PORTLAND CLASSIC

July 30, 2024

Caroline Inglis

Columbia Edgewater Country Club

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Welcome to the media center here at the Portland Classic. Joined by Caroline Inglis. Josh, I know you got some questions so start us off here today.

Q. Yeah, so just what is it like playing on your home course, and assuming you have family and friends here supporting you, just being back where you're familiar?

CAROLINE INGLIS: Yeah, it's really nice. I love this golf course. It's always in really good shape. The greenskeeper, Jim Myers, does a spectacular job, so that's great.

And sleeping in my own bed is always really nice and comfortable. Just any time I'm able to actually hang out with my husband and dog during a tournament week is pretty cool.

Yeah, just familiar, and it's nice to have friends and family and all the members out here cheering. It's one of the most fun weeks of the year for me, so I really enjoy it.

Q. How do you feel about your season? I know that you had two recent top 10 finishes. How close do you think you are to breaking through with a win with your play this year and recently?

CAROLINE INGLIS: Yeah, it's been an interesting season. Started off like really poorly and then went through like a caddie and a coach change, and then played well at KPMG and Dow and then the last three weeks I've been pretty bad from a scoring perspective.

Golf is such a weird game. I feel like you can feel great one week and not play well or you can feel uneasy about how you're playing and then play great.

So I mean, I enter every tournament with the intention to win and I believe I can do that. It's a matter of the sticking to my process and doing the right things, and hopefully one week I'll come up on top and that will be my week.

Q. How did being in contention at KPMG help boost your confidence, playing well in a major tournament like that?

CAROLINE INGLIS: Yeah, I think it was a huge boost of confidence, just that I -- with the changes that I made I was working on the right things and headed in the right direction was great validation.

It had been a while since I was in contention, so you're always a little nervous and uncomfortable in those situations. By Sunday I felt really comfortable out there.

So I think that was great. Like a great thing to see and feel, and it just makes me want to work harder and get back in that position.

Q. So what has been your relationship with Gigi Stoll as a fellow Oregonian and now she's an LPGA rookie? Have you given her any advice or tips?

CAROLINE INGLIS: Gigi, I played junior golf with Gigi when she was like 12 years old and kicking everyone's butt. And like way younger than all of us.

She was so good from such a young age. I'm pretty sure she's been playing golf longer than me. No, she is a friend of mine. I actually played a practice round with her maybe two weeks ago, I think it was in Toledo, which was really fun to catch up.

You know, like there are not that many players on tour from Oregon so we were just reminiscing on junior golf, old times, all the weird stuff we would do.

I feel like she's pretty self-sufficient and played on Epson enough that she doesn't need much advice or help from me.

If she ever wants it, I'm happy to help her.

Q. So sounds more like just a friendship more than a mentorship.

CAROLINE INGLIS: Yeah, yeah.

Q. And then there is a couple other Oregon players who got sponsor invites. I don't know if you're aware of them.

CAROLINE INGLIS: Victoria, right?

Q. Yeah, just they're amateurs, or if you've had any interactions with them or what this moment is for them to play in this tournament?

CAROLINE INGLIS: Yeah, I know Victoria Gailey. I played with her earlier this year. She's super sweet. I don't know how we had never met before that. Yeah, that's great. She reached out this week. Super happy for her. I'm sure that's a great opportunity playing in front of friends and family as well.

I don't know who else qualified.

Q. Other ones we have Yvonne Vinceri.

CAROLINE INGLIS: Okay. I don't know her.

Q. And another, her name a Alison Takamiya. She plays at George Fox University. She's not from here.

CAROLINE INGLIS: Okay. Nice. Yeah, I don't know them, but I do know Victoria. And I saw Kennedy Swann qualified in the Monday yesterday and she's a teaching pro which is pretty cool.

Q. Do you know Kennedy?

CAROLINE INGLIS: Yeah, not super well, but I just -- her being from Oregon and she plays in a lot of the sectional events that my brother plays in because they're both teaching pros.

So, yeah.

Q. So some of the memories you have here. I know you play here every year. You had a hole-in-one maybe last year. Was it the year before?

CAROLINE INGLIS: Two years ago I think.

Q. If you can recap maybe some of the best memories you have from the Portland Classic.

CAROLINE INGLIS: Yeah, definitely two years ago was the highlight I would say of all the time I played here. There was like a mob of members and friends and family out watching me which was really cool.

Then to make a hole-in-one on a hole that I played so many times was really surreal, really cool. I think I finished like top 15 that week, so it was a great finish.

It's just so nice like seeing all of the familiar faces, like all the staff here, the head pro and the pro shop staff and friends and family. It's just a really special week. It's really cool and always happy to be back and play this event.

Q. I know you're a member here. You know the general manager, all those people.

CAROLINE INGLIS: Yeah.

Q. Does that give you an advantage here? How often do you play here? Just your familiarity with the course is pretty good.

CAROLINE INGLIS: Yeah, actually me and my caddie were talking about this yesterday. He was like, how many rounds do you think you played on this course? I think probably like around 500 or something like that.

I mean, when I'm here I play it two or three times a week and practice here every day, so I'm pretty familiar with the golf course. I will say tournament conditions are a little different than what we normally see out here. It's usually pretty soft from a day-to-day basis.

I'm assuming with the heat we might see a little bit more of a firmer golf course depending how much they water.

Yeah, it's really nice. I'm familiar. It's super comfortable for me. Like poana grass, that's really nice.

I think just treating it like any other tournaments and doing the same things to prepare is really important.

Q. What other ways maybe is it different setup-wise?

CAROLINE INGLIS: I mean, I usually play like a little bit different tee boxes I would say just on a daily -- like if I'm going out and playing with the other two like professional golfers that are members here or with my husband and his friends a little bit. And like I say, it's usually pretty soft. Especially in the winter. It's so rainy, (zoom feed frozen.)

Q. This event has a really long and storeyed history. I'm just wondering when you were little living here if you knew much about this event. Did you come out, and was it ever your dream to come play here in the Portland Classic?

CAROLINE INGLIS: I'm from Eugene which is a couple hours south. I never came to the tournament when it was here, but I remember one year my dad made me do like the standard bearer when it was at Pumpkin Ridge. That was before I was really into golf because I kind of started late.

That I was pretty cool. I remember I was holding the standard for Kristy McPherson who still plays sometimes and Lisa Strom who is now coaching at maybe Ohio State.

Anyway, I feel like that was my first interaction with this event. So, yeah, it's one of the longest tournaments I think on the LPGA schedule, longest running tournaments on the LPGA schedule, which is really cool and really special.

It's such a good stop for everyone I feel like, so hopefully we can keep that going.