THE CHEVRON CHAMPIONSHIP

April 20, 2023

Angel Yin

The Club at Carlton Woods

Quick Quotes

Q. Angel Yin, 3-under round. What was working so well for you today?

ANGEL YIN: I was hitting fairways and greens, which I've been struggling with for the past two years, few years. I didn't putt that well, but I was hitting it good, so that helped a lot.

Q. How important is that at this course particularly, a new course, and I've heard a lot of players say that the fairways and greens are important.

ANGEL YIN: Yeah, so I think greens are so important because they're tiny, and especially since the course is not extremely short. When the greens are really, really small, it makes it tough, and the grass is very grainy, so when you chip around the green, you have to -- it's quite difficult and challenging.

Q. What's going to be more important do you think this week looking ahead, the putting or off the tee?

ANGEL YIN: I think off the tee and second shot. I think I had one of my worst putting days. I had two three-putts, and I missed a few short ones. Clearly showed like hitting it good matters more.

Q. There's some 2- and 3-unders and a 4- and 5-under, so there's some good scores out here. Can this course yield something like a 7- or 8-under, or is it too difficult of a course?

ANGEL YIN: I was talking to Mark earlier this week, the assistant supervisor for the golf course, and I was saying I think I see a 7, and then today the greens were a little firmer so they were bouncing further away from the hole, but if it rains it could change the condition a lot. Honestly if someone hits it long and they hit it close, maybe it's out there, yeah. I don't see it out there. I hit 3-under and I didn't really hit many putts, and it was closer to the hole really.

Q. 18 being a par-5, do you see come Sunday, is there a certain hole out here you think could be a real pivotal hole?

ANGEL YIN: Not really, unless like we move up the tees. Right now where it is, it's not really a shot by shot hole. I think that's what's so great about this golf course is you can't really do too many things that's too spectacular. There's like a par-5, I can't remember which hole on the front nine, and it's really like a three-shot par-5, and if you hit it really good, it's a two-shot hole.

Q. You practiced out here, you got one round of competition under your belt. What are your impressions of this golf course?

ANGEL YIN: I really like it. I think it plays tough, tests all parts of your game. Yeah, I think it's just a really good golf course.

Hey, since the beginning of the week, all I can say, it's a really good golf course. I really like it.

Q. How would you assess your year so far?

ANGEL YIN: I mean, I haven't really played many tournaments since we had a late start to the season. This is like my fourth event of this year.

So far it's been pretty slow, just trying to get my footing in. I've been struggling for the past few years. My confidence is low. I know I'm playing really well, especially like when I'm playing back at home, I play like Riv and our tournament course next week, Wilshire, and I shot in the 60s, so I know it's there, so that gave me a lot of confidence playing with my friends back at home to this week, because I finished like 76th at Superstition, which is in Arizona, and then I missed the cut at PV. That's not great to the start of the year since we didn't have any tournaments to play, too.

Q. Are you taking money off your friends at Wilshire?

ANGEL YIN: No, we're playing $1, $2. Well, technically, yes, I am, a lot of pennies there.

Q. You mentioned the last couple years have been a struggle. What have been some of the low points?

ANGEL YIN: Well, a lot of low points was mentally because when you play bad, you mentally get down on yourself before your game even does, and you're just constantly trying to figure out what's not working and why this is happening. I mean, last year felt like I was going to lose my card and then I finished third at New Jersey at the Founders and that really gave me a boost of confidence. It didn't really do much for the rest of the year, and when the last two majors, British and Evian came out, I couldn't even move. I got super injured out of nowhere, so that was really, like, a low point for me because I couldn't even get out of bed, and I tried to play still, and it was just impossible.

Obviously was really lucky and fortunate to keep my card and then have decent status to this year, so I'm just going to take the most I can have this year and try to make the most out of it.

Q. Do you feel like those injuries are impacting you now, and what were those?

ANGEL YIN: Well, they've all healed, so now I have no excuses. The only excuse I have is me, so that's really good. Just now I can just focus on what I need to focus on and get better.

Q. Looking forward, Solheim Cup year, this is a major. Is it hard to not think about that at all?

ANGEL YIN: Of course I'm thinking about it since I missed the last Solheim I really want to play in this Solheim again. It's in Spain, so I really like Spain, I really want to go. Our field is strong this year, especially for Team USA. Everyone is playing really well, so I've got to play really well.

Q. Why do you like Spain?

ANGEL YIN: It's like California, and the food is good, right?