U.S SENIOR WOMEN'S OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 29, 2021

Ellen Port

Brooklawn Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. That was a great round.

ELLEN PORT: Oh, goodness. I stuck to my routine. I did a lot of deep breaths. I really had a strategy, because I worked my game back up to a -- where I have confidence coming into this tournament. I brought not very good games the last two, and so I just recently --you know, every day I think I was getting a little closer to what I was working on with my game. Like even through our practice rounds.

So then you know it's there, but my comment to people was, I don't know if I'll be able to put it all together in this tournament, but I will. And that's a really good place to be when you're a golfer who's feeling like you're getting ready to play better than you have the last few years.

So I stuck with it.

Q. What special were you doing to get ready?

ELLEN PORT: I was just going back to kind of foundations and my roots. Unlike Joanne and Carol I'm a very quick player, and I have gotten shorter with my swing through the years. I've tried to force things as you know in golf. So I just tried to take a longer, more patient backswing, keep it simple.

I have a lot of thoughts. I'm a player who has a lot of thoughts running through my head, unlike a lot of people. So to corral that and just react to the target. You know, so I'll just say I have trained it and I tested it today. I've trained it hard trying to get back to a place where I could actually do that, trust it.

Before some mechanics were off and I couldn't really do that. I didn't let myself do that.

Q. Were you motivated by the fact that you had disappointing performances the first two times?

ELLEN PORT: No, because I made the cut. I mean, by my standards, played decent. I'm just motivated as any golfer when we know that you can do better. So I've always -- I've never had problems with motivation. My friends that play golf with me probably tell me you're too motivated. Chill out a little bit.

But that's never been an issue. I just am so tickled that I was able to, when it mattered, put together a round like that. I was not calm. I didn't feel calm for the whole round. For some reason I couldn't eat anything, and I know you shouldn't be nervous and I know this isn't life or death, but this is a USGA event and I worked hard and I wanted to -- I wanted to see the fruits of my labor. That doesn't always happen.

So I just -- I kind of rambled. I can't remember the question you said. Oh, I think this is as calm as I've played in a USGA championship. I feel like I hit the ball as consistent and putted -- I putted very poorly the last few years. Changed putters and putter grips, but I wasn't -- I was not focused and I wasn't confident.

I got my putter face more squared to the line and I putted -- I had -- I burned so many edges. You could ask those guys. I could have had 4- or 5-under. I was just like, wow. And that's another good thing. I just said, Hey, don't worry about it. I burned the edges. I had birdie putts. They didn't drop.

But I didn't have any big mistakes, and that's really fun to say. My misses were very, very manageable. I liked to have made a few more putts.

Q. What does today do for your confidence going forward?

ELLEN PORT: Nothing, because tomorrow is a new day, and I know who's behind the wheel. Every day I'm telling you, you know that. I'm one day at a time. The fact that I did this once shows me I can do it again. And you know what? Might not be tomorrow, but there will be another day.

And that's exciting to me. That's what we all believe. Joanne, all of them. We believe there is a better day. (Laughter.)