AUGUSTA NATIONAL WOMEN'S AMATEUR

April 1, 2023

Gianna Clemente

Quick Quotes

Q. Now that we finished the tournament, tell us about your overall experience. Coming here, playing in this tournament, playing Augusta.

GIANNA CLEMENTE: It's been a really fun week. It's been really fun just to kind of -- obviously it's my first year. Hopefully there are a couple more years to come. It was a really great experience; played with a lot of great people.

Obviously playing Augusta National is always a highlight. It's something I looked forward to for a really long time, and it was really fun.

Q. You're a good player. You're young too. How do you decide on caddie, on strategy, on all these things? What was your process?

GIANNA CLEMENTE: Specifically the caddie, the caddie decision was a big decision for me and my dad. It's something we talked about a lot throughout the whole week. We ended up going with that my dad was going to caddie throughout the whole entire week, which can be a little controversial.

It was just something that was ultimately my decision and something that I just wanted him to be on the bag for. I'm not necessarily saying that's going to be the same throughout all of the years that I'm going to play this, but it was just a decision this year, and I'm glad I made it.

Q. It's a special memory for sure.

GIANNA CLEMENTE: For sure. Walking down Augusta fairways with my dad is really cool.

Q. What are your plans, like after this week? What do you do on Monday? Do you go to school? What are you doing?

GIANNA CLEMENTE: I'm going to go home and probably do a lot of school. I'm online schooled, so luckily I get to do it from home. I've got a lot of school to catch up on for sure.

Probably going to rest a couple days and then get back at it, yeah.

Q. What's your favorite memory from the week?

GIANNA CLEMENTE: Probably walking up 18 with my dad. That was really special. Just to be able to -- we've talked about it for so long and we've seen it on TV so many times that it's really special to walk up that fairway with my dad. That's definitely going to be a lasting memory.

Q. How do things like the weather delay affect you?

GIANNA CLEMENTE: It didn't really affect me that much. I went up in the caddie recovery and sat in the Normatec boots for a while and stretched out.

We had 30 minutes of warmup time, which wasn't a lot, but it was enough. It didn't really affect me that much. I don't think it was a disadvantage nor an advantage. We sat and relaxed for a while. When you need to focus, you put it back on, and you go back out.

Q. Your favorite shot or favorite hole from today?

GIANNA CLEMENTE: Stepping on the No. 1 tee box was pretty cool with all the people behind and all the mics. It was pretty cool. I felt like I was pretty nervous, but I felt like I hit it pretty well.

I stepped up and hit that tee shot right down the middle. That was really great.

Q. That's a great way to start off the round.

GIANNA CLEMENTE: Yeah, it was.

Q. Anything you learned from the whole week?

GIANNA CLEMENTE: I'm very comfortable in this setting. Obviously players are a lot older than me. Most of them are in college or graduating college, and I'm really comfortable playing in a setting.

I'm definitely not uncomfortable with people older than me, which is something I already knew. But it was further proof of that.

Obviously today could have gone a little bit better, but I was very comfortable playing around the crowds and the cameras. So that was a big takeaway for me.

Q. You said earlier in the week that you really like playing around crowds. It kind of makes you more excited, gets you more into it. How were the crowds out here today?

GIANNA CLEMENTE: They were loud. They were definitely -- actually, they were pretty tough on some of my shots. But I kind of looked at my dad a couple times when I thought I hit a good shot, and I guess it's just Augusta greens. They just roll off everywhere.

So, yeah, it's really fun to play in front of crowds for me. I really like it. I think it kind of gets me really hyped up. Yeah, I think it's really fun.