THE G4D OPEN

May 15, 2024

Daphne van Houten

Mixed Zone

Q. Maybe not the round you wanted but great start to the day, hitting the first shot. How cool was that?

DAPHNE VAN HOUTEN: That was amazing to do. Many people watching, and the nerves coming off, always feels nice. I did hit a good one, as well, is amazing to do, get par on the first hole.

Q. Quite a crowd there, as well. You talked about nerves. Is that one of the most nerve-wracking things you've done?

DAPHNE VAN HOUTEN: I don't think it is. I played in many G4Es, which it's different. But it was up there, yeah.

Q. And tell us about the round. Not exactly what you hoped for. What was the challenge of the course today?

DAPHNE VAN HOUTEN: So the course is quite narrow but also quite long so you do need to hit a driver. Then small greens.

So you're going to miss greens. You need to make up-and-downs, like most of the time. It just didn't really work out for me. I didn't chip it close enough. The chips didn't want to fall.

And then yeah, you make bogey after bogey after bogey, and here, you're going to get one really bad hole, which was my double. That happens here. You know other people are going to do it as well, and so I just tried to keep my calm, which until like 16, I got a bit mad there but that's no worry. That happens with golf as well.

Just getting frustrated that it wasn't really working out. It felt like it wasn't as bad as the scores but it's good for tomorrow.

Q. And the sun has been shining?

DAPHNE VAN HOUTEN: Yeah, no rain. I can't complain much. I enjoyed it so much. It's just amazing to be back here playing and I shouldn't be too hard on myself and my score.

Q. How much are you enjoying this buzz? It feels a bit bigger than last year in terms of staging. Do you get a feel for that as well?

DAPHNE VAN HOUTEN: Yeah, yeah, I wasn't here last year, so my first time, and it's massive. 80 players, and then so many people watching on the first tee and in the course and they are all clapping for you, and it does cheer you up and keeps you going when there's so many people supporting you.

So it's an amazing event, and I think it can grow the game as well. I see loads of people that are just cheering us on so they can see what we can do and see what they can do.