BANK OF HOPE LPGA MATCH-PLAY

May 26, 2023

Alison Lee

Shadow Creek

Quick Quotes

Q. Here with Las Vegas' resident own Alison Lee. To make out of your grouping, how are you feeling after day three?

ALISON LEE: Feels great. The last two years I wasn't able to make it to round of 16, so this definitely feels special. Getting to go play one more round here at Shadow Creek feels awesome. This is such a great course.

Sleeping in my own bed, playing a tournament at home basically for me, I mean, you can't ask for more.

Q. What was the mentality coming into today knowing that it was kind of winner needs it?

ALISON LEE: Yeah, I mean, there were a lot of different scenarios that could have happened. For me to advance I knew that I had to win and Maria had to win.

But you can't really control the other girls, so I just tried to do my best to play my own game. I didn't even look at the group behind us' score at all. I just tried to focus on me.

Yeah, just try and play good golf. You know, especially with match play, you just never know what's going to happen. You could hit a good shot and you might think you have the hole but that's just not the case.

So I was 1-up after the first hole, but like I said, I mean, I knew anything could happen, so I just tried to keep my head down and just play my own game and play the best golf I could.

Q. I feel like I've asked a lot of players, asking them when they feel a match has really clicked in their favor. A lot of times they say, you never know a match is in your favor with match play. Do you feel the same way?

ALISON LEE: Yeah, I would say the only time you feel really, really confident is if you just are 5-up through nine or something like that and you really can play freely.

But, yeah, I mean, just literally you don't know what's going to happen so you just to have grind it out basically until the last ball drops.

And, yeah, Danielle put up a good fight today. There were a lot of important putts I had to make and I knew I had to get the ball on the green, try and make par; had a couple birdies here and there, which helped.

So, yeah, just tried to stay in it.

Q. Do you feel any pressure carrying the flag now for Las Vegas now that Danielle and Jenny are gone?

ALISON LEE: Yeah, I haven't thought about that. Yeah, I mean, obviously being an MGM ambassador I feel really grateful to be here, thankful for them to have the event at a world-renowned golf course like this.

Yeah, and thankfully for me, I feel like all of us who are residents here we know the course a little bit more. We've been able to play it a few more times, so that definitely comes in handy on a course like this.

There are a lot of slopes here and there and you really have to do your homework on the course. Yeah, hopefully that homework pays off. On top of that, you just need to hit good shots, too.

Q. Looking at the list of who is remaining, more than half of you are still looking for that first LPGA win.

ALISON LEE: Uh-huh.

Q. How do you focus on just the match ahead of you instead of looking far down the line?

ALISON LEE: Yeah, that's tough to do. I mean, a week like this is tough. Three rounds the last three days and then 36, 36 basically on the weekend if you make it all the way.

So it's definitely a tough week. Still a lot of work to do. We don't get to play golf -- we don't get to play match play events very often in the year -- at all basically.

So, yeah, I mean, you just got to start on a clean slate basically every round. If you make it to the next one, great, but it's a clean slate. You got to start all over again.

So, yeah, even though I win and I am moving forward, feels great, but there is still work to do.

Q. And since it is match play and a Solheim Cup year, you have some experience in that, is that in the back of your mind at all?

ALISON LEE: A little bit. Match play is always so tough, right? I mean, every single shot, every single putt, you just kind of keep eyeing your competitor over and over throughout the round basically.

That's just not the case usually when we play normal events unless you're on a Sunday afternoon coming down the stretch and you're in the lead and going back and forth with someone.

It's definitely fun, this kind of format, because you're in the mix and every hole counts. Yeah, it's definitely fun. I really enjoy it. I'm sure a lot of girls out here enjoy it as well.

Yeah, I mean, it's literally a brand new hole every single hole out there and you really have to have short-term memory loss out there on the course in a format like this.