DIO IMPLANT LA OPEN

April 22, 2022

Lizette Salas

Wilshire Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Here with Lizette Salas, 3-under overall. How are you feeling after Day 2 and a hometown crowd environment?

LIZETTE SALAS: Well, I feel so much better than yesterday physically. As you can tell by my voice, I'm not quite 100 percent, but felt good this morning. We knew conditions were going to be really hard today, so just stayed patient and played within myself, and even though putts weren't dropping I was hitting really good putts and just waiting for one to drop, and we got one on 8, a pretty long one. Also made some really clutch putts for par on the back. That's what's going to happen on a course like this.

Q. Walk me through what happened there on 8 and what that relief felt like to finally have one like that go in.

LIZETTE SALAS: Well, I knew it was coming. I was giving myself good opportunities, conditions were tough, and I kept missing makeable putts. I had, I think, a 30-footer and said -- I felt good over it and just put good speed, good stroke, and finally it dropped, and just to hear the crowd go wild and just give me that extra boost of momentum to go into the back side, so I just hope those cheers get louder this weekend.

Q. Then a turnaround on 17 today; walk me through that, as well.

LIZETTE SALAS: 17, yeah. Most improved on that hole from yesterday. We had some trouble on that hole, and just to get a chip-in on such a difficult hole coming down the stretch feels really good. Yeah, just tried to finish on a good note to give myself good momentum going into the weekend.

Q. How long was the chip?

LIZETTE SALAS: I mean, my landing spot was a good like 15 paces and then another 10, so 25. Not too bad.

Q. This is a course I feel like as we talk to you every time we're here, it's something that you know well as a USC alum. You talked about earlier the family is going to be coming out bigger and better than ever this weekend. What does it mean to have that at a course that you love so much?

LIZETTE SALAS: Yeah, this course has been a part of my career for a long time, and being an LA native, means a lot to climb up the leaderboard, and to see so many fans cheer me on, say "fight on," and knowing that more people are going to come this weekend to cheer me on, it feels good. Obviously I want to perform well for them.

I know this course pretty well, and it's just a matter of staying patient and committing to my shots.

Q. I've heard "patient" a lot today. It doesn't mean you have to go super low to keep in contention. You are right up there. What are some of the keys that you'll take into this weekend?

LIZETTE SALAS: Just kind of do the same routine as I've been doing, getting rest, obviously, just making sure I'm doing my warmup drills and just keeping it simple. For me if I start getting too many thoughts in my mind, it won't go as well as I hope, so we're just going to keep it simple, have some fun and kind of embrace each moment that I'm out there.