U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN

July 6, 2023

Amari Avery

Pebble Beach Golf Links

Flash Interview

Q. We're here with Amari Avery, 2-under 70. Nice playing out there. Can you talk us through your round.

AMARI AVERY: Yeah, I think it was pretty simple. I think my ball-striking was really good, and I knew that I had to do that in order to play well today. I put myself in all the right positions, and even when I did get out of position I was very quick to get back into position and minimize the damage.

Q. How special is it to be out here at Pebble Beach?

AMARI AVERY: It's so surreal. I catch myself on every hole just kind of looking out to the ocean and just appreciating the fact that I'm even here, and playing a U.S. Open here as well is even more special.

Q. What's the game plan for tomorrow, come out and do the same thing?

AMARI AVERY: Yeah, that's the plan, but it's such a late tee time so I'm going to sleep in and hopefully do the same thing, and hopefully I can just capitalize on what I did today.

Q. What does it mean to you to be from Riverside? What does that mean to you?

AMARI AVERY: Yeah, I mean, I don't think Riverside is that small, but not a lot of people are from there, especially people that play golf. There's a lot of golf courses in the Inland Empire. Tiger is really close, too.

But yeah, it's really cool to be from Riverside and be out here and just kind of representing.

Q. What would you like to tell fans watching you out in the IE right now?

AMARI AVERY: Just keep on watching. I'm going to go as far as I can and do the best that I can and hopefully I go pretty far.

Q. Overall how has it been to play on such a historic course?

AMARI AVERY: I mean, I don't think I really have taken it in yet. I've just kind of been in go mode, really locked in and focused. Like I said before, I've been catching myself looking out to the ocean and just taking a deep breath and realizing that this is just a privilege to be here.

Q. Being a collegiate athlete and amateur at this moment, how has it been to be able to be on the same course as these pro women golfers?

AMARI AVERY: Honestly, I think it's really cool. I hope to be out here pretty soon with them, and so honestly, it feels really comfortable. I've gotten to know a few of them just in some past tournaments, and even at Chevron they were super nice and really accommodating to me playing in a major. It feels really fun to just play with them, and it's really easy.

Q. Learning from your play today, how will you approach round 2 tomorrow?

AMARI AVERY: I think just kind of go at it with the same game plan. Of course make some provisions wherever I need to, but I think I was really good at being mentally stable on the course. I think as soon as you get a little upset or you start getting too greedy, it can get really tough out there, and you find yourself in some tough positions, so I think just keeping that going tomorrow.

Q. Had you had any prior experience with the course in any way? As far as today goes, what were some of the shots that maybe were tougher than you expected or maybe easier than you expected out there?

AMARI AVERY: Yeah, so I don't have any prior experience here. I've actually never played here until this week. Like I said, I'm just kind of taking it all in there.

As far as shots, I think 17 was a little bit easier than I thought. I remember saying in the practice round that if I can just shoot 4-over or less here in the four rounds I think I'll be all right, and to come out with a birdie and hit it so close, I found that it was a lot easier.

But once I got into a groove, I found that a lot of shots were easier than they were in the practice round, but we'll see how that goes tomorrow.

Q. Earlier this week Michelle talked about how different the golf landscape is now than when she first came up. She mentioned NIL. Obviously it's been a huge part of your story. How have you been able to deal and handle that as well as trying to be the best golfer you can be and come out here and play?

AMARI AVERY: Yeah, luckily I have a really good team behind me and a lot of great agents that helped me out, just at least with the day-to-day part of those things.

As far as my NIL deals have gone, they've been great. I have Nike and I have TaylorMade and I just signed with Lexus, too. They're all great partners in golf, and especially USGA.

It's really easy to be partners with those people, and obviously it's really easy to just be a part of that team. It's not hard at all.