Q. Congrats on an amazing week. Obviously fell short today. Can you guys talk about the way that you guys fought out there today?
MARY MILLER: It was pretty hard with the way like they made a bunch of putts, and some of them even outside 20 feet. Right off the bat, like they kind of started out making a few big ones, and we're like okay, maybe they won't make them all day, but they kind of did.
We tried to just stick to our game plan. We knew our birdies would come, and they did come, but it just wasn't the right timing and wasn't enough of them. They have strong putters. When you have strong putters, it's really hard to beat that.
SOPHIE LINDER: Yeah, that's good. That's perfect. Nothing else to say.
Q. As you look back on your experience as a whole throughout the week, what did you think about the championship, playing together in this format? What did you think about the whole experience?
SOPHIE LINDER: Any USGA event is a treat to come play. To play with a teammate -- we play together all year, but to come here together, it's really different, just kind of let loose and have fun.
Overall, it was a great experience for us, again, in between SECs and Regionals, not only for college, but for ourselves. We just had a fun time. I think overall it was a great week.
MARY MILLER: Yeah, any time you get to compete in a USGA event on the big stage and kind of make it more towards the end, just getting that experience for us and going back with our team and even individually, it's nice to be put in these situations and gain experience from them. So yeah.
Q. How do you look to use your experience this week as you move along into regionals and beyond?
SOPHIE LINDER: For me, it taught me to play a lot freer, having a partner. Also in general coming in, I played free. I want to take that into Regionals and fire at some pins more than I have been and let loose a little bit.
MARY MILLER: It's just a constant grind, as always. It just goes to show you might not have your best stuff in the week, but you can still put together a good round. We didn't even have our best stuff today, and we were still 4-under. They just outplayed us, and there's nothing you can do about it.
That's where you tip your hat to them. You all played good today. You earned it. We just kind of had to keep our heads up and move forward. I think learning to do that time and time again, like when we get in these situations, it will kind of help the emotions. You won't get as frustrated. You've been through it before, and you'll kind of be more level headed going forward.
SOPHIE LINDER: I think that's important for the next two events. Regionals are tough to get through, and having that mindset of being level headed will help us through the next two events.
Q. That actually transitions nicely into some of the questions I was told to ask you. You talked about it a little bit, but why did the four-ball and playing in it make sense for both you guys as you entered into regionals coming up?
SOPHIE LINDER: I guess it didn't really make sense. We're cramming it in between SECs and Regionals. And it's our finals week. We're having finals right now. It didn't really make sense time-wise, but we wanted to make it make sense. We wanted to come out and compete and try to get wins. We wanted to come out here and play hard, and I think that's what we did.
MARY MILLER: That's well said. Any time you can compete to win somewhere, you kind of want to go. It's kind of a no brainer for us to be here.
Q. How did your friendship develop after you transferred from Ole Miss to Georgia Southern?
SOPHIE LINDER: That's your call.
MARY MILLER: I mean, I kind of forced myself on her. She didn't have a roommate, and I was on my visit in May, and I was like, hey, can I live with you next year? She was like what?
SOPHIE LINDER: It was very fast.
MARY MILLER: I said I'm committing. Can I live with you? She's like yeah. So I kind of made her be friends. No, I'm kidding (laughter).
I just showed up on your doorstep in August, well, I'm here. Kind of showed up like a wide-eyed puppy freshman because I'd never seen anything SEC before. She really just kind of guided me through the first semester, and she's really helped me grow a lot.
It was kind of a mentor relationship when I first showed up. I looked up to Sophie a lot. Now being here playing with her showed me how we can work together as teammates and everything. She's one of my really good friends.
SOPHIE LINDER: We're a lot alike. I feel like that helped her to get to know me and me get to know her. I think we're alike in a lot of ways. We kind of just clicked.
Q. You talked about it a little bit before earlier in the week. What makes your partnership work so well in this format, especially under all the pressure you faced in match play?
SOPHIE LINDER: I think we're both pretty level headed. I know sometimes I get frustrated and try not to. We're both kind of chill and calm, and we don't let our emotions get too high. That works well in our partnership. Again, we're a lot alike in ways off the golf course. That kind of gels together in a sense.
MARY MILLER: I think my big word is reliability. If I get out of position this week, I knew Sophie was reliable. I knew she was going to be in position. I knew she was going to pick it up for us. I like trusted in her and knew she was going to be there for me as a partner. That's even better in college golf. I know when we tee it up on the first tee, she's going to be there as a teammate as well.
That helped me going into this week. Just knowing, it's okay to be out of position. Don't freak out. Sophie's got my back. Just go from there. Trust in her.
SOPHIE LINDER: Well said.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports