U.S. ADAPTIVE OPEN

July 18, 2022

Amanda Cunha

Pinehurst Resort & C.C. (Course No. 6)

Quick Quotes

Q. Amanda, how did you play out there today? Can you talk us through your round?

AMANDA CUNHA: Yeah, I shot 86 today, I think 43 and 43 on each nine. Pretty consistent. I doubled one hole on each nine. I went OB on 17 and had to recover from that after also going into a bunker. So that was pretty great.

I stayed pretty consistent with my drives today only having a couple mishaps, and on the par-5, I forget if it's 15 -- it's 15, hole 15, I hit a drive pretty far, and so I decide today play it like a par-4 and I ended up going for the green and was just on the fringe, so I was able to birdie that hole, which was pretty cool.

The front nine was pretty solid, as well. I feel like I definitely -- that was my warm-up nine of me trying to just get back into my swing and trying to try out my different shots.

Q. Bigger picture, how does it feel to be a part of the first ever playing of this championship? It seems pretty special.

AMANDA CUNHA: It's so amazing, I can't even explain how insane and grateful I am about this all happening. I have only been in the adaptive community for about a year now, but I know this has been in the works since 2016, so for some of these people who have been waiting for this tournament for such a long time, I'm sure it means the world to them, and especially the fact that it's USGA, which is great -- I love that USGA is a part of this community now. It makes it so that other people are able to see what we're all doing and what we're about and be able to inspire and educate everyone, which is great.

Q. How rewarding is it to share the course with so many other inspiring athletes in that adaptive community that you spoke about?

AMANDA CUNHA: Oh, it is incredibly rewarding, and I'm so humbled to be playing with so many people who don't have like a leg or who are impaired as I am. Playing with them gives me so much respective about how vast our world is and how our community is so vast, and it just makes me feel kind of at home where I can be with people who also understand my struggles but also we're kind of a big happy family of we've got this and we're so supportive of each other, so we're really -- a really tight-knit community I'd say.

Q. How do you think this championship will help amplify the stories like yours in the adaptive community?

AMANDA CUNHA: I think it will be able -- since it's USGA hosting this event, I think them being the voice for us is so -- I don't even know how to explain it. It's just the fact that it's USGA, we're able to get our voices out there to people who maybe don't watch adaptive golf tournaments on the regular, and they'll be able to see our stories and maybe get inspired to start their own tournaments and help us out.