DOW GREAT LAKES BAY INVITATIONAL

July 14, 2022

Maude-Aimee Leblanc

Sarah Schmelzel

Midland Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Now, before I get into the hard-hitting questions, I couldn't remember, is there a team name for the both of you today?

SARAH SCHMELZEL: There is, but we haven't submitted it yet, but our team name is Stranger Danger because before this week I don't think we had spoken three words to each other. (Laughing).

We've been getting to know each other every day. It's been a lot of fun.

Q. Nice. Take me through what today was like, Maude-Aimee, being able to come to this event, play it with Sarah, and then today having a nice awesome best-ball day?

MAUDE-AIMEE LEBLANC: It's a fun event. It's nice to play a different format than usual. It's definitely a different kind of pressure, but having someone as consistent as Sarah out there definitely takes some pressure off me.

Q. Sarah, take me through some of the highlights today for you.

SARAH SCHMELZEL: I think we just worked really well today. I went off first. I think it took pressure off of me to hit first, and it took pressure off of her to hit second because I would try and hit a fairway and she could just bombs-away.

She hits it an absolute mile and she's an incredible iron player. We just really collaborated on the greens, and she made some awesome putts today. She made a long one on 4. You made another one on the front nine -- or our front nine, I guess.

We've had a ton of fun. I feel like she's incredibly consistent as well. If she's in the fairway, I know she's probably going to hit a really good iron shot. It's been fun to watch.

Q. You talk about Maude-Aimee, her consistency with her play. What are some of the things that you two are fitting in with each other on this golf course? What do you think are the strengths of both of your games that are fitting so well at Midland?

MAUDE-AIMEE LEBLANC: I think the strength that I see with her is that there's no weaknesses, so it's -- and she can read the greens really well, which I've been struggling a little bit on the greens. She's been helping me with that.

Yeah, it's been working really well.

Q. Sarah, I think one of the things we've seen from Maude over the last couple of events is her length, as you mentioned. How much is that a helpful part of this team?

SARAH SCHMELZEL: It's been fun. Especially yesterday in alternate shot, to be hitting from places that are 20 yards out from where I would normally be hitting it, if not farther. That's been really fun.

She's been super easy to tell where to hit putts because she literally starts it on line as long as I tell her the right line. So hopefully we keep doing that the next several days.

Q. Sarah, we've seen you here before. Maude-Aimee, I don't believe you've played this event. I think this is your first time.

MAUDE-AIMEE LEBLANC: First time.

Q. What's it like going back and forth between some of these formats here as a newbie to this event?

MAUDE-AIMEE LEBLANC: It's interesting. I learned that signing the right scores is very important. I think there were some issues with that last year, so we spent a lot of time going over the scorecard today making sure every hole was correct. Yeah, other than that it's been fun so far.

Q. Sarah, a score like this during best ball really puts you guys up there on the leaderboard. What does it do for your confidence heading into tomorrow's alternate shot format again?

SARAH SCHMELZEL: I think we both saw putts go in today. We both hit some really good shots. We had some close looks.

I think that frees us up for tomorrow that we can trust each other just a little bit more than maybe yesterday since we really have just been getting to know each other.

I think it just helps us gel and get comfortable for tomorrow and fire some pins.

Q. No more stranger danger.

SARAH SCHMELZEL: Yeah.

Q. Great job, ladies, and best of luck tomorrow.