NW ARKANSAS CHAMPIONSHIP

September 29, 2024

Maria Jose Marin

Pinnacle Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. All right, here with Maria Jose Marin. Final round at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship. You did an amazing job this week getting to double digits under par. Just talk about today's round and how it was for you.

MARIA JOSE MARIN: So starting out today's round I had a pretty bad hole that kind of got me into like not starting with the right foot.

I tried to hold on, stay there. I had another bogey. Well, I knew I had to fight really hard through all my round to do really good.

I just wanted to not finish like over par. Luckily on the second nine birdies started to come and I was like on fire. Just like tried to stay calm because of course after two birdies in a row, the nerves come of like, oh, I have to do another one.

I tried to just like breathe, stay calm, and, well, finished really good with an amazing shot on 18.

Q. You had two birdies coming in the last two holes, right? Talk about coming in, especially with 17 being the loudest hole and a lot of fans out here, especially Arkansas fans watching you.

MARIA JOSE MARIN: Yes, that was amazing. I birdied the hole two of the three days. It was a pretty good experience calling the Hogs today. Of course I didn't play with Maria but it was really nice to call the Hogs on 17 and 18.

Q. Talk about playing with Lexi. She announced her retirement earlier in the year. A legend in the game; someone you probably looked up to. What was it like to play with her?

MARIA JOSE MARIN: Well, I grew up watching Lexi play, and all that she has done on the LPGA has been -- like I have words to say it. With the Solheim, with everything, it's just, wow.

I'm going to admit I was really nervous when I tee'd off on the first hole. Everyone knows Lexi, everyone was following Lexi. But I still had to play my game, so, yeah, it's a great, like I think one-of-a-kind experience I got.

Q. Talk about anything you learned from her, watching her, a front row seat to playing with her today.

MARIA JOSE MARIN: So first of all, she destroys the ball. That's one thing. She hits it really far.

Q. She always has so many people following her. That was probably something you hadn't experienced as well.

MARIA JOSE MARIN: Yes. Well, I've had people follow me, but just like 15 people maybe. This was more than 15. That was like 50 or 60 people following her. And some Razorbacks also cheering for me.

I definitely learned from her that after a mistake she doesn't make two in a row. That's like what I think got to learn how do to, not to make two in a row, yeah.

Q. I was just going to ask you, your goal going into it the week was to make the cut and you blew that out of the water. How do you celebrate this victory of playing well like this?

MARIA JOSE MARIN: Well, I think I'm going to go with my dad to eat sushi. I love sushi. I'm a sushi fan. I got to rest a lot because tomorrow we start our home event at Blessings, so I got to be ready to go for another tournament.

Q. How do you reset for that, get back in the team environment?

MARIA JOSE MARIN: Yeah, just like a reset but not reset. I'm playing really solid golf, and I think like bringing those feelings or like shots that I did really good here to Blessings, that I already know the course, I've played it million times, so, yeah, just, well, enjoy the experience.

Q. One last question: Just what kind of confidence does this give you not only for the rest of your collegiate season, but also your future looking into being a possibility for you down the road?

MARIA JOSE MARIN: It gives me a lot of confidence, I'm not going to lie. As you said, I was expecting to make the cut and now I see that my game has a lot more to grow. So I know if I keep practicing and following the same path that I am following I can get into this and this can be my life in the future, like in three, four, five years.