THE ASCENDANT LPGA BENEFITING VOLUNTEERS OF AMERICA

October 6, 2023

Azahara Munoz

Golf Clubs at The Tribute

Quick Quotes

Q. Joined by Azahara Munoz. Aza, just even on the day. What was the biggest difference as you saw, whether from your game or the course round one to round two?

AZAHARA MUNOZ: Today was pretty tricky. Got pretty windy, especially on the back nine. It was blowing a lot so it was kind of hard to judge how far the ball was going to go.

And then the greens were really, really firm, especially we played quite a few holes downwind and it was pretty much impossible to stop it.

The biggest difference, I actually played pretty well today, almost even better than yesterday, to be honest. I didn't make enough -- as many putts. Yesterday I made a lot of putts; today I missed a couple short opportunities. But I also made some nice ones, so overall I'm pretty happy. It was tough out there.

Q. Maybe you come to the course, you're expecting it to maybe play as it did yesterday; what's the process when you're playing or how do you prepare for a course you're not sure how it's going to -- you know, it was a little more firmer yesterday versus today, the wind. What goes into that?

AZAHARA MUNOZ: Nothing really you can do. I guess you just have to start doing all numbers, talk to your caddie, how much it's going to release.

But that's when it gets trick, because I feel you have to play so many time the front number, and then if it doesn't quite get there then you find of yourself with quite a long chip.

So I feel like golf is kind of like that anyway. You never have the same shot. You always have to play by feel a little bit. So that's kind of what I do. I don't overthink it really before I come. It's almost like I take whatever shot I have in front of me.

Q. How do you think this course plays to your strengths?

AZAHARA MUNOZ: I guess my strengths, I'm pretty straight with the driver. I hit a lot of fairways and that's probably a strength here. Definitely want to be hitting these greens from the fairways.

I did hit quite a lot of greens so I feel like my iron game is pretty strong. These greens are quite tough to hit and they have little -- really little areas where the pins are, so it's kind of hard to hit it close.

Q. My last one: I asked this question very poorly yesterday to someone else. When you're playing a course, you went even today, still in the Top 3, still in contention, is it hard to tell yourself when you're not seeing some of the scoring opportunities but you're still in contention? Does that make sense? What do you tell yourself when you're on the course and that's happening?

AZAHARA MUNOZ: Yeah, that's what I mean. Like this course is pretty tough, especially when it's blowing how it's blowing right now. Pars are good. You're not going to hit it close. It's really tough to hit it close, so you even are going to hit good shots and you're not going to hit the greens and then you find yourself needing an up and down.

Today I finished and I was talking to my husband, I you know, finished even. Could have done better? Probably. I made couple putts, but I could have done worse, too. I hit really good shots when it mattered and made a nice birdie on 17.

It's tough course. Sometimes pars are good.