DANA OPEN PRESENTED BY MARATHON

July 13, 2023

Matilda Castren

Highland Meadows Golf Club

Quick Quotes

Q. All right, nice way to start out here at the Dana Open. Just what was working so well on this course for you?

MATILDA CASTREN: Well, I holed out for eagle on No. 4, which was nice. I didn't see it go in, but we walked up to the green and there was no third ball, so that was a nice little surprise there.

Hit some other pretty good shots and been working on my putting a lot. Made a few today, so that was really nice.

Q. This is one of those courses where we've seen people go extremely low. How important was it to take advantage of these conditions out here today?

MATILDA CASTREN: Yeah, the greens are soft after the rain and you have some quite short clubs into the green. I knew the scores were going to be low. I saw some low scores from the morning. The greens are rolling a lot nicer in the morning, so you can definitely shoot some low scores.

Yeah, I mean, I just wanted to do my best today and just give myself a chance.

Q. You said you've been trying to work on your putting a bit, working into this week? What is it about this course that you think is kind of suiting well for the round that you just put out there today?

MATILDA CASTREN: Yeah, I think I always do pretty well here because greens are quite small and normally my irons are accurate, so I'm able to hit a lot greens and give myself a lot of opportunities. So I think that's why I like this course and I've been doing well here.

Yeah, I've been working on my putting a lot. I haven't been quite happy with this year, last year, and just wanted to change a couple technical things and I'm still working on it.

I'm kind of taking it as a process, just seeing the next few tournaments how it kind of plays in the like under pressure.

Q. Yeah.

MATILDA CASTREN: In the competition, so...

Q. Talking with Kelly a bit, also finished the day 5-under. You guys are best friends and planning to tear it up at Dow again. What does a week like this do to restart some confidence in, like you said, the putting and the process of it all as you get ready for the rest of the summer swing?

MATILDA CASTREN: Yeah, it's great. I think going into next week, if we both get on a hot streak, it'll work well to our advantage. We love playing together. We kind of feed off each other.

I guess that happened today, too, even though we were on the other sides of the golf course. Yeah, I love to see my friend play so good. I know it's been kind of -- it's been coming for her. I know she hasn't had the best start to the year, but I'm happy that she sees some like positive things on the course and was able to put a good score on the board.

I was able to match it, so...

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