U.S. Women's Amateur Championship

Friday, August 7, 2020

Rockville, Maryland, USA

Woodmont Country Club

Kaleigh Tefler

Quick Quotes


Q. So playing in your first U.S. Women's Amateur and you're going on, you're a quarterfinalist, how do you feel?

KALEIGH TELFER: I mean, it feels great honestly. I haven't really thought about it much, but yeah, I mean, I came here to win it, and even though it's my first time, so I'm just one step closer.

Q. What changed from the first round to this afternoon's round?

KALEIGH TELFER: I just figured something out on the range and I just told my caddie to just remind me of a few holes or so, and it just really worked, and I'm glad I found something because I could put the pressure on early.

Q. What does this do for your confidence?

KALEIGH TELFER: Rachel is a great player and I respect her a lot. Definitely coming off confident but tomorrow is another day, different player, and just got to start from scratch again.

I knew she was a really good player and she just won her last two events in a row, and I knew it was going to be a tough battle out there and I had to have my A Game and I managed to pull it off.

Q. I think it was 14, maybe one of the best shots I saw all day. The approach shot that you had on 14, how big was that, getting another one up there?

KALEIGH TELFER: That was huge for me. It was just the turning point I think of the match and my confidence, too. I hit a few close today but that was probably the best one.

Q. I wanted to ask about your background, coming from South Africa. What made you choose Auburn?

KALEIGH TELFER: I got recruited by them. I had a few other offers, and I visited three schools and I walked on to Auburn campus and I just knew it was for me.

Q. Where else did you visit?

KALEIGH TELFER: I visited North Carolina and Kansas State.

I got recruited. I played a lot of AJGA events here.

Q. Do you have any South African golfers that you really look up to?

KALEIGH TELFER: Yeah, for sure, there's Ashleigh Simon, now Ashleigh Buhai. She plays on the LPGA Tour. She just finished Top-20 last week, her first tournament back.

So I definitely look up to her and then there's a lot of South African guys in the top two. Ernie Els, for sure. I was in his foundation, came through his foundation as a junior, so yeah, he supported me a lot throughout the whole process.

Q. How many texts on your phone?

KALEIGH TELFER: Yeah, so many. I was on the phone to my parents and I just could hear it buzzing the whole time.

Q. What did your parents say?

KALEIGH TELFER: They are just over the moon. They weren't expecting much from me, this tournament. I haven't played a tournament for three months, and our golf course only opened backup a month ago. So I haven't played any golf, honestly so yeah, they are just over the moon.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
100483-1-1003 2020-08-07 20:55:00 GMT

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