CME GROUP TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP

November 16, 2023

Patty Tavatanakit

Tiburon Golf Club

Flash Interview

Q. All right, here with Patty Tavatanakit after her first round at the CME Group Tour Championship. Patty, really impressive bogey-free round out there today. Can you tell me was it difficult to not make any bogeys today given the conditions and everything that has happened with the course?

PATTY TAVATANAKIT: I feel like with how windy it got last night we caught that last bit of breeze in the morning, so, yeah, this was really difficult. Honestly I just made putts today. I didn't really hit that close. I feel like my birdies are from like 20 feet, 15, onwards. But do I have a few 5, 4-footers out there for par-5s and stuff.

Overall it was a tough round. You kind of need to hit it, strike the ball well to be able to shoot low today.

Q. Patty, can you tell me what your practice was like this week? I know yesterday nobody really got any practice in. Tell me what the preparation was like and how the course changed.

PATTY TAVATANAKIT: I hardly practiced. I went home for two nights and played nine. I played all 6:45 yesterday and that is about all you could do, because all the rain we caught yesterday.

But I even told my putting coach this morning, like I haven't really practiced. I'm just free. I don't know.

Q. Yeah. Do you feel lucky to have shot a good round? Were you surprised at all? What were you feeling as you you were rolling in a lot of birdies?

PATTY TAVATANAKIT: It was just like a free round. I feel like I haven't played golf feeling this free in a while.

Which obviously it's like the last tournament of the year. I have nothing to lose and game has been feeling pretty solid. So just go out there and do my best and turned out really well today.

Q. On the PGA TOUR, the men are compensated based on popularity through the Player Impact Program. Wondering if you would be in favor the seeing something like that implemented on the LPGA Tour?

PATTY TAVATANAKIT: I'm not really sure how that works. Yeah, I need to look into it more to give you a more yes or know answer on that.

Q. Being near the bubble last week, getting into this field, how important was it to get into the CME Group Tour Championship, and how good does it feel to have a great first round being near the fringe of the top 60?

PATTY TAVATANAKIT: Yeah, last week was really, really stressful for me. I did what I had to do and played really well. Gained a lot of confidence from last week, a lot of the momentum.

Just coming into this week feeling free and I just -- like I feel grateful to be here, you know. I've been grinding all year. Even like off weeks this year has just been a grind session because I need to work on things all the time this year. That's how I felt.

But I think those hours are paying off a little bit. I'm not saying I'm going to take off from here, but I'm definitely heading towards the right direction.