PALOS VERDES CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY BANK OF AMERICA

May 1, 2022

Marina Alex

Palos Verdes Golf Club

Quick Quotes

Q. All right, Marina, a winner on tour. This is your second victory. Is it any sweeter knowing the journey you had to face to get to this point?

MARINA ALEX: Yeah, today was amazing. I mean, I'm kind of not really there with processing what went down today, but it's been a really tough couple years. I mean, since the COVID; that slowed all of us down.

And then I was injured really quick after that. Had seven months off, and it's just been a really tough rebuilding back. Coming into this year I finally have felt good physically, like really good.

I been working with Claude, working on new stuff. I felt really just like re-inspired I guess coming out here. It's just amazing, like the hard work has paid off. I wasn't sure if this would ever happen again if I'm being perfectly honest.

It's been tough. We're all getting older. I'm getting older. There are so many amazing players out here. The competition is really, really difficult. So I just didn't know if my mind and body were going to put me back in a position that I was going to be able to do it again.

Today was the day. Had like hints of Portland, I don't know why, in some ways. The course has been playing tough the last few days. I knew that if I was just patient and I just feel good with the putter, so I was like, you know what, if you get out there and get rolling, some good momentum, you can definitely post a low score and see what happens.

Q. You said you weren't paying attention to the leaderboards. Has that been a big thing for you in your career?

MARINA ALEX: Yeah, I think when I tend to get a little leaderboard crazy I just don't respond well. Some people respond really well; I definitely don't. It just adds anxiety for me knowing if I'm near the lead or in the lead.

It can just create extra pressure that I don't need, whether it's to make a birdie or to conserve a lead. It's just -- it doesn't help my performance, so I kind of have to be really disciplined to just take a deep breath and do me.

If it's good enough to win, it's good enough to win. If someone outplays me, that's okay, but I don't want to outplay myself. That's the mistake I have made in the past.

Q. Is there a change your goal for th rest of the year?

MARINA ALEX: My goals for the year were just to like get through the year, silly as that sounds. No, I really did feel like this year was going to be different than years past. I struggled last year just getting back in things competitively and also physically.

I really had to like stagger my schedule. I was so nervous about re-injurying myself, and so I just really was very, very protective of my body last year. Not that I'm not moving forward, but I just feel like I am able to play like a few events in a row, things I want to do. I don't feel like I'm so much on the defense.

It's a great feeling, and I'm looking forward to the rest of the year. Got a bunch of majors to play. I want to get in contention and see what I got.