U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 20, 2014

Na Yeon Choi

Q. Describe the feeling of being somewhere in contention for the title.
NA YEON CHOI: I feel like I'm missing that feeling staying in contention. The win is very important for me, too. But also just keep stay in contention and build myself for confidence. Because last year I haven't won any tournaments. Also, all the fans in Korea, they expect me to win some tournaments, but I didn't make the result. So I think I'm still playing well, I'm in good position, and also I have a lot of confidence this week. So I'll do my best to stay in contention and I hope I can win on Sunday. I'll do my best and try to keep building on my confidence.

Q. Are you feeling pressure to win anything at all? Especially this, because the pressure's already built-in.
NA YEON CHOI: Well, especially not this week. Last year, almost every tournament I got pressure when I played in a tournament, because I was very close to the No. 1 World Ranking, I was like close to the No. 1, but I didn't reach it. It's kind of like a disappointment to myself. I think that actually affect my game, too. So I didn't have a great season last year, but I think I still played okay. So I'm trying to give myself a compliment and especially this week, I came here before the tournament start I came here for two days and played practice rounds. I felt the course was very difficult and pretty wild style. So I was thinking just do my best, be patient until Sunday. That was my goal before I came to the U.S. Open.

Q. How has that been for you? Have you maintained your patience?
NA YEON CHOI: You think I did really well the last two rounds. Especially today, I birdied -- I was 2-under on front nine, but I got bogey on 10. But still I tried to be calm out there and I tried to talk a lot with my caddie. After the round today and also yesterday, my caddie complimented me on so many things and I feel very happy.

Q. At a normal TOUR event the halfway point, you can pretty well tell what number still has a chance. What number here do you think still has a chance?
NA YEON CHOI: You mean like score?

Q. Yeah.
NA YEON CHOI: I'm not sure. Depends on condition and depends on pin position. I think some holes today is very difficult pin position, especially like 17 or yesterday hole five it was a very tough hole. But actually before tournament start someone asked me and I said like a red number would win.

Q. Do you still think that?
NA YEON CHOI: Yeah.

Q. How were the conditions today compared to yesterday?
NA YEON CHOI: Pretty much the same. It's a little bit of rain after the round yesterday, but it's not much different. It's still firm out there and the greens are still fast. Especially when you hit a downhill putt, it's really a delicate putt.

Q. How do you feel? Going into the weekend in good position to win and knowing that you've done it before, how much confidence can you derive from the win two years ago?
NA YEON CHOI: I don't want to think about winning, actually. If I win, I mean I hope I win, but if I win, it would be great, but since this year, I tried to just get back all my confidence from like two years ago when I had a great year in 2012. So I just keep trying, working hard with my caddie and just give some compliment myself. And I think when I think about winning, it's always giving me a lot of pressure, so I don't want to think about like results, I just want to play one shot at a time, focus on one shot at a time. So I think the last two rounds I did really great, so hopefully I can stay with my small goal the next two days.

Q. You said something in your first comment, if I heard you correctly, that you sort of feel pressure from the fans back home in Korea. Talk a little bit about that.
NA YEON CHOI: Because I was like so close to being No. 1, I went to like No. 2 in the world. Then I think I tried so hard to be No. 1 that gave me a lot of pressure, so like last year when I go to a tournament, I only think about winning. I can't control the winning, but I think that all the pressure affected my game in a like negative. So this year I got a goal when the season starts to just keep playing my game, it doesn't matter ranking, just keep my game and just try to build slightly all my confidence back. I think I'm doing great. Also, this year I stayed -- I finished top-5 twice already, that gave me a lot of confidence. Especially this week, my coach is here all week and then he gave me a lot of confidence on my swing and my putting, so I feel very happy and I feel free.

Q. How do you feel this pressure from Korea? How does it manifest itself?
NA YEON CHOI: Well it's a lot of pressure.

Q. Is in the newspapers that you write stories that you're not doing well?
NA YEON CHOI: Well, actually sometimes I read all the Internet news in Korea and sometimes that gave me a lot of pressure. So actually I talked to my coach and mental coach and I have to stop reading all the Internet news. So I try to not search my name on the Internet and just if someone gives me always a compliment, I try to talk to them, just try to get a lot of pep talk and also my mental coaches are here, so they gave me, before the round they gave me a lot of pep talk, so just, I try my best on everything.

Q. You left some putts really short. Talk about that.
NA YEON CHOI: Yeah, especially 16 and 18 I got a birdie chance, but that actually was all the way uphill to the cup, but I short like, pretty short. I think I hit a lot of downhill putt out there today and yesterday. I'm pretty used to downhill putt right now, I think. So after I hit an uphill putt my caddie say, we can be a little bit more aggressive. But it's hard to because I play a lot of downhill putts already and I made a lot of good putt from downhill putts, so I feel more comfortable with actually the downhill putts, but I'm going to do more practice with the uphill putts like late afternoon.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports