U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN

July 6, 2023

Minjee Lee

Pebble Beach Golf Links

Quick Quotes

MINJEE LEE: I kind of made a mistake on 6, the chip into the green, and I had a long putt and I made bogey, which is quite a soft mistake for me, and I was 2-under at that point and went to 1-under. Yeah, I feel like a little bit of momentum kind of stopped there, and any par-5 you've looking to make birdies. With the opportunities that you have around this golf course, I know how tough it can get, to have the birdie opportunities, so I tried to make them when I can, and the par-5s seemed to be quite gettable.

But other than that, I feel like my game is there, I just haven't quite had, I guess, the momentum and just everything come together to really produce a really low one, so hopefully I can get my butt into gear and have a really good second day and the rest of the week.

Q. What's the biggest challenge out there with this course specifically?

MINJEE LEE: I think it's the wind. Today it was not that windy, but it's almost harder when it's just only a little bit windy because it just feels like if it's a lot of wind then you can really produce a shot, and the greens are really small, so I feel like -- it's just really incredible. It's a good test for me. I really enjoyed my walk today.

Q. What was it like or what is it like in general to be out here for a U.S. Women's Open on this course?

MINJEE LEE: I mean, like everybody is saying, it's such an iconic venue, and for us to have the opportunity to play, even though it was a little while getting here, took a little while getting here, I think it's just really cool that a U.S. Women's Open winner is going to be on the clock there by the end of the week. I think we're carving a little bit of our history here, and it's just such a great place to do it.

Q. ShotLink out here for the first time, serious is on-site. It's the first time at a course like this. How do you feel about where women's golf is right now compared to when you turned pro?

MINJEE LEE: Oh, I can't even tell you how different it is now. So many things are different just with even us players, the amount of talent we have out here right now, and it's so diverse. Just the depth is so much deeper, and obviously the prize money has gone up so much even in the last five years that I have been playing, and it's continuing to go up and up.

Obviously the USGA have set such a great benchmark for all the other events, so that's really cool to see.

I think the venues, our venues have just gotten so amazing. Even being at Pebble, Baltusrol, so many great venues that we go to, and it's just been awesome to play these tracks. I don't think I would have thought that we would come here when I was first starting. It wasn't even -- I didn't even think about it, but now that we're here, it's amazing to see.

Also I can't imagine how it will be when I leave the Tour.

Q. That was going to be my last question. Do you think about where women's golf is going based on how much has changed to this point and where it seems to be headed?

MINJEE LEE: Yeah. I mean, I don't think there is a cap on where we can go, where we can be or how much better it is going to get. We're going to venues that I would have never imagined that we would go to, and being here at Pebble obviously is just a testament to how the women's game is growing, and all the people behind us, all the people advocating for women's golf and the growth of the game.

I guess the sky's the limit.