DANA OPEN PRESENTED BY MARATHON

July 14, 2023

Gemma Dryburgh

Highland Meadows Golf Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Another impressive performance out here at the Dana Open. What was working so well on day two for you?

GEMMA DRYBURGH: Putting mainly. Especially my front nine I was kind of felt like the hole was a bit of a bucket which was nice. So it was a nice feeling. But, yeah, putting was good and then the approach shots were pretty good as well.

Q. You had quite a few birdie streaks out there. Talk us through what was working well on those particular holes.

GEMMA DRYBURGH: Yeah, it's all been a blur, to be honest. It was kind of all going well on that front nine. My caddie gave me a birdie challenge for the first two days, so I was just one short of a case of something (laughing.) But I did pretty well on the birdie challenge. So that was keeping me going as well.

Q. This is definitely a course we have seen players go low. So how important, how crucial was it to take advantage of these conditions and no winds in the sky basically and how does that kind of fare with the weekend ahead of us?

GEMMA DRYBURGH: Yeah, you kind of have to go low out here. It's quite forgiving off the tee and it's quite soft after the rain we had earlier in the week. So you have to be a little more aggressive than you would do, for example, last week at Pebble. So different mindset, but I'm sure the weekend will be the same.

Q. Different mindset indeed. Because Pebble Beach a complete opposite kind of course going into this week. What was last week like for you at the U.S. Women's Open at Pebble?

GEMMA DRYBURGH: It was a dream. It passed all my expectations. It was nice to have family and friends there as well to watch. But just -- it's my new favorite course. The views, just the course in general. Even if it wasn't by the sea it would be an amazing course, but it's obviously got amazing views as well. And to play a U.S. Open there is even more special. So it was, yeah, just gives me goose bumps thinking back to it.

Q. To come back to this community. I saw you off of 18 green there with a fan club of sorts. Can you explain how they are, how they're connected to you?

GEMMA DRYBURGH: My college roommate, Claire Schelske, I'll give her a shout out. Her parents are here and their family and friends have come to watch as well. So every time they come to watch me I actually play quite well, so I'm hoping they come out for the weekend, too.

Q. I saw the Scottish hats.

GEMMA DRYBURGH: Yeah, they're not Scottish, but I've adopted the family. Hopefully it's that way, I guess. But yeah, they got them especially for me.

Q. I didn't hear the accent, so I was a little bit confused, but enjoyed that kind of presence.

GEMMA DRYBURGH: That was good.

Q. The weekend ahead of us, what do you walk away from to kind of work either work on or what do you focus on with the weekend ahead of us with potential rain in the forecast and kind of conditions seem to be changing?

GEMMA DRYBURGH: Yeah, just kind of take it as it comes, really, and see. Hopefully, we get lucky. But yeah, probably same mindset as in the past few days. My caddie and I have a good game plan. We played here a few times as well, so we kind of know our way around, which is nice.

Q. When you see those birdie putts dropping, what is it about this course that you think is suiting well to your game?

GEMMA DRYBURGH: I think I'm just reading the putts pretty well. Got the speed down. So, yeah, just, it's nice to come back here with a good vibe. I think it's my fifth time maybe playing this tournament. So it's nice to come back to a familiar course as well and everyone is so nice here as well.