WOMEN’S AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

June 15, 2023

Eila Galitsky

Quick Quotes

Q. You've come over here to compete in the Women's Amateur Championship this week. Reflecting on the week, what are your thoughts?

EILA GALITSKY: It was nice to get to play links again because -- I kind of like it and I kind of don't like it because it is a very grueling, very different kind of golf than what I'm used to. It's just a really nice experience to be back here.

Q. What do you think of Prince's Golf Course in particular?

EILA GALITSKY: I think it was a lot harder than Hunstanton. But it felt more authentic, and it was definitely harder. I think that you can't really miss a lot here on this course. It's a lot tighter but I mean, the conditions were really good.

Q. First two days, it was so windy and yesterday after your round, you thought that maybe you wouldn't have made the match play but you went out and caddied and all of a sudden you're into the match play. Can you talk us through yesterday's experience and what you were thinking throughout the day?

EILA GALITSKY: Well, I started with a double-bogey which is not a great start. But I realized the cut, because the day before, it was 4-over, so it could probably go up like a couple more strokes. So I just tried to play steady and for the day, I tried to finish even par. I was even par, 1-over and when I looked the cut was plus four and it wasn't moving. I looked about 1 and stuff. So I decided just to go out and caddie. Can't do any damage.

Then after nine, I was looking at the scores and I'm 63rd, so that's making the cut, so I stopped caddying.

Q. Were you excited to make the match-play stages of the championship?

EILA GALITSKY: Yeah, last year I missed the cut so I was excited to play match play, yeah.

Q. It was a really tough-fought match for you this morning. Can you talk us through your match today?

EILA GALITSKY: Yeah, I mean, I started with a birdie on 1 with a really long putt, which I was so surprised I made that.

Then she came back with birdie, par, birdie, birdie. She was playing really well and just can't really do anything about it. I kept my composure and just continued on. Had a bunch of opportunities to get it back but I didn't capitalize on them which kind of sucked but yeah, all in all I played under par, so happy about that.

Q. Good experience?

EILA GALITSKY: Definitely.

Q. For the first two days you played alongside the world No. 1 amateur, Ingrid Lindblad. What was that experience like?

EILA GALITSKY: It was great because did I play with former world No. 1, Rose, in Augusta, so it's nice to be able to say that you've played with two world No. 1s before. Hopefully I can learn from her and hopefully I can be No. 1 some day.

Q. When you say that hopefully you can learn from her, when you look at her game, what did you admire the most?

EILA GALITSKY: I think once she made a bad shot, she was angry at her she have but then she came right back and really focused on the next shot, where I'm sometimes hung up or just can't really stop thinking about that mistake I made. She just looked like after she made a mistake, she just forgot about it and kept playing.

Q. Looking forward to the rest of your summer, you have the AIG Women's Open coming up, how excited for you?

EILA GALITSKY: Really excited because AIG has been -- basically, I want to win maybe some day in my career, that's the major I want to win. So I'm really excited to be able to experience it this summer.

Q. Why is it the AIG Women's Open? What is it about that one that makes it the one you want to win the most?

EILA GALITSKY: I just think that it compares to the men's British Open and I feel like that's been a long-standing tradition and it's just for women. So yeah, that's basically why.

Q. Do you feel like this week will have prepared you well for competing at Walton Heath? It's obviously not a links course but being in the U.K. and in these kind of conditions?

EILA GALITSKY: Yeah, I think definitely it will help me. I know Walton Heath is not a links course but I think there will be some similarities to this course and I think it definitely prepared me well, yeah.

Q. Do you set yourself any goals when you look forward to the AIG Women's Open for this year?

EILA GALITSKY: Just making the cut and hopefully finishing top amateur.

Q. As you just mentioned, finishing top Sam tour, the Smyth Salver, a lot of incredible names on that trophy including Rose Zhang, what would it mean to your name on another trophy with Atthaya Thitikul?

EILA GALITSKY: It would mean everything because I have my name on the WAAP trophy with Atthaya, so hopefully I can just follow in her path and become as great as her one day.

Q. You've obviously played golf already out in the States and played with fields with Atthaya, if you reached out to her since you won WAAP?

EILA GALITSKY: She always congreats me when I win and I congratulate here. At Chevron we got to chatting a bit.

Q. Is there anything else you're looking forward when you're heading into the AIG Women's Open?

EILA GALITSKY: Just the atmosphere. I think that would be the thing I'm looking forward to most because majors atmosphere is different from everything else, yeah.

Q. This year, the AIG Women's Open is really trying to attract a new audience to golf, ask we have Ellie Goulding performing a live concert on the Saturday night?

EILA GALITSKY: I heard about that.

Q. Is that something you're also excited for?

EILA GALITSKY: Yeah, I've heard a bunch of her songs and she's a really good singer. I'm really excited for that. As you probably know Niall Horan was singing, so I'll meet like two celebrities this year. So happy about that.

Q. And is playing in front of crowds something that you enjoy or is it something that you're just starting to get used to?

EILA GALITSKY: I quite enjoy playing with crowds. Just as long as they don't make too much noise when I'm hitting. But once I hit a good shot, they can make as much noise as they want.