AUGUSTA NATIONAL WOMEN'S AMATEUR

April 1, 2022

Rachel Heck

Quick Quotes

Q. I imagine your mindset now is a little perhaps happier than you maybe were a couple hours ago. How do you feel at this point?

RACHEL HECK: Yeah, absolutely. I was pretty nervous going into today, and I can't really pretend that I wasn't, one outside the cut line, what I thought was going to be the cut line, after having a pretty rough nine holes. I had a good first day and did not have a good round yesterday.

So I was pretty nervous. There was a lot of emotions out there. My heart is still beating really fast.

Q. How did you sort of reassess last night and kind of reset for today?

RACHEL HECK: Well, I just thought about my game. I'm really happy with where my game was. I just had two bad holes, two doubles that kind of got away from me. Not even terrible shots, just golf and it happens.

I just felt a lot of confidence going into today knowing that my swing is good, my putting's good, and I've just got to be patient.

Q. Dad's coming off the bag now?

RACHEL HECK: Yeah, he is.

Q. Is he excited, or is it kind of bittersweet?

RACHEL HECK: I think he's excited. I think he's ready to just watch me play golf instead of having to help me. He gets stressed too. You know, sneaking inside the cut, there's no stress. He gets to just watch me play Augusta. It's going to be a good day.

Q. Would you characterize yourself as an easy player to caddie for?

RACHEL HECK: Not when it's him. I don't know, I feel like since he's my dad, I can just like get mad and talk to him. Like someone I don't know as well, I'm going to kind of bottle it up a little more. So I think he's got a tough job.

Q. Can you describe your birdies for us on 7 and 8?

RACHEL HECK: Yeah, on 7 it was pretty into the wind. I've had a wedge in most days, but I had a 7-iron. The pin was tucked back left. I hit -- I mean, I have to go for pins at this point. So I go right at the pin. I have about 10 feet straight uphill. That went in for birdie.

Then I had a little momentum. It was cool, at that point on 7, my teammate came out. She had just finished, and she came and watched me play. My coach came, Dr. Rice came. So it was really cool to have a little pick-me-up, a lot of energy there.

Then No. 8, I made like a 15-foot slider right to left for birdie. Then on 9 I was scrambling to save par. I had about a 6-footer there. My heart was beating so fast.

Q. Was that one of the more nerve-racking putts you've ever stood over?

RACHEL HECK: Yes, 100 percent. There's a small group of the most nerve-racking putts, and that's 100 percent in there.

Q. Is that just because it means so much to you to be able to play on Saturday?

RACHEL HECK: Yeah, going into the week, it's hard to even think about playing Augusta. Everyone is talking about strategies for Augusta, and you don't want to hear any of it. You're just like I've just got to get through Champions Retreat. That's the biggest accomplishment in itself.

Like I said before, I sneaked inside the cut. I'm grateful to be there.

Q. You sneak inside the cut, but you're only five off the lead. Do you feel like you're still in this tournament going into Saturday?

RACHEL HECK: I mean, to think that there's 30 people, 30 of the best players in the world and five off the lead, I think anybody's in this tournament, so yeah.