FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Saturday, August 4th, 2018

NOTABLE QUOTES: RICOH WOMEN’S BRITISH OPEN, SATURDAY’S THIRD ROUND

NBC Sports Notable Quotes

Ricoh Women’s British Open

Round Three (7-11 a.m. ET, Golf Channel / 11 a.m.-2 p.m. ET, NBC)

Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club

Lytham St Annes, England

Saturday, Aug. 4

 

** Live coverage of Sunday’s final round of Ricoh Women’s British Open airs on Golf Channel from 7-11:30 a.m. ET and continuing on NBC Sports from 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m. ET.

**Media can also access notable quotes via @GolfChannelPR on Twitter or by visiting www.nbcsportsgrouppressbox.com**

 

Ricoh Women’s British Open Round 3 Leaderboard

Pornanong Phatlum     -13

Georgia Hall                -12

So Yeon Ryu              -11

Mamiko Higa              -10

Minjee Lee                  -10

Sung Hyun Park          -10

Brooke Henderson      -8

Mina Harigae              -8

 

On Pornanong Phatlum, leader at 13-undar par (3-under 69 on Saturday)

Judy Rankin – “If you like precision you’ve got to like to watch this 28-year old young woman play.”

Karen Stupples – “I think it has been a remarkable performance from both players. Georgia with her putter and her determination. Pornanong with her precision off the tees and how she picked apart this golf course with her long game.”

Karen Stupples – “So far today Phatlum’s tee shots have been quite easy. Nothing but straight shots. Pretty simple.”

Rankin – “When you are not the longest player in the field, regardless of the golf course, you have to play within yourself. You have to know exactly where your swings are. She has done that with the driver off the tee.”

Rankin – “I have thought for a number of years that this is a player with the skills certainly to be a tournament winner. She just has the kind of game you always admire. You admire those who hit fairways, greens and can putt. That is the way this player plays. Necessity is the mother of invention. She is not real, real long. She has to play that way. She plays with a lot of grace. I’ve always thought there was more to her game than what her record was showing.”

Stupples – “When a player that isn’t particularly long off the tee comes to a fast, running links golf course, it is almost like a whole new lease in life for them.”

Rankin – “Suddenly her kind of driving is the driving that everyone would like to have.”

 

On Georgia Hall, 2nd at 12-under par (3-under 69 on Saturday)

Rankin – “You kind of look for these players who have that ability to rise to the occasion and she is sure doing that this week.”

Rich Lerner – “That was some performance with the putter today She has shown tremendous fighting spirit.”

Rankin – “We might be witnessing one of those players who knows how to rise to the occasion.”

Rankin – “She seems like a young woman on a mission.”

Stupples – “She is a player that if this is a team game, you would want to give her the ball. She would want the ball and you’d want it to go in her hands if you need somebody to make that point.”

Stupples – “She has been so good when she needed to make a put to save par. Sheer grit and determination of not wanting to give up anything to this golf course is what’s driving her around here now.”

Stupples – “She is a player that really relishes this moment, having the control of her ball and game.”

Lerner – “Steady. She has made a lot of scrappy pars today. Hanging in there.”

 

Lerner – “Nick Faldo sending out a tweet yesterday, “Have a great weekend Georgia. A couple of 67s will work.’ Exactly what Nick shot when he won at 1996 at the Masters.”

Rankin – “Can you imagine how that must tickle a player to get a message from him?”

Stupples – “I would think that would be very impressive because growing up over here, along with Laura Davies, they were the two golfers that you always looked up to.”

 

Georgia Hall speaking with NBC Sports’ Jerry Foltz following her round

Georgia Hall – “It was much harder than the first two days. My long game wasn’t quite on it today but I putted very, very well and I holed the putts when I needed to.”

Hall – “I don’t think about too much in the future. I think do every hole as it comes. 18 holes is a lot and anything can happen on that golf course. I am just going to go out there and play every shot as it comes and just kind of stay within myself and not look what is going on too much.”

Hall – “I was in a similar situation at Kingsbarns and in the final group so I think I’ll be a bit more relaxed. There was some tricky pin positions today so I bet there will be some even harder ones out tomorrow. So I will have to play to the right parts of the green I think.”

 

On So Yeon Ryu, 3rd at 11-under par (5-under 67 on Saturday)

Rankin – “She worked really hard to make some changes with her putting. What she tried to do is get better with speed and play a little bit more breaks on the long putts. It has really paid off.”

Lerner – “The great player from South Korea with a great chance for a third major come Sunday.”

 

On Sung Hyun Park, T4 at 10-under par (3-under 69 on Saturday)

Tom Abbott – “She is hanging around, right there ready to pounce tomorrow. She is looking dangerous to those players at the top of the leaderboard.”

Rankin – “We have seen a few instances where you have seen her play with nerves. She doesn’t play well with nerves, and that is her battle right now to figure out for the rest of her career. She might be conquering her own weakness.”

 

On Mamiko Higa, T4 at 10-under par (1-under 71 on Saturday)

Rankin – “She has proven to be a very good short putter.”

Rankin – “I love the way show she stays in the shot for a long time and swing to a nice high finish.”

 

On Minjee Lee, T4 at 10-under par (1-under 71 on Saturday)

Jerry Foltz – “She is a streaky player. At times when she is on a hot streak, the sky is the limit. Other times she can look ordinary. The moment sometimes gets the better of her. If she walks away with a trophy it wouldn’t surprise anyone, most notably her peers.”

Rankin – “She loses her patience with herself a little bit when the streak goes in the wrong direction.”

 

On Mina Harigae, T7 at 8-under par (3-under 69 on Saturday)

Rankin – “She is a great, great young player who came to professional golf and just has been a struggle. She has been back and forth and up and down. Recently, she said she’s trying to learn to play golf without thinking so much. Guess what. Lots of success.”

 

On Saturday’s Third Round at Royal Lytham & St Annes

Lerner – “It is only the 3rd round, but you can feel the tension beginning to build.”

Lerner – “The level of shot making down the stretch at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship was off the charts. We are seeing it again here.”

Rankin – “What an honor and a treat. And the time had come for the players in women’s golf to get to play this wonderful rotation of golf courses, and for people to see them play so many of the historical courses here in Britain.”

Stupples – “It is about respect as much as anything that they get to pit their games against these courses, but also in some respects against history too. They would have watched what the men players would have done on these championship courses. They all know the history involved in it. It’s a very cool thing for them to experience both of those things.”

 

-NBC Sports Group-