DIO IMPLANT LA OPEN

April 21, 2022

Emily Kristine Pedersen

Wilshire Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Here with Emily Pedersen. I was just telling you that a 4-under day here is definitely a good one to walk away with. How are you feeling with day one under your belt?

EMILY KRISTINE PEDERSEN: Yeah, I'm feeling good. I felt like some of the things I've been working on is going in the right direction and I holed some good putts out there to keep me at 4-under, so I'm happy with the day.

Q. Before we get into this round you're coming off a T18 finish at the LOTTE Championship, two different kinds of environments and courses. What was it like having that kind of finish going into this week?

EMILY KRISTINE PEDERSEN: It was pretty good. I had an awful finish at the Chevron. I made a ten on the last to miss the cut and was kind of down after that.

So it was really good to kind of keep myself going last week, and I was happy to finish 18th. Just trying to build on that momentum into this week.

Q. Does that help as you gear up towards Wilshire Country Club, a course like this?

EMILY KRISTINE PEDERSEN: Yeah, it does. I think you need a bit of confidence going into this course. There is a few tight drives, a bit quirky shots into the greens where you really have to be on the right angle and just commit to the shots.

So I think definitely having a bit of confidence helps going into this course.

Q. Let's take a look at the round there. Starting with the birdies on 4, 5, and 7, how much did that help build up the confidence as you made your way through today?

EMILY KRISTINE PEDERSEN: Good. I holed a chip off the right side on No. 4, so that kind of helped me go in a bit.

Then I hit it really close on the next.

And then hit it close again on 7, so it was good.

I felt like I took advantage of the good weather this morning.

Q. Absolutely. What's that like when you know you have that morning tee time, we're in this west coast poana greens?

EMILY KRISTINE PEDERSEN: You know, I think you know you have to take advantage. It's always playing a bit different in the afternoon and it normally gets a bit windy in the afternoon as well. So I was glad to kind of post a low one today.

Q. Post a low one. Going into tomorrow, what's the mindset? What you do you take away from a day like today?

EMILY KRISTINE PEDERSEN: Just keep working on the things that I'm working on. My coach David is here and he's been watching, and I'm sure a little chat about what can we do better, improve a little bit for tomorrow.

But then just trying to keep it going. I think the key really is to hole a lot of putts, as it is every week.

Q. How often does he come out?

EMILY KRISTINE PEDERSEN: I would say every three or four weeks he comes out and then I go home. So I try to see him every other week, but obviously this is my ninth week in a row now, so it's been a while.

But he's been out three times in this stretch so that's really nice.

Q. How much does that kind of help you as you're working on things, especially gearing up for a courses like Wilshire and this event in general?

EMILY KRISTINE PEDERSEN: I think it's great. I really -- I love the relationship David and I have and we lean on each other a lot.

I think the close working relationship has -- we found out when I played a year in Europe that just the fact that we could be closer really helped my game.

I think it's really great that we have the opportunity to carry that over here to the states.