Women’s Olympic Golf Competition

Wednesday, 4 August 2021

Saitama City, Saitama, Japan

Kasumigaseki Country Club

Alena Sharp

Quick Quotes


Q. (No Microphone.)

ALENA SHARP: Played solid all day and to finish like that is not, obviously, great. But three more days to go.

Q. You had a lot of bounce backs out there. How did you feel about that?

ALENA SHARP: Yeah I'm hitting my wedges really well. Every time I had a wedge in my hand I hit it wasn't 12 feet. So drive it a little better tomorrow, have some more opportunities in the fairway and I'm happy with how I played, that's a bad taste in my mouth, doing that on the last hole, especially from the fairway after hitting a really good drive. So take the positives and move on to tomorrow.

Q. It's a stiff test out there. What did you make of the layout and the length, it's a pretty long course?

ALENA SHARP: It's playing long today for sure. They didn't move anything up, so it's playing the yardage. I know it's warm and ball might be going a little bit further, but I expect to see maybe a little bit of movement tomorrow on some of the tees, like make a par-5 reachable maybe, like the guys had. So we'll see.

Q. You goes don't have a lot to say about that, but I mean did anybody explain that to the players?

ALENA SHARP: No. I mean, we saw the yardage setup when we played and I was just thinking they will move stuff around. So maybe they will start doing that tomorrow, maybe they just wanted to get one round done with the yardage they set it at and they will move it around a little bit, we'll see. It's a guessing game usually.

Q. Is anything reachable in two?

ALENA SHARP: No. I mean not -- I mean I guess Anne van Dam could have gotten on 5 in two. She hit a really good drive down there so she probably could have gotten there in two. Maybe just a handful of players.

Q. The scouting report had been to really attack the course and be aggressive. How did you find that today? Did you find that playing aggressive was the way to go?

ALENA SHARP: I mean, I don't think that's accurate at all. Because the guys hit it and they suck it back. I didn't get much spin back today. So you have to use the slopes into the pins, I think. Wedges were releasing. Like sand wedges were releasing. So I think it's just a different game for us, we have to be a little bit smarter and use the slopes to get it to the flags. I don't think you can go right at pins, we just don't spin it like the men do.

Q. You had a birdie to start the day, how encouraging is that on the first hole to come out strong?

ALENA SHARP: Oh, it was nice to start with a birdie. Hit a nice shot in there and made a long putt. It's like, okay, that's always good to start with a birdie for sure. I made a nice shot into the green and made the putt. So that was good. Gives you a little confidence to start the day for sure.

Q. How do you, I know you said sour taste to finish. Like when you feel like you played quite well the entire day and then 18 doesn't go your way, how do you process that, like how do you put that behind you and kind of go forward?

ALENA SHARP: Probably go bang some drivers, get some tension out. But, I mean, I have to just be better at sitting down. I do a journal so I'll go through the holes and write down what I did well on each hole and that will make that go away. It will be out of my mind by the time I leave here and get in the van. It's just fresh right now, obviously, because it's the last hole. But, yeah, I'll handle it like that. I'll look at the positives and what can do I better tomorrow on 18, just put it in the fairway like I did and make a better iron swing into the green.

Q. What's the thinking behind a journal?

ALENA SHARP: For me it's just getting all those positives out instead of focusing on the couple negatives, especially on a day like today where you finish not so great to look back at all the great holes that you had before the last so, yeah.

Q. Do you do that after every tournament round and how long have you been doing that?

ALENA SHARP: Yeah, I do it, I've been doing it for the last few years. I do it every day. After every tournament round for sure.

Q. And I see a spectator gave you a bit of a gift there.

ALENA SHARP: Yeah, it's got my name and it's pretty cool.

Q. Who gave you that?

ALENA SHARP: A fan. Dan gave it to me.

Q. You didn't know her?

ALENA SHARP: No. They just wanted to wish me luck. It's very nice.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
111071-1-1044 2021-08-04 03:51:00 GMT

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