THE MODERATOR: Okay, here in the media center at the Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give. We are here with Bailey Davis. Third LPGA Tour start, U.S. Open and a Dow Championship. What does it mean to be here this week playing at the Meijer LPGA Classic?
BAILEY DAVIS: Yeah, I'm super grateful. I feel like those two events under my belt gives me more experience and time out here and just getting more comfortable.
I'm really grateful for this experience and the opportunity to just continue getting more comfortable out here in these events.
Q. Talk about winning the John Shippen Women's Invitational. What did that mean?
BAILEY DAVIS: Yeah, it was awesome. It's an event I try to play in every year. It's around my peers and friends, and so I really wanted to win it this year and I knew I had a good chance and my game felt really good, and I am super excited I was able to pull it off.
Q. So this is your third LPGA event here, so the John Shippen Women's Invitational has been here for the past few years, right? You're relatively familiar with the course. Talk about not only winning the tournament, but playing in an LPGA Tour event at a course that you're familiar with.
BAILEY DAVIS: Yeah, it was nice to have some familiarity with the course to be able to just know where I want to place my tee shots and whatnot, knowing the speed of the greens. Just understanding that it's going to be a lot faster than maybe what I'm used to.
I feel like playing in the SEC kind of prepares you for that as well. So it's nice to just have the visuals and just understanding where you want to place the ball.
Q. With you being a recent graduate from Tennessee, so being out here, one, are you soaking it all in? Are you just talking to folks here just getting a little the lay of the land for this potentially to be your future?
BAILEY DAVIS: Yeah, I mean, I'm trying to -- I haven't really made any friends out here, but I'm trying to just see what it's all about, just the routine of the day. It's very different. They treat you really nicely out here, so I'm really grateful for that.
I haven't really spoken to many girls just because I don't really know that many girls. A lot of the girls that competed in the SEC are older than me, so I kind of know the faces and see the names, but I don't really know them personally.
It's nice to be in this environment and continuing to just try to get more comfortable every day.
Q. The John Shippen Women's Invitational, you said you played in it every year. How important is that, how important is that initiative in the grand scheme of things in the game of golf?
BAILEY DAVIS: Yeah, I think it's really important for just to see people that look like you and that you can relate to. When I play it every year all the girls in the field look like myself, so I think it's just important to have that representation so that people, girls that are younger can see us and see that this is a game for us as well.
Q. And looking ahead to the Dow Championship in a couple weeks. So you played it before as a result of this tournament. Do you have a partner picked?
BAILEY DAVIS: Yeast, Allyn Stephens; she plays at Tulsa.
Q. How looking forward are you to be playing at Dow later this month?
BAILEY DAVIS: I'm really excited to play in the Dow. Like you said, I played in it before, so I think just having that experience, I just feel like I'm a much better player than I was and much better player at this level.
So I think that's really helped me to be able to perform this week and at the Dow.
Q. With that being a team event, when you played in it last did you channel your NCAA team environment and experience, and are you going to channel that when you play the Dow in a couple weeks?
BAILEY DAVIS: I think so. I think playing as a team at Tennessee, just our chemistry is really important, so that allows me to play better when I really enjoy who I'm playing with and for.
So I think my relationship with Allyn is really going to help that because her and I are good friends. So us just having that chemistry is just going to make us play better.
Q. After Dow, looking ahead, what's the future for Bailey Davis?
BAILEY DAVIS: Yeah, I think it's professional golf. I'm an amateur so just exploring my options. The plan is to go to Q-School and try to play professionally. I think this just gives me more experience and it's a great opportunity for me, and I really hope I can play well this week.
Q. You have experience playing at a team event and that experience in the U.S. Open. Talk about the differences between playing at the highest level in women's golf, both of those experiences as a team and an individual?
BAILEY DAVIS: Yeah, it's very different. You know, both experiences you're playing at the highest level. I feel competing at Tennessee you're competing against the best girls in the world, and also competing at the U.S. Open you're competing against the best professionals in the world.
They're both at the highest level. I feel as though the U.S. Open you're really focused on yourself and trying to do everything you can to play your best golf.
With the team, you're trying to help the team as much as you can. Sometimes you don't have your best game but you're like, okay, I posted a decent score for my team and that will do.
At the U.S. Open I'm out there for myself and that's it.
Q. A little bit earlier today we got to talk to Carolina Lopez Chacarra, another recent graduate competing this week. She talked about how much of a difference it is going from college where your travel is arranged for you, your practice times are arranged for you, to this environment where it's completely up to you. Haw has that transition been, and who is with you this week as part of your team?
BAILEY DAVIS: Yeah, it's been interesting. It's very interesting when you have to take care of everything on your own and you don't have a team to take care of that for you. We're kind of in the phase where we're both still amateurs and transitioning so to the next phase we may not have it all figured out yet, but it definitely has been a lot.
With me this week is just my caddie. His name is Marcus Byrd. He's a good friend of mine. We kind of grew up together. My parents weren't able to make it out this week which is kind of unfortunate, but it's okay. I know they're supporting from afar.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports