AUGUSTA NATIONAL WOMEN'S AMATEUR

March 29, 2023

Hannah Darling

Quick Quotes

Q. Second year out here. Just tell me about today and how you went into it.

HANNAH DARLING: I just went into it trying to have some fun. Last year I think I kind of got wrapped up in everything that was going on. It's quite easy to. There's a lot going on. We're treated like the best in the world that we are.

Yeah, so this year I had some fun. I've got my teammate Sophia caddieing for me this year. So we just went out and kept ourselves laughing and played golf.

Q. How did your familiarity of Champions Retreat this year kind of help you?

HANNAH DARLING: I think a big thing for me is the pace of the greens. If you have the pace pretty well, you're going to be okay, and you're going to be able to putt pretty well from most places. So that was big.

I put myself in a few awkward positions early on in the round, but managed to putt from pretty much everywhere today. So that was definitely big to build on.

Q. You had some wind earlier in the day. How did that suit your style of play?

HANNAH DARLING: Yeah, it was very windy towards the start. I guess when you're a little bit nervous and then the wind's picking up, it's a bit hard to commit to shots.

Yeah, as I said, I'm from Scotland, and we're used to wind over there. It definitely gave me a bit more confidence and start to go feel more comfortable.

Q. What is it going to take tomorrow to fight and stay inside that top 40?

HANNAH DARLING: Just exactly what I did today. It's me not thinking about what I'm meant to do. Again, just going out there and having fun.

I feel like the nerves are a little bit more out of the way now. So we can go and just do our thing tomorrow.

Q. Rose had 6-under today. Obviously you didn't see her performance, but just looking at those numbers, what's your first thoughts, I guess, on a score like that on this course?

HANNAH DARLING: It's impressive. It's really impressive. Yeah, Rose is a great player. She's No. 1 in the world for a reason. Much respect to her for that.

Yeah, it shows the number's out there, and it almost gives us confidence going into tomorrow knowing it's there. We can see if we can build on it. Yeah, that's exciting.

Q. What does this week mean to you? You mentioned a little bit, you said different experience. But just kind of the overall aura around here, what does this whole week mean to you?

HANNAH DARLING: I'm sure everyone else has been saying this, but this is the best week of the year for us. The top 72 players in the world are here, and there's a reason for that. When you get invitation -- even just from getting the invitation, it's special.

Then when you get here, you're just treated like professionals almost. I had Titleist giving me some more support this week and just things like that. They treat you so well, and everyone then buys into that, and it makes it even more special.

It is the best week of the year for sure.