U.S SENIOR WOMEN'S OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

August 3, 2024

Leta Lindley

Fox Chapel Golf Club

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We welcome Leta Lindley to the flash area here at the U.S. Senior Women's Open Championship. Even par-71, 2-under for the championship. Nice way to finish today.

LETA LINDLEY: I finished with a birdie, which was really nice. I had a really up-and-down day. I don't think I hit it as well as I did the last two days, and I felt like I was forever and away from the hole and had a lot of ups and overs and made a lot of really clutch par putts.

Started my round off with a birdie, which I played No. 1 beautifully, and then had a little awkward lie on 2 and managed to chunk my wedge shot and walk away with bogey, and then had a little miscue with my caddie, who's my husband, on the par-3, and my head covers got a little mixed up and I ended up hitting way too much club. I was lucky to not hit it in the fescue and ended up walking away with bogey there.

I think the delay maybe helped me sort of reset, calm down a little bit, and just take one shot at a time from there and came back and made a really great two-putt on 5 and then birdied 6. Just grinded it out today. Just grinded.

Q. Building off what you said earlier, do you feel like the greens were a little bit easier for you after the rain delay because you said you played a little bit better after the rain delay today. Do you feel like they were working in your favor?

LETA LINDLEY: Not necessarily. I had a mile of putts. I felt like I was so far away from the hole, and I did hit some great shots coming in and I wasn't able to capitalize until 18. I had birdie opportunities on 16 and 17, but I was making eight-footers for par because I was up and over and down and far away from the hole. To shoot 71 today, even par, I'm thrilled.

Q. You made a sizable par putt on 10. Did that settle you into the round a little bit?

LETA LINDLEY: No, then I made a sizable putt on 11 and on 13. So I had a few more -- then I think on 15. I was just grinding out there.

It was nice to see it going in. I just want to see those going in for birdie tomorrow.

Q. It looked like a lot of players were having trouble getting the ball on the greens to the hole. Were the greens slower or was there something happening that --

LETA LINDLEY: I guess. Maybe the speed was a little different. I don't know. I struggled a little bit to nestle it up close. I was just working so hard today for those pars, so I'm hoping that tomorrow will be a little bit easier. I'm going to get a good night's rest and focus on the good shots I hit today and all those good putts, and hopefully they'll be for birdie tomorrow.

Q. You're chasing. You've been in that situation before in this championship. Do you change your game plan? Do you attack more? What do you do tomorrow?

LETA LINDLEY: I don't know that all the hole locations will be birdie opportunities for me, so I'm really just going to hold my line and focus on that, and when I do get an opportunity, I'm going to try to be aggressive and make birdies that way.

I might need a little bit of help from the leader to come back to me, but I can only control my game, and I'm going to go and play the best I can tomorrow.

Q. I don't know if you've had a chance to see highlights of the leader at all. Do you know anything about her?

LETA LINDLEY: I know that -- I believe she took up golf at the age of 20 and she played on the Japanese Tour and she's playing on both the Japanese Tour and the Senior JLPGA, which is pretty amazing. I remember seeing her last year at Waverley. I believe she was caddying for a good friend, and here she is competing in this championship. She's super nice and obviously playing phenomenal golf. It's fun to see the great golf that we're all playing this week.