MEIJER LPGA CLASSIC

June 15, 2023

Cheyenne Knight

Blythefield Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Coming off the course, leader in the clubhouse as of now. What are your thoughts?

CHEYENNE KNIGHT: Yeah, played well today. This course you can make a lot of birdies if you position yourself well off the tee especially.

So I played pretty solid today. Didn't make a ton of mistakes, and when I did, I was able to recover.

But, yeah, I played good. You know, it's always low out here and you kind of know that in the back of your mind, but, yeah, so it was nice to just kind of throw a few birdies in there today.

Q. You had six over your round. What was working to put you in a position, as you said, to get those birdies?

CHEYENNE KNIGHT: Yeah, I hit my driver well today and was just giving myself some looks and converted on the ones that were kind of inside 12 feet.

Took advantage of the par-5s. Kind of have to do that out here as well.

So, yeah, everything was just kind of solid today.

Q. How much does it help to play with a group where everybody is under and then you've got, you know, somebody like Brooke who has a pretty good following out there? Does that spur you on to play better?

CHEYENNE KNIGHT: Yeah, when I saw my pairing I was really excited about playing with Brooke and Charley. They're really good. Yeah, it's nice when everyone in the group is playing well and nice to have a crowd following.

Yeah, it was really nice to play with them. They're really great players and so it was nice that everyone was kind of flowing well. That's nice when everyone in the group is playing well.

Q. What does it do for your mindset and confidence when you do go low in the first round?

CHEYENNE KNIGHT: It's good. I think like just this golf course you know kind of close to 20-under wins, so you kind of just have to -- it was a good start today, just kind of positioning myself and like, you know, just kind of keep moving up the board and we'll see kind of how people play this afternoon.

But it was a good start.

Q. Cheyenne, wanted to ask about your birdie on 17, getting up and down from the bunker. Kind of tugged the 3-wood a little bit; stellar up and down. Could you walk me through it kind of from your second shot to the third shot and the tap-in for birdie?

CHEYENNE KNIGHT: Yeah, it's a very gettable par-5 and I kind of tugged my 3-wood, and like as soon as I hit it I was like, crap. But at least I have some green to work with. It's a lot better in that bunker than right. Yeah, I feel like my bunker game has really improved this year, so when I saw the shot I felt good about it.

And so, yeah, I was trying to play kind of like a runner bunker shot, so I didn't open up the face as much and just kind of hit behind it. It flew -- kind of like bounced a few times and checked. So the wet sand was kind of nice.

I don't know, when it rains you know the sand is a little bit wet so you can spin it a little bit better just from the rain this morning.

But, yeah, and then just had a tap-in, so it was nice.

Q. What did you hit out of the bunker?

CHEYENNE KNIGHT: 58-degree.

Q. Thank you. The weather is going to change for your next round. Having a damp morning, you'll probably have a very sunny afternoon tomorrow. What kind of adjustments on this course will you need to make for the rest of the week that way?

CHEYENNE KNIGHT: Yeah, it was -- I feel like it's kind of the firmest this course has played like with the greens. They just kind of take a big first bounce.

Yeah, we kind of played in like the cold and the rain this morning for a few holes. I didn't have to play in a lot of it. Yeah, I think just as the week goes on it's supposed to get a lot drier and so just kind of making sure like the lines off the tee, they don't run out into the rough.

It's important to play from the fairway so you can get some spin on the ball. Yeah, so I think just kind of you have to position yourself well to make birdies. If you're not in position off the tee, then it's difficult.

So I'm just going to keep plotting my way around and attacking the golf course piece by piece.

Q. So my question is about Rose Zhang. When someone bursts onto the scene like she has, can you talk to me about what that from your perspective?

CHEYENNE KNIGHT: Yeah, Rose is a really great player and a great person. I met her a few years ago and she's just, you know, kind of has it all I guess. I feel like people can see that.

Super nice and she had a great amateur and college career. Kind of people have compared to Tiger Woods. Heck, she won in her first start.

Yeah, I think it's great for the LPGA and women's golf to kind of have someone burst onto the scene like that. You've seen that with Brooke and Lydia and you haven't really seen someone kind of in a while just kind of like how young she is just kind of burst onto the scene.

So I think it's great. I'm happy for her. It was a matter of time before she got LPGA status, so she got it in her first event. Yeah, I think it's great. I feel like a lot of people follow her and then just follow the tour in general.

Q. Looks like your season has been very consistent with results. The last few weeks have even dialed up a notch. Anything in your game that seemed to be dialed up?

CHEYENNE KNIGHT: I just think overall I kind of know how I pick apart a golf course and I have just been kind of just overall pretty consistent.

I think I kind of saw it kind of middle of last year. Even though the results weren't there, I started just playing a lot better. Yeah, I think every week I've been up there in contention I've learned a lot from those and that's why I practice and why I play out here, is I want to be in the mix.

So just trying to get more comfortable in that position. I would just say like I know how I play golf. I'm not going to make a ton of mistakes. So I've just kind of honed in on that and like focused on my craft and that's kind of -- I don't know, my motto and just kind of what I do every day in practice.

Like what I need to do to play well.

Q. In this stretch of the season where you have a lot of big events coming, what's the value of momentum?

CHEYENNE KNIGHT: Yeah, we have a big stretch coming up, two majors coming up, and so I think it's been nice to play well. Also, I learned a lot of what I need to improve going into the majors.

I think the test next week at Baltusrol and Pebble, it's going to be hard, and so I think kind of like the last few weeks, me being in the mix, I've learned kind of like mentally-wise what I need to improve.

Just stay a little more patient and not get as frustrated. That'll help me going forward. Just trying to have fun with it at the end of the day, too.

I think it's easy to get burnt out just kind of like how often we play, and we have some majors coming up in a few weeks, and so just trying to stay mentally sharp and continuing to have fun with it.

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