KPMG WOMEN'S PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

June 23, 2022

Paula Reto

Congressional Country Club (Blue Course)

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Here with Paula Reto, who shot a 2-under 70. Your caddie is saying, what did you do well today? Great round. What was working for you today? This was a tough course.

PAULA RETO: Definitely tough. We had a lot of good numbers and good club selection, so that really stood out today.

A couple more birdies I left out there, but grabbed a few here and there. Just par is sort of like what you want and the goal, and if the birdies drop, it was awesome.

THE MODERATOR: I think you definitely lucked out with the weather. Everyone we heard this morning said the first nine was just a grind. Mostly dry for you out there other than the squishy grass?

PAULA RETO: I think I got better part of the draw for sure having afternoon round today and then morning tomorrow. Other than, yeah, the fairways being squishy here and there, it's not too bad. A little bit of rain, but not as much as the morning for sure. We kind of got lucky. Yeah, it was nice.

THE MODERATOR: You said you had some good numbers, some good looks out there. Is this a course that sets up well for you?

PAULA RETO: I think so because you have to be relatively long straight off the tee to put you in a good position to go for the green, and then just good club selection so you can stay before the hole or kind of go a little bit longer depending on where you want to putt from.

Just all those kind of things. I think they shorten a few holes which made a couple of shorter irons for me, so that is always a bonus.

THE MODERATOR: You came off a strong finish last week at Meijer, including your low round of the season, 65. Just a few strokes off that today. How confident were you feeling coming into this week?

PAULA RETO: I love the course from last week with all the tree lines, so it kind of kept me focused to hit it straighter, and out here it sort of paid off a little bit.

Yeah, a lot of confidence. I want to do well, but I'm going to sort of keep it easy. Sometimes I want to do too much. I want to just try to back it up a little bit and just sort of go with the flow.

THE MODERATOR: You can't win it today, but you might be able to lose it today kind of mentality?

PAULA RETO: Exactly. I like to put all these things ahead, so this time I'm just going to hone in one day at a time, just enjoy the moment, and appreciate all the good stuff we have and what a great tournament it is over here. It's nice.

Q. It looks like the weather helped you in more than one way. There was no rain, but also the wind kind of calmed down at the end, and that helped for scoring too, no?

PAULA RETO: Exactly. Yeah, with the no weather for the afternoon round and then the wind really kind of keeping calm, so it was easier to pick shots and pick clubs. Made it a lot easier I think for the afternoon group, for sure.

Q. How many fairways did you hit today? The thing is it was long for everybody, but if you hit fairways, it's not that long, no?

PAULA RETO: That's the thing, exactly. I think I had -- maybe I missed three or four, but also --

THE MODERATOR: 10 of 14.

PAULA RETO: Yeah, so the ones I did miss were a little off, so I kind of got lucky with the lie too. Sometimes depending on the lie you get.

Also, yeah, I made it work, and when I hit the fairways, I try to make sure to hit the green. And I just had a few missed greens, which was not too bad of an up and down, which helped a lot.

Q. Comparing last week with this week, you were saying tree lines. You can see where you're going. You can see where the ball is going to land. Here's there's a lot of faith. There's at least eight greens that you don't see where the ball is going to land, so you have to trust yourself, you have to trust your caddie. How do you do that?

PAULA RETO: Exactly. You have to trust the caddie. Yeah, especially I think it's hole 15 where you kind of hit down and then you have to hit back up with the green being really long. So that's a shot you need to make sure to stay out to the left.

But usually the bounce on that fairway you can bounce it off to the green, but it was a little softer today, so a little bit difficult to judge that. Yeah, no, definitely a lot different golf course. It's fun.

It's cool having to kind of hit down and hit up, a little undulation here and there makes the golf course nice and challenging. You're never going to have the same shot twice, I feel.

Q. What kind of clubs were you hitting into the par-5s on your third shot?

PAULA RETO: 9 played really long, so I hit driver, 3-wood, and then 8-iron. Like, a punch 8-iron.

Then for the shorter one was 10. I think I hit a wedge, and then trying to think what the other one was. Probably, yeah, another wedge on the other one.

Yeah, not too bad. Definitely laid up with either the hybrid or the 3-wood.

Q. What about No. 4, what did you hit into that one? Par-4.

PAULA RETO: Oh, the par-4? That was the one down. I think I hit 4-iron. Yeah, we had 195 to the pin or something. That's a tough hole, too, being able to judge with the right club.

Q. I'm just comparing it to the morning.

PAULA RETO: What was the morning like? Probably 3-wood or something?

Q. Yeah, 3-wood. Some players didn't reach with 3-wood.

PAULA RETO: The afternoon group definitely had the luckier draw for sure.

THE MODERATOR: Your round was amazing, but I just wanted to ask, with In Gee's 8-under out there, how lights-out was that from someone who had it easier in the afternoon?

PAULA RETO: Oh, she played in the morning? Wow. That's really good to shoot 8-under because even the greens are tricky. You think sometimes it goes left to right, and then just at the end it will go the opposite way. Wow, good job for her doing that in the morning as well.

THE MODERATOR: You're definitely among the class of the field so far. How confident do you feel heading into the next round?

PAULA RETO: Good, I'm confident. I'm going to try to do the same thing as I did today. Tomorrow I'll have the morning round. Let's hope for no rain. Then just have fun out there and enjoy it.

Q. Do you make an effort to not look at the score before you go out? You didn't know about the 8-under from In Gee this morning.

PAULA RETO: I saw the 8-under on the leaderboards out there, so I was, like, wow. I wasn't sure what time she teed off.

Sometimes I like to get a feel of what the course is playing. It gives you a good -- if the girls are going really low, I'm, like, maybe I should go really low. Yeah, not all the time. Just depends.

THE MODERATOR: Thanks so much, Paula.