Q. You have an LPGA Tour card in your hand. Just kind of describe what that feeling is like right now?
RILEY RENNELL: It's crazy. The beginning the year I barely got into the first Epson. I got into Kansas and it was going to be the last opportunity that I had to get like a full season of Epson Tour.
(Indiscernible) I think it was T15 or T12 in Kansas, and that vaulted my year. Got in all the other events. Played really good final part of the season.
This is just unreal. I can't believe I've come this far. I really worked hard for it and I'm so proud of myself, and like I'm so a thankful for my team and my mom and dad, the people that got me here.
Q. Your grandma is here this week. To be able to do what you did this week, you said it was a little bit of a struggle, but got your card and got through. What does that mean to be able to do that in front of your family?
RILEY RENNELL: It means everything. My grandmother had a stroke in 2020 so we didn't know if she was going to be here. Like we didn't know if she was going to like be here, so it means the world to me that she could come out, and my family and mom could come out and watch me do this.
My mom worked like two jobs just to like help because it's expensive to -- she worked two jobs to help me find what I wanted to do. I wouldn't have been able to do it without her.
Q. I mean, today I know was kind of a grind. What was going through your head out there trying to just keep the wheels on the ground and just keep the golf in front of you?
RILEY RENNELL: I felt like I was playing good golf. I was hitting some good shots, but like I was either just barely on the wrong sides of the tier or just were not quite funneling to the pin.
I made a couple good putts like in the -- like the front nine to the beginning of the back nine, but just feel like I kept hitting good shots and kept lipping out. I just kind of got frustrated.
The last -- on 16 I jammed a putt a little too hard and three-putted from like 20 feet. Like oh, my God. I thought I needed (indiscernible) or even, and my dad was like, it's okay, just get it home. So I tried to stay positive, one shot at a time. He was just like, whatever happens, it's okay.
So that's just one shot at time; get it in the hole.
Q. I don't think you knew it at the time, that testy little two-footer on the last, you're now currently inside the top 20. There is golf to be played, but right now you're inside the top 20 and ties. That last putt, what was going through your mind?
RILEY RENNELL: That was a quick -- it was more like three feet but straight down the hill and I'm thinking, oh, I could putt this off the green. But then I'm like, do not think that. That's a horrible thought to have.
I was like, okay, don't think that. That's a horrible thought to have. So I was like, okay, left edge, smooth stoke, that will get it done. My dad always tells me like Payne Stewart, because his wife always would like hold his head in practice to keep it still. So he says, Payne Stewart. I'm like, okay, keep that head still.
Then it just rolled right on in.
Q. Finally, when you hear -- it's a little bit of alliterative, but when you hear Riley Rennell, LPGA Tour rookie, what does that mean to you? And just the choices you've made in your life to get to this moment, what does that mean to you?
RILEY RENNELL: It means so much to me. Like I've worked my entire like -- basically my entire life since junior golf. I've seen the LPGA pros and looked up to them and really like wanted -- I mean, I wanted something along the lines of golf, but I just like kept getting better every year, and I couldn't imagine in high school getting to this point.
So to be here is amazing. It's surreal.
Fastscripts by ASAP Sports...
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports