WOMEN'S AMATEUR ASIA-PACIFIC CHAMPIONSHIP

February 1, 2024

Avani Prashanth

Quick Quotes

Q. Avani, congratulations; a lovely start. 4-under here at the Women's Amateur Asia Pacific. You must be very pleased with that round.

AVANI PRASHANTH: I definitely am. The way I started, I was quite confused about how the day was going to go. But then, you know, I took control of my full round by the time I was on the 13th, and that really put things in place. I'm so glad it turned out how it did.

Q. Talk about the confusion. What was going on?

AVANI PRASHANTH: So I started on the tenth, which is a par-5. I was really happy last night thinking I'm going to tee off on a par-5, you know, big advantage.

But then proceeded to duck hook my drive and then didn't get any contact on the ball because I was down in the rough. Then duck hooked my 3-wood into the left -- the fairway bunker; chunked that. And then finally made an up and down from like 35 yards for bogey. Not how you want to start.

Again, I put myself in good positions from there on. 11, I set myself up for a birdie on nearly every hole from there. The ones that dropped, dropped, and the ones that didn't, I'll probably get them tomorrow.

Q. After the opening hole, and it's a bit of a shocker, is that where your mental strength comes into its own?

AVANI PRASHANTH: Definitely. The first thing I told myself after hitting the first three shots was that the tournament isn't won on the first hole. You have 71 more to go. So that's what I did, and then, thankfully, I started making some putts.

Q. Must be feeling happy and confident after this first round; you've yourself in a really great position.

AVANI PRASHANTH: Definitely have. I like chasing, so it's good that I'm a couple back. Yeah, just looking forward to the next few days.

Q. At what point do you like to be ahead? Not until the 72nd hole?

AVANI PRASHANTH: It's not until we finish. I like chasing, so it's always going to be my strength if I get to chase.

Q. Minsol, Rianne and yourself are a few of the favorites. Was it nice vibes with you girls all playing quite well?

AVANI PRASHANTH: It definitely was. The standard of golf was amazing. Both of them started with two birdies in the first three holes and I was 1-over par, so definitely, they did push me.

Then I made birdie, and Minsol made birdie, and then I just saw some great golf out there, so it was great.