THE MODERATOR: All right, hello and welcome to the media center at The Chevron Championship, first major of the year. We are joined by Madelene Sagstrom, Girls Golf ambassador and 2025 LPGA Tour winner.
Just to kick things off, what is it like to be back here. Just sat through a weather delay, but what's it been like to see the course here in Texas?
MADELENE SAGSTROM: It's great. It's playing a little different this year. We have had a bit more rain. I've heard there was some rain last week.
It's going to be fun because I think it will suit my game quite well because I can hit it far off the tee. A little softer, so going to be some longer clubs into the holes, but it's going to be good.
Q. This is your eighth appearance at The Chevron Championship. Can you just talk about your past experience, what you're bringing into this year, what you learned in the past couple years?
MADELENE SAGSTROM: I mean, I think also the experience of having major championships under your belt. In reality it's just another golf tournament. It's easy to make it into kind of a big thing.
I think just going out, or I even said, I was like, I actually I have seen the golf course, both nines already, so I'm not that stressed. I'm not going to see it today. Just go practice a little bit.
When it comes down to it, you have to play good golf, hit good golf shots, hit good putts. I think it's easy to kind of hype yourself up a little bit and think that it's more, but in the end of the day it's still just golf.
Q. Last question from me. You're one of our most recent winners out here. What's it like it come into the first major with a win under your belt this season?
MADELENE SAGSTROM: I feel -- after Vegas I felt quite a lot of relief. I felt it has been a long time coming. I've played some good golf. I've been up there fighting for it, especially with Rose last year. That was really close.
It just felt very nice. I've been struggling to get that second win, so I was very relieved I could do it again. I was and happy for Shane because it was his first LPGA Tour win.
We put in so much time and hard work in, so it was so much fun. Nice to have my mom there. I feel a little bit more -- like I know what the close future is going to hold, which is lovely.
Q. I know professional golfers always look forward. I want to take you back a little bit. Looking back at the young Madelene, our expression for Girls Golf is Little Girls, Big Dreams; did you ever dream this big?
MADELENE SAGSTROM: I felt that I did dream big. There is a story when I -- my mom always tells me one day I was 13, I came home and I gave her the timeline. This is what I'm going to do. I'm going to go to golf high school and then I'm going to move to America and go to college and play on the LPGA Tour.
I think I always had in my mind an idea of what i wanted to do. Little did I know I was going to follow those steps exactly. I don't think I have ever really been afraid of dreams, but I think it comes with the expectations of if I don't succeed them I don't fail, but at least I tried.
I've always felt like I'm going to go for it and what's the worst thing that can happen, you know?
Of course you can dream, you can think, but when you look back at things now and be like, I did that. It's like -- when you're in the moment it's easy to forget what you're actually doing and the success you've had. When you look back you're like, it's pretty cool.
Q. I think all of us have stood on the putting green and said, this is for the trophy. Were you one those kids?
MADELENE SAGSTROM: Oh, absolutely. This is for U.S. Open, this is for Solheim Cup. You're trying to put as much pressure as you can on yourself all the time when you're out playing with your friends and having fun.
I think me and my coach have always tried to how can we get as close to the game of golf as possible in the practice. I'm even going to do that today when I go back on the running game. I am going to try to play to golf course a little bit, okay, switch it up, this is probably what we are going to hit into hole No. 1, and just kind of put a little bit more pressure on it.
Q. Since you kind of lived that life growing up, what do you tell the kids now?
MADELENE SAGSTROM: I actually got that question last week. There was a little girl that came up to me and she was like, what advice to have for me? I was like, how long do you have?
I always say the biggest thing is to have fun with it. I think a lot of kids and a lot of parents probably take the game a little bit too serious a little bit too quickly. Golf is such a wonderful sport. You have so many chances to build great relationships for life.
If you don't play in high school and college, the relationships and friendships you learn that you get along the way are tremendous. I know for girls sometimes we can be a bit intimidated with the game, going out to practice and play.
Just knowing you have your friends there to do something fun with, it helps a lot. You learn some great life skills in this game. I mean, in reality you learn integrity, all of these things that's going to help you in life.
So I mostly just tell people to have fun, enjoy it.
And then from my own perspective I always tell people don't be so hard on yourself. You're going to have good days and bad days. I was very hard on myself as a kid. Probably one of the reasons I still sit here.
Just have fun with it and find some good friends and enjoy the ride, because it's a lovely game.
Q. Madelene you certainly inspire a lot of little girls to dream big. As our Girls Golf ambassador for exercise, you're also demonstrating and showing them the importance of staying active and the importance of exercise. With your recent win, your recent first hole-in-one on Tour, what can you share with little girls in terms of importance of staying active and how they demonstrate that not only in the game of golf but in the game of life?
MADELENE SAGSTROM: Yeah, I always tell people I believe personally -- I love golf, but I believe all activities, all sports are good. I always encourage people to do everything. Go run around for a soccer ball, do anything to kind of -- I mean, first of all, for golf it's great because you have to have -- we always believe that being an athlete first and then you specialize in being a golfer.
For me I have built my body over the years. First I want to be a human being. Can I walk 18 holes? Can I run in an airport for a flight if I need to? Just be a human being first.
And then it's can I be an athlete?
Vegas few weeks ago I played seven rounds in in five days. I almost died. Like I was so hard on my body. But at the same time I've done the work, the prep. Having spent the time in the gym with my coaches and the everything, that just made me be able to step it up.
I was telling my caddie on the 10th hole in the final match, I go, I don't know if I have any more in the tank. He was like, well, you got to find something. I was like, I don't know if there anything to find.
But then just knowing I've done the work, I have spent my hours, done the exercises and the cardio. Just running around throwing balls to my brother and my dad growing up.
I put in the hours, and then you find this next level of things. For me it's always been healthy. This lifestyle is hard. Travel is hard. We do a very one-dimensional swing. It takes a toll on your body. You see lot of injuries out here. Most things are not acute but it kind of lingers over time.
I've always said balance is the most important thing. Golf is great, but if you don't have a healthy body you're not going to play this game for very long.
Q. Just reflect on growing up playing golf in Sweden and how much impact do you think a program like Girls Golf would've had back then getting more Swedish girls in the game?
MADELENE SAGSTROM: I think that's the biggest thing. I have been kind of a lone wolf so I never minded being by myself. I think we lost a lot of girls by the fact they didn't have friends. They didn't have people to go and play tournaments with and things like that.
I think that having the community of -- I mean, we have -- I think one of the big reasons Sweden is good is we have a lot of good coaches around, but you lose girls in the system by the fact that, well, I'm going to go play a sport where I can hang out with my friends.
We didn't have as much of that.
I'm fortunate -- I mean, Sweden is just taking over the place so it's great. I love to see it. But there is a lot of opportunities that some people don't have and I think that would've been beneficial. I'm just in awe when you guys are out and we're seeing everyone. I'm like, this is wonderful.
I wish I would've had that when I grew up. I love the game already but I might have loved it even more.
Q. Becoming an ambassador, we announced five new ambassadors this year. Since then, Angel has won, you have won. Do you think there is any correlation there between giving back to the game and getting an LPGA win?
MADELENE SAGSTROM: I believe perspective is a very important part in what we do. Week in and week out we're out here, you hit a little while ball around. It's easy to get frustrated.
It's very important to remember where you came from. We were all those little girls standing here wanting to have an autograph from our idols and Nelly Kordas, all our biggest inspirations.
So I think it's very important to remember that I used to be that and what can I now do to inspire that. It becomes bigger than yourself and your own game. I mean, sometimes you just don't worry about, oh, I'm hitting my 7-iron bad today.
You see a little girl walking around the golf course and you say hi, might give a high five, and it brings a lot of energy, brings a lot of perspective.
I think it definitely -- I mean, it helps me a lot. Helped me a lot in my career by just remembering like how fortunate I am to have this as my job and also what a great responsibility comes with it to give back to the game and to give back and show people that they can dream big and achieve this dream.
It's wonderful.
Q. Checking in on the weather. Obviously rain in the forecast the next couple days as well. How do you mentally prepare for weather? How do you navigate that?
MADELENE SAGSTROM: Well, I live in Florida, first of all, so used to kind of bad weather. It is what it is. You can't control it. I think you just do the best with it. I am probably going to bring my headphones so I can listen to a Podcast and hang out if something happens over the next few days.
In reality I always find when you come back from a weather delay it's most important to get your body back into it, get your mindset, have something to eat.
I try not to let it affect me too much. It's just one of those things that we always say, well, if I wanted to not worry about the weather I should have picked an indoor sport and I did not.
Doesn't affect me too much.
Q. Prepping for majors, how you evolved with your mindset, with your game, et cetera? How do you get prepared when you're at the course? Over the years have you changed things? Have you found things that if you missed the cut or got a couple Top 5s that you really used over the years?
MADELENE SAGSTROM: Well, I think probably like I mentioned earlier, probably put a little bit too much pressure on myself in the past. Major, big week, trying to play really well here.
I think that even just playing well in Match Play both historically and a couple weeks ago, I'm trying to figure out -- I mean, still; this is my 9th year on Tour.
I'm trying to figure out how to be in the present. It's very important in a week like this. It's a long week and you want to play well. We are fortunate that a lot of the golf courses where we play major championships we've been before and I've been here before so I know what it takes and what shots I need to hit.
I come in with a little bit different game this year which I'm excited about. I have more of a fade in my body which I play better golf from that shot. So it's going to benefit me a lot here I think this week.
And just, I mean, I think -- you kind of just go back and practice on the things that you know are your tendencies. What happens when you're nervous? What kind of shots do you worry about? What kind of things happen?
Just going back and really trying to get better. Our mindset is always trying to get a little bit better every single day. It doesn't really change for this week. I am probably just trying to take a few more deep breaths and trying to stay in the present a bit more.
Q. I know we've talked about the success of Girls Golf in reaching a million girls; targeting to reach the next million. That's the initiative. As part of the efforts to build community and make sure the girls remain connected, we are launching and exercise extravaganza in the month of June, and we have a goal to reach a million steps through our girls with a walking challenge to celebrate Global Running Day in the month of June.
MADELENE SAGSTROM: Love it.
Q. What do you think initiatives like this mean to the girls and helping them discover the joy of movement and the benefit of staying active?
MADELENE SAGSTROM: I think it's great. I think that I'm going to age myself all the time now. Like everything comes better and old, but I grew -- when I grew up we didn't have social media, we didn't have all these things that are so easily accessible now, so I think just having goals, having it with your friends, being able to -- if I can add my steps from Vegas I would love to, because I was averaging about 20,000 steps a day.
I think it's great. I think encouraging being human beings, it's so easy to sit still and get stuck behind a screen nowadays, so I think it's wonderful.
Q. Fellow Sweden Ingrid won last week. She was in here yesterday talking about how you stayed there until the end and told her not to touch a club on Monday whatsoever. Can you just talk through watching her get that victory and helping give her advice throughout this period, too?
MADELENE SAGSTROM: Yeah, no, I'm a little bit too old again. I didn't play with Ingrid in the National Team or in college, but we both went to LSU.
It's a pride that -- I mean, I've seen what she's seen and we've played the same tournaments. She was always going to win out here. She's a fantastic player and has a great mindset and she is going to be a great champion for many years to come.
But I know how much it meant to me for having people stay for my first win. That perspective, you work really hard at what you do so sometimes it's easy to forget to celebrate the victories even though they're small.
I also, like I've said, played major championships and done these things and I know how exhausted. I said, you want to be fresh on Sunday, Ingrid. I don't know care what you do on Monday, and you know how to play golf. Like figure out, see the golf course in whatever way you do it, but enjoy the celebration.
Like this is probably the -- it's going to be one of the things you remember most your entire life. Your first LPGA Tour victory is always very special. Brought tears to my eyes. You just go back. You know how hard these girls work. It's just so exciting to see them win.
I got to experience the same thing a few weeks earlier and it's just wonderful. I'm starting to become quite good at spraying champagne, so I enjoy that part. No, it's just wonderful to see, especially to see a fellow Swede and a fellow Tiger.
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