AUGUSTA NATIONAL WOMEN'S AMATEUR

March 30, 2023

Emilia Migliaccio

Quick Quotes

Q. Emilia, I think we've got to start with the last three holes. Just kind of take us through that and how you dug deep and got that out of yourself.

EMILIA MIGLIACCIO: Yeah, so I guess I have to start on 6 because I hit it to six feet on 6 and missed it, which was tough because I obviously had to make two birdies down the stretch. I knew where I stood.

Then I was left on 7 in the rough, uphill slant. I hit a great shot. It landed hole high and then rolled up the hill. So I made a downhill double breaker 30 feet for it to go in.

It was funny because I stood over the putt and thought I was a little left of my start line, and I told myself, I said, Emilia, you've been doing that all day, kind of readjusting, and it hasn't worked. So just putt it. It kind of trickled in on the last couple feet. So that was really special.

Then on 8, I hit my 9-iron. It kind of hit the slope and went all the way back to the hole to two feet. So that felt really good just to have a short putt to make.

Then on 9, my most important thought was hitting it in the fair way because I almost -- I hit it in the water in the practice round, and then I almost hit it in the water yesterday. And I just hit it right down the middle.

Then from there, I felt pretty good. I hit my 3-wood just on the back left fringe and then two-putted. I had like three feet down the hill to make birdie and roll that in. So it definitely feels really good.

Q. I would assume you didn't hear anything after the six foot mess-up on 6?

EMILIA MIGLIACCIO: I definitely did, but I had so many people out there rooting for me. It's really special. It makes me play better when I know I have people rooting for me. I have my mom, and then Charlie's family, his mom, his grandfather, and his uncle. So that was really special.

And my coach came down for the last few, so it was definitely special.

Q. Tell us what's going on in your head after the third hole, the 7th or whatever it was. How do you give yourself a pep talk?

EMILIA MIGLIACCIO: That was hard. That was really hard because initial thought is did you just screw it up? I obviously didn't say that to myself, but one side of your brain wants to think that.

But I gave myself a pep talk by saying, I have a short club in the rest of the way. I can hit it on the green on 9, so I can make birdie on that hole. 7's a wedge. 6 is a wedge. 8 is a short hole. It's in a gettable hole location.

So I just told myself, I said, Emilia, you can definitely make two birdies in these last couple holes. So that was really what I was telling myself. Thankfully it worked (laughter).

Q. I ran into your mom earlier. She said that you kind of woke up with the lefts a little bit. Is that true? A lot of pulls?

EMILIA MIGLIACCIO: Yeah, I just felt a little out of rhythm, so it was kind of tough. Then it didn't help that I was kind of making bogeys and missed a couple small putts to save par and just felt like I was putting a lot of pressure on my irons to try to hit it close.

But I hit the ball so well yesterday, so I know it's something small. It's funny, my coach and my mom, they're both my swing instructors, like Kim and then my mom. So they're like I got front view and you got back view. We're going to figure it out, Emilia. It's an easy fix.

I know it's something small, but a small thing can turn into a big miss sometimes.

Q. Was that before the round today?

EMILIA MIGLIACCIO: Honestly, I felt pretty good on the range, but yeah, first drive went left. I hit some good ones, but it was a little bit hard to recover.

Q. For those who have never played Augusta National, what advice would you give to players who are going tomorrow for the first time who have made the cut about what they really need to pay attention to?

EMILIA MIGLIACCIO: I would say to take as much advantage of your Augusta caddie in the practice round as possible. I had such a good caddie in the practice round two years ago. He was telling me exactly most likely where the flag would be, where it was in 2019.

Obviously they move the flags a little bit, but I was just practicing to those hole locations, and he was like, okay, if you're here, this is where you need to putt to. If you're down here, this is where you need to chip. So pretty much just asking your caddie as many questions as possible and just really getting to know the greens.

I mean, you have to hit your irons well if you want to play well on that course. That's what I did in 2021, and it all kind of funnels. That's why you can see a really low number and a really high number on that course just because, if you're on the right side of the green, you're usually within 10 feet, and if you're not, you're 60 feet.

Q. Do you bring notes with you, like 2021?

EMILIA MIGLIACCIO: Oh, yeah, I have my yardage book, so I'm going to be looking at that. I'm going to try to remember who my caddie was two years ago because I definitely want to have him back again.

Q. What does your yardage book look like? Does it look like a textbook?

EMILIA MIGLIACCIO: It's not as written in as my yardage book when I'm doing on-course reporting. That I have so much stuff written down.

I would say there's a lot of arrows for the greens and really just -- honestly, where I want to be. I have a pretty good idea of, okay, if I'm here, I know where to chip it. It stays pretty simple.

Q. You gave some good comments yesterday on Rose about what impresses you, but what kind of impact do you think she has a chance to make on the women's professional game? Is there like a men's like comp to maybe her potential in that area?

EMILIA MIGLIACCIO: That's a good question. I mean, I think her going to college was the best thing she could have done. She was already such a star before she was in college, but just being in college just has really elevated herself to a new level.

So I think that's probably really helped her and prepared her for the LPGA, even though she was already pretty prepared for that.

What I love about her is she's always interacting with people, with new people. I walked into -- when we arrived here and we were having dinner, and I saw Rose, and she was sitting with just a bunch of people. They looked a little bit younger. She doesn't need to do that, but she does because she knows that it means a lot more people.

People aren't asking her questions about golf. They're just enjoying their time with her. So, yeah, when it comes to growing the game, she's kind of the pinnacle of what that is.

Q. As someone who's played this event four times and covered golf pretty extensively, what do you wish maybe people understood more about this event?

EMILIA MIGLIACCIO: About this event? Honestly in general, I would just say I wish more people knew how good women's golf is and how good the players are. I think one of my favorite comments was from Nelly Korda when someone asked her, oh, how cool is it to have the guys talk about how good your swing was? And she said, well, they should just watch more women's golf because a lot of people swing really good.

That's kind of what I would say, but I think this tournament is an incredible platform for showing the broad audience just how great we are.

Q. What's your earliest memory of Rose?

EMILIA MIGLIACCIO: I remember the first time I met her. It was Junior Solheim Cup 2017. It was so funny, we were playing a tournament together. She was 13 or something like that, and I was a senior in high school. I had no idea who she was. I had no idea how old she was.

They're like, yeah, her name is Rose. We're kind of chatting. I said, oh, where are you going to school? She's like I'm 13 or 14, however old she was, and I'm like, oh, my God, she must be pretty good. She's 14 on the Junior Solheim. That's pretty impressive.

I actually thought about it last night. I was like, well, here we are now getting to watch her just be so incredible.

Q. And she played (indiscernible)?

EMILIA MIGLIACCIO: Yeah, she did. She was really clutch. She played with Youngin Chun, and I think they won both of their matches. She probably won singles too.

Q. (No microphone)?

EMILIA MIGLIACCIO: I would say my favorite hole is probably 13. I just think that third shot into 13 -- or if you're Jennifer Kupcho, your second shot into 13 is really cool with the rocks there. It's such an iconic hole. I know everyone says kind of that stretch, but it's true. It's beautiful. It's such a beautiful design.

I would say -- I'm not sure off the top of my head the hardest hole, but one of the hardest shots I found on that course was the second shot on 2. It's such a downhill slope, and it's a par-5, so you're expecting to hit the green. It's just very, very difficult shot.

So that one was kind of a surprising one to me and how severely sloped it was.

Q. Will you be watching the Masters this year, and who do you want to win?

EMILIA MIGLIACCIO: I will be watching the Masters. I mean, there's a couple Wake guys in there that I would love to win. It's cool that people I know are playing now, Will Zalatoris, Cameron Young, Sam Burns just won. I played golf with all of them. So just getting to root my friends on is pretty special.

I always just like -- now that I'm on the media side, we just want good golf. We don't want a dominant ten-stroke lead. We just want maybe a playoff would be exciting. So we'll see. I'm just excited for great golf.