COGNIZANT FOUNDERS CUP

May 15, 2022

Madelene Sagstrom

Upper Montclair Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Here with Madelene Sagstrom. Tough start, but really good finish. How proud are you of that fight that you showed out there today?

MADELENE SAGSTROM: Obviously not the start that I wanted, but I think any time that you can fight back, I was really happy to get back to even par. That was kind of the whole mindset.

I wish I could have gone to even par earlier so I could have done a few more birdies, but I'm just really happy with how I fought today and how I brought my game back.

I know a few years ago a few months ago this probably wouldn't have happened, so I've been fighting really hard on getting better at just this.

Q. If you don't mind me asking, can you just walk us through the thought process on 3 being in that bunker? That was a tough shot. You just didn't have anything.

MADELENE SAGSTROM: Yeah, I came up to it and it was super plugged in the lip, and we were more kind of worried was it going to stay there or what was going to happen.

So I was able to get it out. I was even debating on taking a drop in the bunker, but hit it, and then I had a not equally bad lie, but very close to a bad lie, so then I just left it in there again and just shot 2-putt, so beautiful 7.

Q. It happens. What switched in your brain? After that you have to calm yourself down and get yourself back in it. What did you say to yourself after that hole?

MADELENE SAGSTROM: I think it's really about finding that game that I've had all week. I have played really well, so I think that that was kind of my mindset. I shouldn't let one hole determine my week. I should really just try to get back into that game that I've been having all week.

That was kind of the whole mindset, just trying to free it up a little bit, be a little bit more athletic, and just trying to go for it.

I did that more in the end. It did some really nice up and downs on the front, but just wasn't all there today.

Q. Overall this week you were able to get some really low numbers and then today go even par. Does this one feel even better than even the 9-under considering how hard you had to fight to get there?

MADELENE SAGSTROM: I still like the 9-under better. But no, having that comeback I know that this is -- these are the rounds that make you stronger. These are the rounds where you really have to grind.

9-under when you are on that roll shooting really low scores, that's easy. This is when it's hard. This is when you have to fight.

Q. The golf course play any better, differently today than it did the first three? It didn't look like a lot of approaches were finishing as close to the hole as was the case earlier in the week.

MADELENE SAGSTROM: I probably wasn't hitting it as well from my own sake, so I was a little bit further from the pin.

But I would say it was quite similar to -- not when it was really wet yesterday, but a little bit. There was a little bit receptive, the greens were a little bit slower, so kind of like mid-ground.

Q. Just finally you've been trending -- we keep talking about it. I've interviewed you every week, but we keep talking about it. You've been playing such good golf, and still kind of fallen a little bit short. We're heading into the meat of the season. How good are you feeling with so many majoring on tap, with match-play in a couple of weeks?

MADELENE SAGSTROM: I'm feeling great. My game is heading in a really good spot. I'm hitting it really well. I'm putting well. Everything is really solid in my mental game, like today is really strong. I'm really looking forward to what's ahead. I just like being able to put myself out there on the leaderboard.

Q. You talked about the Chimp Paradox earlier in the week. Did you have that chimp today, and if you did, how did you manage it?

MADELENE SAGSTROM: Don't we all when we do something bad? It's always a little voice in our head saying that we're not good enough, but I think it's just those are the moments that I have worked really hard for to kind of take a step back and put perspective on it.

I've done a really good job this week and I played really well overall and it was good enough for a T3, so I'm really happy about that.