Q. Are you okay with this heat?
ALBANE VALENZUELA: Yeah, I think as golfers we're used to playing every single climate. Whether that's in Scotland an it's absolutely freezing and you're hoping for this kind of weather, when you're in this weather you're just hoping for Scotland. So this is golf, we're an outdoor sport and we played in Dallas, Texas this year and it was probably even worse than this. I was legitimately dying. So it's tough, but it's part of the deal.
Q. So it's better than what was going on in Texas?
ALBANE VALENZUELA: I think so. I think Texas I was really, really dying only the course. I don't know if you remember, but it was hot. It was worse than this. Super humid. This is really hot.
Q. Completely another topic that I'm looking at into is like when you saw like men golfing round a lot of top players dropped out, they didn't really come to join the Olympics. But here a lot of female golfers are now competing for the Olympics, I wonder why a lot of like you players like you come to play at the Olympics. Is that important as like majors?
ALBANE VALENZUELA: It's huge and I think the guys that are not coming are missing out, it's as easy as that. I always said that the Olympics was the best experience I've had as a golfer. I think it doesn't get better than that. And then some players say golf is not an Olympic sport. I think we're lucky that it's not an Olympic sport and we're lucky that our life doesn't depend on this week. Like I have some really good friends from the swimming team and this is really their week. We're lucky that we still have majors and a lot of events. But I think the Olympics is honestly the best thing that could have happened for golf. It's going to give so much more exposure. I see my friends back home, they don't understand anything about golf, but they understand I'm an Olympian and they think that's the coolest thing. So I think it's awesome and I'm really, really happy to be here.
Q. Is there any kind of pride for country?
ALBANE VALENZUELA: Huge, huge, huge, huge. I think it's, you just have goose bumps when you tee off. You're playing not just for yourself but for your country. You have people rooting for you. I mean, even when I was watching the Olympics I never rooted so hard for people I didn't know just because I see them wearing the Swiss flag and it's, I have goose bumps just thinking about like it, it's just so big. I think it doesn't get bigger in sports to represent your country and you know that people are watching and rooting for you, so it's huge.
Q. Must be special for you to like, because I read about you and then you mostly spent your time in the U.S., you grew up there.
ALBANE VALENZUELA: I'm a very global person. I think I'm a global citizen, that's kind of -- I was born in U.S., grew up in Mexico, France, my parents live in the Bahamas, I've been all over the place. So I think a place like the Olympics actually really resonates with me, it's just, I see people from all over the globe, with all languages and it's just incredible how sport can really bring all cultures together in just one week. And you see the camaraderie around the village, it's just spectacular, exchanging pins, a lot of things that really make the Olympic experience special. And definitely really proud to be Swiss and this is really my home for me, so I'm really proud to be here for them.
Q. What was the experience of the round like now that you're able to have a Alexis with you too?
ALBANE VALENZUELA: It was great. He was so much help today, he really knew what to tell me on course. He was just like, take a deep breath, good posture, go for it. And I think hearing him over and over say a lot of positive things like really sunk in and I felt I was really calm out there. I had an awful warm up. When I say awful, it was horrible. Monday I was like I can't hit a golf ball and today just everything was fine. So I think I managed to really disassociate practice from tournament and just really get into competitive mood and rely on my instincts and just play golf. But not think about anything, I just played golf and I really had fun doing that.
Q. What was the best part of the golf today?
ALBANE VALENZUELA: I hit some good shots, I felt like I was rolling the ball really well on the putts, just didn't make a putt, a lot of lipouts. Almost too pure, they're just that pure, I think they take sneaky breaks at the end and sometimes it just turned at the end on you. But I missed some shots too and I think that's just golf. You're going to miss some shots. I snap hooked one and I pushed one and, whatever, the rest was pretty much in the fairway. So that's just golf.
Q. Ultimately you all got to get to one spot doesn't matter how you get it there.
ALBANE VALENZUELA: Exactly.
Q. You said it was just as hot in Dallas but this is crazy hot. What was your strategy for dealing with it today?
ALBANE VALENZUELA: A lot of water. I also, I didn't eat as much as usual, but I definitely tried to still have a little bit of sugar throughout the round just to keep my energy a little bit up and I was just putting ice as much as possible, I had my brother always standing right next to me with a towel to keep my hands dry. I think that's the hardest part about playing in the heat is your, just your hands feel sweaty, you don't have as much control of the grip. But it's just challenging. But I think I better play in crazy hot weather than super cold. I don't do well in the cold. I'm much better in the heat. At least my muscles feel good, it's loose, doesn't get looser than that, I feel like a vegetable now. So it was good.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports