BANK OF HOPE LPGA MATCH-PLAY

May 27, 2023

Leona Maguire

Shadow Creek

Quick Quotes

Q. All right, Leona, quite tough at the start there going back and forth with Perrine. To take it 5 & 3, how are you feeling?

LEONA MAGUIRE: Yeah, went bogey-free this morning, which is always pretty nice, especially around this golf course.

I play a lot with Perrine in Orlando. We play a lot of money games and stuff like that on our off weeks, so she's probably taken as much money off me as I have off her.

I knew it was going to be a tight match today and she got off to a good start. I made a couple really key saves early on to keep me in the match, and then on the back nine just kept it steady. Holed a nice birdie on 12 and just kind of finished it off well.

Q. How critical was the birdie on 12 to kick things back to the way things were going?

LEONA MAGUIRE: Yeah, I mean, I won 10, 11, 12 which was a nice run. 10, 11, 12, 13 actually. That was a really nice run. Up to that it had kind of been -- she made a really good birdie on 18. Looked like I was going 1-up there.

Yeah, I mean, it was tight back and forth. Hit some really nice fairway bunker shots today. Didn't particularly drive as well as I could have, but, yeah, overall pretty happy.

Q. When you realized you would be facing Perrine, someone as you said you play a lot with and a friend of yours, were you guys texting each other? Was there any trash talk out there?

LEONA MAGUIRE: Not on the course. There is when we play in Orlando but there wasn't this morning.

She did come over to me yesterday after she knew she was through. Yeah, like I said, we played a lot of junior golf together back in Europe, so big respect for her and her game.

So it's nice to come out with a win.

Q. A quick turnaround going into quarterfinals this afternoon. How do you take the momentum from the back nine that you saw and carry it over into this afternoon?

LEONA MAGUIRE: Yeah, just more of the same. I think just keep sticking to my targets, trying to -- try and drive the ball maybe a little bit better this afternoon hopefully.

Yeah, ultimately come down to holing the right putts at the right time. A little bit of lunch now, conserve a little bit of energy, and get ready to go again.

Q. I was going to say, eating lunch, will you hit a few balls or will you just wait until that first tee time?

LEONA MAGUIRE: Depending how much time we have, probably hit a few. Do a mini warm up. Probably not a full warm up. We're already pretty hot and it's getting pretty hot out there as it is.

Just do a little bit.