FIR HILLS SERI PAK CHAMPIONSHIP

March 22, 2024

Alison Lee

Palos Verdes Golf Club

Quick Quotes

Q. All right, here with Alison Lee. Alison, I think the main thing I want to know about is that eagle there. Just walk me through that hole and what you saw.

ALISON LEE: Yeah, I had good momentum going into that hole. I birdied the two holes before so felt good about my swing and I was hitting it really good. Hit a really good tee shot and then I had a 5-iron in.

Yeah, like I said, I just felt the momentum from the last couple holes, and I just went for it. I know there is a little tiny gap between the bunker and the water, but I felt confident I can get through there and squeeze it in there.

I didn't know if I could make that putt or not, but I'm glad I gave it a try. It went in, and that was pretty fun watch.

Q. Those two birdies beforehand, what clicked for you in those two?

ALISON LEE: To be honest, it was a lot of frustration. Today I didn't start off the way I wanted to. For the majority of the day I would say I was really, really frustrated and I was 2-over par at one point.

Yeah that Par-5, all these par-5s for me this week are reachable. So I was just kind of waiting for those par-5s because I knew, okay, I'm 2-over, but hopefully I can squeeze a few and get it back to even.

Unfortunately made a bogey on 17. But to go from 2-over and get some, you know, red numbers on the board and finish up at 1-under, I'm really proud of myself.

Q. Maybe in the past would that early stretch have derailed you? What have you changed and learned mindset-wise to shift out of that and have a run like you did on the back nine?

ALISON LEE: You know, today, like I said, I didn't start off great, but I feel like I was hitting good shots. Felt like I got a few bad bounces. It was frustrating in the beginning of the round with the wind swirling and gusting here and there, so tough on the front nine.

I feel like the front nine definitely plays a little more difficult than the back, especially when it gets windy. I just told myself, you know, we got two par-5s I can probably reach on the back.

Kind of used that as a little bit of, how do you say -- I kind of used those par-5s as a little bit of a hope. Like I had a little bit of hope going into those holes because I knew I can make birdie or potentially better, which I was able to do today.

I tried to do as best I could to stay positive. It was pretty slow out there, a lot of long a waits. Especially teeing off and being 2-over at one point it was getting really frustrating at times standing there waiting and being anxious and knowing I'm over par and really itching to try to play more aggressively and make some birdies.

It's great. I feel like my head is in a good place and I have a good mindset. Even though I was 2-over par I was still playing offensive golf. I was able to play aggressively and attack pins and try and make birdie versus being nervous.

Yeah, obviously your mind goes to some negative plays. Even though identification 5-under yesterday, I start looking at the board when I'm 2-over and start looking at where the cut line is.

You know, seeing potential -- I mean, your mind always goes to a negative place on the course when you're not playing well. I just told myself there is plenty of golf left. Thankfully going into the weekend being in contention, I think it's super awesome.

I could never figure out this golf course. Never ever, ever. We played college golf here. Yeah, going in the weekend being in contention is a really nice place to be in and a really nice pleasant surprise.

Q. For you, you seem so much more confident, body language, everything. What's the key to the mental tenacity that you found in the past six, eight months?

ALISON LEE: That's a good question. If I knew, I wish I could tell you. That's such a hard question to answer, because if I knew the answer or if anybody knew the answer I feel like, you know, I would've been playing like this for the last ten years I've been on tour.

But, yeah, I mean, I'm just trying my best to enjoy it. Giving myself opportunities. Last year I feel like I was hitting the ball really well. Just struggled a lot with putting.

That was my biggest downfall last year. Like I was hitting really good shots and missing so many putts and being so uncomfortable on the putting green. Consistently getting in 20th, 30th place. It was definitely frustrating.

But, yeah, in the last I would say few months I'm hitting it the same way I was last year. I'm just able to make a few more putts and I definitely feel a lot better on the putting green. Even with this week, I didn't know how I would feel coming into this week because these greens are pretty tough. You have to stay patient.

Once you see a few roll in you kind of start to get into a good momentum, and, yeah, just got to try and ride that momentum. I wish I had a legitimate answer but I'm just trying as best I can to ride this out and hopefully it lasts a long time.

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