DOW GREAT LAKES BAY INVITATIONAL

July 16, 2022

Sadena Parks

Anita Uwadia

Midland Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. What went into the choice of this walk-up song? I saw you both dancing and enjoying it a lot. Tell me about the walk-up song, why you chose it, and what you enjoy about it?

SADENA PARKS: I didn't even know the song.

ANITA UWADIA: Of course she brought it up.

SADENA PARKS: That was my choice for sure. I chose that song because checks it's Nipsey Hussle. You know who Nipsey Hussle is. R.I.P.

But it's the meaning of the song, and I think for her and I, we've been grinding. We've been working hard. We earned our position here, and we just wanted show that we still can enjoy and live in the moment in the present.

Yeah, we've been working hard. This game doesn't -- it's not an easy game, so you have to really go and grind.

ANITA UWADIA: It's not for the faint of heart.

SADENA PARKS: Exactly.

Q. You obviously enjoyed the walk-up song.

ANITA UWADIA: Yeah, well, she played it the first time. I was like, so what's our song? We didn't have a song until last minute. She played it, and I was like vibing to it subconsciously. Like, yeah, let's do it.

SADENA PARKS: Yeah, it's a song. Hey, it's just to uplift us and remind us who we are.

Q. Overall, that's one of the aspects that makes this tournament really fun, but overall how did you guys enjoy just the atmosphere out here? Obviously, big crowds. Take me kind of through your favorite parts of just Dow, this event.

ANITA UWADIA: I love big crowds just because, like, I don't know, you get a lot of support. You feel like, you know, whatever shot, people are just here to appreciate what you work on. So I just love the support that we get from the community.

Obviously, Midland is quite a small town, and to see so many people coming out to support, it's amazing. Again, you just love playing. You just love what they call it, hitting good shots in front of people. I don't know. I love it. I don't know about you.

SADENA PARKS: It's a bit rowdy, which I like. Michigan has always treated us players so well, so it's really fun being out here. Just thank you to Dow for treating us like the queens that we are. No, it's amazing. Honestly.

Sometimes we don't get that very often. We put a lot of work into this game, and we put a lot of money into it as well, so just to have that recognition and to have people support us like this is amazing.

Q. For those who don't know, what sort of went into this partnership, Sadena? I know you are John Shippen Champion and that helped you get into this event. Why Anita, and what have you enjoyed about playing with each other this week?

SADENA PARKS: Let's say this: I was a champion this year, but Anita was the champion last year. I think it was a no-brainer for me.

Also, like I've said it plenty of times before and I keep saying it, she wants it, she's a player. I see the talent. I see what she can offer and bring to the game as well. There's a lot of pros, and no cons, which is amazing.

I just wanted to be in a good spirit, be with a good athlete, and see how far we could take it this week.

Q. You consider her to be a mentor figure? What did you enjoy about playing with Sadena, Anita?

ANITA UWADIA: First of all, she hits it good. She gives me comfort on the golf course, which is great. But also, she's just so relaxed on the golf course. I just love your vibe, the vibe she brings on the course.

No matter how good or bad you're playing, Sadena is always the same. I just like having that comfort figure and, of course, you have been on the LPGA and she's done it. I can see how good she is and I love the fire, I mean, that she plays with. I already told you. She's so confident, and I just love that.

SADENA PARKS: I appreciate that. I just want to be the best that I can be, and Anita has it too. It's just finding that aspect where we just have confidence in ourselves out there, and she has it more than she believes.

So it's just -- like I said, picking Anita wasn't hard. It was a no-brainer for me. As soon as I won I chose her right away. I didn't have to hesitate or take --

ANITA UWADIA: Well thank you. (Indiscernible.)

SADENA PARKS: Yeah, okay. Now she's using my middle name. Nice. We've talked a lot. We got to know each other. Now she's throwing out my middle name. Cool, cool, cool.

Q. Obviously, two Black women. We've talked about this before, Sadena, about representation and how important it is to be out here. Just what are you most proud of in that aspect and just the importance of Dow having the John Shippen, bringing two young Black women out here and playing the game? Can you touch on that a little bit?

SADENA PARKS: Yeah. I think there needs to be more of us, to be honest. And the reason why I'm saying that is because we're players. We bring so much to the game, and it's nice to see other ethnicities out here. Let's be real.

To be honest, I've seen a great amount of African-Americans out here following us. Little girls, little boys. It's good to see. It's just giving them a vision of we can do this, we can accomplish certain things. Not just certain sports, all sports.

Anita and I proved it this week that we can play well, we can perform at the highest level. That's really what all that I'm bringing and all that I want to bring is just being able to be the best example.

ANITA UWADIA: You know the saying. It's a cliche saying. You can't be what you do not see. I know if the younger generation is seeing people like us being on tour, playing at the highest level, it's easy to believe it and say, I can do this too.

I saw a lot of support out there too, which is great. The more diverse anything is, LPGA, of course, the more diverse it is, the better for everyone.

SADENA PARKS: We finished strong. I want to bring that up. (Laughing).

ANITA UWADIA: We birdied the last two holes.

SADENA PARKS: Yeah, we birdied the last two holes. We are fighters. Like the song, it says it, we've run it all our life. We're fighting or our position, fighting for our mark. Fight for every putt to the last minute.

That's kind of what we've been taught our whole lives, and we're bringing that to the golf course and inside the ropes and showing what we're capable of.

Look, I'm in awe, and I'm happy that we did well. I'm happy that it's Sunday. It was a long week too, but we have learned a lot.

ANITA UWADIA: Yep, definitely.

Q. That was my last question. Can't forget about the golf today. Just the highlights of this round, talk me through some of them. The last two birdies, for example, and how it was to just -- how the golf course was today, the golf. It was great, obviously.

SADENA PARKS: Yeah, the course was great. Dow's, some sneaky holes, but to be honest, a lot of the pins, including 18, are saying, eat me alive, and I can see why the numbers are low, the scores are low.

And a lot of these pins are telling me to go pin-seeking and make some putts. I think that's what Dow and everyone wants to see. So we finished the last two holes giving them that, which is, like I said, we finished very, very strong.

Q. Highlights for you of the day, Anita?

ANITA UWADIA: Of the day. I guess 6-iron on 16 because I actually hit that pure. Obviously, the last shot being able to hit it in front of everyone, so that's obviously a highlight.

SADENA PARKS: Clutch.

ANITA UWADIA: I would say even of the week, just shaping shots, because we put ourselves in some difficult positions, but at the same time we also hit some amazing golf shots.

That's good. Then this girl made a bunch of putts.

SADENA PARKS: I think I putted -- I need to work on my putting a little bit, but that's okay. I think overall I putted very, very well. These greens are telling you to really read them.

You can't just say, okay, this is a little left edge. No, you really have to be precise by the green. These greens don't play.

We were playing around a little bit with them, so we finally tightened up towards the end of the week, which is nice.

Q. Great. Perfect. Thank you, guys, so much.

ANITA UWADIA: Thank you.