LPGA QUALIFYING TOURNAMENT STAGE II

October 23, 2021

Alyaa Abdulghany

Plantation Golf and Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Another solid round. You're right in the mix. Just take us through how it went out there.

ALYAA ABDULGHANY: Yeah, just wanted to take one shot at a time, just being patient. We didn't want to put ourselves in any risky positions today, so we just played as patient as possible.

Q. You played Panther yesterday?

ALYAA ABDULGHANY: Yes.

Q. How nice is it to see Panther back to back days?

ALYAA ABDULGHANY: It was great. I was great knowing what the conditions we were going to being facing, same holes, and expecting what we already needed for the course. It is nice to see the course two days in a row.

Q. What's your career been like? Did you play in Augusta this year?

ALYAA ABDULGHANY: I did.

Q. So that happening and when you've had a crazy year. Can you just take us through what it's been like?

ALYAA ABDULGHANY: Yeah, it's crazy. Since I graduated in May I've just been taking it one step at time, turning pro. Q-School is really my biggest pinpoint for the year. With everything that's going on, just trying to focus on what I have ahead of me.

Q. Where else have you played this season?

ALYAA ABDULGHANY: A lot. I don't know. I -- last time would be like Arizona, then I flew out to -- where did I fly out to?

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Oregon.

ALYAA ABDULGHANY: Oregon for the LPGA Portland Classic.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: The one that you killed me caddieing with all the hills.

ALYAA ABDULGHANY: I did, yeah. So I've been a lot of places and I forget, so...

Q. I'm going to talk about the ANWA shirt. That's got to bring you some good juju out there, thinking about yourself as one of the better amateurs ever to -- the opportunity to play somewhere like Augusta. Do those experiences propel you in such a pressure-packed week?

ALYAA ABDULGHANY: For sure. Playing in a such a prestigious event is always a great because you always know you're going to be playing with A-plus competitors, knowing they're always going to bring their game. So knowing I can compete in that kind of field coming into Stage II is huge, huge confidence, yeah.

Q. What's it like to play with some of the competitors, like Pauline that you obviously played with at Augusta and have played in college with?

ALYAA ABDULGHANY: Right, it's such a small world. We were so comfortable out there laughing and making jokes. It's nice to play with a great player who has such an easygoing atmosphere out there, so it makes the round easier.

Q. Does it almost call back your college golf days?

ALYAA ABDULGHANY: For sure. Four years I would never forget, yeah.

Q. Who you got caddying for you this week?

ALYAA ABDULGHANY: My mom is caddying for me.

Q. Does your mom caddie a lot?

ALYAA ABDULGHANY: She caddies a lot. She caddies for me a lot of the tournaments. I actually prefer her to caddie for me, but sometimes it doesn't work out. She just keeps me calm out there. It's nice and familiar.

Q. And something different, you don't often hear that the mom's carrying the sticks. You hear the dad's carrying the sticks. How cool is it for you to have -- just kind of share this experience with her with so much on the line tomorrow?

ALYAA ABDULGHANY: Right. It's great. We've been through so much. She's been on my bag for so long. She's been with me through my whole golf career, so it's nice that we get to share such special moments especially going through Stage II for the first time.

Q. Heading into tomorrow obviously in a very good spot. Does that free you up to go out and enjoy the day at Bobcat?

ALYAA ABDULGHANY: For sure. I'm not going to be able to be too stressed out there. I'm just going to play one shot at a time and kind of have fun out there.

Q. We keep hearing the greens are very different on Bobcat obviously with the renovations. Couple days putting on Panther, how does the mindset change heading back to the slower greens on Bobcat?

ALYAA ABDULGHANY: Just got to hit it a little harder. That's it honestly. Besides how slow the greens are there is not much difference. You read them the same, putt them the same. Just got to hit it a little harder.

So that's the only thing I think that makes it difficult.

Q. You have an iron in hand. What are you working on ahead of tomorrow?

ALYAA ABDULGHANY: Just got to make sure I engrain the swing for tomorrow, so just going to hit five or ten balls, go out and putt some, make sure I get the speed right for Bobcat. I'm not going to spend too much time.

It was a really good day, a good day yesterday, so don't want to wear myself out for tomorrow.

Q. We'll do this a little bit more tomorrow, but how would you assess your week?

ALYAA ABDULGHANY: My week has been great. This is kind of the lowest I've played in a long time, so I'm really happy with my game. Been working really hard for this week, so it's good to see hard work pay off.