U.S. SENIOR WOMEN'S AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

October 5, 2023

Brenda Corrie Kuehn

Troon Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. The final round you got down but you fought back pretty well. How did you find it in yourself to fight back from 4-down?

BRENDA CORRIE KUEHN: You know have a choice. You have to just go out there and hit the best shot you can. She played great. I mean, she did not give a whole lot of opportunities. When I hit a couple times in there for birdie, she knocked it to three feet. So it was hard.

Then I got the first break -- I got a break on 14. I just tried to keep putting it in play and making her have to hit good shots. Does that make sense? I didn't want to just kind of whack it out and say, merry Christmas. I just wanted to hit good shots and have her make it.

I want to tell you, when you're dormie, there's pressure there on you, almost more so on me because I'm done, but on her she has to keep it in play. So I felt that if I just kept hitting it in play, I had to force her to keep playing as she did the first, whatever, 15 holes.

Q. You've qualified for the Am next year --

BRENDA CORRIE KUEHN: Oh, stop.

Q. I mean, it's hard not to look forward to that, right?

BRENDA CORRIE KUEHN: I don't know. I don't hit it like -- that's a whole different league. That is like girls on steroids, and we're just old ladies.

I don't know, there has to be a lot of something happening between here and there for me to get there.

Q. Let's project ahead. You guys both get through stroke play. Do you want to play her in --

BRENDA CORRIE KUEHN: Oh, stop. Stop.

Q. Why would you prefer to avoid her in match play? You see in the NFL brother coaches don't want to play each other. Would you love to take her down?

BRENDA CORRIE KUEHN: Oh, I would love to take her down. The problem is there is so much trash talking at our house that if one person wins, I mean, it would go on forever, and I have a feeling it's not going to be me, it would be her. I don't really want to give her that opportunity to trash talk me for the rest of my life because there would be a lot of trash talking. It's awful.

Q. Who set up the practice round with her this week?

BRENDA CORRIE KUEHN: You know, a common friend, Laura Coble, so I had Pam Kuong the first practice round and I had -- it was great. It was fabulous. I'm not kidding, I saw her in a practice round, like damn, this girl is playing good.

Q. Had you ever played with her before in a competitive round or even practice?

BRENDA CORRIE KUEHN: No, no, we're just friends, mutual friends with Erin, family friends, known each other for a long time.

Q. How do you feel right now after a long, long week?

BRENDA CORRIE KUEHN: I'm exhausted. I've been exhausted since Monday. I played two practice rounds and two stroke play. I was exhausted by Monday, and I kept making up going, I'm tired. I've been packed in my car since Tuesday. I had plane reservations on Tuesday. Oh, I forgot to extend the car, by the way. Oops.

Q. Were you changing flights Tuesday, Wednesday --

BRENDA CORRIE KUEHN: Yes, yes. I went back to the hotel and I said, I'm back, and I have the same room.

Q. You were joking on 10 about how far her drive was compared to --

BRENDA CORRIE KUEHN: Yeah, did you see that?

Q. Was she doing that all day, by the way?

BRENDA CORRIE KUEHN: No.

Q. So there wasn't a huge distance gap --

BRENDA CORRIE KUEHN: No, there wasn't. I would say she's probably 10 yards longer than me. When I hit it and she hits it, I think we're about 10 yards difference. When I don't hit it, she's about 30. But I hit that one. I hit the one on 10 -- I think there's a speed slot down the left-hand side, and I think that --

Q. So that wasn't really a big thing you had to overcome throughout the day?

BRENDA CORRIE KUEHN: No, no, not at all.

Q. You said last night that this wasn't really on your radar coming in. You made it to the finals. How does your radar change now, I guess?

BRENDA CORRIE KUEHN: I'm telling you, I came truly just because I'm struggling competing. I don't compete very often. I'm gone most of the time with my kids, watching them play, so I don't have a chance -- I don't play in anything. I don't play in the ladies member-guest. Does that make sense? I don't play in -- zero.

Q. How did you do this then?

BRENDA CORRIE KUEHN: So this year I've played three tournaments. I qualified for the Senior Open and the Mid-Am and this. So it's nerve-racking when you don't compete.

I've talked to all these friends, yeah, I had the interclub matches and I had the state championship and this and that, and I'm like, okay, so I wanted to just compete. So I was here to compete.

Q. And you did that, though. You made it all the way to the finals coming in like that.

BRENDA CORRIE KUEHN: I had zero expectations, exactly.

Q. How do you explain that achievement?

BRENDA CORRIE KUEHN: I don't know, but you know what felt good? It felt good that as the week went by, my ball-striking got better, and I putted well. Because many times that I go out there -- you probably don't want to hear all this --

Q. We do.

BRENDA CORRIE KUEHN: There are many times that I go out and I'm playing great at home, and I go to a tournament and I play absolutely horrible, and I say, I'm done. This is my last tournament, I'm never playing a tournament again, I'm done. Again I go home and play well again, and I go, I'm going to try it again. So it was very nice to see my ball-striking improve throughout the week. Does that make sense?

Q. Yeah, that gives you confidence.

BRENDA CORRIE KUEHN: I mean, that's great for me. That's all I wanted was just to go out there and be able to play my game.

Q. You've got some championships next year now on your calendar.

BRENDA CORRIE KUEHN: We'll see about that. We'll see how I feel between here and there.

Q. They're on the calendar no matter what. Whether you play or not is up to you, but you've earned it.

BRENDA CORRIE KUEHN: I know. My daughter is excited.

Q. With your daughter having won the NCAAs like five miles away, were you hoping to kind of bookend that today?

BRENDA CORRIE KUEHN: I had no hopes. I was just playing -- I just came to play. I just came to play, and when I showed up on the first tee, I didn't say, oh, I want to win, I don't want to lose. I just said, I hope I can play well. I hope I can play well. If I play well and she plays better -- and that's what happened, because I felt that I played well, and she played great.

We were both under par.

Q. There's got to be a peace of mind like keeping your focus --

BRENDA CORRIE KUEHN: Yeah, I could have gone out there and shot 5-over and it would have been over by 11. My goal was to play well, and I played well. I wish I would have had a better shot on 18, but that's it.

Q. Going back to the practice round you played with Sarah, it wasn't competitive in any way, just purely a practice round?

BRENDA CORRIE KUEHN: No, just purely a practice round. You always check out your competitors. You always check them out, see how they're doing, and she was just swinging great and she was playing great.

I've got to tell you, same thing happened with Megan Schofield at the amateur. Megan and Rachel played a practice together -- no, played stroke play together, and of course I didn't tell this to Rachel, but I was like, ooh, Megan is hitting it really well. She could win this thing. I told Megan, you know what, I knew when Megan played stroke play I had an inkling that you were just hitting the ball so well. The same thing happened to Sarah. I have this prediction, don't I.

Q. Can you work on lottery numbers by chance?

BRENDA CORRIE KUEHN: Yeah, I should go by lottery tickets.