ISPS HANDA WORLD INVITATIONAL

August 9, 2022

Olivia Mehaffey

Galgorm Castle & Massereene Golf Club

Quick Quotes

OLIVIA MEHAFFEY:

Q. Olivia Mehaffey, obviously you played here last year. It was your first LPGA event. How does it feel to be back here this year, but this year as an LET member?

OLIVIA MEHAFFEY: Yeah, it's really nice to be back. Obviously have some nice memories from last year. Played quite nice.

More importantly, had all my friends and family here and it was a lot of fun.

I definitely have some memories coming back. It's nice to be close to home and feel that support.

Q. And, yeah, how appreciative are you that you've got this tournament on your doorstep?

OLIVIA MEHAFFEY: Yeah, it's so nice. It's crazy to think a few years ago we didn't have any events in Ireland. I never got an opportunity as an amateur to play in a professional event, and now we've got this event and also the Irish Open, which is really exciting.

To have two in one year, it's a nice bonus going from having none.

Q. How are you feeling with how your season has been going on the LET?

OLIVIA MEHAFFEY: Yeah, it's been up and down. Got off to an okay start and really struggled the last couple months. Made quite a few changes behind the scenes and working quite a bit on my game. I think you just have to be patient and trust the process with it.

But, yeah, it hasn't been what I wanted, but there has been a lot of learning curves. I think that's very important in your first full year.

Q. Obviously you did get re-ranked earlier in the year to boost your ranking, which helped get you -- I mean, been playing many events anyway, but how has it been playing that many events? I know obviously you did, what, eight in a row at one point.

OLIVIA MEHAFFEY: Yeah, I played a lot of events at the start of the year. Probably too many. I kind of learnt a little bit that traveling from America to South African to Thailand and Australia, all over the world is not the best idea, but it's been a lot of fun. It's been very nice to see some new countries, and, yeah, I'm really enjoying it, which is I think very important.

Q. And in terms of your family and stuff, obviously slightly different from last year. How have you coped with what happened at the end of last year coming into this year? Does it bring back any memories being here this week?

OLIVIA MEHAFFEY: Yeah, absolutely. This is the last time my dad got to see me play, and that to me will always be extremely special. The fact he even made it around all four rounds is remarkable for me.

I think that makes me happy, but it's been tough. Obviously you never know how you're going to cope with these things.

I feel like at the start of the year I tried to hide behind golf a little bit and kind of caught up to me where I didn't take any time to focus on myself and to heal. I think it's something I'm still working through and trying to navigate, and obviously my world is very different.

Being here definitely makes me very happy. I have a smile on my face and some good memories.

Q. Any expectations?

OLIVIA MEHAFFEY: Yeah, not really. Honestly, golf has been a little tough last few months, so I want to really enjoy it. I think the opportunity to play at home doesn't happen often; you get to stay in your own bed and have all your friends and family watching.

I just want to enjoy it and see what happens. Not put too much pressure on myself.

Q. And we've got beautiful weather here this week. What was it like to actually play at home in the sunshine?

OLIVIA MEHAFFEY: I know. It's weird. It doesn't feel like home. We've had such a rubbish summer as well. Everybody is like, This weather is lovely. I'm like, This not normal. We do not normally get this.

It's a nice bonus. The weather forecast I think the rest of the week is supposed to be very nice.