BANK OF HOPE LPGA MATCH-PLAY

May 27, 2022

Ayaka Furue

Shadow Creek

Quick Quotes

AYAKA FURUE:

Q. Here with Ayaka Furue after her big win 2&1 to advance to the round of 16. Tell me, what was your mentality going into today knowing it was a must-win match for you?

AYAKA FURUE: Throughout this week my mentality has been just to win every match, so I kept it the same. Once again, was able to come out on top.

Q. And how was playing with Carlota? She is a really good competitor. Hasn't lost a match at all this week of were you at all intimidated by her going into the match?

AYAKA FURUE: Yeah, she's definitely one of the stronger players out here in the field and I felt that, especially come into the last few holes where she kept trying to battle back to win.

Q. Did you find anything different about the course today or about your game itself that really helped you with such a good win, get such a good win?

AYAKA FURUE: The course felt a lot harder than yesterday, so that was one of the difficult parts throughout the round.

But I was able to putt really well today and I think that had a huge help in my game.

Q. Why was the course harder today? What was harder?

AYAKA FURUE: A lot of the pins were in a lot harder spots, and then the wind was a little bit stronger than yesterday as well, so it made playing a little bit harder.

Q. I don't know if I asked you this yesterday, but what is your match play experience? How familiar are you with this format of golf?

AYAKA FURUE: So this is my first match play since becoming a pro. First time I was in match play was when I was an amateur back in Japan.

Q. Do you like playing match play? It is more exciting or aggressive for you? Does it change your game at all when you know you're going head-to-head instead of stroke play?

AYAKA FURUE: So playing in match play is a lot different than playing in a normal round. You're competing against one person and not the course, so that has a big impact on your mental game and other factors as well.

Q. So I noticed neither one of you made a birdie on the back nine; the conditions were really tough. Does that change how you approach match play when scoring is so hard?

AYAKA FURUE: When you can't make birdies it's pretty hard. Obviously you want to make as many birdie chances for yourself as possible. With the conditions of the course this week it was kind of hard to make those chances so I had to rely on the pars and score where I could.

Q. Curious how you're going to celebrate your birthday, and knowing that you have 36 holes in front of you tomorrow probably?

AYAKA FURUE: Obviously it's pretty hot out here so first I'm going to go home, rest up and Colorado down and I'm not sure about how to celebrate for my birthday yet.

Q. Are you prepared to play possible 72 holes in two days?

AYAKA FURUE: Playing 72 holes is definitely going to be tough, but trying to rely on my game; knowing that everyone else is going to be in the same conditions is what's going to put me through.

Q. What are you most looking forward to then coming from the weekend knowing that every round is win-or-go-home?

AYAKA FURUE: First of all, I think just go out and have some fun knowing that it's win-or-go-home, and then just relying on my game to get me through as far as I can.