U.S SENIOR WOMEN'S OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

August 4, 2024

Katie Miller Gee

Fox Chapel Golf Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Can you talk about your experience as a marker today, the first time for you?

KATIE MILLER GEE: It is the first time. Honestly, I was absolutely honored, the fact that Courtney Myhrum even approached me to do it. It's an honor and I definitely want to thank her and the USGA for having me because it's quite the task. I didn't think I was going to be a little bit overwhelmed by it on the first hole, but my direction was obviously you're keeping score, but you're playing, you're helping with pace. I think there are a lot of elements to it.

I even thought about as a player, in competition to play by yourself, sometimes you benefit sometimes from having someone in your group. So whether there's a shot into the wind, you get to watch someone's putt roll out, so I totally see the need for someone to do this.

But you kind of have to fit, somewhat fit the ability of the field and truly understand your role. So even the first couple holes, at first I'm like, oh, my God, just hit it and get out of the way and this is about her and does she think it's weird that I'm here. Once we kind of settled into our pace, because really I needed to hit some good shots and be able to just kind of be out there as if I was a player, so like I said, it's an absolute honor. It's a treat to play this golf course in a U.S. Open.

It was a great experience for the day and I think a really unique aspect of U.S. Open golf that not that many people who even know a lot about the game realize could happen in a particular event.

Q. Your husband Devin is a pro at Oakmont and he's been a marker. Did he give you any advice before the round?

KATIE MILLER GEE: It was funny, we were watching the leaderboard, of course with the rain delays and things like that but trying to watch for the cut, and I found myself rooting for somebody to make a par on 18 because I knew the cut would be uneven at that point, and he was kind of laughing, like what are you doing. I was like, didn't you want to play when you had the opportunity? He's like, I did, until I stepped on the first tee. That's just a crazy different ballgame.

But I know that he'll remember that experience forever. Actually my brother-in-law caddied for him. He was an assistant at Oakmont at the time and Devin had just taken on a head pro role, so that's how they got that opportunity, and I know he'll remember it forever, that he's playing the U.S. Open, Oakmont, conditions. At least it was someone who was used to that golf course, let's put it that way.

Q. You've played in a number of USGA championships, and you're probably getting ready to try and qualify for the Women's Mid-Amateur. Will something like this be good prep work for that?

KATIE MILLER GEE: To be honest, that was half the reason I wanted to have the opportunity to play this weekend. I knew that this setup could be something similar from a demand standpoint for your game, so I was really eager to have that under my belt kind of coming into this Mid-Am season. Yeah, so that was really half my want to be on the golf course, and then I actually chose to be in the qualifier -- I was looking at one that was tomorrow and just kind of decided that wasn't the best decision, and I chose one kind of based on this event.

But it's a pretty special treat that Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, can host this event this year with Oakmont that's coming up, Fox Chapel has been in the mix a number of times for the USGA, and just looking forward to a bunch of really exciting years actually coming up with that schedule.

Q. I'm going to assume you've played here before. How different was it playing it under championship conditions as opposed to playing it as a regular --

KATIE MILLER GEE: Well, some of the hole locations. I can say that for sure, for first. As always, I think the USGA does an awesome job with determining the tee boxes, not only based on the weather conditions but the field. There's always a little bit of an element of surprise, so kind of going into it, I had a little bit of an idea where the tees were going to be, so I was a little bit prepared in that sense.

But I'm kind of -- I don't know, I feel like I've played it a solid handful of times, so I'm aware enough, I guess, to manage the golf course the best I could.

Q. Were there any family members or friends following you today?

KATIE MILLER GEE: Yeah, actually a really good friend of mine caddied for me, so this was one of her first -- trust me, we had a full caddie lesson with -- she plays. She's actually a single-digit handicap, just not in this arena. So this is obviously a totally different level. We just went over a few things, and I just thought, what a cool experience to have a friend kind of see this side of competitive golf.

My daughter and husband watched me hit my first tee shot, but she's two and a half, so that didn't go really well. She wanted mama and he had to get her into the clubhouse to not disturb anybody else. Yeah, it was pretty cool to have them.

Q. Your caddie's name?

KATIE MILLER GEE: My caddie's name is Kristin Zapone. We were actually friends in high school and happen to both live in Oakmont now and play out of the same club at Green Oaks Country Club, and we play a good bit of golf together. She was an obvious caddie choice.