U.S. WOMEN'S AMATEUR FOUR-BALL

April 22, 2022

Avery Zweig

Gianna Clemente

Grand Reserve Golf Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Let's start with 18 and the 19th hole; you guys were down for most of the match. Tell me about those last two holes.

AVERY ZWEIG: Well, we never let the whole match, not once, and I think the couple times were one time we got it back to even, we gave it back immediately. Or it was two times. So safe to say it was a very stressful day.

In match play I think we both learned from previous experience and from the way that we lost last year in 20 holes -- actually we kind of lost in a similar fashion that we won this year, that you're never really out of it until it's over because that's the way it works. On 18 it's a very birdieable hole, especially with us hitting it a little further than our competitors.

We both were greenside, and then it wound up I hit a bunker shot to about six feet and she hit a really good chip to about six feet, but her putt was a little harder than mine. In moments like that -- I was like, we really shouldn't be here in the first place because I just told her like throughout the last five holes of our match, including the 19th one, we had to essentially make a putt to keep the match going, every single one. So there was a sense of this really shouldn't be happening, so I wasn't really nervous over my putt and then made it.

Coming to the 19th hole, again, it was like, this really shouldn't be happening. That's where Gianna can take over.

GIANNA CLEMENTE: Yeah, I think No. 1, our 19th hole, is a really difficult hole. It's into the wind and it's really long, and I hit my drive honestly almost the same spot that I hit it this morning. I had a perfect yardage, and I was standing over the ball with my dad, and he told me to aim about 10 feet right of the hole. The pin is cut left, and I'm like, no, I'm going right at it. I hit it to about eight or nine feet maybe and it was straight uphill, and I made it right in the back of the hole. It was a great putt.

I think I was expecting her to make her putt on top of me. I think that's just how match play works. That's just the mindset I had all day, and they were making putts left and right all day.

When she missed her putt, it just barely missed low side, I think, and we were both shocked. I did not expect that to happen.

It was a great comeback for sure.

Q. How far was hers?

GIANNA CLEMENTE: It was probably the same. We actually had our rules official come in and step it off. It was really close. She was probably eight or nine feet, the same as me.

AVERY ZWEIG: It was a very straightforward putt. Not that she should have made it, but to practice that all day, it was like, okay, you always expect your opponent to make it, but sometimes you're like, I just hope this one doesn't go in. Every single time they had a putt like that, it was in. So we were expecting to head to hole 2, and then when she missed it, I looked at her and I was like, Gianna, did that just happen? Did we just win? I think it was when our rules official said, Clemente and Zweig 3, and they made a 4, and we won in 19 holes, and it was like, okay. And then we started crying.

Q. The fact that you guys were here last year and semifinalists, did that help today kind of hanging in there and just knowing that you've done it before and that you were never out of it?

GIANNA CLEMENTE: I think there was a lot of built-up motivation for me. It was a really tough loss for me last year, and I felt like I was playing really well last year. I wasn't making a lot of putts, but they just outplayed us and they ended up winning. That was definitely tough for me. I worked my butt off to get to this point with my game for preparation for this event, and I've just been looking forward to it so much, and I feel like there was a lot of adrenaline and there was a lot of motivation that went into this, not just this match but the stroke play, too.

I tried to pull through as much as I could, and I didn't make as many putts as I should have today. We shouldn't have been in that position to start with. But it felt really good to finally make a putt on -- even if it was in extra holes.

AVERY ZWEIG: I think it's in a very dramatic fashion rather poetic that we won our first match in this way this year, because again, we lost in like the exact same kind of way last year, and last year when we did lose, it was like the first eight or nine holes where we both were really tired. And we were 13 and 14 years old so we kind of got a little too reactive.

I just told myself today, like we had a tough front nine that I wasn't going to lose in the same way as I did last year, and I wasn't going to have the regret of I didn't put my best out there because I thought it was impossible. So I think that did pay off, that and a little bit of happenstance and luck.

Q. Which hole was it that your dad was saying was 35 feet?

AVERY ZWEIG: I can't even --

GIANNA CLEMENTE: 14?

AVERY ZWEIG: 13? It's the dogleg with the water. Yeah, so I fanned my 3-wood directly into the bunker. It was so bad that I was hoping that it didn't go in the water. Then I had a good lie in the bunker, and I was like 150 out, and I hit my 7-iron out and it was really good but I was like, oh, there's no way that gets up on the green, and then it got up on the green. I had like a 35-footer that was straight uphill, and it was one of those that you look at and you think, I know it's 35 feet and I know there's a lot in play, but this could definitely go in, and it did, it went right in the center. But then we gave it away the next hole, so it wasn't super fun.

GIANNA CLEMENTE: It was still impressive, though.

AVERY ZWEIG: It was still really important. We got that to get back to even for one time and to have the tee box for one time.

Q. Ended up being big. Kendall Griffin and Elle Nachmann you guys have tomorrow. Do you know much about them? They won 1-up today in another close match, so you guys will play tomorrow in the round of 16. Any thoughts going in?

GIANNA CLEMENTE: I don't really know. She told me walking down the fairway, she was like, I think we are going to play those people, so I don't know much -- I've played with Kendall I think a couple times, but I've never played with her partner. We'll see how it goes. I'm excited about it.

AVERY ZWEIG: Yeah, I think now we know it doesn't really matter who you're playing against. You have to respect everything, and not that we didn't respect who we were playing today, but just especially with it being best ball and match play, those are two factors that can bring some unforeseen circumstances on how you play.

It'll be fun. Hopefully we can get off to a little bit better start.