U.S. WOMEN'S AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

August 3, 2021

Caroline Canales

Westchester Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Low round today. You started out with a bogey, too.

CAROLINE CANALES: Yeah, I did start out with a bogey. Just got a little nervous on the tee shot; didn't hit a great iron; but came back after that hole.

Q. What did you tell yourself after making a bogey? I know it's early in a round, a lot of holes left. How do you mentally turn that around after a tough opening hole?

CAROLINE CANALES: Well, I know I can just recover well. It was just a bit of first-tee nerves.

After that I started making a few putts and got it rolling.

Q. You started on a par-3, too, which you don't normally do. Is that difficult as a player when you're normally used to taking out the driver and you got to big fairway to hit and work your way into the round?

CAROLINE CANALES: Yeah, usually hitting a driver on the first tee is pretty normal, so this is a unique situation. It's just a fun first hole. Change of pace.

Q. Anything about the round after the bogey that got you going? Was there a big putt or...

CAROLINE CANALES: Let's see, probably coming back with the birdie after that bogey was what got me back on track.

Q. Calm the nerves?

CAROLINE CANALES: Yeah.

Q. How far was the putt on 2?

CAROLINE CANALES: I hit it pretty close. I think it was about eight feet maybe.

Q. Any long putts among those five birdies you had today?

CAROLINE CANALES: Trying to remember. I had a good birdie putt on 7. It was probably 12 feet. But that green is pretty tough, so that was a good birdie there.

Q. Yeah. Now you got to refocus for match play. You've been through this before. You were a quarterfinalist a couple years ago. What kind of strategy do you take after two rounds of stroke play? Do you change it at all?

CAROLINE CANALES: Well, match play is bit of a different strategy. I think with the shorter irons you can being more aggressive, and stroke play is kind of about just avoiding bogeys and making the cut.

So match play, depending on what the other player does, you can be aggressive in some areas and it's pretty fun.

Q. Have how about conditions today? Seems like it was a lot windier yesterday. Today seems calmer, cloud cover, it's not as hot.

CAROLINE CANALES: Yeah, it is pretty easy conditions, I would say. There was basically no wind my whole round. A little bit damp in the morning but pretty good.

Q. How about hole locations? Were they tougher today? About the same as yesterday?

CAROLINE CANALES: About the same. Couple of greens were tough, but...

7 is tough.

Q. Yeah.

CAROLINE CANALES: I don't know. It kind of evens out, I think.

Q. I read your dad's a tennis pro, correct?

CAROLINE CANALES: Yes, he is.

Q. So what made you guys get into -- I know a lot of tennis players get into golf. The Kordas, the Lendls came to mind. What changed for you?

CAROLINE CANALES: I think he didn't want to be my coach necessarily, so he just introduced me to a lot different sports and I gravitated towards golf.