to be a really good par, like before I hit that shot. It was just funny

Q. Before you hit the --

SARAH BURNHAM: The fourth shot into the green.

Q. Do you know about how far it was?

SARAH BURNHAM: 92 yards.

Q. Were you going for the pin because when you were on the right and the pin was tucked into the right --

SARAH BURNHAM: Yeah, I had to go at it because I was like, I've got to save it, my caddie wants me to save par, let's just go for it, and it turned out.

Q. He was putting a bit of peer pressure on you.

SARAH BURNHAM: He was like, all right, this is just going to be a good par save is what he told me.

Q. What did you do in the off week last week?

SARAH BURNHAM: I was just back in Michigan, training, practicing, playing golf.

Q. Anything in particular or just kind of --

SARAH BURNHAM: No, just like working on a couple things in my swing or my putting, normal stuff.

Q. Massereene, were you able to get a practice round in over there?

SARAH BURNHAM: I got nine holes in and then I walked the other nine.

Q. What did you see over there for tomorrow?

SARAH BURNHAM: I think -- well, I haven't played the back side, but 17 looked pretty tight and tough. Again, it was like firm, but I feel like the greens were kind of similar, so we'll see how it goes.

Q. How much did the rain change things on this course today from maybe earlier in the week?

SARAH BURNHAM: It changed the fairways, I think, softened them up. I'm not sure about the greens so much. Actually I think the greens sped up because they might not have cut them, they might have tricked us or something. They were like -- yeah, so I don't know.