AUGUSTA NATIONAL WOMEN'S AMATEUR

April 5, 2024

Louise Rydqvist

Quick Quotes

Q. What was the walk like today?

LOUISE RYDQVIST: It was absolutely amazing. I'm super excited. It was so pretty. The course is perfect. Greens are firm and fast. It will be a lot of fun.

Q. Do you have a number in mind tomorrow for what you need to have a shot?

LOUISE RYDQVIST: I know I'm going to shoot low -- or I have to shoot low to be up there and climb the leaderboard.

It's a challenging course, obviously from a golf perspective, but also mentally. I think maybe my biggest enemy out there is myself and my brain. So I'm just going to try to take every moment as it comes to me and do my processes every time I have to. Hopefully it ends up with a low score.

Q. What sort of scores do you think are reasonable here? Is it 63? Is it 70? What's like a great score?

LOUISE RYDQVIST: It's all going to depend on what the wind is like, what the pins are like because there are definitely some bowls out there where you can place the pin and the ball is basically going to feed down there. But if it's on top of the ridges, it's going to be very challenging.

So I can't really put a number down there, but everything under par is going to be really good.

Q. Did you have any pinch me moments out there that you remember?

LOUISE RYDQVIST: I walked over the bridge on 12, and it was completely still on the water, and it's just like a mirror. It was absolutely beautiful, and it's something that I will definitely remember for the rest of my life.

Q. I think I saw an interview and you had the ANWA invitation taped to your wall. I'm guessing you look at that every day. For it to actually be the day to come to fulfillment, how gratifying was it?

LOUISE RYDQVIST: I've been looking forward to an invitation for like five years, and I've worked really hard since my role models now, Linn Grant and Maja Stark, entered this event.

So we've worked really hard to get here, and I've dreamt about playing this event, and now I'm actually teeing off late tomorrow in contention, and it's absolutely thrilling.

Q. Is this the wall in your apartment?

LOUISE RYDQVIST: Yeah, it's in my room.

Q. How long has it been taped up, since you got it?

LOUISE RYDQVIST: Since I got it. Yeah, I have the LPGA invitation that I got in the fall on the right of my drawer, and to the left I have the ANWA invitation. It motivates me every day and makes me want to work harder.

Q. Did you duct tape it up there?

LOUISE RYDQVIST: Yeah, I have those pins. So it's up there.

Q. Why was it such a motivator for you?

LOUISE RYDQVIST: A lot of great players on Tour that's now doing this for a living have been to this event, and they've also won this event. I would love to be a part of that and make history out there.

Q. How would you describe Ingrid's game?

LOUISE RYDQVIST: She's just solid from A to B. Even if it's a drive, if it's a putt, she knows what she's doing, and she's extremely confident when she's approaching the ball, and I think that's a huge strength of hers.

Q. If you could putt for her, how many tournaments would she win?

LOUISE RYDQVIST: I don't know, but her ball striking must be No. 1 out there, there's no doubt.

Q. If you had her ball striking, how many tournaments could you win?

LOUISE RYDQVIST: Well, I hope I could win a few. No, we have our days.

Q. Was there anything from your experience today that surprised you at all?

LOUISE RYDQVIST: Number 6 surprised me, the par-3 downhill. I've never seen that green so undulated. It was insane, the hill to the right, like nothing like it.

And also coming up to 8, seeing that green, and the mound to the left, I have not -- it did not strike me like that on TV at all.

Q. You said like you're your own biggest enemy. How do you try and manage that on a course like this?

LOUISE RYDQVIST: As I said, I'm going to approach every moment as it comes to me. I think it will be extremely, extremely important for me to be here in there and now and just like even focus on one step in front of the other because it's going to be a lot of factors out there that might be distracting of people making putts on other greens and cheering and a lot of people -- I have my friends coming, family here. There's a lot going on.

So if I can just maintain myself and being here, that's all I'm going to try and focus on.

Q. You mentioned friends and family, like off about an hour away. Are you looking forward to the patrons kind of supporting your team?

LOUISE RYDQVIST: Yes, absolutely. I think I strive more when I have my loved ones around me, and I just think it's so much fun, and I really appreciate for them coming this long way to come and just watch me.

Then it absolutely makes it better that I made the cut and they will actually see me play tomorrow.

Q. Did you pick up fishing like Hannah did when she came to college?

LOUISE RYDQVIST: No, I did not take up fishing, unfortunately.

Q. What are the significance of the charms on your bracelet?

LOUISE RYDQVIST: I got this from my sister. It's like an angel wing. And I got this actually from Andrea, who's here playing. She's my best friend when I moved to the U.S. She was like test your wings as a butterfly. Then I have an L for me and an infinity sign for my other best friend that I went to high school with, my birthstone in July, and two hearts for my mom and dad.

It's basically my whole circle of loved ones and means a lot to me every time I look down.

Q. There's a lot of international players at South Carolina. Can you take us through like your recruitment? How did you end up in Columbia?

LOUISE RYDQVIST: I ended up in Columbia because, when I set my foot on campus, right away I knew that's where I want to be. It's because of all the fantastic resources that are out there.

I also wanted to go to a college where I have grass all year round. That's very nice. I'm not going to lie. Being from Sweden, I can't deal with the snow anymore. So I'm very happy about that.

Yeah, I'd say the resources, the people, my coaches, my teammates. Then being a very international team definitely added to that. I feel like we share a lot of cultures. We also do not share a lot of culture. So it's a lot of interesting discussions going on around the table every day.

Q. What does it say about the Gamecocks golf program that you and Hannah are both in the top 10 going into the final round?

LOUISE RYDQVIST: It's an absolutely great program. I could not say anything else. I love being there. I love being a part of it. I hope that I can leave it in a better place than I found it, which is basically impossible, but I hope I can make some kind of impact.

But it's just a great place to grow around better golfers than myself every day, and we strive to make each other better.

Q. I'm assuming the you watched the previous editions of the final round on TV. What did you learn?

LOUISE RYDQVIST: That the putts break more than you could ever think they do. If you want to miss the putt, you want to miss it on the high side because otherwise it's kind of running away from you. I feel like I realized that even more today.

So, yeah, definitely that. Then as I got out there, I feel like, when you start realizing the big like surfaces on the greens, if you can hit those, you could actually end up pretty close to the pin, like just from hitting there. So that's kind of what we're trying to commit to.

Q. Who's your caddie for this week?

LOUISE RYDQVIST: It's my boyfriend Rasmus. He's caddieing for me. He caddied me at the LPGA last fall, and it worked very well. So far he's 100 percent cuts made, so he's very happy and proud. I hope he can continue doing great work tomorrow.

Q. Which Rasmus? Is he a golfer?

LOUISE RYDQVIST: He is. He's Rasmus Jonasson. He goes to Limestone University in South Carolina, Gaffney. He's a Division II golfer.

Q. How is he as a caddie?

LOUISE RYDQVIST: He's great. He's calm. He carries the bag and doesn't say too much. If I'm way off a number, he'll say something, which is really good, but other than that, he's just there to comfort me and give me affirmation.