MAYBANK CHAMPIONSHIP

October 25, 2024

Marina Alex

Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. All right, here with Marina Alex after her second round at the Maybank Championship. Awesome round today. Can you just talk about how to you went out there from your perspective?

MARINA ALEX: Yeah, you know, I got off to a nice start. Made a couple birdies early, and I think I turned at 3 and made kind of a kick in on 10. Hit a great 9-iron to a foot.

And there is a middle stretch of the golf course that's not particularly easy; 14, 15, 16 are kind of tricky holes. I made a really, really great par save on 15. I think that kind of kept my momentum going. You know, stayed at 4-under as opposed to dropping back to 3.

Made an awesome birdie on 16 and then holed out 17 and made a great putt on 18.

So that closing stretch of holes was really solid, kind of propelled me up the leaderboard.

Q. Talk about the hole-out on 17, how far away it was.

MARINA ALEX: Yeah, we had I believe it was 131, slightly downwind. The wind has kind of just been a little bit all over the place here. I don't know if there is some storms coming through.

So should have been into the wind but it was actually playing a little down, which was perfect for me to hit a 9-iron. Hit it online. I thought it might come up a little bit short but pitched three or four short and it went in.

It was really tough to see because I'm standing a bit lower and the green is a touch elevated. The people up by the green were pretty pumped about it.

Q. Is this your first time playing in this event?

MARINA ALEX: No. So since it's returned -- I didn't qualify last year so this is my first year back, but I played when it was Sime Darby. I don't know when that stopped, '16 or '17.

We played the other golf course, but I absolutely love Kuala Lumpur and Malaysia, so I'm happy to be back here.

Q. Is it what you remember it as?

MARINA ALEX: Oh, yeah, yeah. Obviously the course is a little different than the other course, but as far as just the city and the vibes, like this is a great place.

Q. I was going to ask, too, you're from Florida. You mentioned heat probably is not that much of a difference for you.

MARINA ALEX: No. It's really not been that bad.

Q. How much of a advantage do you think that is?

MARINA ALEX: Probably helpful. I know that players have been coming from Korea. Might have been a little cooler last week, and China was probably nice.

I've just been sweating it out in Florida for the last three weeks, so this doesn't feel all that different than being at home. I am sure by the time Sunday comes I'll be absolutely toast, but that's okay.

Q. You said you were at home for a bit working on some stuff. Anything in particular?

MARINA ALEX: Yeah, just with my coach, Claude, and putting coach, Eric, and just kind of tidying up everything.

You know, every golfer has their same tendencies, things they fall back to that are not necessarily -- you know, things they're always trying to work on.

It's comforting in a way. It's always kind of the same issues. As long as you keep tackling them and working on them. It was good to have the three weeks to kind of reset for the final push here. Got a big stretch still coming up, so I needed those few weeks off.

Q. And how important is it to have these breaks and resets as well?

MARINA ALEX: Really important. The season is super long. This will already have been my 20th event, so depending on how the rest of the season plays out, could be upwards of 25. That's a lot of golf.

I mean, I think that players are playing a lot more and so it's good to be mindful of taking a little time off.