A LititzDailyNews.com 1-on-1 Interview from the U.S. Women’s Open

You would think that 18 holes of championship golf in the summer heat Friday afternoon would have been enough for Marina Alex, who fired a blistering opening round 66 on Thursday at the US Women’s Open.

It wasn’t.

After finishing her second round on the 18th green with a brilliant approach from the fairway that landed about ten feet from the hole, Alex sank her putt, signed her scorecard, spoke to the media, then headed to the practice range.

On the way to the range, she spoke one-on-one to LititzDailyNews.com editor Lynn Rebuck.

“I struggled today,” said Alex, who found herself in the rough off the tee on almost a third of the course today. “I’m going to try and work that out for a couple minutes and then I have tomorrow to do it too,” said Alex. Her goal: “try to get better off the tees.”

“I missed, I would say five or six fairways, which is penalizing enough out here, so I just want to get my driving back into a little bit more solid shape for the weekend,” she said. Her short game and stellar putting kept her under par for total rounds despite a +1 second round.

“Any rounds or total rounds under par at a US Open, or any major, is I think, really good, so I’m happy with it, and ready to go for the weekend,” she said.

Sixty-three players who posted two-day scores +4 or under will be moving on to compete this weekend at Lancaster Country Club.

At the end of play on Friday, she was still near the top of the leader board, behind Yang at -7 and Stacy Lewis and Shiho Oyama, both at -4. How is Alex coping with the pressure of being in contention at such a big event?

“I’m just trying to stick to my routines and then working on things that I’ve been working on, you know, process stuff, shot shaping, and all of that. I just try to hone in on that and not worry about what’s going on around me,” said Alex, who’s been making rest a priority after each round.

She’s yet to do any sightseeing, but likes what she has seen of Lancaster County so far.

“I like it a lot. It’s beautiful here. The course is nice, the area is pretty, there’s just too much going on here.”

Alex Marina begins round three play at Lancaster Country Club at 2:05 p.m. Fox43 will be broadcasting coverage of the 2015 US Women’s Open beginning at 2:30 p.m. Like the  LititzDailyNews.com Facebook page for more coverage from the Open, and on Twitter and Instagram. Send us your photos from the event to [email protected]