THE MODERATOR: All right, welcome everyone here to the media center. I'm joined by Isabella Fierro, our first Mexican golfer of the week to come in for a press conference. We're going to ask a few questions in English and switch to Spanish.
Just first from me, how excited are you to be teeing it up, I know in your home country? I know you're a GS Sports Management girl, so with your team around you.
ISABELLA FIERRO: Yeah, it feels great. I've known this course since I was probably 12 years old. I play local tournaments here, international events, so I have deep love for this golf course. I mean, just the environment, everything about it is just awesome.
And seeing the LPGA out here is just -- that's how far Mexican woman golf has grown. Santiago, GS Sports Management, like they have done an amazing job bringing the event here. It's not an easy task to do and I know they want more.
I'm very happy to be with them. I'm in great hands. I'm just so pumped that I have my family with me this week. I'm just going to have fun and see what happens.
Q. When you first saw that the LPGA would be returning to Mexico, and not only to Mexico, but Playa del Carmen where you grew up, what was your initial reaction to that news?
ISABELLA FIERRO: Yeah, I had no clue it was going to come to Mexico. My first thought was it's going to be Mexico City. Okay, it's going to be there or Guadalajara; that's where Lorena Ochoa's tournament was. I was like, maybe those locations.
But when they said Mayakoba I was like, that's going to be interesting. It's going to be good. My first thought was, hmm, the temperature is going to be hot.
But everybody seems to be excited and happy to be here. I'm trying to welcome everybody here and, yeah, they're in the best hands, so pretty excited.
Q. You must feel some advantage having played this course so much. Do you feel like that's a little extra pressure on yourself to perform this week knowing the course so well?
ISABELLA FIERRO: Yeah, I wouldn't call it pressure. I think I do know the course pretty well. It hasn't changed in over ten years probably. They redid the greens a couple years ago.
I think you have to have a lot of respect in this golf course no matter if you have played a thousand times or zero.
I feel very comfortable. You have to know how to hit the golf ball around here, around the wind, so I feel comfortable. That will be my best option.
Q. Curious about the big hole on the seventh fairway. Does that come into play ever? Is it something that's visual or something you have to strategize around?
ISABELLA FIERRO: For the first shot it's a par-5. The cenote, it's around 315, so some of the longer hitters if you have downwind you can get it down there. But if you're going on your second shot, you kind of have a downhill lie actually, so you have to be careful not to be too deep because you're hitting a 3-wood to get close to the green or like a 5-wood.
It does get into play if you get too close. It's nice. The group I was playing with today went inside and took some pictures. I was like, this is awesome.
Q. Playing on the Epson Tour this year, how are those reps helping you out and how has the Epson Tour helped you prepare to get back out here on the LPGA right now?
ISABELLA FIERRO: Yeah, a lot of people around here say that I took a step back coming from the LPGA back to the Epson Tour. I think everything happens for a reason. I was very grateful to play on the LPGA last year. I learned so much about myself.
I was lucky enough to find an amazing coach, Horacio, that I'm with right now. We're bonding a lot, improving a lot, and my team is stronger.
So right now in Epson like you probably know, the game is growing so much. You have to bring your A-game every single day. At the end, those 10, 15 cards are going to make it to the LPGA. Those are the ones that have the mental toughness and the mental strength and not just the golf swing.
So it's definitely preparing me to be a better player, but most importantly a better human being.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports