U.S SENIOR WOMEN'S OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

August 26, 2022

Helen Alfredsson

NCR Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Helen, 3-under 70. Talk about 18, how many yards in and what could you see from your vantage point?

HELEN ALFREDSSON: I only had 118 into, a little bit uphill, so I hit a 9, a small 9, or a regular 9, I guess.

Q. How are you feeling going into the weekend?

HELEN ALFREDSSON: Yeah, it's gotten a little bit better. Yesterday was not great. Today was a little bit better shots, which I need.

Q. What was your strength today?

HELEN ALFREDSSON: Well, I think it's to keep it in play off the tee. I have an advantage that I'm fairly long still, so you know, if I can just keep it in the fairway, I don't have that far in like some of the other girls.

Q. How many competitions have you been in since last year at this championship?

HELEN ALFREDSSON: You know the answer to that. Zero. I don't even know if I have 10 rounds, actually.

Q. Full 18s?

HELEN ALFREDSSON: Mm-hmm.

Q. Wow. You were talking about distance and you're still long. How does it compare to when you retired from the Tour?

HELEN ALFREDSSON: Pretty much the same.

Q. What do you attribute that to?

HELEN ALFREDSSON: Well, I do think that staying strong in your body -- as I said, I'm not playing a lot, but I'm hitting balls. But I think yoga and staying strong in the core makes you at least be able to move through the ball. We do pretty strong yoga, and the girls that we do it with, we maximize pretty much every time. It helps to be strong, and I think that's what happens when you don't play and you don't keep up the hitting.

Q. You said yesterday wasn't as good as the shots were today. What's the competitive edge like for you? We know you, we know you're quite competitive, but where are you at with that this year?

HELEN ALFREDSSON: Well, I know the nerves are going to come. It's not something you ask for. It's just there because you care. That's why anytime you care about something, you're going to get nervous. But I'm just going to have to say -- it's great to have Janice there because obviously she's been around and she played. But I'm just trying to stay calm, as calm as I will ever be.

But you know what, you get older and you're thinking, oh, God -- it's like a friend of mine said when we were playing, no, do I have to be upset today? It's like the typical day on the golf course. But I think you also know that it's not always helping, and we don't have a huge amount of energy to spare nowadays.

Q. Not playing a lot of competitive rounds and full 18s, how have you managed to stay sharp and how did you keep the expectations at a low level?

HELEN ALFREDSSON: Well, I think honestly I do not compare myself to him whatsoever, but I think anybody that sees Tiger is off, he knows how to play the game. It's his physical abilities. He knows where to hit it, what shots to hit, and I think we grew up in an era that we learned to play golf. We were not just hitting shot after shot after shot and trying to have a perfect golf swing because obviously I've never claimed to have one.

But I think to play, to see a golf course, how does it fit me, what shots do I need to hit, and I think my era was like that. You take time off, but you see a golf course, it's like -- if you can hit the golf shots, I mean, you can play the golf course.

Q. What's the mindset heading into the weekend?

HELEN ALFREDSSON: Well, it's pretty much the same. Obviously try to keep the ball in play as much as I've done, and yeah.

Q. How long have you known Janice and how did this partnership come about?

HELEN ALFREDSSON: Janice was great because I've never managed even until my last few years to book hotel rooms and she was always my go-to. Janice, have you booked yours? I said, would you mind booking mine? I remember in 2008 I lost in a playoff in Portland and I had no hotel room, and I was like, Janice, do you have a couch, and she goes, yeah, we actually do have a couch in the middle because it was a suite, so I stayed on the couch. So she's always been my -- yeah, and when my flight was delayed, Janice, do you have a room? Do you have a bed? Yeah, so she was always -- yeah, she was always extremely helpful because I was very disorganized even up until the end.