THE MODERATOR: Here with Amy Olson after her first round here at the Aberdeen Standard Investments Ladies Scottish Open. What's it like coming over here to Scotland and how comfortable are you feeling on the links?
AMY OLSON: Yeah, I really enjoy playing golf over here, and it's a little bit different style. You have to use your imagination, and that's certainly true in the wind today. That played a huge factor but it felt good to get off to a good start.
THE MODERATOR: You said earlier off camera, but this weather is definitely different than the last few days we've had. Does this feel more like Scottish weather?
AMY OLSON: Yeah, for sure. The first couple days we were all looking around; did we land in the right spot? The sun was shining and warm. Today was definitely more what we expect coming over here. Like I said, I really enjoy this type of golf, so it was fun to get off to a good start.
THE MODERATOR: How have you adjusted to the protocols here?
AMY OLSON: Yeah, definitely a little bit stricter here than in the States. I think it's gone really smoothly and the tournament has done a great job of just making sure we had everything we need and communicating to us. So it's different, but I think we're all just happy to be playing.
THE MODERATOR: I think Inverness was the closest thing we had to what the links is like over here. You did have a T-16 finish there. Was that kind of preparation for what was to come here this weekend.
AMY OLSON: Yeah, there's a lot of similarities between Inverness and here, especially the first couple days of Inverness when it was really firm, and so that I think has prepared me a little bit figuring out how far my club is going to roll out. I actually have 13 new clubs in the bag since February. Inverness was helpful to see, okay, how far of they flying, how far are they rolling out and just being able to feel comfortable judging yardages.
THE MODERATOR: So 13 new clubs in the bag. Did you have those new clubs when you got the second-place finish at the Australian Open?
AMY OLSON: No. That was the old set. I did a lot of work during the time off, and I have 13 different ones since my second at the Australian Open.
THE MODERATOR: How does it feel to continue working to make sure these feel right or just feel comfortable with these new clubs? We've only had a few events this year. Is that a challenge that you're overcoming as you're playing?
AMY OLSON: Golf is so funny. You're always overcoming changes. So you're always making changes, whether it's to your equipment, your stroke, your equipment to match your swing changes. It's an evolving process and you never have it 100 percent figured out. You're all learning. I was doing a lot during the quarantine, but until you put it in competition, you don't always know, and you don't fully trust it. I think these first couple weeks have been very helpful for me.
Q. You've had a couple brilliant rounds since the restart. What do you attribute this to, and have there been any swing changes and how have you come back so hot?
AMY OLSON: There haven't really been too many swing changes at all. I feel like I've gotten to a bit of a place in my swing where I'm kind of just -- there's adjustments that you have to make each week. I have my tendencies still that I have to mitigate. But for the most part, I'm really on track with my swing and feel comfortable with what I'm doing. My hot rounds are when my putter works, and you know, I think I zeroed in on something this week that I really like, and I was feeling really good out there over the putter, and so I'm really excited about where that's going to go.
Q. What is it?
AMY OLSON: Yeah, it's just a bit of a feel in how I'm taking the putter back and moving it through, a little bit steeper, and it just has a really solid feel to me.
Q. And you didn't spend quarantine in a tropical paradise. I think it snowed in Fargo in May. How did you get the work done or was it just that you took a lot of time off?
AMY OLSON: At first I did, I took a second off-season. It was probably five weeks without touching a club after things got canceled in March. So then once the weather started getting better in May, I started practising again and honestly just playing more than practising and I think that was good for me, not -- you know, spending too much time working on technical stuff.
Q. I was hoping you could talk about just the transition of playing in Toledo to coming over to Scotland and how the protocols are different, and how you feel it's going so far in terms of being overseas.
AMY OLSON: Yeah, honestly, I mean, I feel like it's gone really well from Toledo to Edinburgh. They really kept us, I felt like, in a bubble as much as they could. Once we got into the hotel, we were all tested and couldn't really leave our rooms until we got our results, and even since then, it's just been golf course and hotel. So it's definitely been very strict, but I definitely feel very comfortable and safe, which is always a positive.
Q. And in terms of the course conditions and transitioning from meadows to links golf, how did you -- obviously you did it well. How do you adapt so well so quickly?
AMY OLSON: The practise rounds obviously help a lot. Going from Inverness to Highland Meadows what was a huge adjustment, because Inverness you're trying to land everything on the front of the green and let it roll out and Highland Meadows, you were lucky if you got two yards of roll-out. That was a bit of a mental adjustment that you could be way more aggressive at attacking pins, so I felt like I had to dial back more to what we were doing at Inverness this week.
THE MODERATOR: In North Dakota, you were able to play a really fun tournament with some special people. Could you explain that for us, and as well, what did that do to keep you sharp, but also have fun at the same time?
AMY OLSON: Yeah, I did, because I had basically one semi-competitive round over the off-time, and it was just a charity match. I teamed up with actor Josh Duhamel and we played against PGA TOUR player Tom Hoge and three-time Stanley Cup Champion Matt Cullen. All of us are local to either Minnesota or North Dakota. It was a made-for-TV special, and it was fun, definitely laid back, lighthearted, lots of jokes, lots of banter but a little bit competitive to where I did have to practise for a couple weeks so I didn't make a fool out of myself coming off five weeks of not touching a club.
We did raise over $250,000 for charity and that was really important for our community, pretty much every charity I think during this time has been really hard, a lot of donations are down, and so being able to do something that gives back, I mean, charities are still doing, if not more work than ever, so it was nice to be able to provide support for some local charities.
Q. Three weeks in now and we've had to adapt to a lot of changes, how comfortable have you become playing without fans and just the quiet of being out there on your own?
AMY OLSON: Yeah, it's interesting. I was curious how that would feel and I think we've all adapted pretty quickly. There's a few times where you hit a really good shot and the one volunteer claps for you, but it just feels like kind of a joke to be honest. You know, so we definitely had some lighthearted moments, but I think we've all adapted pretty quickly.
THE MODERATOR: You now have one competitive round under your belt, crossing our fingers for not another fog or weather delay, but what is there to improve upon tomorrow?
AMY OLSON: I missed way more fairways today than I wanted to. I had to chip out of the fescue on one hole and didn't have the angles into the pins that I want. The putter was hot; I'm really excited about where that's going, but definitely some things to tighten up on the long game.
Q. When did you first become comfortable on links golf?
AMY OLSON: That's a really good question.
I remember coming over here and I'm like, how is my 5-iron going 240 yards when it generally carries 175, and then the next hole it will go 160 into the wind. So just trying to use your imagination and judge the wind and judge how firm things can be, but I think somewhere around my third or fourth British Open, I really started to get the feel of it and to become a little more comfortable riding the wind and using it to kind of help you out.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports