MEIJER LPGA CLASSIC

June 16, 2022

Andrea Lee

Blythefield Country Club

Press Conference

Q. Here with Andrea Lee. Another solid day; 6-under 66 today. Just walk me through 7 through 15. You got on kind of a stretch where you only made a few pars and mostly birdies in those holes.

ANDREA LEE: Yeah, got it rolling pretty early on. Was 3-under after 9, and, yeah, made quite a few birdies kind of on that turn.

Just a nice momentum kick for sure to kind of get the round going. I didn't have the best finish today as I would like, having that reachable par-5 as the last hole and parring it.

But overall I'm really pleased with the way I played today, just really solid golf.

Q. Couple holes you went back-to-back birdies. What was the mindset when that was happening?

ANDREA LEE: Nothing really. I wasn't even thinking about how many birdies I made in the last X amount of holes. I just kind of kept the pedal down and was just going through the process with my caddie, Drew, just on each shot.

Yeah, just being really smart and hitting the right sides of the greens and making the putts, so...

Q. I feel like we've seen you a lot this year compared to years past. You got the win on the Epson Tour, finally broke through professionally. What's changing for you and got you on this really good stretch of golf?

ANDREA LEE: Yeah, I think I've learned a lot last year about myself. It was a tough year for me, like I've said before. But, yeah, this year I just been really grinding, and I think the work that I put in is finally Just the win on the Epson Tour really gave me a lot of confidence. To have the status that I do now on the LPGA Tour isn't something I even though about at the beginning of the year.

I was fully prepared to grind it out on the Epson Tour, and to be able to have these opportunities now where I don't have to worry about the schedule is really nice.

I mean, I haven't been in this position before, so it's awesome.

Q. How does it feel to be like right at the top of the leaderboard after day one?

ANDREA LEE: Yeah, feels good. I think I'm one shot back. But, yeah, if I play like I did today, then I hopefully will be in contention by the weekend. Just feel very confident in every aspect of my game right now, so I'm really looking forward to just playing good golf and continuing the run.

Q. How does day one kind of just set the tone for the rest of the tournament and get you really going?

ANDREA LEE: I think it's really important to have a good start. I feel like I've been doing that recently, getting off to a good start, but maybe not finishing quite as well as I would like.

So hopefully maybe this week will be a little bit different. But, yeah, good first day is always great just to kick start things.

Q. What do you think -- to get like a better finish, what do you think you need to do?

ANDREA LEE: Just keep playing the golf that I'm playing. I think sometimes I get a little bit in my head on the weekend. Like I have to finish well or play well to be somewhere near the top.

But this week I'm just going to focus on my shots and the process and just going about my business and not worrying about what other girls are doing.

Q. We had some pretty low scores this morning. As we move into the rest of the week, just how gettable is this golf course?

ANDREA LEE: It's definitely gettable. There are five par-5s out here and a few of them are definitely reachable. Even eagle chances are out there for sure.

Yeah, I mean, it's definitely a low scoring golf course. I think the score at the end of the week is going to be pretty low, so just, yeah, trying to make as many birdies as possible.