Q. How does it feel to be back at Pinehurst for the second U.S. Adaptive Open?
KIM MOORE: Oh, it feels exciting. It's something I was looking forward to. It just holds great memory, and I'm just excited to be back and seeing some familiar faces and a lot of new faces, as well. It's just exciting to see the growth of the participants and the women's field getting a little bit bigger, as well.
I'm just excited to be back on a great course and a great venue with all the history. Hopefully we can do something special again.
Q. How would you say your experience was last year, and what did it mean to leave with the overall women's championship?
KIM MOORE: You know, the experience was honestly a little different than I thought it would be going into it, being the first woman. I didn't know what to expect. But it exceeded my expectations when I got here, just the overall atmosphere and all the volunteers and just the camaraderie and the competitiveness within the event and just how Pinehurst treated us. It was such a pleasure.
Then to come away with a victory, that's always my goal is to do the best I can every time I play, and hopefully win. It was a really good outcome, and I was excited to obviously be the first woman to get my name etched on that trophy.
Hopefully I can add my name again just underneath that this year.
Q. How did your players at Western Michigan celebrate with you after the win?
KIM MOORE: Oh, they were just very congratulatory. We actually got invited to play in a celebrity shootout with Jack Nicklaus and some others, local celebrities, and I was able to bring my team to that event. It was a really cool way for them to see me play and also just kind of understand a little bit more the scope of that event and what it meant to USGA and the country.
They were really excited to go and be entertained by that event.
I think I was able to earn a little bit more respect. They thought Coach was pretty cool.
Q. How would you say your game is right now as you head into the second U.S. Adaptive Open?
KIM MOORE: I've been practicing a little bit. I was able to play in a couple tournaments prior, which I think kind of helped me prepare for just that feel. But it's a little bit different of a course than what I'm supposed to, and the grass and the conditions are a little different than what I'm used to.
I'm expecting to kind of take what I learned last year and hopefully improve on that.
But it feels pretty good. I'm hitting the ball pretty decent I feel. I think it's going to come down to just some short game. Short game is always the most important part of the game anyways, and I think it's going to really come down to that.
Hopefully that will be on par. But I think the strategy going into this week is hit greens and get pars, just kind of like what I did last year. Try to get pars. If I get some birdies in there, great. If not, I'm okay with that, too.
I think if I can par them to death, I think I'll be okay.
Q. That seems to be the strategy at a lot of U.S. Open courses.
KIM MOORE: Yeah.
Q. How do you feel this Pinehurst No. 6 fits your game, and do you have a favorite hole here?
KIM MOORE: Yeah, it's a great venue. I really like No. 18. I think it's a great finishing hole. It's cool to be able to see all the players come up. If you're standing by the green, it's kind of downhill, so you can get some really good views coming into that green.
I think 1 is a nice little par-5 to start out with, one that I can almost in reach two pretty well and get pretty close, so I think that's a good starting goal to maybe try and start off strong.
But yeah, I think there's a lot of great character on this golf course. A lot of different holes, and I'm all about playing different holes and having different setups, so I think it's a good fit for my eye.
Like I said, I think it's going to come down to short game, and somebody who's chipping and putting well I think will do well. Hopefully that's me, but I'm going to try my best and continue to, like I said, get pars.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports