AUGUSTA NATIONAL WOMEN'S AMATEUR

April 1, 2022

Jensen Castle

Quick Quotes

Q. Currently inside the cut line. You had to come out of a playoff to win the U.S. Women's Amateur. How much more confident are you now that you don't have to go through a playoff and know you're locked in for Saturday at Augusta National?

JENSEN CASTLE: Pretty confident. I'm good. I made it this far.

Q. Is there anything you can take away from that experience now? I know you had a lot of pressure putts you had to make at the Women's Am. Is that going to help you at Augusta?

JENSEN CASTLE: Not necessarily. I still have the same mindset. Everything evens out at the end of the day. Some putts are going to go in. Some don't go in. Hopefully my speed's better than at the Am, I would say, not ram it by four or five feet. I don't know, I'm in a good spot for sure.

Q. You were on a bit of a roll yesterday and had to come back out here and finish up this morning. How tough was that to come out and get back into your groove?

JENSEN CASTLE: It's pretty tough, not going to lie. Everyone had the same conditions, though. Everyone had different holes. The greens definitely firmed up a lot. Yesterday they were super soft and were holding a lot more.

I only had two holes, which wasn't that many compared to the nine out there. So everyone has a lot of holes to go. It's playing different play today for sure.

Q. What's the rest of the day look like for you?

JENSEN CASTLE: I'm going to play Augusta National (Laughter). I mean, super excited. I played there once. Just to know that I'll be playing there tomorrow for real and that this is actually like a practice round and I need to take it for real, it's going to be exciting.

Q. When did you play there?

JENSEN CASTLE: December 28.

Q. December 28?

JENSEN CASTLE: December 28, 2021.

Q. And what was that outing for?

JENSEN CASTLE: Just a member had me out.

Q. What did you think?

JENSEN CASTLE: I mean, it's amazing. Super pure, really hilly actually. Greens are extremely grainy, but it's an awesome golf course.

Everyone's dream to play, so I'm super excited to be able to do that. I've always wanted to play there.

Q. What did you shoot?

JENSEN CASTLE: I don't remember. I think it was like 76, 77. I mean, don't compare that to tomorrow's round, though. No comparison. Two different ball games.

Q. What's your -- I guess what's your approach during the practice round today? Like you want to soak everything up obviously, but you also want to try and win the golf tournament.

JENSEN CASTLE: That's a good question. I'm going to have fun. That's what I've done until this point. I have no expectations. Just go out here and have fun and take it all in. So I'm going to make sure to do that today as well.

Q. What do you think a realistic score -- I mean, these are the best women's amateurs in the world. What do you think a realistic score at Augusta National is?

JENSEN CASTLE: I mean, hopefully around even. I don't know where the pin locations are or anything like that, and I haven't seen the course today. But the course is pure, so anything around even, I'm sure.

Q. Jensen, you're the lone representative from the University of Kentucky here this week. Your teammates saw you succeed at the Curtis Cup, they saw you win the U.S. Amateur, now they're seeing you here. It could only be natural for them to be a little bit jealous of the individual accomplishments. How important have your teammates been through the last 12 months?

JENSEN CASTLE: They've been extremely important. They're my backbone. They made me who I am today, in golf and as a person. I don't know where I'd be without them.