DANA OPEN PRESENTED BY MARATHON

September 3, 2022

Gaby Lopez

Highland Meadows Golf Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Here with Gaby Lopez. I actually want to start with the last hole because we were talking about it coming up. How good did that final birdie feel on your back nine?

GABY LOPEZ: Yeah, I've been hitting it super close all day. I didn't make any putts in the first couple holes on the back nine. I was hitting really close, and, you know, that last putt really deserved a fist pump.

Q. It definitely did. We all saw it. After a day like today, what are your overall takeaways from your moving day here?

GABY LOPEZ: You know, being able to embrace what I've been working on. It's been really tough at times and truly hasn't been easy. Sometimes expectations, sometimes so much stress off the golf course kind of piles up and sneaks into the golf course.

Being able to have the right people around me, being able to have a great support team around, has been very important.

Q. What are some of the things you've been working on?

GABY LOPEZ: I mean, it's simple. I've been working with (indiscernible), about, you know, how to make things more simple on the golf course and maybe not to be too perfect.

Sometimes perfect really kills our feelings, and, yeah, so try to make it one plus one, two.

Q. What were some of the highlights for you today out there, aside from the birdie on 18?

GABY LOPEZ: Yeah, finishing up with three straight birdies after so much patience I had to kind of accumulate over the course of the day. When you're playing and hitting it so close and missing putts, it's so easy to lose patience and hit putts harder than you usually do.

Staying patient and having a great conversation with my caddie has also helped.

Q. How have you felt about your game as of late? I know you talk about working on things off and on the golf course, but what have you found in your game as of the last couple tournaments?

GABY LOPEZ: Well, truly iron shots have been great. Off the tee is the one that has been killing me last couple months. You can't really attack or you can't really play under par when you're hitting it everywhere off the tee.

So just tidy up a little bit more my driver off the tee, having regular sessions with my coach, and being able to just hit it in the fairway, and then if I'm hitting my irons close enough, then I'll be a lucky to make a couple putts.

Q. Truly no one is running away with it at this moment. Having a day like today has really set yourself up in contention. How satisfied are you with that, and how confident do you feel heading into tomorrow?

GABY LOPEZ: Yeah, I mean, there is plenty of golf left. There is so many birdie opportunities out there that you never know who's going to have a hot streak at the end of the day.

So being able to just stay patient, attack when you have to attack, and, yeah, accept where you are. Sometimes we want to be further up in the leaderboard. When you really accept where you are and you're okay with that, I guess magic happens.

Q. One more from me. Just off the course, a little different, but Serena Williams, definitely someone who has inspired a lot of not only women athletes, but athletes around the world; retiring last night after her last match. Were you able to catch any of Serena this past week? And what was it like watching her at the U.S. Open?

GABY LOPEZ: Yeah, I saw Serena's match, the first one in the second round. You know, she's such a big inspiration. I guess that mentality of not getting comfortable with ten Grand Slams. Going for the next one and going for the next one. That hunger I think is what keeps driving the best athletes in the world.

Just trying to get more of that. Sometimes when you get a good result, sometimes you probably -- you know, you're either laying back or trying to protect something. But there is nothing to protect. You just got to go, keep on going, having the gas pedal down. I think that's what she's done.

Being able to set the limit by herself, whatever it is, right? So I guess limitless goals, I think that's what keeps driving all of us.

Q. And just seeing her impact not only on women's sports but sport in general, like a mom, as we see LPGA moms out here, what do you think her lasting legacy has been over her career?

GABY LOPEZ: Yeah, I guess Serena has been not only impactful in the women's side, but also you see Tiger Woods and all these -- the men's side, they all want to be like Serena.

I guess to me she's probably like the greatest athlete in history in the women's side, and probably in the men's. It's really hard to compare that to everybody else, but that's what I think. That hunger of the next one, the next title, next championship, next match, next shot, that's what's trying to make you go forward instead of going back.