Q. Here with Anne van Dam after her first round of the AmazingCre Portland Classic. Anne, looking at your scorecard, a lot of birdies from the start. How did you sort of prepare yourself for the round today and how did you get off to that great start?
ANNE VAN DAM: Yeah, I just went about it like any other day. Didn't get off to the greatest start. Was (indiscernible) on ten and chip, three-putt, so that was not my best start.
I kind of kept and started hitting a lot of good shots afterwards. Hit it real close as well, so I had a lot of like respect four, five, six foot putt for birdies, which was nice.
Yeah, kind of pulled that momentum through on my back nine, the front nine. Yeah, could have definitely had a few more. But overall very pleased with today.
Q. I forgot you start on the back nine.
ANNE VAN DAM: Uh-huh.
Q. But you turned around it and had a lot of birdies at the beginning of the front nine.
ANNE VAN DAM: Yeah.
Q. What did you do to sort of turn it around on the front?
ANNE VAN DAM: Yeah, just stayed patient, just go shot by shot.
I know on this course there is a lot of birdies out there, but also very easily bogeys made if you play too aggressive or if hit it on the wrong side of the pin.
Yeah, I was just focusing on putting in the fairway first, and then see if I had a good number and if I could attack or just play kind of safe and give myself good chance for birdie.
Q. What's particularly challenging about course this week and particularly easy?
ANNE VAN DAM: Just the greens. You want to be on the right side of the hole. Most of the greens you don't want to be past the pin position because you're going to have very fast putts coming down, and overall today I did that pretty well.
Yeah, you want to just leave yourself uphill putts.
Q. What have you been working on in practice off the golf course that you think has improved for you lately, if anything?
ANNE VAN DAM: Not anything in particular. I feel like just really focusing on the mental side of the game. Just trying to be a little bit more relaxed, patient, and just really go one shot at a time.
Q. How do you work on that, the mental side of the game? I know it's different for every player and it's a hard question.
ANNE VAN DAM: Yeah, just have to be very strict with yourself. For me, yeah, it's all about recognizing when you either get a little irritated or a little bit out of it. When you're like whatever, it's not going my way, to just really say, okay, I have 12 more holes, or two more shots.
It's really being disciplined and holding yourself accountable for how you go into each shot.
Q. I know it's still early in the week, only been one day, but it close to the top. Does that help you sleep better at night or change the game plan at all?
ANNE VAN DAM: For sure every round makes you feel a little bit better. Tomorrow we're off very early so, yeah, just in a good mood. Going to got some food, go to bed, and wake up early.
Q. How important is confidence for that mental strength that you have been talking about?
ANNE VAN DAM: It's everything. The better you play the better results you get, the more confident you are for sure.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports