AUGUSTA NATIONAL WOMEN'S AMATEUR

April 3, 2024

Louise Rydqvist

Quick Quotes

Q. How does it feel to get off to a strong start, your first round in your debut at this tournament?

LOUISE RYDQVIST: It definitely feels amazing. It's very exciting to be out there. The course is in beautiful shape. It's just a lot of fun out there. All these people being out here, it's so enjoyable. I'm so glad that people are out here to cheer on women's golf, especially at a venue like this. It's very exciting.

Q. You're one of two golfers from the University of South Carolina here this week. How does it feel to be able to represent the university and be able to come out with such a strong start?

LOUISE RYDQVIST: Yeah, it's great. I love the support from the University of South Carolina. I was coming in on the last holes and saw Hannah on top of the leaderboard. We grind together every day, and we strive to obviously beat each other every day out there, as well, but we're also teammates, so we cheer on each other, and it's beautiful to have that relationship out here, especially being my first time out here.

Q. How much did you two talk about the tournament coming up, and what kind of advice did she give you?

LOUISE RYDQVIST: Yeah, this is her third time, so she's definitely not a rookie, she's a veteran out here, so I tried to soak in all the information she could possibly give me, and I feel like I did pretty well.

Q. Walk me through 9.

LOUISE RYDQVIST: Yeah, so I hit a really good solid drive, and then I had like 200 meters to the pin. We said like this is maybe not a pin to go for because it's in a really tough pin position. But we're like, if I make it up there, worst score will be par and I'll have a really good look at birdie. I hit a really good 3-wood, went long, and from there, downwind, down the hill, downgrain. It's basically impossible to stop it.

So I mean, I hit a putt too firm, and it was 50 feet away from the hole, and unfortunately missed the putt. But I still think it was a strong strategy hitting my second shot very close to the green.

Q. You and Hannah were kind of in the same location where you guys both -- similar read. Did you know about that at all?

LOUISE RYDQVIST: No, I did not. But I thought it was going to just break 90 degrees left, and it kind of was riding the ridge, and I didn't see that coming, which is kind of what happens here out on these greens sometimes. You think it's going to break, but then it doesn't. Then it breaks the other way.

I think you've just got to learn the course and hit it close.

Q. Was that the same thing that happened coming back for birdie?

LOUISE RYDQVIST: Yeah, absolutely. So yeah.

Q. Were you nervous coming out in those first few holes, and can you talk about settling down as you got --

LOUISE RYDQVIST: Yeah, so we were on the first tee, and it started pouring down. Instead of being very nervous and trying to hit the fairway, it all came down to try to hit the ball. That was kind of kind of calmed me down a little bit. I had a tough first hole. I made like a 10-footer for bogey, so that was a really good bogey to start off with. From there, you've just got to keep grinding and all of a sudden they fall in.