KROGER QUEEN CITY CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY P&G

September 8, 2022

Sarah Kemp

Kenwood Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Here with Sarah Kemp. Really solid round today. 6-under 66. Lit it up on the front nine, which was your back nine. Walk me through the last nine.

SARAH KEMP: I just hit it really solid. I had a lot of wedges that I hit inside ten feet and I made them.

I don't think I holed a putt over maybe like 16 feet today, so I hit it really solid. I had a lot of good looks and I rolled them in.

Q. Obviously course is really soft. Were you able to see the golf course at all before play today?

SARAH KEMP: I played the pro-am yesterday, nine holes. So the front, my best nine, I had no clue.

Sometimes that's like a blessing in disguise. You don't know where the trouble is and you just look straight ahead.

Yeah, I saw the back nine and that was it.

Q. Softer conditions. Obviously want to attack a little bit more, and you're a heck of a ball striker, as we know. Does that make it a little bit more fun for you when you can go at it? I know the greens are firmer than we expected.

SARAH KEMP: Yeah, kind of different to what I grew up in Australia. Australia is a little bit more firm and fast, especially the golf course that I grew up playing.

But, I mean, this is great, too. You don't have to worry about any roll. You can hit a lot of fairways, even if the -- the fairways are pretty wide considering how wet they are. You can just hit it straight at the pin really.

Just taking one hop and stopping. Couple of them are spinning. So that makes it easy. Just, okay, what's the pin number? I'm hitting it at that. So that was nice.

Q. Have wife Lisa on the bag this week. What does that do for your confidence? I feel like you kind of play well when Lisa on the bag. No offense to your normal caddie.

SARAH KEMP: (Laughter.) No, I do. It's just sort of like a comfort that I don't have with anybody else obviously.

So I've had a little bit of an up and down year. It hasn't been too bad, but I kind of need a good finish to finish out the year and keep my card. So we had a talk, and the last couple of events I really wanted someone that I was going to be nothing but comfortable with.

So, yeah, she's coming out for a few.

Q. Obviously good golfer in her own right. What does she bring to the table as a caddie?

SARAH KEMP: Nothing. (Laughter.) If I'm really honest. But she makes me laugh. That's the most important thing. I feel comfortable and she makes me laugh. She says really silly things. We have a very much childlike marriage. We just have so much fun together.

So, yeah, she's just out there keeping me calm and keeping it light. Just making sure I have a good time in between shots, no matter what happens.

Q. You're a veteran out here. Obviously you know how to handle frustration, but how do you keep that in check, especially as you're looking, like you said, to finish strong being keep your card?

SARAH KEMP: You know, I've worked with some sports psychologists over the year on it. I still haven't worked it out. I don't know. Like this is such a frustrating and such a grind of a game.

I know a bunch of girls that are taking medicals for mental health leave. It's such a grind. I've been in that position. I've felt like I needed to do that, too.

But I'm grinding it out. I feel like I'm in -- even though I'm 100 on the CME list, which is sort of a stressful place to be with not many tournaments left, but I surprisingly feel calm.

I think Lisa had a really big factor into that today. That's why I wanted to finish the year with somebody like her on the bag.

Yeah, I really want to keep my job. I don't want to have to go back to Q-School.

But, yeah, it's a tough thing to figure out. I don't know if anybody ever figures it out. You just kind of embrace the season you're in I guess. So that's what I've been trying to do.

Q. Finally, three more rounds to go. What did you learn today about the golf course, the conditions, that you'll carry with you as you move forward?

SARAH KEMP: It's just super soft. I think I hit all but one fairway. You can hit it at the pins and you're not going to get much roll. It's kind of hitting and stopping. Maybe a little bit more with like a hybrid.

It's actually a really nice golf course. I've really enjoyed it. The greens are running awesome. So they've done a great job overnight to get it in these conditions for us to play in.

It's awesome.