U.S SENIOR WOMEN'S OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

August 24, 2022

Dana Ebster

NCR Country Club (South Course)

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Welcome to the interview area at the Senior Women's Open. We are here with Dana Ebster. You were a breakout star last year, finished in the top 10. Now that we're a year past it, what did that week mean to you looking back now?

DANA EBSTER: Oh, my gosh, it was one of the greatest weeks ever. Coming home and everybody -- when I got home, there was this big poster, congratulations, and I'm like, Wow, this is so cool! Everybody watched!

Q. What did you learn about yourself and what did you prove to yourself?

DANA EBSTER: You know, I realized that if you go out and just have fun that everything kind of clicks. That was one of the things that after that week, because I had told my son, I said, I just was so excited to be there. I said, I am going to enjoy everything. I want to just take the scenery in, the golf course in.

It just was a great week. When I said, you know what, I was checking out things and I'm like, oh, my God, this is so much fun, isn't this fun, and he's like, yeah, mom, let's play, and it's like, okay, where are we going now?

Then when I got home, I said, okay, that's how I need to keep up is I need to keep up playing like I'm having fun, like I do on Fridays with my ladies' group, like I do on the little horse races that we have at our club. That's fun.

To me, I was like, okay, this is -- hey, I play pretty good when I'm having fun. When I start thinking too much, that's when it kind of goes.

Q. Obviously this year you didn't have to qualify. You were exempt in. You knew the whole year you were going to be here this week.

DANA EBSTER: You know, this year I actually got to practice a little bit more than last year. Last year I was like, okay, I'm going to try to qualify, so I practiced up until the qualifier, and then when I was first alternate I was like, I'm going to take it easy and I'll keep playing on my Fridays but I don't have to go and grind on the putting green or things.

Then when I got the call, I was like, oh, my gosh, I missed all those days of practice when I could have been practicing.

I just went back into my routine, and that's basically what I was doing. If I can stick to my routine, it was good.

Q. Do you come in with different expectations than you did last year?

DANA EBSTER: Nope! I'm still out here to have fun.

It's a great golf course. It's a good challenge. Tough challenge, which I like.

Q. I was going to ask about your students, what kind of support you get from your students back home.

DANA EBSTER: Oh, well, they are all so excited. I had more pictures with my students than I've had in the past.

But I do have to say that last year my Modesto Junior College team, I was so excited that we had such a good team, and we won the state championship. So I was super excited about that because I'm like, oh, my gosh, we were just talking about it in Connecticut.

Q. Was there anything that you learned from being in the heat of competition here that you passed on to your students?

DANA EBSTER: Yes. A lot of -- well, my junior college -- the mental game is so important, and that was one of the things that I told them is that when you're out there playing, when you get out of your routine, when you get out of the process that you've chosen to do, if you let shots affect you like a missed shot going into the trees and you go, oh, my gosh, and your body language -- I'm always preaching, no negative body language, because that will kind of throw you off.

As long as you stick to your routine and think that it's going to get better, or it's not the end of the world when you go into the trees. Be creative. A lot of people make pars from the trees, a lot of people make birdies from the trees.

We always say, fairways are overrated. That's what I say when my daughter, because she hits the ball long and she goes off into the trees and I go, hey, fairway is overrated. You can still make par.

Q. Did some of your junior college players go on to four-year schools?

DANA EBSTER: Yes. Well, we only lost one, so out of the six we have five returning. So that's really cool. They have improved because now they are like, hey, we can do this so they practiced all winter and we just finished our class before we got here. But no, they were motivated, and one of the girls that was shooting kind of mid-80s, which was my daughter, she is now low 70s. She's worked on her game to where consistently she's about like 73 to 77 now. When she has a round of 80, she's like, it's the end of the world, and I go, hey, you know what, we all have them.

Q. Is that your daughter you're talking about?

DANA EBSTER: Yes. She played on my team last year, and that's what I told her; you've got to stay with me for two years before you can go off to college. A, save me some money; and B, just because from that first year, she improved so much. Coming and watching at the Open, it gave her motivation, like you know what, I saw Mom chunk it into the hazard, and she got it on the green and she made the putt. That's what I try to tell her, just keep those holes in the least amount of strokes possible. It makes it more fun, too. When you put too much pressure on yourself, it's not that fun. But yeah.