NW ARKANSAS CHAMPIONSHIP

September 29, 2023

Kelly Tan

Pinnacle Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. All right, we're here with Kelly Tan. Kelly, 65 in your opening round. What was working so well for you today?

KELLY TAN: I would say everything came together, you know. It's been a tough year. I would say the main difference for me is my driver. I haven't really been -- my driver hasn't really been my best friend, but today it was.

I had a chat with it before the week started. (Laughter.)

Yeah, just hitting the fairways and getting the ball in play just makes golf so much easier and so much more enjoyable.

That's exactly what I did today. I felt like because I was hitting a lot of fairways I could be more aggressive with my approach shots, and putts just was falling.

So I think just with that, you know, every part of my game was coming together.

Q. What did you tell your driver?

KELLY TAN: I was talking to the rep and he was like, maybe we need to take a look at a switch. I think it heard and, oh, my God, I might be switched out. So that was just a little joke. Me and my husband who is caddieing for me was just joking on the course today that maybe I just need to threaten it more often when I'm not doing so well with the club.

Q. That leads me to my next one. You talked about being more aggressive. With the 54-hole tournament compared to a 72-hole tournament, do you prepare any differently? Do you play any differently? You talk about being aggressive. Do you try to be more aggressive knowing you don't have the extra 18 to maybe make up any low scores?

KELLY TAN: Yeah, I mean, I still take the approach of it's one hole at a time, one shot at a time. Whether it's 54 or 72 holes I'm still trying to do my best every single shot.

That's how I look at it. Yes, it does help when you get off to a good start after the first round and you don't feel like you're chasing too much. There is still a lot of golf to be played. I'm glad the way I played today and where I put myself, and I'm just going to keep playing aggressive.

And with the course condition it's a little softer than the previous year and you could really just go and hit the number and know that the ball is going to sit or spin back a little bit.

I think that also helped to give myself the confidence of hitting a little bit more clubs than what I presume I should hit.

Q. Yeah. And then just I think we've seen a lot more scoring opportunities on the front nine compared to the back. Do you share that sentiment? If you do, what are you seeing out of the front maybe compared to the back?

KELLY TAN: Um...

Q. You did have four birdies compared to three, so...

KELLY TAN: To be honest, on the front I holed two putts that's outside of 20 feet. The way I look at it today, I don't necessarily say the front nine play easier. I mean, there is a lot of opportunity too on the back nine if you put yourself in the good position. It's just that the back nine requires more accuracy. You need to really position your balls and stuff.

So at the end of the day I feel like we played good golf. I don't see like how the front nine or the back nine is playing easier than the back, so yeah, just going to treat it same.

Q. And then last one. I know we have two more days of play here. Looking forward a little bit, the LPGA is coming to Malaysia, the Maybank Championship. How excited are you for that event. Have you been hyping up Malaysia to the girls? What's that process been like?

KELLY TAN: Yeah, you know, I actually been home the last week off -- after Cincinnati and actually four weeks prior to that, so I've been home twice in the last five weeks which is amazing for me because I don't usually do that in my career.

To be able to go home in the middle of the season it's like a battery recharge for myself. I get to go and eat my Malaysian food and see my family and take my mind off golf and not grind as hard I guess as I have been the last few years.

And being able to just go home and play the course, I know that the course is working really hard to get the course in amazing shape. Being able to work with my Maybank team, they're super excited to have the LPGA come back and be the sponsor and they're trying to do everything they can. They're asking me question of how can we -- what can we do to make this event stand out and be the best.

So I'm just grateful that I'm able to be a part of that and be the ambassador and be a voice of the players. Yeah, I think it's going to be an amazing tournament already. I know they have a lot of amazing activities and stuff going on that week for the players.

So I look forward to it. I know Malaysian golf fans very hungry for that as well. Yeah, I just know it's going to be an amazing week.