ISPS HANDA WORLD INVITATIONAL

July 31, 2021

Emma Talley

Galgorm Castle & Massereene Golf Club

Quick Quotes

Q. What was the day like with an interesting group I would imagine?

EMMA TALLEY: Yeah, it was weird. I honestly didn't like it. I didn't like playing -- now I know what to expect, so I feel a lot better about doing it tomorrow. Today honestly threw me off. I was also very nervous. I haven't been in this position in a long time, and the fact that I kind of came back after the double on 9, I kind of got mad again and used that energy to make a few birdies in a row.

I think overall I'm really proud of myself. Obviously I didn't play the way I wanted to, but I'm still leading the thing.

I'm really excited where my game is. The last couple holes I think I also learned a lot about my swing when I'm nervous. I got a little long, I think. 15 holes, and the last few holes I decided to kind of shorten it up, and I started hitting it great. I'm really excited for tomorrow because I just feel like I kind of have a better idea of how I'm going to feel and what the emotions are going to be like out there.

Q. It'll be you, Pajaree and Jen. You said you learned what you did today with Patrick on the bag for Jen and you're going to take that into tomorrow. Is there kind of like a double-edged sword, for lack of a better word, that you can look over at him for comfort and you can also look over at him saying, I'm not letting your player win?

EMMA TALLEY: Well, I think today I realized that I just don't need to look at him. You know, because obviously if I don't win tomorrow, I want them to, but they're not going to win. Yeah, I think it's just a matter of I think I just need to block him out of view, and as soon as I did that on the back I started playing much better.

I don't know, when you've dated someone for almost five years, you look over and you're like -- you want to talk -- I wanted to talk. I wanted to talk about what was going on, but obviously we're kind of working.

Tomorrow I'm just going to block him out completely, and like I said, I think dealing with the nerves, too, today, I think I know how I'm going to feel tomorrow. I know what nerves now do to my golf swing. Like I said, I haven't been in this position in a long time, so I'm just excited that -- my dad said, who wants to go in six ahead. You want to come from behind or at least level with everybody.

Yeah, I'm really excited for tomorrow, and I think today taught me a lot about myself and what I'm going to feel like tomorrow.

Q. I just thought it was funny Chella on the first tee, "no date."

EMMA TALLEY: She was like, "no date, no date." She's funny. It was terrible. I hated it. I hated every second of it.

Q. Let's go to the next question. When you say mad Emma, for everyone who knows you, you've just got a sweet personality and we don't understand what mad Emma would be like --

EMMA TALLEY: Well, the cameras probably saw it today.

Q. On 9 you hit it in the hazard off the tee --

EMMA TALLEY: I didn't get mad on 9. It was almost like once I hit the bad shot it was almost like a relief, like oh, I hit one bad, because honestly I haven't missed any shots this week and today I missed a lot. So I think that kind of relaxed me on 9, and then once I got to 10, I was like, no way, this can't go on, I'm not just going to give it to the field. And that's when I started playing really well. I made one more bad swing and made bogey, but other than that, like I said, I think just today in general taught me a lot about myself, which is cool.

Q. I feel like that mentality you just mentioned seems like something you would talk to your sports psychologist and it takes a couple years to learn, not just something that you just pull out of the hat in the middle of a round.

EMMA TALLEY: Well, I think because I've worked with my sports psychologist for about a year now, I talked to him last night, he's like, you're going to feel a lot of things tomorrow. Remember them, we'll talk about them later.

I think just in general, he always talks about whatever your emotions are, use them for your advantage. Don't tell yourself when you're nervous to take a deep breath. Like who's that going to help? That's not going to help anything. If someone ever tells you to take a deep breath, it usually makes things worse.

I'm just trying to embrace everything I'm feeling, and right now anger -- I've learned how to embrace anger. I haven't figured out how to embrace nerves, but got better as the day went on for sure.

Q. How do you win this tomorrow?

EMMA TALLEY: I think just play like the first two days. I really didn't play well at all today. Thank goodness I had those three birdies, but I really just did not like the way I hit the ball, especially off the tee. You can probably go look at the stats. I might have only hit like four fairways today.

I mean, tomorrow my whole game plan is I'm putting so well right now that I think if I can just hit the fairways and greens, just hit it a little better than I did today, I don't think anybody can catch me.

Q. On the par-5s, will you be aggressive or cautious?

EMMA TALLEY: I think it depends on the wind. Today it was hard to be aggressive because of the wind. It was so cold and windy that I didn't really have the opportunity on the par-5s other than the first hole. If I can be aggressive I definitely will. I don't think I necessarily have to. And I think today, one more sad thing, I think another thing I learned today is I kind of was playing against the two people I was playing with, and you never know when someone from behind can come up.

I think tomorrow I've really just got to focus on myself and kind of block the other two players out.

Q. Speaking of someone coming from behind, Pajaree did that today. When you can have kind of like someone who's in that zone that she's been in and then you've found yourself in, as well, how easy is it to get caught up in that little competition in the group?

EMMA TALLEY: Yeah, it definitely -- I think it's very easy, especially I think we're all going to be at 13 tomorrow. Obviously Chella is at 12. I don't know what the rest of the scores are. I think for me it's just put my head down, talking to my caddie, getting the numbers and swinging my swing.