AUGUSTA NATIONAL WOMEN'S AMATEUR

March 29, 2022

Ingrid Lindblad

Quick Quotes

Q. What does this event mean to you in women's amateur golf?

INGRID LINDBLAD: I'm super excited to get back, and I'm super excited for when everyone gets to play. It's a super cool event. We don't have anything like it, not in college golf, not really in Europe either. So like everything around is so special.

All the little things like around it, like the goody bags, like the dinner at Augusta, like everything is just so special.

Q. How special of a course is not just Augusta National but also here at champions retreat?

INGRID LINDBLAD: I just finished my practice round. The course is in great condition. The greens are really firm. Kind of hard to stop short irons on the greens actually. But the course is in great condition I'm super excited to be back here.

Q. What did you learn from last time that you think is going to help you this year?

INGRID LINDBLAD: On some holes, like you need to be able to hit both like a fade and a draw off the tee, especially like 13. You can't just hit a draw because it's going to run off the fairway and you're going to have a long iron in.

Around the greens too, especially when it's firm, you really need to miss it on the right side. At Augusta, I just need to hit my putts higher and softer. So I feel like I got a great experience last year. Hopefully can take that to this year too.

Q. How much do you think about the three-putt on 15 last year when you knock it on the green --

INGRID LINDBLAD: Not a lot actually. It was like I didn't want to lay up because it was my 5-wood and I love my 5-wood. So it was like I have a good number, so I'm going to go for it. I had a caddie during the practice round, and he said you just go for it if you need an eagle. I needed an eagle, so I went for it.

I don't think about it a lot. Just trying to be better this year.

Q. Now you made a wedge change recently, like taking some bounce away. What was kind of the reason behind that?

INGRID LINDBLAD: In the fall, we had Titleist come to LSU, so I tried -- I had a 58 degree, and I kind of struggle with like basic chip shots around the greens. So I got a 60 degree bent to a 59 degree with 4 degree bounce instead of 8. And I feel I hit my bunker shots a lot better with that than my old one. I played it since like November, like kind of fiddling with it, and I really like it. Then the other wedges just play the same for like the past six or seven years.

Q. How badly do you want to win this week?

INGRID LINDBLAD: I mean, I played really good in the spring coming into this. So a win here would be really cool. You know to get invited to all the majors and everything and have the name on the trophy would be super cool.

Q. You mentioned the greens are firm.

INGRID LINDBLAD: Yeah.

Q. Do you feel like, as a player who hits the ball really high, maybe even the highest in the field, do you feel like you have an advantage? Secondly, how much bounce are you getting, say, for your 6-iron or for a wedge?

INGRID LINDBLAD: On hole number -- that long par-5 on the front. Is that hole 4? It was into the wind today. I had a 5-iron in, and it rolled out probably 10 meters. It was into the wind, and it landed on an uphill slope. So that was a 5-iron, about 10 meters. Then pitching wedge was more like 5 meters. I mean, you don't have a ton of long irons in on a lot of holes. I hit it -- like I hit it pretty far.

But I mean, you're just going to have to be really careful with like what club you hit to the green because they're going to bounce. They're not going to stop, like the greens aren't soft.

Q. Would you consider yourself the highest ball hitter in the field? Is there anyone else?

INGRID LINDBLAD: I actually hit the ball lower than last year, but I hit a little further. But I'm probably one of the highest ones. I'm not familiar with like everyone who's here, so I can't say that I'm the highest one, but I'm probably one of the highest.

Q. You're on a really good run. What's that going to do for your confidence? You did really well last year, but to be playing well coming into this tournament, how important is that this week?

INGRID LINDBLAD: I mean, you kind of just want to ride the wave. I don't know what to say. Just ride the wave and keep doing what you're doing. Not try to change a lot, but just keeping to your game plan and not trying to create something that you don't have.

Q. Is it tough not to look ahead to the weekend, knowing you have two rounds to go through?

INGRID LINDBLAD: Yeah, I mean lately I've been kind of doing like one day at a time and trying to do one shot at a time. So not trying to look too far ahead, just trying to get one -- like do one day at a time. Just not be too far in the future.

Q. Ingrid, you're coming off your eighth collegiate win. What's that like to have that mental reset coming into this week?

INGRID LINDBLAD: Yesterday I kind of just wanted a kind of chill day, but I was still out here for three hours. We drove back, and I feel like that was a little more peaceful than like riding in a plane here. So that felt a lot better.

Then just trying to be off whenever you're supposed to be off so you have the energy for a whole week.

Q. How much sleep did you get?

INGRID LINDBLAD: Probably like seven hours. It wasn't too bad. We got in like 9:00 p.m. It wasn't too bad.

Q. Seven hours is a good night?

INGRID LINDBLAD: Yeah.

Q. Did you watch the Olympics at all last summer?

INGRID LINDBLAD: Not a lot.

Q. How much would you winning this event mean back home?

INGRID LINDBLAD: I mean, this event gets a lot of attention at home actually. They actually have it on Swedish TV, which not a lot of events are on Swedish TV.

Q. It's like professional, right?

INGRID LINDBLAD: Only like the Masters unless you have a subscription for the Golf Channel.

Q. This is on the non-subscription?

INGRID LINDBLAD: I think it is, yeah. So not a lot of events get that. So a lot of people can watch it at home too, which is not very common.

Q. Will there be a big celebration back home?

INGRID LINDBLAD: They usually have cake in my home club whenever I win something.

Q. What kind of cake?

INGRID LINDBLAD: We have a Swedish cake called like princess cake. It's like whipped cream inside of it, yeah.

Q. Are they going to mail you a slice?

INGRID LINDBLAD: I don't think they can do that.