CANADIAN PACIFIC WOMEN'S OPEN

August 27, 2022

Sarah Schmelzel

The Ottawa Hunt and Golf Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Sarah Schmelzel, sort of a slow and steady climb all week. How have you stayed patient and have are you finding the birdies out there this afternoon?

SARAH SCHMELZEL: Yeah, today was a little different than the first two days obviously being a little closer to the lead than I have been in the while.

Started off a little nervous, but fortunately had a really long one going on 1 being, had another one on 2. You know, I told my caddie on the fairway on 4, I'm pretty nervous right now, and he just kind of calmed me down.

From then he just said, it's not over until it's over. Even if I made a bogey I felt like I could birdie the next hole, which I kind of went back and forth a bunch on the back nine doing that.

So I'm just looking forward to tomorrow and trying to keep the same attitude.

Q. What was the key out there today? Was it your putter? You mentioned some long putts. Anything else?

SARAH SCHMELZEL: Yeah, I think a little bit of attitude. Obviously just a new position for me a little bit. I've been middle of the pack for most of the year, so just kind of getting comfortable. I think that was a big key, was just keeping a positive attitude, trying to fight until the finish.

And then I had a few putts go in, which was really nice. Hit some good iron shots.

Q. I know there was some challenges yesterday, rain delay, all that stuff. How do you put that in perspective to have a good round today? Not that your round yesterday was bad; it was good given the circumstances. How do you put that into perspective for today?

SARAH SCHMELZEL: Yeah, I think my caddie and I said it to each other four or five times, it's perfect outside today. So we just tried to take advantage of it, enjoy the day as much as we could.

We laughed and smiled pretty much the whole way around, so it was fun.

Q. What are some of the biggest challenges you found on this course, not just today, but throughout the week?

SARAH SCHMELZEL: I think the rough is just so penal. You have to be really accurate off the tee and into greens. You can get up and down around the greens from the rough, you just have to be on the ride side of the hole to where you're chipping uphill and it's not short-sided.

So just trying to keep the ball in the fairway and on the green, kind of keep it simple for yourself.

Q. Bogey-free round yesterday and then the card is a little up and down today. The challenges you just mentioned, were they the factors going into that, and how do you recover after that?

SARAH SCHMELZEL: Yeah, I think a little bit of just feeling a little uncomfortable, so I had some swings where just a little different than yesterday. The last two days felt a little more easy; today my timing was a little off.

So just led to a few more I guess widely missed shots. I would say few missed putts for par on those ones, but it was all in all good.

Q. So as I said, steady climb all week. How do you keep climbing tomorrow?

SARAH SCHMELZEL: Yeah, same mindset: Just try and be calm, play like I have nothing to lose, and just try and make a bunch of birdies.