FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, August 17th, 2016

NOTABLE QUOTES: GOLF CENTRAL LIVE FROM THE OLYMPICS – WEDNESDAY

Golf Channel Notable Quotes
Golf Central Live From the Olympics
Wednesday, August 17
Olympic Golf Course, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

**Live Round 2 coverage of the Women’s Olympic Golf competition gets underway at 6:30 a.m. ET on Thursday morning, immediately following Golf Central Live From the Olympics, airing from 5-6:30 a.m. ET.**

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

On Wednesday’s opening round of the women’s golf competition in the Olympics
Karen Stupples – “I was really surprised during the first day of competition in how much raw emotion the players were displaying out there. They were fist pumping for pars and bogeys on the first and second hole. It was really something that I didn’t expect. You don’t see that at major championships.”
Stupples – “The air was not of festivity. It was of competition. They want to perform well. They know they are on the greatest stage there is for them.”

On Thailand’s Ariya Jutanugarn, leader at 6-under par
Stupples – “She is the hottest player on the LPGA Tour right now. She is playing this golf course effortlessly.”
Paige Mackenzie – “What makes her special is that at a young age she has learned discipline off the tee. She doesn’t take driver everywhere.”
Stupples – “She has a weapon in her golf bag that none of the other players have and that is her 2-iron. When she hits that 2-iron, it goes barely head high, goes long and straight and she is not going to lose any distance from it because she hits it all of the time.”

On South Korea’s Inbee Park, T2 at 5-under par
Brandel Chamblee – “She opened up with a beautiful round. If you are going to look for a golf course that is ‘thumb-injury friendly,’ I don’t know how you can find a better course in the world for her to proceed on than the one that she is playing on.”
Mackenzie – “It did not take long to knock the rust off.”
Mackenzie – “This round is heroic. What she must have gone through to get to this point. Not only is she representing her country in the Olympics, she is representing the other 24 players that are in the top-60 in the world that could have been here.”
Mackenzie – “To go out there to make a statement the way that she did today is incredibly indicative of her character.”
Stupples – “The whole spirit of representing her country, nobody deals with pressure quite like she does. She handles it very well and it has made her rise to the occasion.”
Stupples – “There is a lot still left on the table for Inbee Park, and I don’t know if she wants to go any further than after this event. This really would be her crowning glory to win gold here. There wouldn’t be anything left for Inbee Park to achieve.”

On India’s Aditi Ashok, T7 at 3-under par
Stupples – “It gives me goose bumps just thinking about what she has done on her own. Nobody has shown her this is what you can do and this is the game that you should be playing. She has taken it on her own. At seven years old she created fantastic goals for herself to be the best golfer in the world. At seven.”
Stupples – “This is remarkable at what this has the potential of doing in terms of promoting the game within India.”
Chamblee – “What a performance. What a day.”

On New Zealand’s Lydia Ko, T11 at 2-under par
Chamblee – “Her putter is a big part of the reason – and what she does around the greens – why she is so good.”
Mackenzie – “When you add up how she performed hitting greens and as well as on the greens, I’m surprised she shot under par. She was able to scramble and get the job done, which is indicative of Lydia Ko. She’s the number one player in the world.”

On U.S.A.’s Gerina Piller, T11 at 2-under par
Chamblee – “She is such a talented player. A win is going to happen soon. Wouldn’t that be a story if her first win is a gold medal.”

-Rio 2016-