DANA OPEN PRESENTED BY MARATHON

September 1, 2022

Aline Krauter

Highland Meadows Golf Club

Quick Quotes

Q. All right, here with Aline Krauter. Aline, we talked the other day, and here we are with a 5-under on the first day of the Dana Open. Just take me through what was working so well on day one for you.

ALINE KRAUTER: I think fairways and greens was today basically. On 18 that was not so much the case, but I think that was the only time I really struggled today.

Then I was able to convert a couple birdie chances, and then, yeah.

Q. We talked a little bit walking up here, but only nerves came on 18. What happened out there for you?

ALINE KRAUTER: I mean, I didn't have a great lie off my tee shot and then I hit a very poor 5-wood. I didn't think it was in play still. We thought it was in the hazard.

People found it. It was right behind a tree trunk. Had no shot at the green, so I chipped one out, chipped one to the pin, and holed it.

Q. A par is a par is a par.

ALINE KRAUTER: Exactly.

Q. No pictures on the scorecard.

ALINE KRAUTER: Never.

Q. Take me through the highlights with all the birdies out there.

ALINE KRAUTER: Yeah, I think a couple of my birdies were super solid. I was stuck behind a tree. Hit a huge fade around one of them and then...

Q. What hole was that?

ALINE KRAUTER: 15 I think.

Q. Okay.

ALINE KRAUTER: Yeah. 16. 16, sorry. Yeah.

So that was great.

And then honestly, all of my short putts felt great today. My lag putting was a little dicey here and there, but I was always able to make the second putt, so, yeah.

Q. What was it like being able to see your name up there on the top of the scoreboard?

ALINE KRAUTER: It was great. I hadn't really looked at the scoreboards, to be honest, in the beginning, but I played like two holes.

Yeah, seeing it on 18 probably got my nerves up even more. (Laughter.) It all worked out.

Q. For you being able to come here as a sponsor exemption, taking advantage of this opportunity, I mean, just being able to be playing this well, does that boost your confidence going into tomorrow?

ALINE KRAUTER: Absolutely, yeah. And I'm just super grateful to have this opportunity in the first place. I'm just going to take it day by day and see how it goes.

Q. And another fun thing. Lauren Kim also in the grouping. I was not in charge of that so I didn't put the two Stanford grads together, but what was it like seeing her again out there and playing alongside her?

ALINE KRAUTER: Whoever was in charge of that, thank you. (Laughter.)

Q. What was it like playing beside her again?

ALINE KRAUTER: It was great. Yeah, I wasn't on the team with her, but she's been around so much at Stanford when I was there. She was always on the range, always practicing. She was a big part of our team even though she had graduated a while ago.

Then she came to one of our tournaments last year in Hawaii, which was super special to see her in action coaching us up on the course. It was so fun.

Yeah, I was super happy to see that we were paired together.

Q. The fact that she's playing this event and then officially riding off into the sunset to get her master's degree, seeing someone like that beside you, does that add to the comfortability out there?

ALINE KRAUTER: Absolutely, and I really look up to Lauren. I think what she's doing is so great. Every time she talks to me I sort of just look at her and I'm like, wow, when I grow up I want to be like you.

She's so great. Her personality is so great. She's super smart. Her golf is great. What else can you ask for?

Q. When you are out on the golf course like that and things are going well, this isn't a college tournament. Does that creep into your head?

ALINE KRAUTER: Not really. I think I really try to stay level headed as much as I can. My brother helps with that as well. We don't really talk about golf in between shots. We try to focus on other things and then play shot by shot.

Q. How are you able to stay focused? (No microphone.)

ALINE KRAUTER: I think it's super easy, because once we are sort of near the ball, he does the numbers, I get the pin to, and then we sort of talk about that.

Then once it's go time I'm totally in the zone.

Q. You said the other day you hope you're going to make the cut. And I mean, this is not supposed to happen, is it?

ALINE KRAUTER: This is a great start. Yeah, I'm on my way. (Smiling.)

Yeah, so, yeah, we'll see what happens tomorrow, but I think this has been a great start and I think I put myself in a great position for tomorrow. So, yeah.

Q. Have you learned anything from playing in the majors and playing in this one so far? What kinds of things have you learned?

ALINE KRAUTER: To stay patient, definitely. I think if you get ahead of yourself like after a round like today, I'm going to try to not get ahead of myself because I think that's super easy to do.

So just continue to do what I'm doing and I think it's been working so far.