AUGUSTA NATIONAL WOMEN'S AMATEUR

April 1, 2022

Rachel Heck

Quick Quotes

Q. What has your experience been like, and what do you hope little girls watching learn?

RACHEL HECK: It's been unreal so far. Growing up, of course, I watched the Masters with my dad, but I never had the chance to actually think about playing Augusta myself. It was never even a dream I had. Of course I wanted to play, but I never thought it would be an actual possibility.

Now it's cool knowing that little girls growing up are going to picture themselves walking these fairways. Just like I pictured Tiger and Jordan, now they're going to picture us, which is really cool.

Q. Do you feel like you have new life in this tournament after that strong finish this morning?

RACHEL HECK: Yeah. Going into the week, that's what you're thinking about. You're thinking about that cut. It's always hard to talk about Augusta that last day. Who's going to caddie for you at Augusta? I don't know, I've just got to make the cut.

It's a huge step. Tomorrow there's nothing to lose. Just go out there and have fun.

Q. Now that you've walked the course, do you have any advice for the guys next week?

RACHEL HECK: Go for all the par-5s. If you don't, you're a loser.

Q. What hole is the most challenging hole out there?

RACHEL HECK: The most challenging hole? Can I get advice from the crowd? Megha, Alexa, what do you think?

MEGHA GANNE: I'd say hole 3.

RACHEL HECK: Some of the short ones are really challenging. You have a little wedge into the green. You think it's going to be easy, but it's not.

MEGHA GANNE: Question from Megha Ganne. How did you skip it across the water today on the par-3?

RACHEL HECK: It was kind of weak. I'm not going to lie. I took one bounce, and it just glided a bit, took two more bounces and went on the fringe. Nothing special. Bad question.

ALEXA PANO: Question from Alexa Pano. How was your practice round group today? It seemed amazing.

RACHEL HECK: That's the thing with a practice round. Sometimes you get a bad group, and you've got to deal with it. You've just got to push through.

MEGHA GANNE: Question from Megha. Do you have any favorite freshmen coming in?

RACHEL HECK: Kelly Xu. She's really great. I FaceTimed her a couple times.

MEGHA GANNE: Thanks, Rachel. Good luck this week.

RACHEL HECK: Thank you, Megha.

Q. When's the last time you were super aggressive in a tournament?

RACHEL HECK: Like yesterday? Not actually really yesterday. What do you mean super aggressive? I tend to be a pretty aggressive player. I like going for par-5s. I think it's a lot more fun. My dad tries to talk me out of it, but it's pretty fun.

Q. Obviously you have to go out there tomorrow and shoot it pretty well.

RACHEL HECK: No, no, I definitely do tomorrow, but like there were a few tournaments last spring where I was in a position to chase, like Pac-12s, Regionals, and it's such a fun mindset to have as opposed to a tournament like Nationals where you go to bed with a five-shot lead.

Of course you want to be winning, but I think it's a lot more fun to play when you're coming from behind.

Q. What's a great score for tomorrow?

RACHEL HECK: A great score? Anything even or better at Augusta is a really great score. I think obviously it's an insanely difficult course, but if you're swinging well, if you're stroking it well, you're going to -- I think there are people who will shoot some low numbers.

Q. A lot of the most memorable shots here at Augusta National were hit at the Masters. If you were to hit a shot that could be looked back 10, 20, 30 years from now as one of the most iconic shots, what would that shot be? What would be a shot that you want your name stamped on forever?

RACHEL HECK: I mean, just going off the kind of player I like to be, someone on a par-5 going for 13, going for 15, making an eagle, something like that would be cool.

Q. (No microphone)?

RACHEL HECK: Yes, I like the way you're thinking.