Sides in the 3rd U.S. Women's Amateur Four-Ball Championship who prevailed in their Round-of-16 matches on Tuesday morning at The Dunes Golf & Beach Club had little time to bask in the glory of their triumphs. The tandems had time to grab lunch and hit a few practice putts before refocusing for their afternoon quarterfinal matches. But before they teed off, the USGA communications staff got a few comments from some of the victors:

Alice Chen and Taylor Totland def. Morgan Goldstein and Veronica Joels, 2 and 1:

Chen: "T[otland] killed it. We just kind of – I haven't been playing that well all day, but Tot all the time, she was just always there. She kept on giving herself – I mean, we both did, just kept on giving ourselves chances for birdies, so she made those birdies, and they were really clutch." 

Maria Torres and Samantha Wagner def. Josephine Chang and Sarah Shipley, 19 holes

Wagner on her mindset after losing the 18th hole: "Yeah, I mean, I hit a good shot that unfortunately kicked, so I got the chip, and I was like, might as well just hole it out, she's close. That was kind of the mindset is just go after it, I think."

Bailey Tardy and Monica Vaughn def. Katrina Prendergast and Ellen Secor, 4 and 3

Tardy: "We were talking about this on the course, about how much fun it is to play team golf because we always have a partner to pick us up. We are such a good team because when one of us is out of it, the other is playing a great shot and making a putt for birdie."

Vaughn: "It seems like we made every putt we looked at. We had 10 birdies in 15 holes and didn’t have a conceded putt. It was just one of those rounds."

"We talk a lot on the course about the placement of the holes and consult with each other about strategy.  Our yardage books have been great and now that our knowledge of the course increases, we just feel really comfortable here. It is easy to go at flags when you know your partner has your back."

Jennifer Chang and Gina Kim def. Emmy Martin and Kelly McGovern, 3 and 2

Kim: "We have just felt so good the past few days and it has showed on the course. We love this course and it’s just a great opportunity to play it and get to know it better. We feel so comfortable playing it."

Kathleen Gallagher and Kendall Griffin def. Hailee Cooper and Kaitlyn Papp, 2 and 1

Gallagher on winning three of the first four holes: "I think just knowing they were defending champs, how good of players they were, we were aware that they were going to come out firing it with their best game, and I think just having a little momentum gave us a little more confidence to be like, look, this is like an everyday game, we just have to play our own ball. It's not a big deal. Let's just go have fun. We never get to play with each other. This is literally our second time ever. So it's just been fun. I mean, she's going to be with me on the team next year [at Louisiana State University], and we're here, we're having fun, not going to worry about – we're just playing our ball, having a good attitude about it all."

Griffin: "We knew it was going to be a tough match. We respect both of them a lot. I have kind of seen them play in tournaments a lot, but I never got actually to play with them, so I was kind of excited to get to play with them. We knew it was going to be a really good match and a fun match, and we knew it was going to be tough. But yeah, it was up and down a lot. There was a lot of birdies on the front, and we got 3 up on them and then they came right back, so we just kind of then decided we were going to play a new match on the final nine holes, and then the two birdies on the last couple holes really helped us out a lot.

Sammi Lee and Mary Ellen Shuman def. Brittany Fan and Esther Lee, 3 and 2

Shuman: "I think we did a good job just picking each other up just like we did yesterday, which is all you can ask for in this format, and if we just keep playing steady, keep giving ourselves opportunities, hopefully we'll have some putts fall this afternoon, as well."