FM CHAMPIONSHIP

August 29, 2024

Marina Alex

TPC Boston

Quick Quotes

Q. All right, here with Marina Alex, our first round solo leader at 4-under at the FM Championship. New course for everybody out there, and you manage it the best. What was it about the course? What were you first impressions out there today?

MARINA ALEX: I really like the course. Playing the practice rounds I felt like it set up well for my golf game, and it's dried out a little bit even from Tuesday and yesterday, so that's kind of helping me off the tee just get a little bit more distance.

With that comes firmer greens, so it's definitely similar to conditions of courses that I played well at in the past. I think that kind of just is comfortable for me.

Just felt like it wasn't so long that I was hitting long clubs in. I'm not the longest hitter, so being able to hit wedges and short irons despite the firmness of greens was helpful, and I managed my game really well today.

Q. We were just chatting about a lot of people not being able to break through that 3-under; you did.

MARINA ALEX: Yeah.

Q. What was it about the course that made it so difficult that people weren't able to break through.

MARINA ALEX: Yeah, I think if you're not pretty spot on as far as distance control into the greens, they're firm and not overly deep. From front to back there is not a lot to work with, so if you have miss-hit it or carried it too far oftentimes you'll find yourself through the green.

The rough around the green is really inconsistent. Not in a bad way, it's just each shot yields a bit of a different lie. There was a lot to practice around the greens and it's tough to judge sometimes how the ball will react.

I felt like that would've been difficult. I was fortunate enough to hit a lot greens today, and the places I didn't hit the greens I was able to manage to get up and down when I did.

I'm going to need a lot of that good management coming into the next three days. If it's not a good number, playing to where the best percentage is from there, because it's tough when you're sitting at 95 yards and you have a wedge in your hand and you're like, Mmm, I don't really think I should go at this pin.

If I don't carry it that perfect number, I'm going to be over the green. Or I'm not going to cover the green and then I'm going to be deep in a bunker. Really just depends on what distance you have in and whether that's a full shot, half shot. You know, that's a little bit of luck as well.

Just happens to be what it is.

Q. Bogey-free today. I think I see just three players who have done that so far. How hard was that to do out here?

MARINA ALEX: Yeah, it is tough. I had a couple good saves in the middle of my back nine. I hit some not-so-great drives coming in. Just felt like unfortunately we were -- we were in a two ball and it was really nice playing with Linnea, but our pace was a little off today because of us being behind a threesome.

So I felt like it was hard at the end to get into a good rhythm. I felt like mentally that was the most challenging part of finishing up. Just staying in it. A lot of waits between shots. You get tired. It's late.

I'm just trying to make sure that I was mentally and physically kind of sharp and focused on what I needed to do today.

Q. Day two at Dana, how good does it feel just to get a number above 70?

MARINA ALEX: Yeah, I mean, last week was rough. You know, I actually played really nicely the second round at St Andrews, but I just was so far behind after day one.

You know, bad weather, and just really struggled, and it was tough for a lot of us on some of those waves.

I just felt like I wasn't going to play a good round of golf again, if I'm being honest. It was really good to see some good golf today. It was a break to not play in 30-mile-an-hour winds if I'm being honest. Just to be able to see yourself hit a shot and go where you're intending is nice.

So I kind of just needed to toss the two weeks in Scotland aside. There has been some good golf this year. It's come -- been coming and going, but I'm happy to see a 68 today. I'm hoping that I can kept present for the next three rounds.

Q. When golf is frustrating like that, how have you learned to keep yourself mentally in check knowing good golf is around the corner?

MARINA ALEX: It's hard. A lot of times it's easy to go down the rabbit hole, but I do know that not that long ago there has been good golf. Like Dana, Mizuho, ShopRite. You know, there has been really nice rounds of golf in there this year.

It's just kind of really trying to be patient and waiting for the opportunity to show up. A lot of times you're trying to force it, make that good round happen every week, every day. That's the goal. You want to play good.

Sometimes trying to hit a perfect shot or trying to do things when maybe you should just be accepting of par is better than forcing the issue.

I will be honest, I did a lot of that last week, it being a major, and then you make a few bogeys and you think, oh, man, I really got to get this back and you're compounding issues. I have made those mistakes a little bit in the past couple months where I feel like am not getting off to a good start and just instead of being patient and waiting for good golf to come I've tried to force it and it just makes matters worse. It's good to be on the right side of that this time.

Q. How do you build now that gotten off to that good start?

MARINA ALEX: Yeah, it's confidence building today for sure. There are a few things -- I don't have time to work on them today, but a couple things I'll work on on the range tomorrow to tidy up some of the miss-hits I felt like I had.

Even though the results were okay and they weren't bad, I think I would like to be a little bit cleaner in the wedge area. We're definitely going to have more of them as the course dries out.

Q. Are you a tinkerer? You stick to what works?

MARINA ALEX: No, I'm not a tinkerer, but I kind of know my tendencies. Like if something is not right, I kind of know why it's not right. It's frustrating because it's always the same thing, but at least I know that, so like in the morning I can kind of just maybe work on a little bit of that, whether it's a drill or two or a different feeling to initiate what I think will be helpful for hitting some more quality wedges tomorrow.