U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN

July 8, 2023

Bailey Tardy

Pebble Beach Golf Links

Flash Interview

Q. Bailey Tardy, 3-over 75 today. Can you talk us through your round out there.

BAILEY TARDY: Yeah, just struggled a little bit off the tee. Didn't hit as many fairways as I wanted to.

But super windy out there today. A lot different conditions than the first two days.

Proud of the way I hung in there, but definitely room for improvement.

Q. How hard is that stretch from 8 through 18?

BAILEY TARDY: Yeah, it's pretty difficult, especially the back nine with the trees blocking some of the wind. It's hard to judge if the wind is helping or hurting.

But yeah, disappointed in some of my shots today, but overall I think -- I'm still in contention. I was leading the U.S. Open after two days. I think there was a little bit of nerves involved today.

But yeah, just going to go out and enjoy tomorrow and see what happens.

Q. Your first birdie of the day you chipped in on 11. Can you talk us through that?

BAILEY TARDY: Yeah, that was fun. I hit a really good shot into that hole and I was kind of surprised it went over, but I had a terrible lie in the rough coming out of that. It was pretty cool to chip in. I haven't done that in a while.

Q. How about 15, what happened there?

BAILEY TARDY: What hole is 15? Oh, I doubled. That was just very poor. Tried to flight down an 8-iron. Chunked it, hit it high right. Thought my chip was going to check; it didn't. Put myself in literally the worst spot you can do to that pin.

I think it was -- I don't know, it was just poor course management, poor play.

You can always learn from it.

Q. You said it yourself, you didn't have your best out there today, but you're only three shots off the lead. How do you take that into tomorrow as a positive?

BAILEY TARDY: Yeah, again, I'm still in contention and I didn't play my best today. Just focus on hitting more fairways tomorrow, and I think the rest will come easy.

Q. What have you now thought of the setup of the golf course through three days of this?

BAILEY TARDY: Well, I definitely figured out how hard it is out of the rough. I don't think I've played too many shots in spots in the rough that's super thick.

But I think the course setup is great. I think it would be more fun to hit some par-5s in two, but everything else is pretty amazing.

This is the toughest golf course I think I've ever played, and just the course setup is really testing every aspect of your game this week.

Q. You mentioned the par-5s, and people in the Twitter world, et cetera, have mentioned those, too, that maybe they could have given you a little bit more opportunity on those. Do you kind of feel that way?

BAILEY TARDY: Yeah, especially as a long hitter. I think being able to hit driver, a really risky driver shot on 18 and then get rewarded and hit another really risky shot into the green in two, I think that would be super fun for us and for fans to see.

But bringing the tree into play is also extremely difficult. It makes for an incredibly hard second shot, especially when it gets windy.

It's hard both ways, but it could -- I don't know, I love going for par-5s in two, so that would be fun. But it's definitely still risk-reward out here.

Q. Forgive me for a money question on Saturday night, but this is the opportunity for life-changing money for a lot of people --

BAILEY TARDY: Yeah.

Q. How do you look at that in the greater scheme of your life?

BAILEY TARDY: You know, I'm not really out here to make money. I'm out here because this is what I love to do. Yes, this is my job, but at the end of the day I enjoy this so much that it doesn't feel like work to me.

Sure, there's a big paycheck that could be at the end of this or that is technically, regardless. But yeah, I'm not really thinking about the money. It would be very nice. My roommates were joking, if you win this tournament, we're all becoming your house maid.

No, again, I'm just trying to put myself in the right position.

Q. What would be the biggest priority for you with a big check? What would change your life most immediately?

BAILEY TARDY: I would buy a house. Yeah, definitely. I've lived with my parents for the majority of my life and moved down to Florida for the off-season, and then this has been like the first time I've lived in Atlanta not in my parents' home.

So definitely -- solely because I couldn't afford it. I couldn't pay for rent and I didn't think it was worth paying rent when I was on the road so much.

So yeah, definitely buying a home and having a nice backyard for my dog to run in.