DANA OPEN PRESENTED BY MARATHON

July 12, 2023

Lauren Walsh

Highland Meadows Golf Club

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: All right, very excited to welcome in Lauren Walsh. Just how excited are you to be here at the Dana Open?

LAUREN WALSH: Yeah, so excited. You know, thank to my coach for nominating me for the spot after we won the national championship. Very excited.

Q. Last time we saw you on the LPGA Tour was at the 2021 AIG Women's Open. What do you remember about that event?

LAUREN WALSH: Yeah, that was so special. Being the Open and being from Ireland, it was exciting to get to play on a links golf course. I had my sister caddying for me that week. I had a lot of support there.

She's back on the bag this week, so some good memories from that. We're excited to do it again this week.

Q. How awesome is it to have someone so close to you on your bag? Does that add another level of comfortability, ease the tension a little bit?

LAUREN WALSH: Yeah, definitely. She's my No. 1 supporter here. She knows my game better than anybody in the world. To have her here is great. She makes me feel very comfortable on the golf course, and yeah, she's great.

Q. What have been your impressions so far of Highland Meadows?

LAUREN WALSH: Yeah, it's great. The greens are small, which is probably a little bit more like home than what I typically see over here in the States.

Yeah, that part feels very comfortable. The greens have been good. Yeah, I like the golf course.

Q. How do you think this course best suits your game?

LAUREN WALSH: You know, there's a couple maybe longer irons in, but my iron play has been good, and like I say, the greens are good, and I like where my putting is at right now.

Q. What do you think you'll be able to take away from your collegiate career and bring to this event and hopefully going forward?

LAUREN WALSH: Yeah, I've been very fortunate. At Wake Forest we played a lot of the biggest collegiate events throughout the year. I've played against a lot of good players on a lot of good golf courses.

Even a lot of -- like the East Lake Cup, the nationals, NCAAs, (indiscernible), they were all broadcast on TV, so getting that experience from college is huge and is something that I've been able to draw on coming out here this week.

Q. We got to talk to your teammate Rachel Kuehn earlier at Meijer. Have you gotten to talk to her about her experiences there, swap stories, anything like that?

LAUREN WALSH: Yeah, I was actually just on the putting green this morning, so she's great. She had a great week at the Meijer, and we're always back and forth and talking on the golf course and everything else.

Yeah, she's excited for me, as well, this week.

Q. Starting out, how did playing recently in the Arnold Palmer Cup help as almost a tune-up for this, as well?

LAUREN WALSH: Yeah, the Arnold Palmer Cup is always one of my favorite events. His legacy is so special, and being able to be associated with something like that and being part of that is so cool.

Just hearing all the stories about him and the advice he gave people, kind of settling into careers like this, is really cool.

And competing as well was great. You have the best 24 collegiate golfers of the year there, so I got some good competition at Laurel Valley, and that set me up nicely for this week.

Q. How did that pressure -- maybe it didn't feel like pressure to you -- from that last hole of the NCAA championship win kind of prepare you for what pressures may lie ahead here at the Dana Open?

LAUREN WALSH: Yeah, I knew my entire team, the entire Wake Forest, everything was waiting on that putt to drop. I've played in a lot of like high-level tournaments the last couple years, and I think all of that gives me great experience coming into this.

It makes me feel very comfortable out here in this pro setting. Yeah, all that pressure and all those experiences have built up to this.

Q. When did you kind of realize that going pro was a goal, and an attainable goal at that?

LAUREN WALSH: Yeah, it's something I considered before I started college, and then I guess my freshman year I got off to a great start my freshman fall.

I realized, yeah, this is something I could see myself doing full time. I guess throughout my entire college career it's something I decided was going to be my goal, and like you said, it's attainable right now. Yeah, just since college.

THE MODERATOR: Awesome, thank you, Lauren.