|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
RICOH WOMEN'S BRITISH OPEN MEDIA CONFERENCEJuly 21, 2015Inbee ParkTHE MODERATOR: We'd like to welcome Rolex Women's World Golf Ranking's No. 1 player, Inbee Park. Inbee has won three LPGA tournaments this season, totaling 15 career victories, including six majors. Her last major win came in June at the KPMG Women's PGA Championship. The career Grand Slam has been within reach this summer for Park, who has two chances to complete the feat at the Ricoh Women's British Open and the Evian Championship. Her best finish at the Ricoh Women's British Open is second in 2012. The Ricoh Women's British Open will take place next week at Trump Turnberry Resort in Scotland. Inbee, could you talk about the career Grand Slam and how much are you thinking about the career Grand Slam right now? INBEE PARK: I think now I think the whole world, I think knows that I really want to achieve the career Grand Slam. That's been my goal for the last two, three years, since I've won three other majors. So I mean it's definitely one of my biggest goals in my career, for sure. And I definitely want to win the British Open before I retire. THE MODERATOR: And talk a little bit about the Ricoh Women's British Open. What are your memories of the tournament, and what are your thoughts going into the tournament next week? INBEE PARK: Yeah, I'm just really excited for another Ricoh Women's British Open. I love playing the links golf courses. It's probably the only links golf course we play all year. It's very unique. I really love to play different style of golf courses and deal with winds and the weather and the different type of golf course‑‑ bunkers. I think it's just a lot of challenge but at the same time I think it's a lot of fun. So I'm looking forward to another British Open, and obviously I had success in the last couple of years, but I haven't really came close enough to win. So hopefully this time I can achieve my goal. THE MODERATOR: Questions? Q. Could you tell us what you remember about last year's finish? It was pretty tight. Mo Martin finished early. What do you remember about the finish? INBEE PARK: The following round I was looking really good until the front line. I was leading by probably two going into the last back nine and I really knew that I had really good chance of achieving the career Grand Slam. So I think I just got too ahead of myself. I made way too many mistakes on the back nine. I mean, it was a windy day and tough day, but shooting a 5‑over on the last day just is not going to do it. So it's very disappointing. It's probably like the most disappointing tournament I had probably in all my career, but I thought last year I came really close to winning it. And it was probably the closest one in my British Women's Open career. So, I feel like I'm getting closer and closer. I have a lot more years to play. I'm going to have a lot more chances. And this time I'm just trying to not going to rush for it and I'm just going to try to just make it happen naturally. Q. If I could follow up, Inbee, when did you kind of become aware that Mo Martin had gotten the lead and when did you kind of start chasing her? INBEE PARK: I saw the leaderboard at like 14 or 15, and saw that she finished even‑par or 1‑under. Yeah, I saw at that time I was maybe one behind her and I knew No. 17 and 18 was a par five and it was a reachable par five. I thought one shot and make one birdie out of the two holes wouldn't be a problem. But I ended up making actually a bogey on 18. So that didn't really give me a chance. But my tee shots were just not great on No. 17 or 18 last year. I usually remember the shots I hit, when a year goes past. But I exactly remember how I hit‑‑ I tried those holes on the back nine in the final round last year. Q. Taking that one step further, is there something you do differently to prepare for a major championship? Because it seems like you always are in the mix when it comes to this time of year and this forum. Do you do something different as far as mindset? Do you do something as far as preparation? Is there anything that you kind of deviate from to prepare for a major? INBEE PARK: Well, I always just try to play the tournament before the major, instead of taking a week off, because after I've taken a week off, I always‑‑ I look at my results and the results are not as good as when I play the tournaments in a row. So I just try to get the feel of the tournament going and obviously I want to get my game before, right before the major tournament to see everything is in the right position. If I need to fix anything I have to try the other tournament, because there are a few things that you just can't do it on a week off or having a practice round. So I think that's probably the most thing that I'm really worried about. I just try to play the tournament before, even if it's going to be a long flight to the British from the U.S., I just try to get a feel of the tournament going. I don't want to take a week off and be a lot more nervous. That's one thing I really try to do. And I think as a golfer you have to be‑‑ and I think since I was a junior, my rhythm in my body is just really, really used to it in the summertime. That's where we play the most tournaments since I was a junior. So I think playing good in the summertime is just, you have to play good in the summertime as a golfer. So I think my body just got used to that. Q. With your most recent major coming in June, do you just feel like, as you just sort of said, you kind of sustain through the summer, and you're looking forward to having another major so close together? INBEE PARK: I mean, I actually do like having the major tournaments kind of next to each other. Because I only played major tournaments two weeks ago, and I'm going to play another one after two weeks. So I think it's good for the rhythm. You're just kind of in a mood of you're playing the tournament instead of taking like two, three weeks off and major in a while, anything like that. So I think it's good to have that rhythm going. And obviously I won a major tournament this year, which was my biggest goal for this year. I wanted to win a major tournament before the season ended, and I definitely reached my goal. I feel like I've done my homework. So I'm just trying to maybe the bonus stuff. Just, you know, the British Open is obviously really big for me. And that's something that I will probably want the most of the season. I said I want to win the British Open since the start of the year. So I really worked hard for it and I'm really looking forward to it. Q. Inbee, you went to St. Andrews trying to win the Grand Slam. Jordan Spieth just went to St. Andrews trying to win the Grand Slam. Did you watch him with any curiosity? Did it bring back some memories for you? INBEE PARK: Yeah, I mean, I looked at golf yesterday because obviously we weren't playing on Monday. So I looked at it. And it's always great to watch the course, actually, the shots you hit that you remember. So it was really exciting to see men's golf on the St. Andrews, and obviously Jordan Spieth came really close to winning it. I know how hard it is to put himself in contention when there's so much pressure, and when he's going for the three majors in a year. And I really know how that feels like. So I think even if he didn't win, I thought he did a really great job of having been in contention for that tournament. I think it was really good. So it was really fun watching men's golf. Q. I wanted to ask you about, at the very beginning of the year, you saw this coming with the young South Koreans. I remember sitting at the Coates when you told us about these young players that were coming. And now that they're here, how good are the South Koreans in the LPGA right now; is this the best that South Korean golf has ever been? What do you think? INBEE PARK: I think this year has been much better than what the field that we've been having for the last probably 20 years. We have probably the strongest list of players this year on the list, and it's just getting‑‑ it's increasing every year. And this year they increased by a big number because a lot of the top players in the KLPGA came to the LPGA, whether they went to Q‑School or they just won a LPGA tournament as a non‑member. It just happened to be about four or five players, like top five players out of the KLPGA Tour all of a sudden. Obviously I knew that it was going to be our best year, even before we started, because I know that they had the ability to win the tournaments. So it was just a matter of how quick and how soon are they going to win. But obviously they won. They played really good golf this year. And I'm really proud of them. Q. I know you went through the Symetra Tour, and you played over here when you were young. I'm told that Korean LPGA, it's almost like Major League Baseball, where there's different levels. There's like a jump tour, secondary tour and the KLPGA Tour. How much does that develop these young South Korean players? INBEE PARK: Oh, I think it's good to always have a tournament or a level to‑‑ to have a place to play, whether you're shooting 80, whether you're shooting 90, whether you just turned pro. I think it's always good to have some stage to play. Korea has definitely got that. They have every level of player that they can play on someone's tour. Whether they're making any money or not, it's for the experience and just for whether they can prepare for professional golf. I mean, they have so many stages of professional golfing career. So it's always competitive, and they definitely know what the tournament feels like. Q. I know we were talking about the Grand Slam and looking at your recent past in majors and just how much history you've been making. And I know sometimes you go a little bit under the radar. But I know all of us are well aware of your accomplishments. But have you recently taken the time to really look at the legacy you've been leaving over the past five years? Do you look at, you could become only the seventh golfer to do the Grand Slam or things like that? Do you ever really reflect on really what type of legacy you could leave on the women's game? INBEE PARK: You know, I really haven't thought about that really seriously like that or looked at the stats like that closely. I just know that since the day I started playing golf I knew that I wanted to be a professional golfer. And if you want to be a professional golfer I want to win every major tournament there is. So it's been my goal. I haven't really thought about the legendary stuff. It's always a big honor to put my name next to all the legendary players. But I still feel like I'm still young and still a long ways to play, a long career to look forward to. So I can probably look back into stuff maybe after I retire. I mean, it doesn't really help looking at the stats when you're playing. I mean, I really want to focus on the presence right now, playing golf and just playing good golf. That's really what I want to focus on. Q. I was going to say, you just turned 27, which is still fairly young. Is that something you've worked on very hard to just keep the blinders on and not really have paid attention to all the periphery conversation about your accomplishments; do you think that's helped so much? INBEE PARK: Like, you know, I really like to stay under the radar. And I don't want too much attention. I just want to live my life just really casually and just really enjoy my life. Golf is what I want to do, and this is what I enjoy to do. But the rest of the stuff just comes with it. I just try to live a happy life and the results just come. So I just don't try to rush for anything. I don't try to achieve anything that‑‑ I don't know. I just try to live my life happily. Q. Have you had a chance to play or play very much around Turnberry, and what do you think of the course, and what kind of challenges does the course pose to you and your game? INBEE PARK: I'm afraid that is because I haven't played that golf course yet. So the Monday is going to be the first time I'm going to be seeing the golf course. Q. Have you heard anything about it, about how‑‑ has anybody that you know played it that's come back and told you anything about it or anything more along those lines? INBEE PARK: I heard more from my caddie because that was the first British Open he ever caddied. And he told me how great the golf course was. I've definitely heard a lot from a lot of people. I really enjoyed playing St. Andrews, but I think I'll really enjoy Turnberry as well. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|