U.S SENIOR WOMEN'S OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

August 3, 2024

Maggie Will

Fox Chapel Golf Club

Quick Quotes

Q. You were able to get to even for the championship, and it was obviously after a pretty tricky day. Just walk me through the round.

MAGGIE WILL: Yeah, I told the officials before we even teed it up this week, I said, the golf course is going to be in the top 10, even par. So I'm happy to get back to even par after the first day.

They do such a great job of moving tees around and putting pin placements where you have to keep thinking. Hats off to the greens staff for even getting us back out there, or the whole week, because they've been up against a lot of water.

I putted a little better today. Still had a couple three-putts, but I think that just happens out here. Welcome to Fox Chapel.

Q. Speaking about the greens, I feel like they've changed dramatically every day with the rain and then drying out and getting back to wet. Could you talk a little bit about anything that you saw in particular out there today?

MAGGIE WILL: I think that the key was just trying to get your ball in a place where you could have an uphill putt because even though they've taken on a lot of water, you still don't want to be above these pins. You've got to play a little defensive when you're above them.

I have a local caddie, Viet Fong (phonetic), who's a school guidance counselor here but caddies here during the summer, and having him in the practice round to sort of give me some lay of the land, and then we talk about it and I do my best to get it over there. If I could play as good as he could caddie, I'd be leading the tournament.

Q. You mentioned the uphill putting being something that would help you. With it being wet, it looked on TV like they were really slow. Did it feel that way?

MAGGIE WILL: No, not at all. They still had pace to them. The last hole I putted it up a little past, and it's a tricky putt coming down. Yes, certainly if they were dried out -- I was here a few weeks ago and they had not had rain for a month. It was really firm and fast, and I went home scared.

Making some adjustments on some approach shots where you could feel maybe a little bit more aggressive but still trying to keep your ball on the correct side of the hole.

Q. The rain delay, can you talk about how that might affect you personally and also what you did to keep yourself in it?

MAGGIE WILL: Yeah, rain delays are always tricky, and then when you get to our age, they get trickier because when you're rolling, you want to keep going. You're warmed up and your muscles are moving, your joints are moving. But great opportunity to give a shout-out to all of the physical therapists and the chiro and the USGA for providing that for us because it is a wonderful thing to have someone caring for us morning, noon and night. With these rain delays, yeah, it's important to be able to make sure we're moving right again and get back out there and be able to play.