LPGA DRIVE ON CHAMPIONSHIP

March 23, 2023

Alison Lee

Superstition Mountain Golf and Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Here with Alison Lee after her first round at the LPGA Drive On Championship. You just had an incredible round. Can you walk us through some of the best parts, highlights of round today?

ALISON LEE: Honestly, it just -- I mean, this sounds cliche, but I just feel like it was one of those days. Golf just was easy. Hitting my driver pretty solid. Hit a lot of good iron shots into greens. I was able to reach three out of the four par-5s in two, so that obviously helps a lot as well.

But, yeah, the putter was great. I honestly was playing so good I feel like I could have shot a lower round out there today. Obviously can't complain. Happy with the result.

Q. Yeah, you were fighting the darkness. Did you struggle a little bit with that towards the end?

ALISON LEE: A little bit. You know, I'm definitely more on the fast side, faster player, so I do get a little frustrated when we play slow.

But honestly, yeah, when you get in a rhythm like that you just want to keep going, and I definitely could tell I was getting too quick. My caddie had to slow me down a little bit.

Yeah, I finished with a bogey on the last hole which was unfortunate, because I feel like I had such a good round and it's always frustrating to finish like that.

You could shoot 80 and finish with a birdie and feel good. Today shoot 7-under and finish with a bogey and it's poop. But, yeah.

Q. It was still a great round, despite the bogey. What did you learn about the course, your game, that you want to take into tomorrow to keep up the momentum?

ALISON LEE: I would say from a strategic standpoint, in the middle of the day when it's warm, for me anyway, basically -- depending on wind, most the par-5s are reachable. Today towards the end I didn't hit my driver great on 7, but typically all four are basically reachable for me.

Then we have one reachable par-4, so you kind of have to play as if you're going to make birdie on those holes and play really aggressively.

So, I mean, that right there, if you do that properly that's already 5-under. I feel like this course is really gettable and really scorable, so just keeping that in mind and then trying to, you know, get birdies on those and hopefully get a few more on the other holes as well.

Q. I know you played overseas in Thailand and Singapore. How did those experiences help you?

ALISON LEE: Yeah, it's always nice starting the season with two no-cut events. Definitely take a little bit of the pressure off. And with a long off-season, just kind of you get through the first tee jitters a little bit better.

So, yeah, it's always great to go over there. Definitely tough. I still feel like -- it's been two weeks since I'm home and I'm still fighting the jet lag a little bit.

Yeah, it's nice to be back competing again.

Q. I know you've been playing some golf this year. Played some solid golf last year. It's been a minute since that had been happening. What did you learn from 2022 that you're carry to helped you to a round like today?

ALISON LEE: I feel like overall my game is pretty solid. I've definitely gained a lot of confidence over the last couple years. You know, when you shoot a low round and you make some birdies, you just try and learn from all those rounds and build on it. And, yeah, even in Asia I feel like I played pretty decently. Just a few holes here and there where I just made big mistakes.

So the goal is to try and eliminate the doubles, do as best I can to make pars when bogey looks like that's a possibility, and, I mean, a course like this, try and make as many birdies as possible and play a little bit more aggressively sometimes. Especially if I'm feeling good.

So, yeah, I feel like a lot of the time everyone has a different answer for that question, and you just got to do what feels right. A day like today, nobody plans to go out there and shoot 7-under, and thankfully I was able to do that today.

You got to work with what you got and stay positive. There are so many times where I would set up on the range and be hitting it terrible. Even this morning I was texting my boyfriend. He's playing a member guest this week and he texted me, I'm hooking everything, like trying to ask me what was wrong.

I was texting him back, I'm hitting it like shit on the range, too, and I played great today, so just kind of trying to take every day, work with what you got, and try and stay positive and just make as many birdies as you can.