PORTLAND CLASSIC

August 31, 2023

Olivia Cowan

Columbia Edgewater Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. All right, here with Olivia Cowan after her first round at the Portland Classic. Another really great first round for you. What's the key to maybe your first round performance? How do you get off to such a good start in these last couple events?

OLIVIA COWAN: I think I've just had a really good mentality towards it all. I've been playing some good golf, but also when you're kind of struggling just grinding it out, and, yeah, just not getting too angry at some bad shots and just moving on and trying to solve the issues.

I think that's what's helped me.

Q. A lot of? Momentum, like I said, the last couple weeks. In Northern Ireland you had a great finish. Where is your game at? What are maybe the best aspects of your game?

OLIVIA COWAN: You would say overall it's quite good. I would say I'm putting really well. I've been also giving myself a lot of chances and then just rolling some putts in.

So, yeah, all round it's been pretty good.

Q. I know you got off to a good start, but par all your front nine, right? You had one birdie and then lots of pars.

OLIVIA COWAN: Yeah.

Q. Was that frustrating at all or how were you feeling?

OLIVIA COWAN: No, I think some holes are quite tricky out there. I was playing okay and I just wasn't holing some putts, and then I guess I turned the switch on on the back nine and got it going more.

Yeah, no, I played pretty solid.

Q. You sure did. It seems like the front nine, your back nine, is really scoring today. What is it about the front nine that suited your game?

OLIVIA COWAN: I don't know. I think -- I don't know. I can't say. I just hit it close and gave myself a lot of chances.

Q. Lots of birdies. How confident does that make, and you was it sort of funny having a long birdie train? Seemed you didn't drop any shots.

OLIVIA COWAN: No, it was quite fun. I was quite confident with all my shots. It's playing really soft out there because of the rain so you can really attack the pins, which was quite fun to do.

Q. Speaking of the rain, had to have adjusted your mentality after two really dry practice rounds probably. How did you maybe manage that switch?

OLIVIA COWAN: I think if you just have a positive mindset to it, like you know it's going to be wet out there, it's going to be tough in some spots.

As long as you just remember that it's going to be tough for everyone. It's like you got to just not even think that rain is there and just move on as if it's a sunny day and just carry on as if you would as well.

So I think that's what I was just trying to do. It wasn't raining for me. (Laughing.)

Q. Last question: No bogeys on the card, which is great. How do you limit the mistakes? What's the key to limit bogeys out there?

OLIVIA COWAN: I didn't really give my -- I wasn't in a lot of tricky situations out there, I would say. I had a few putts that I had to kind of save, but my putting was pretty good today.

I had a lot of confidence in rolling them in, so, yeah, it helped.