U.S SENIOR WOMEN'S OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

August 2, 2024

Leta Lindley

Fox Chapel Golf Club

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We welcome Leta Lindley to the flash interview area here at the U.S. Senior Women's Open championship. Second round even par-71 and you're now 2-under for the championship. How would you describe today?

LETA LINDLEY: Hot, wet and a little bit muddy. But other than that, it was a solid round. I really felt like I hit the ball well. I did have a couple mud balls out there that it cost me at least one shot if not two, but other than that, I felt like I negotiated the golf course well, left a few putts out there, but I played really solid today.

Step one is done, make the cut, and I'm in position to have a good championship.

Q. Had to wait three and a half hours to play today. Kind of curious, what do you do to pass the time to get ready to play?

LETA LINDLEY: I went back to sleep. Luckily I was still in my Airbnb and I was part ready to go out the door, and the text came in that we were delayed, so I was able to go back and get a little bit more rest. I made some breakfast, did a lot of stretching and was able to go through my normal routine, but I actually welcomed the extra two hours of sleep. It was a short turnover, and I could use a little bit more rest, so it worked out okay for me.

Q. I asked Juli the same question. Some folks will not get to finish today. Do you feel it's a little bit of an advantage to be done and halfway through, where others have to finish tomorrow?

LETA LINDLEY: For sure. I feel like I got the good end of the draw, so I feel really good about that from a rest standpoint, where the other wave is going to have to play more than 18 holes tomorrow. So I got lucky this time around.

Q. You made a lot of pars today, just two birdies and two bogeys. Can you talk about the consistency of your scoring today?

LETA LINDLEY: Yeah, I think I hit 16 greens today, had a three-putt, which again, the pins were in some tough positions up on those ridges, and you don't want to go over because it just falls off the back, so trying to guard against that, the one I three-putted I didn't get it up top. Hit a good first putt but it went zooming by. Again, that might happen here and there. Frustrating, but it can happen.

I had some -- definitely had some birdie chances coming in and just wasn't able to capitalize. Every day the green speed has been a little bit different just because of Mother Nature making it difficult to prepare the golf course, so it was a little bit more of a guessing game today.

Q. You bogeyed the 10th hole, which is your second hole, but you come right back with back-to-back birdies. Talk about those birdies to get yourself back on track.

LETA LINDLEY: Yeah, I just was a little fired up because I had played the hole -- I hit good shots and walked away with a bogey, so that's frustrating, but you know that's going to happen. You have to be patient, and I just took dead aim on the next two holes and was able to come back birdie-birdie, which felt really good giving me some cushion and building some confidence to go into the rest of the round.

Q. What did you hit into 11?

LETA LINDLEY: I hit 8-iron into 11, and then I had a sand wedge into 12.

Q. How long was the putt on 11?

LETA LINDLEY: The putt on 11 was probably eight feet, and then it was inches on 12. Almost holed out.

Q. Halfway home, and you've been here the last two years. What do you have to do to win this championship?

LETA LINDLEY: Well, the last time I looked at the leaderboard, I'm behind, so more birdies would be helpful. But I'm still going to take it one shot at a time and pick and choose my chances and be aggressive where I can and hopefully roll some more putts in. I wasn't able to get in much practice time yesterday with the short turnover, but I'm going to go out and work on my putting today and really groove my stroke and build that confidence.