Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational

Thursday, July 15, 2021

Midland, Michigan, USA

Midland Country Club

Celine Herbin

Nuria Iturrioz

Press Conference


THE MODERATOR: First I have to know the team name for this week.

NURIA ITURRIOZ: Cafe Ole, coffee with milk in French, but with Ole is the Spanish word.

THE MODERATOR: Who came up with that one this week?

NURIA ITURRIOZ: Both.

CELINE HERBIN: We were together thinking about names.

NURIA ITURRIOZ: We wanted to be --

CELINE HERBIN: Started with french fries and ended with Cafe Ole.

THE MODERATOR: Let's talk about the second day here. Celine, I'll start with you. What was making you guys feel so comfortable on this course?

CELINE HERBIN: The truth is we really like to play together, I think, and we are very comfortable. Obviously Nuria played very, very well the front nine, like I almost never putt, and I could make some putts on the back nine, so it was a very team effort. It was awesome.

THE MODERATOR: I feel as if between the two of you, you both made up for each other when something wasn't going right. Like as you said, you were hotter on the front nine or the back nine. How much fun is it playing with Celine?

NURIA ITURRIOZ: The good thing is she speaks Spanish, so for me it's perfect, because the other languages for me are too hard, so it's good.

And then we know each other from the LET, so it's been like almost five years that we know each other, and we play a lot together. So I feel really good with her, and I think we make a good team.

THE MODERATOR: Celine, when did you guys decide you wanted to play this event together?

CELINE HERBIN: The truth is it was a few weeks before the end of entries. I said, Let's see if we can play together, it would be nice. We were not sure if we would be able to get into the tournament, and then finally we could get in in the last -- it was the last entry that was official, but definitely a few weeks before.

NURIA ITURRIOZ: We talked about it in Hawai'i.

CELINE HERBIN: Yeah, a lot of days before.

Q. This is such an exciting event. What do you like most about this kind of format?

NURIA ITURRIOZ: I love it. I feel like I just played -- when I was an amateur in the team format, so -- and I love it. It's a good preparation for Solheim Cup, and it's a good thing that sometimes you are too competitive that you don't support each other in the other player.

So this format is like more relaxed in that way, so like you are having more fun in the competition.

Q. Celine, how much trust do you have in her game when you guys are playing?

CELINE HERBIN: The truth is that I have plenty of trust in her game. I had even before the tournament started. I know she's a very good player, and I was quite confident we're going to be a good team, we're going to enjoy the week.

As she said, I love to play with someone on a team and we miss that team spirit a lot on Tour during the normal season, so it's an awesome week to play and to enjoy.

Q. Celine, do you feel kind of at home with the Dow Company, being a biochemical engineer yourself?

CELINE HERBIN: Indeed. It's funny because it's definitely a company for who I could work. A few years ago I decided to get another hall pass and to be a professional golfer. But you never know, maybe in a few years I can be an ambassador for them.

Q. Have you told Dow that you are a biochemical -- has anyone come up to you and said, Oh, same here?

CELINE HERBIN: Not yet, but maybe it's going to come if we win on Saturday.

Q. How excited are you for this weekend?

NURIA ITURRIOZ: I love it. I love to be there on the weekend, so just be the same and be relaxed and enjoy. Enjoy, that's the key.

CELINE HERBIN: I think our strength is the team spirit that we have, so we are ready to support each other, and it's going to be our strength this weekend.

Our games are very similar so there is not really a difference to balance, so we can really trust each other a lot, so that's also exciting for the weekend.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
110259-1-1041 2021-07-15 21:14:00 GMT

ASAP sports

tech 129