U.S. WOMEN'S MID-AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

September 21, 2022

Aliea Clark

Fiddlesticks Country Club (Long Mean Course)

Quote Quotes

Q. Very emotional coming off the green. What's going through your mind?

ALIEA CLARK: So one, 44 holes, I was joking to my dad as we walked up this hole, I was almost halfway to those like charity 100-holers. The matches today were incredible. I played some absolutely stellar players. I don't think I've ever played this many matches down to the wire. The only time I've gone extra holes was at the Am.

I was kind of thinking two things all day: One, I really wanted to make it to the finals, because I really want to play at Bel Air Country Club next year and I'll be out of the country for all of the qualifiers, so today, this match, I treated as my Am qualifier, and I played pretty well today. I think I deserve to be there. I had a blast at Chambers.

Then the second thing I was thinking was my record in USGA events is either lose in the round of 64 or make it to the finals. Y'all love your stats; there's another one for you.

Q. You touched on it, you're in this position just last year. How are you going to draw off that experience and try and go get the title?

ALIEA CLARK: I really wish it was Jen and I in the matchup. I think that would have been super beautiful. I think that was still maybe the most tough championship match I've played was playing her. I think we both shot like 2- or 3-under that day.

But honestly, I'm just out here -- one, I'm trying to survive tomorrow after playing this many holes today, and two, I already won. I'm so pumped for the Am. I had a blast. I can't wait to come back, see all my kiddos. It'll be great. I'm so excited.

Q. Specifically this last match were there any shots that you'll remember or any momentum shifters?

ALIEA CLARK: Yeah, my irons decided to show up. It was really nice of them. I stuck it like quite a few times. I think that was really exciting.

My putter wasn't quite working as well as it had been earlier in the vast day of holes. I played some of these holes three times today.

Yeah, one I played three times --

Q. How about the iron on 18? You were yelling at it to go.

ALIEA CLARK: So I had a little bit of a downhill lie. First of all, my miss is a fat hook, so being in a bunker right is a little alarming. Second, I had a downhill lie and it was a yardage that I had to really crank one club or kind of hit a baby with the other one. It's dark. I just wanted to get on the green.

It felt like I hit it pretty thin, but I think hitting it thin was the right thing, and I ended up with an uphill putt, which was really a win on that hole. But big heart attack. I was really thrilled on that one.

But the whole time -- how I always play match play is you never know when your competitor's ball is going to hit a tree and hit the cart path and go in the hole. It was not over until the very last putt, so I just wanted to put a good stroke on it. It was a hard-fought match. It was a really fun day.

Q. How do you deal with all the start and stop delays there, especially down the stretch, and what are you going to do tonight to recover after 44 holes?

ALIEA CLARK: I think about what I did to Laura Nochta in a past life for her to have me play 44 holes today with two stop-and-starts. No, just kidding. I had a great group of volunteers and my parents in a van. I think they were exchanging favorite sunglasses brands. I honestly took my shoes off, rolled my feet out with a golf ball and just kept the temperature above 72 degrees. It was like, it's happening to both of us at the same time, so let's just go out and do our best.

I think we both had birdies on both holes following delays, which was quite impressive.

Q. You definitely did on 14, and then the other one was 16?

ALIEA CLARK: Yeah, but the full hole was -- anyway, we both played great.