HILTON GRAND VACATIONS TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS

January 18, 2024

Alexa Pano

Lake Nona Golf & Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. One of the many first-time 2023 winners in the field this week. First Hilton Grand Vacations. What was day one like for you?

ALEXA PANO: It was so much fun. I got to play with ray Allen today, which was kind of a dream come true being a long-time Boston sports fan, especially Celtics. He really lived up to the hype. He was great to talk to. Gave me so much about advice.

I played well as well, so that was nice, too.

Q. Playing with Ray Allen, were you a little bit starstruck as you went to the tee today? When you saw the pairing sheet were you like, oh, my gosh?

ALEXA PANO: I was really excited when I saw the pairing and then I got meet him on the putting green last night and he was super cool, so I was like, okay, it's going to be a good day.

Teeing up with him on the first hole, it was just the two of us so I was like, wow, this is intense. Like just me and Ray Allen out here. He was amazing and really down to earth. Great guy, and I had such an awesome time playing with him.

Q. Being a Florida gal what was the off-season like and what was it like preparing for the first event of the year?

ALEXA PANO: Yeah, it was kind of a short off-season for me, but it was really fun being home, getting to cook, celebrate Christmas with my family. Really enjoyed it.

We had kind of a rough weather winter. That's all right. It was nice to be back home and work on my game this off-season, so glad a little bit of it showed up today.

Q. Have you ever played this golf course before or when was the last time?

ALEXA PANO: Yeah, I actually played here a few years ago when the Gainbridge event was here. I had a really rough week. That was one of my worst weeks of golf. This course is so amazing and the members and the people here are so great, so I was really happy to be able to come back here. I did a photo shoot with Titleist last year but was not in the event, and that became one of my goals.

I was like, I want to come back here and finally get to play in this, because it just looks so exciting.

Q. Now that you got one competitive round, did you feel any rust or was there anything you would like to improve going into tomorrow?

ALEXA PANO: Yeah, my driver was a little rusty today. Definitely feels a little bit weird when you step back out after not competing for a month and a half. I got to see some of the changes I made during the off-season come to fruition today and really nice. Glad to be back for sure.