U.S SENIOR WOMEN'S OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 30, 2024

Donna Andrews

Fox Chapel Golf Club

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We'd like to welcome Donna Andrews here to the flash media area. Six-time LPGA Tour winner. Donna, back here at Fox Chapel. You were here back in 1985 for the U.S. Women's Amateur. What did you think of the course when you came out yesterday and got to see it again some 40 years later?

DONNA ANDREWS: I would love to tell you I could remember it, and I looked -- first thing I looked at was the clubhouse, and I said, I don't remember the clubhouse looking like that, and they said, good for you because we've added on to it a couple times and I said, good, that makes me feel better because I didn't recognize it at all.

I said, I know that name. I know I've played here. I actually had to look up on my phone when I had played here because I had no idea when it was we had played here.

It's just such a beautiful golf course. I think some of it has been redone since we played here, some of it didn't look familiar, some of it looked a little familiar. I'd love to say I remembered it all, but I don't.

My memory is not that good anymore.

Q. What did you think of the course? There's some great holes out there, obviously the Seth Raynor and the Golden Age architecture. What are some things that stood out from your practice round yesterday?

DONNA ANDREWS: For me I think the biggest things were the greens. The greens are very difficult. You need to be in the right spots on the greens. You're going to have some three-putts out there. That's just going to happen if you get yourself in the wrong spot on these greens. But very playable golf course. Going to take some strategy off the tees, I think especially for some of the longer hitters more so than me. I can't get to a lot of the trouble anymore, so that's probably a good thing.

But the course is in fabulous shape. The greens were so smooth, I said it was like putting on a tabletop out there, and unfortunately it's been so slow, it's been so hot in Pinehurst, Pine Needles, we haven't been able to cut our greens that short for a long time.

It'll be fun. It'll take some adjustment for me, but it's a great golf course.

Q. You mentioned Pine Needles. You've been down there teaching for a little over 20 years. What do you learn from when you're teaching that you can take into your competitive rounds?

DONNA ANDREWS: Well, the hardest thing for me now going from being a teacher, trying to come back to a player, is I was real good when I played on Tour to not try to fix it when I'm on the golf course. Now I sometimes find myself trying to fix it on the golf course when I probably shouldn't.

But I do find myself sometimes when I'm setting up to chip or something going through the mantra that I teach all my students and going, weight forward, keep your shaft lean, and I'm like, okay, you've just got to try, you've got to remember how to play. For me, that's going to be the big thing is sort of staying out of my head a little bit.

I think a lot of us seniors reach that point where we have to get the fear factor out of it. We know -- the fear factor wasn't there when we played when we were younger, and now that fear factor of, wait, what happens when I miss it is there, so I think that's my biggest thing this week is I'm going to try to play without being so outcome oriented and just go out there and play.

Q. You've had some success in the Pittsburgh area in 1992 U.S. Women's Open, third-place finish, you were the 18-hole leader. What are some memories from that week going back to 1992 now that you're back here in Pittsburgh?

DONNA ANDREWS: Well, gosh, fond memories of Oakmont. To watch the playoff with Juli and Patty was just awesome. Wish I could have been in it. But my biggest memory was Frank Hannigan called me on a rules thing the first day. I had shot 4-under, came to 17, addressed my golf ball and hit it, taken a practice stroke, and he later called me in and said, you should have replaced it because you didn't mean to hit it, so we learned what the fair intent meant of hitting a golf shot. I am now on all the USGA rules things that go out, and they still play it, I'm told.

But that was a big learning experience for me, both emotionally and learning to control the emotions and everything.

But to play such a wonderful golf course over there and to finish third to two of the best players in the world was just a wonderful week for me.

Q. You said you got a chance to look at the course yesterday. Is there any hole that stood out as the biggest test or biggest challenge for you?

DONNA ANDREWS: I would say the one that stands out as the most interesting is the par-3, and I'm not going to remember what number it is, the one that has the green that's like 80 yards long. When I stood up there, my caddie goes, 123, but you've got 180 to the hole, and I'm look, what? I looked up, and I don't remember that green at all, and I looked up, and I went, how is that possible. So we spent some time on that green trying to figure out, do you try to putt it if you're on the wrong side, do you try to putt with a hybrid, do you chip from one side to the other. That was probably to me the one that I spent the most time on trying to figure out how I was going to play it.

As my 14-year-old told me, just don't be on the wrong side of the green from the pin and you won't have that problem.

Q. Also you said you did go down a rabbit hole trying to remember the last time you came here. Did you look into your scores or how you played or anything like that?

DONNA ANDREWS: I did not. I was a freshman in college at the time, and I'm sure I had a very different golf game than what I have now. So I don't even remember how I played when I played here.

Q. Obviously you've played in majors before, you've won majors before. What's it like to play in the majors compared to just normal tournaments?

DONNA ANDREWS: Well, I think it's a lot different for us now that we're senior golfers. Yes, it's still a major, but if you hang out around the players -- we've all hung out a lot this morning because of the rain delays and stuff. It's more of a social get-together I think than it used to be.

I think we were all a lot more serious and a lot more into our games probably when we played on the regular tour, and now coming out to the Senior Open is a chance for us to catch up with old friends, find out what everybody is doing. I was learning about new grandbabies in there this morning and stuff, things that didn't happen when you played on the regular tour. I think there's a lot more camaraderie and wanting to find out what your friends are up to that you don't get to see very often, and I don't feel the pressure.

I guess come Saturday or Sunday that pressure will still be there, but I think for a lot of us, it's a matter of coming out here to grow the game of golf, to let young women see what the possibilities are out here for growing the game of golf, and to come out here and see some of these legends play golf.

Q. Just because of the way the weather is today, do you make any adjustments to prepare for that or what the course could change into from what you played yesterday?

DONNA ANDREWS: I think that one thing that after the rain that we've had this morning, especially if we get more rain, it looks like it's probably out of here for the day. But I think there will be some tee shots that you might have to adjust, ones that you thought might roll into a bunker won't, and some of the greens that you played short to get it to bounce up, you might not be able to get it to bounce up.

But sometimes I think being short of some of these greens is better than being over. Probably when I play a practice round tomorrow, we'll probably play some more, chip some more from the front of the greens and stuff, just in case those balls that you're expecting to roll up don't.

Q. You mentioned your 14-year-old caddying for you this week?

DONNA ANDREWS: She is not caddying for me, but she's here in support. She's been with me for every Senior Open that I've been to, she's been here with me, and she wanted to come again this year. It's been fun this summer, both my kids have gotten into golf. I've actually played a few more rounds than I have in the past before playing an Open. It's been nice having them out there motivating me to play.

Q. Do you give them any instructions or lessons out there or are you kind of mom, supportive, how does that work?

DONNA ANDREWS: We have a rule that I don't help unless they ask. Sometimes they do ask, sometimes they don't. Every now and then I try to keep it simple, and they both have -- they're both natural, God-given athletes, so I try not to get in the way of what God has given them.