WOMEN’S AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

June 15, 2023

Hannah Darling

Quick Quotes

Q. Through the first round of match play here, and it was a tight battle out there.

HANNAH DARLING: Yeah, for sure. I made it difficult for myself in places but obviously happy to go through to the next round and that's all you really need to do. But yeah, it was a battle out there.

Q. Can you elaborate on what you meant by you made it difficult for yourself?

HANNAH DARLING: I hit it OB left on 6, which was just a mistake. And then thought I was fine on 15, my second shot, and then turned out to be a lost ball, which was out of nowhere. I was able to steady myself after both of those, and then made a good 2-putt on 17 which saw me going up the last 1-up which was nice. She holed a lot of putts and played well, so fair play to her.

Q. You've played a lot of match play and been successful in match-play championships. Do you feel like that's experience that you can draw upon when, as you say, things weren't going exactly your way today to grind it out and come back?

HANNAH DARLING: Yeah, for sure. I think especially in links golf, you just get bounces. Like today, I had multiple bounces which shouldn't have been in bunkers or that were in bunkers or that ended up in the rough. But that's links golf, and it's very easy to get annoyed at yourself.

But you've got to just calm yourself down and almost just look at it rationally and think, okay, what's actually going on, which I would say, it took me a few holes after I hit it OB left on 6 to steady myself.

Yeah, after 15, you know, especially going down the last few holes there, it's easy to get ahead of yourself and get annoyed at yourself. But from previous experience, I know that the last three holes are critical in that situation. So I knew I had to just stay calm and yeah, just get the job done.

Q. There's still a really long way to go in this championship, and one win under your belt. How much do you love this? How much are you eyeing the end of the week and wanting to be there?

HANNAH DARLING: To be honest, I try not to think about it. I think it's very easy to get ahead of yourself. I can't tell you how much it would mean to me. I think it would almost -- I think if you asked everyone in the tournament that question, what would it mean to them, I think everyone would give almost a similar answer because you wouldn't be playing here unless it did mean that to you.

It would mean a lot, being from Britain, The Open or the Amateurs are one of the biggest for us, so it would mean a lot. But as I said I'm trying to take it one game at a time and get the job done each day.

Q. It's late in the afternoon now, and potentially two rounds to be played tomorrow. What do you need to do tonight to make sure you're ready?

HANNAH DARLING: Just go fuel up, get some food in me and get some liquids in me and get some sleep to be honest, those are the three, and then come back after tomorrow and see what I can do.