FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, August 16th, 2016

NOTABLE QUOTES: GOLF CENTRAL LIVE FROM THE OLYMPICS – TUESDAY – PREVIEWING WOMEN’S GOLF RETURN TO THE OLYMPICS

Golf Channel Notable Quotes
Golf Central Live From the Olympics
Tuesday, August 16 (9 a.m.-1 p.m. ET)
Olympic Golf Course, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

**Golf Central Live From the Olympics continues tonight at 6 p.m. ET and airs Wednesday morning from 5-6:30 am ET.

**Live, opening-round coverage of the women’s golf competition from the Olympics airs on Golf Channel Wednesday beginning at 6:30 a.m. ET.**

**Also attached is the media conference call transcript from Monday with NBC Olympics golf analysts Annika Sorenstam, David Feherty and Jerry Foltz previewing the women’s golf competition**

**For more Olympic Golf coverage on NBCOlympics.com, visit HERE.

On women’s golf returning to the Olympics for the first time since 1900
Rich Lerner – “It has been such a great experience, golf’s return to the Olympic games. The men kicked things off. They were the opening act to golf’s return to the Olympic games and a pretty good one at that, with Justin Rose winning gold over Henrik Stenson that went down to the wire. But it is the women who will bring the curtain down in Rio. And that, really, is as it should be.”
Karen Stupples – “The players are out there are getting an opportunity to play in this fantastic event, not just for themselves, but for their home countries watching them…This is a once in four-year opportunity for these players to win the gold medal.”
Stupples – “The ladies here have watched the men play. They understand what it’s all about. They know what it means to the other competitors in the other sports. And they are going to be feeling the excitement, feeling the pressure and everything that goes along with the opportunity to stand on that podium come Saturday afternoon.”
Tim Rosaforte – “It is a perfect storm here that we are looking at potentially, as it relates to the stars of the women’s game coming together and battling for that spot on the medal stand. It plays exactly into what the IOC wants. The IOC wants stars, and [LPGA Commissioner] Mike Whan, the LPGA Tour and the world of women’s golf is certainly going produce that for them this week.”

U.S.A’s Stacy Lewis speaking to Golf Channel
Stacy Lewis – “Watching it [the men’s golf competition] on TV and hearing what the guys had to say, it got me more excited about the week. I know a lot of them were hesitant to be here, and for them to say it was the greatest week of their lives, it makes me more excited to be here. The golf course is unbelievable. I think it is going to be a great week for the women.”

U.S.A’s Lexi Thompson speaking to Golf Channel
Lexi Thompson – “I’ve imagined this since I heard golf was back in the Olympics, so I’ve been just trying to picture this. I’m going to try to do my best. That’s I all I can do.”

Brazil’s Miriam Nagl speaking to Golf Channel
Miriam Nagl – “I have been really looking forward to this. It is a real dream come true to me. I’m 35 now, and playing in the country of my birth is so special.”

Sweden’s Anna Nordqvist speaking to Golf Channel
Anna Nordqvist – “Getting to surround yourself with all of these great athletes, it is such a different atmosphere. It always has meant a lot to Swedes in general and that is why I am really looking forward to it.”

World No. 1 and New Zealand’s Lydia Ko speaking to Golf Channel’s Todd Lewis
Lydia Ko – “Yesterday I got to play a full 18 holes and today I played the back nine and walked the front nine. I just tried to practice in different situations. I think we are going to have a great time, a lot of great golf and there will be deserving medalists come Saturday.”
Ko – “What I love about the Olympics and the Olympic spirit is that it celebrates every athlete. Sometimes you can get carried away about who won and who is holding the trophy at the end of Sunday, but the Olympics celebrates athletes from all difference countries competing in all different sports. I know there will be pressure, especially being the number one ranked player coming into this week. There will be expectations, but I think this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. To be able to say that I’m an Olympian I think makes this even more special.”
Ko – “When you are being announced as an Olympian, that goes with you forever. You never lose it. Even if you are not a medalist, to know that you are an Olympian and that you played in the Olympics I think is going to go with me through my golfing career and even in life, too. Just to have my name amongst all of the other amazing athletes here and in the past I think is going to be a very cool moment. That first tee might be a little nerve wracking but a very exciting time too.”

LPGA Commissioner Mike Whan speaking with Golf Channel’s Rich Lerner
Mike Whan – “This week will be great, but what’s happened with the Olympic movement started in 2009. If you travel around the world like we do, you’ve seen what has happened with Olympics and the impact that it has had in countries all over the world…Young women all over the world are benefitting from the Olympic movement. What happens here Wednesday through Saturday will be spectacular, but what has happened the last five or six years has been unbelievable.”
Whan – “It [the men’s golf competition] was spectacular. It was like no other experience. It doesn’t have to be a major. It doesn’t have to be a Ryder Cup. Olympics is Olympics. What I’ve really enjoyed more than anything else is watching my athletes spending time with all of these other athletes. Just getting together and learning from each other. I think every athlete that plays here this week will walkaway changed.”
Whan – “We don’t have these huge stages every other month like the men do. We get that a couple of times or three times a year. But I think everybody realized when this was announced that this was going to be bigger, this was going to be a stage like we’ve never played on before. The world is paying attention to the Olympics and so for us and women’s golf we are going to get the biggest stage we have ever played on.”
Whan – “I’m really enjoying this week because I think this week, more than ever, shows that golf is global that players are coming from all over the world and fans can come from all over the world…We play the best in the world week-in and week-out. We come from all over the world, we televise all over the world, so it is a natural for us to fit in to the Olympics.”

On World No. 1 and New Zealand’s Lydia Ko
Paige Mackenzie – “This is one to watch. I like her chances on a golf course because it will take a lot of short game around the greens to succeed. There needs to be precision with the wedge in the hand and there is no one better on the LPGA Tour than Lydia Ko.”
Tripp Isenhour – “She continues to amaze everyone at her young age. She is a golfing savant in every way possible and she has the ability to hit the shots needed at the key times. This moment will not overwhelm her. This is what the golfing greats do. They rise to the occasion time and time again on the biggest stage.”
Karen Stupples – “She has a wonderful understanding everything she does. None if it has gone to her head. She is very even keeled. She plays a great game of golf. She is very comfortable with her own game. She is not trying to do more than what she has. And quite frankly, what she has is enough to win every time she tees it up.”
Kay Cockerill – “She is so mature for her age golf-wise. She is a delightful person. She is a joy to be around.”

On the three players representing the U.S.A. (Stacy Lewis, Lexi Thompson and Gerina Piller)
Cockerill – “I think any three of these players could win the gold. Gerina will be tougher because she doesn’t have the resume of winning yet. She has the tools to do it and that would be great for her to break through for the first time. All three have the mentality to handle pressure situations and that’s what this is.”

On U.S.A.’s Gerina Piller
Cockerill – “I think Gerina has that natural, athletic mindset. She is in her element. She has been so excited about competing in the Olympics.”

On U.S.A’s Stacy Lewis
Cockerill – “Stacy is back to her ever-consistent ways, eight top-10s this year. The last four events, she has top-10s. She just got married a week-and-a-half ago, and the honeymoon continues this week in Rio.”
Mackenzie – “A lot of levity in her life recently. We have seen a different Stacy since the U.S. Open. I look at her to compete and contend this week. This golf course suits her mind. She is such an intellectual player. She likes to talk strategy. This will be a good course setup for her.”

On U.S.A’s Lexi Thompson
Stupples – “She is probably the best ball striker on the LPGA Tour. Whether she can get the job done around the greens, I don’t know yet. This is a tough golf course. With these greens not being quite as fast as what she sees week in and week out, this might be her week.”
Mackenzie – “This is going to be a low scoring event. This isn’t a major championship where even par is going to be a good score. It is going to be one where we are going to see a lot of birdies. This is what has held Lexi back, and she is going to need to make short putts in order to succeed.”

On Canada’s Brooke Henderson
Cockerill – “She brings power and that fearlessness that we see with young players.. She has the kind of mentality you need as an athlete. She lets the bad shots roll off her back.”

On Thailand’s Ariya Jutanugarn
Cockerill – “She will be number one in the world at some point. She has all the tools. The physicality is there.”
Mackenzie – “The biggest standout in her game is her power and her length. She has been able to reign it in and has learned discipline over the course of her career. She has figured it out at a young age that it doesn’t require free-wheeling it all of the time. That kind of discipline has translated to a lot of fairways hit and a lot of greens hit. That is why she has been successful.”

On the four players representing South Korea (Inbee Park, Amy Yang, Sei Young Kim and In Gee Chun)
Cockerill – “Any one of them could win. They have a great program in Korea. They all have amazing fundamentals and they handle pressure very well. They are very hard workers and are dedicated to the game. They are building a tradition in women’s golf, and this started with Se Ri Pak. They owe a lot of this to Se Ri.”

On South Korea’s Inbee Park
Mackenzie – “A lot of pressure from her home country in South Korea to play well here…A lot of eyes will be on her this week.”

On Sweden’s Anna Nordqvist
Mackenzie – “She has had an up and down season. She won at the ShopRite LPGA Classic but of course the tragedy of the LPGA season – the playoff loss in the in the Women’s U.S. Open to Brittany Lang after the blunder in the bunker – she has a chance to redeem herself this week. This could be a good opportunity to redeem her year.”
Stupples – “I believe Anna Nordqvist is going to standing on the top of that podium. She is due from what happened to her at the Women’s U.S. Open. She handled it with such grace, and the golfing gods tend to have a way of rewarding people that do very courageous things within this sport. She definitely displayed that.”

-Rio 2016-