SHOPRITE LPGA CLASSIC PRESENTED BY ACER

June 10, 2023

Matilda Castren

Seaview, A Dolce Hotel

Quick Quotes

Q. All right, I'm here with Matilda Castren. Great round today. Can you talk us through your round, starting with the early eagle on No. 3, I believe it was?

MATILDA CASTREN: Yeah, it was a pretty steady front nine. Holed out on No. 3 for an eagle, so that was really cool. Hit a great wedge shot and kind of spun back in the hole, so that was really nice way to kind of get the round started.

And, yeah, I made a couple putts out there. Wasn't anything like crazy out there. Few good par saves. Some good shots. Some good putts out there.

So looking forward to improve a little bit tomorrow.

Q. And headed into this tournament you struggled a little bit in the past few tournaments. Was there anything about your game this week that you're really excited about?

MATILDA CASTREN: Not really. I mean, I've been -- well, I've been excited to play every week really, but my game has felt really good the past few weeks.

I feel like I've had some good kind of like few-hole stretches here and there, and just waiting for it all to kind of come together.

So it's really nice to be in the booth talking about the round afterwards. That always means you're doing something right.

It hasn't been anything really specific that has clicked. Yeah just things coming together, getting some good bounces, and good club selection on the holes, things like that.

Q. With the scoring conditions the way they are today and yesterday, do you feel like you have to come out and shoot a real low number tomorrow? Is there a real low number out there?

MATILDA CASTREN: Yeah, I mean, I saw there were some pretty low scores yesterday, so of course you're trying to be quite aggressive. The greens were I think a little bit softer today and there is a lot of wedges into the holes.

So, yeah, you're always trying to just play your best, and that's what I'm trying to do out here. It's just a matter of getting those right bounces and making those putts drop. (Smiling.)

Q. A little different question: Couple of weeks you're going to Baltusrol for a $9 million purse. What does it say about the evolution of women's golf that their major championships are going to venues like Baltusrol and Pebble Beach?

MATILDA CASTREN: Yeah, it's amazing. I can't wait to play at Baltusrol. I'm still trying to qualify my way into the U.S. Open, but it's amazing where women's golf is heading, these bigger purses and that's historic venues.

I think I can speak for all the players that we're really excited and really proud to be at those big venues.

Q. You talked a bit about the eagle. Do you think that helped your confidence and gave you some momentum the rest of the day?

MATILDA CASTREN: Yeah, I mean, I think it kind of helped me relax a little bit. The past few weeks I've been kind of battling on the cut line a lot of the rounds, and it just kind of made me relax a little bit.

I was 5-under after that hole so I was like, okay, let's just keep it going, instead of kind of being nervous and on the cut line the whole day, which has happened in the past few weeks, missing the cut by one and things like that.

Yeah, it was a great kind of bonus early in the round. Doesn't happen very often that you hole-out from 80 yards, so that was really nice.

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