AUGUSTA NATIONAL WOMEN'S AMATEUR

April 3, 2024

Eila Galitsky

Quick Quotes

Q. Tied for the lead, 5-under. What was working for you today?

EILA GALITSKY: I think almost everything. Like we were just trying to hit fairways and greens, and if the putts dropped, it dropped, and that's exactly what happened. I was putting -- I would say pretty well, and a lot of putts dropped.

Q. Was this sort of in your dreams to be atop the leaderboard following the first round?

EILA GALITSKY: Well, I just wanted to put myself in a good position for me not to be super stressed tomorrow about making the cut, and I think I did just that.

Q. Take us through your eagle putt. What happened on that? What went well?

EILA GALITSKY: It was the last hole, so I gave it everything I got on the drive there. I mean, I hit it dead center of the fairway, and I was waiting a really long time for the group in front to finish, and I was a bit nervous to hit that shot.

But I mean, I hit it to about three feet, and I'm just like, it's not an eagle, it's a birdie, so I'm not too stressed about it.

Q. Obviously you played last year, second appearance this year. How much does last year's appearance help you to prep for this week?

EILA GALITSKY: Last year I felt like I was really unprepared coming from the 40-degree weather in Singapore to the five-degree weather here. I was freezing, I was cold, I had too much clothes on all the time and I wasn't used to that. But I felt like this year playing Sage before coming here really helped me get used to the conditions, the weather, and just, yeah.

Q. You had a birdie on 12. Can you walk me through what happened on 12?

EILA GALITSKY: Yeah, so they moved the tees up on 12, and I think from that tee it was 283 to the front of the green. But I opted to hit a 3-wood.

I pushed it just a touch, and it went in the rough. I think I had about 80 yards to the pin. It was straight into the wind.

I didn't want to fly a 58 full, so I decided to hit a flighted 52. It landed pin high, rolled to about I'd say almost 20 feet and then I holed the putt.

Q. How would you describe your game right now? What's the best part?

EILA GALITSKY: I think I've improved a lot on my putting this week. I changed to a mallet. I used to putt with a blade, and changing to a mallet gave me so much confidence on the green that I never really had before.

Q. When did you make that change?

EILA GALITSKY: Like five days ago.

Q. How? What inspired you to do that or who inspired you to do that?

EILA GALITSKY: Scottie Scheffler. He changed to a mallet and won two in a row, so I'm like, why not me?

Q. How did the Chevron, playing in the Chevron and playing well last year just help your confidence on a stage like that?

EILA GALITSKY: I think just knowing that I'm able to compete with the top pros in the world really gave me a boost of confidence, and just knowing that I still have a long way to go and I'm just really excited for that journey.

Q. How far do you carry the ball off the tee?

EILA GALITSKY: Depends on the day.

Q. On average?

EILA GALITSKY: On average, probably about 265.

Q. How tall are you?

EILA GALITSKY: I only know in centimeters. Is that fine? 172.