PORTLAND CLASSIC

August 31, 2023

Megan Khang

Columbia Edgewater Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. All right, here with Megan Khang after her first round at the Portland Classic. Really great round. I want to talk first about the eagle on No. 7. Take me through it.

MEGAN KHANG: It was pretty cool. It had been a kind of slow start. Had an interesting hole 5 and kind of went with it.

You know, I had roughly 215 front, 222 pin, and I decided to go with a softer 2-wood to just leave myself short and potentially give myself a chance for either a put up or a chip up.

So put myself in birdie position and I kind of looked at Jack and said, this is a perfect one to chip in and get the ball rolling, so very fortunate that it went in.

Q. You called it? You predicted it was going to chip in?

MEGAN KHANG: I like to try to give myself something to work for out there.

Q. I love that.

MEGAN KHANG: It's a little challenge within myself.

Q. We did talk yesterday about the course designer being the same. I confirmed it's true. Shaughnessy and Columbia Edgewater have the same course designer. Were there similarities you saw out there in the courses?

MEGAN KHANG: Quite frankly, I was just trying to just do my own thing out there. Conditions are a little different. I know it rained the whole day so the greens were softer, so that played a huge factor. Obviously saw some low scores from the morning wave.

But it's very similar in the sense it's tree lined, small fairways, some greens are more undulated, and it is kind of on the smaller side of greens out here on tour.

But just hit some really good shots and was able to make some putts.

Q. And this is your first round since becoming a champion. Did you think at all about it, about last week and did to give you any momentum, any confidence? What were your thoughts of last week when you were playing out there today?

MEGAN KHANG: Honestly I was pretty tired. I feel like it's just been kind of like go, go, go, because I did get here pretty late Tuesday and went straight to go play. Had a late pro-am yesterday and, again, was just trying to recover the best I could given the celebration antics.

But it's something I wouldn't take away and something I just embraced because there was no better feeling than that Sunday.

Q. Let's talk about this round a little bit. Very wet out there. How do you mentally prepare for that after having some very dry practice rounds?

MEGAN KHANG: You know, I remember in like junior golf we had a guest speaker at one of our tournaments, Tom Watson, and I remember him telling us like you can either go out there and say like, oh, it's raining, this stinks, or you can go out there and say, hey, it's raining for everyone. Just deal with it and make the best of the conditions. That's the mentality I kind of take on now. Hearing that advice from a legend like him, I think that definitely helps mentally prepare myself. Like hey, it's going to be wet. It's going to be softer. It's raining for everyone. Not just like a cloud over your head.

Just go deal with it. Embrace Mother Nature a little bit.

Q. And that you did. Last question: As conditions change, what do you take away from this round and from this course you'll carry into the next couple days hopefully?

MEGAN KHANG: You know, rough is pretty thick out there given it was extra thick because of wetness today. It's the same mentality going in each week. Fairways are friends, and when you can be aggressive with certain pins, and know when to kind of play smart and let the maturity kick in.