PELICAN WOMEN'S CHAMPIONSHIP

November 11, 2021

Jennifer Kupcho

Pelican Golf Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Great start to the day, including five birdies in a six-hole stretch. How would you describe the round today?

JENNIFER KUPCHO: I didn't start out very good, but figured out a little bit with alignment halfway through the round and started hitting the ball really well and making putts.

So it was nice to see the ball go in.

Q. How critical is that to make the changes on the fly and adjust as you need to?

JENNIFER KUPCHO: Very critical. I haven't been able to do it (Wind interference), so it's all a learning curve since I've been out here, and got to correct stuff really quickly.

Q. It's been a few weeks since we've seen you. You made the trip over to Korea. How have you been spending your time off?

JENNIFER KUPCHO: Just moving into a house and trying to figure out when we're going to have a wedding. It's been a lot.

Q. That's a lot to juggle. Great playing today. Good luck the rest of the week.

JENNIFER KUPCHO: Thank you.

Q. Solid opening round of 5-under 65. You really got hot on the back nine, kind of catapulted by a birdie on 9 and then you found five birdies for a bogey-free return to the clubhouse. Take us through that kind of hot stretch that you had to finish off a nice day.

JENNIFER KUPCHO: Yeah, I struggled a little bit on the front with missing a lot of shots to the right. I had known I was aiming house to the right early in the practice Monday through Wednesday, and kind of just told myself to aim a little bit further left, and was really able to start hitting shots a lot closer to the pin, and those putts are a lot easier to make.

Q. Were you just kind of moving your stance?

JENNIFER KUPCHO: Not necessarily. I was really just looking, finding a spot to aim on the right in front of the ball. I was aiming to that.

Q. Okay. There's been talk all week about the green complexes out here and how severe they can be. How do you attack these pins so you can put five birdies on the card given how severe the misses might be?

JENNIFER KUPCHO: You just have to shoot and hope for the best, honestly. Yeah, there is a lot of water, a lot of run-offs from the greens, and, I mean, even if you're on the wrong part of the green it's hard.

So, I mean, you go out and the greens are flat on any other course, and you stick it next to the pin, so you just have to kind of take that mentality and just shoot at the pin like you would any other round.

Q. Did you find yourself with a lot of uphill putts today, or no?

JENNIFER KUPCHO: Yeah, quite a few.

Q. Your proximity to the hole today, what was that like?

JENNIFER KUPCHO: Yeah, a lost closer. Yeah, I had quite a few short putts on the back nine; we missed a couple on the front.

Q. I ask that because it seems like mid-range putting is kind of key out here, those maybe like 15- to 20-footers. Is that something that you think down the stretch over the weekend could be a contributing factor towards continuing to climb the leaderboard?

JENNIFER KUPCHO: Yeah, I think it's that, as well as -- I mean, if you're above the hole the greens are really, really quick. Kind of just have to tap it and hope for the line to stay.

Staying below the hole, but also not being in the water is going to be key.

Q. Yeah. You mentioned moving into a house. Wedding planning obviously. What has that been like? Where is the house at? Have you set a date? What's the excitement level to just kind of get adulthood underway?

JENNIFER KUPCHO: Yeah, it's a lot. I mean, just trying to get some big furniture into the house, pretty much done that, but just trying to get all the decorations, make it feel like a home. It's stressful.

As well as wedding planning is really stressful, trying to figure out if everyone can make it, where it's going to be. Haven't fully set a date.