Q. Gaby Lopez, 3-under 68. You got off to such a hot start. What was going through your mind?
GABY LOPEZ: I love the golf course. I think we did a great preparation coming towards this event. Hitting the fairway is key. I missed a couple fairways on the back nine. Yeah, it was honestly very solid golf overall.
Q. What did your prep look like earlier this week?
GABY LOPEZ: I came a couple times to see the golf course to get more familiar, and I think it's a fade golf course that you just have to hit fades off the tee and very, very solid tee shots in order to give yourself chances.
You just have to hit it high enough to get it to stop towards some of those pin locations that are like tucked in.
Q. What is it that you love about this golf course?
GABY LOPEZ: What is it that I love? It feels like Mexico. This is exactly the kind of grass that I grew up in, kikuya and poa. I don't know, I feel like I put myself in position that I'm hitting more fades off the tee, and that's helping a lot. But overall I feel like it's just getting a little bit more familiar.
I'm a little bit more adaptable than past years, I would say, with different type of shots and different type of grasses as well. So yeah.
Q. Do you typically come early to the U.S. Women's Open to check out the venue?
GABY LOPEZ: I do. I think this time I came a little bit more than other years. This year I changed my schedule and I've been focusing more on majors. Like I'm barely playing any other events towards the middle of the season. That's something that I didn't do before.
I feel that getting more rest, getting more time to prep exactly what the golf courses are needing is helping me a lot.
Q. Finally, what has made you more adaptable?
GABY LOPEZ: Just be more flexible, a little bit more acceptance on missing. I think so. Yeah, we're going to miss. * we're going to make bogeys. I just have to stay away from double bogeys this week.
It's okay to make three bogeys on the back nine or on the front. It's okay, like golf is not perfect. The more I accept that and the more I'm okay with that, I'm going to be more at peace out there.
Q. Tell me about your apparel, the woman that designed it, and why you like it.
GABY LOPEZ: Yeah, I love it. This is my new apparel. I just signed with them this year. It's Marie Birdie. It's literally the most comfortable piece of clothing I have ever worn. That's exactly why I signed with them. I love it.
It's different, and I think that's what we need. We need different out here. We need colors and design and being able to take the risk.
Q. And a woman-owned business, is that right?
GABY LOPEZ: Rebecca, yeah. Rebekah Alfond, yeah.
Q. Can you talk about supporting her?
GABY LOPEZ: Of course. Rebekah has been such a great ambassador for the game, for kids, for women, for little girls. She started this company with her two daughters, and she's growing the game from the bottom up, and that's exactly how I do it as well.
I love to help little kids and girls and get involved with them, and that's how you inspire kids then teens and then women overall.
Q. Can you tell me the story again. I know at every course you meet with the team and chat with them and thank them for everything they do to take care of the course. How did that come about, and why do you do that?
GABY LOPEZ: Yeah, this week, I'm telling you, everyone is Mexican in the kitchen. Everyone is Mexican in the staff and the groundskeepers. I don't know, I really like to stay close to them. I love to say thank you and hello by their name, and I think they need that respect and they need that showcase as well, because they wake up at 3:00, 4:00 a.m. every single day for us, and we don't see it. We just show up and play.
There's people behind making the work for us, and I think me just taking a little bit of time and just staying close to them, I mean, they're Mexican, I'm Mexican, and I'm very proud to represent them.
Q. You mentioned the grass, the familiarity with the grass. Curious where you grew up playing in Mexico and what you feel like you picked up when you were younger that is helping you potentially be more comfortable with this kind of conditions?
GABY LOPEZ: Yeah, I grew up in Mexico City, and it's all high elevation, which is not like here. It flies way less here. But the same kikuya and the ball sits up, and you just have to be ready to hit some flier shots off the fairway.
That rough, you can get lucky at times, and sometimes it's hitting up, and sometimes it's hitting down. When it's hitting down, it's almost a layup. It's so sticky, it's hard to get it out, especially you're going to have no spin. So you just have to be very specific where you're going to miss if you don't hit the fairway.
Q. Do you feel like what you're familiar with, what's helping you is your ability to read those lies and what's going to be more of a flier and when it's not? Is that what it is?
GABY LOPEZ: Yeah, it's not going to be perfect every time, but it definitely feels that you're going to get a little more pop off your irons, especially long irons.
And then poa is just committing to your lines. Sometimes it's going to get in, and sometimes it's not going to get in because it's so imperfect that the closer you are to your commitment, the better you're going to hit the shot.
Q. You mentioned playing mostly the majors and then focusing on that. Was there a moment when you decided to do that, and what kind of precipitated that decision?
GABY LOPEZ: I guess overall trying to excel at majors has been the goal this year and pretty much everyone's. It's hard to stick to schedule when you don't play as well at the beginning of the season, so that kind of makes it that you have to keep playing.
But I've played good enough that my team, I keep telling my physio, Aaron Bond, I keep telling him, hey, let's go play. Let's go play. He's like, no, we're doing fine. Stick to your routine, stick to this. You can play everything you want on Tour at the end of the season.
Right now let's be smart, let's be focused on what you want to achieve, and at the end of the day, let's put yourself in a position that you can have a shot on the back nine on Sunday.
Q. What non-majors are you playing in between now and the British?
GABY LOPEZ: I mean, it's Scottish. That's a month away.
Yeah, honestly, I feel that I honestly don't play well at Meijer. I don't like the golf course. It's still poa, but it's one of the golf course that's I keep coming back and give it a try. This year, I'm like, you know what, no. Instead of missing the cut, I'm going to skip it and do good prep.
I feel like that's how you create confidence on your preparation.
Q. Yesterday we were talking about your swing change off the tee and the driver, fades off of there. On the back, the front nine here, you got some shots that went left. Rough on, I think, No. 5 and you went left on the bunker on 7. Is that something where now that line is left and it didn't come back, or is it a little off the pull? How did you feel on those shots?
GABY LOPEZ: I felt that I honestly could have hit 3-wood on 5, but I still hit a committed shot, ended up left. Sometimes when you hit a fade, you're going to hit some straight lefts. Like it's fine. It's part of the missing and hitting good shots when you hit into lines.
Then, yeah, I feel that sometimes when you get a little quick, it can get a little funky. In those two shots, I did get quick a little bit. So, yeah, I just got to keep learning why did I miss those shots? How can I do it better tomorrow? And just keep learning.
Like I said, it's just Thursday. I'm going to make bogeys. I'm going to make -- honestly, just feeling very confident with how I've been working behind the scenes. The result might show up, might not show up before.
I was having this passionate attitude that everything needed to go my way and I'm going to get it done and I'm going to get it done, and I was just chasing something that was out of my control.
Right now I'm honestly just stop chasing. Like if it happens, great. If it doesn't, great. I tried my best. But I'm not going to let myself get in the way of me trying too hard out there. I'm going to be kinder to myself. I'm going to accept much more of my mistakes, and I'm going to love Gaby out there because we can get very strict and very rigid out there.
Q. You are really close to Riviera. You can tell on your social media that you can actually see the golf course. That looks amazing. You share that you were relaxing in the pool. How did that put you in a better mindset to compete at the highest level?
GABY LOPEZ: I'm very lucky to be hosted by Mark Lipson. He's an amazing person. He lives here right five minutes away, which is a huge advantage here in L.A.
Yeah, I've been kind of doing more of recovery, more chilling. This golf course and this tournament is going to tense us up by nature. So the more relaxed I am, probably the better.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports