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INTERNATIONAL CROWNJuly 22, 2014Na Yeon ChoiSo Yeon RyuOWINGS MILLS, MARYLAND KRAIG KANN: Thank you for sticking with us here this afternoon in the press room here at the International Crown. It is great pleasure to have the top seed in Pool B, the Republic of Korea, represented by two of the best players in the world, bar none, to my immediate left is So Yeon Ryu, a two‑time LPGA champion, Major champion, Rolex Ranking No. 9, and Na Yeon Choi, seven‑time LPGA champion, a Major as well and Top‑20 in the world. Thank you both for being here. Let's start with you So Yeon. Your thoughts and impressions on here we are at the International Crown. SO YEON RYU: Honestly, before I get here, I could not imagine how excited I'm going to be, but today I'm playing with all my teammates and I feel pretty excited about it. I feel more confident about, Oh, you think we can do it. And the other thing is, the golf course is in really great shape. It's really challenging golf course. It seems like all my teammates are really close and we really can help each other. So I'm really excited to go into play at the International Crown. KRAIG KANN: Na Yeon, you've also been apart of a lot of the media build up for this event from the first day, actually. What is this like for you now that it's finally here? NA YEON CHOI: I think that they have done very well for this tournament. First of all, thanks for all the sponsors and the LPGA for giving us all of this opportunity to play and have fun and play with other players from the same country. Yeah, we played together today and we got a lot of feedback on each other and I think that the course is very good for us. KRAIG KANN: You have a strong team, you're the No. 1 seed on your pool. What's been the biggest bonding thing? If you look at Team Korea, there are so many good players, what's it like to all finally be on the same team together? SO YEON RYU: The thing is that one of the Koreans' standpoint is we're really good to help each other and we're really good about encouraging each other. So I really want to see my country's strength on this stage. Also other good thing is we really trust each other and we really know well about each other's golf game. So when we picked the team, we had enough information so it wasn't really difficult. The other thing is, everybody's really close. If somebody has a not good rip, it could be hard to be a teammate. But we are all close, so it's really going to be an advantage that we're all close and growing up together. Also we're growing up in Korea when we played junior golf. We also played for the national team there. Played for the same country. So for me, Na Yeon, I.K., and Inbee is two years older than me, so when I was young, they were like superstar because when I was in the LPGA, they already played on the LPGA and they won a couple times. So it feels like I'm playing with my idol stars, so I am really excited to be playing with them. KRAIG KANN: N.Y.C., you're her idol now. What's it like? NA YEON CHOI: I never think about I'm idol for her. She's a great player. Like she said, we grew up together, we had the same junior national team from in Korea. So like most of them, we met like when we were like elementary school. So we pretty well know well each other. And we trust each other, like she said. After we played today, it seems like we have similar games to each other, so I think we have a good strategy for the tournament to make us win a match. KRAIG KANN: Raise your hand for some questions. Q. For both of you, having talked to both the American and European players about their Solheim Cup experiences, to a person they all say that when the flag goes up and the National Anthem is played, and when you're on that first tee and they announce that you're playing for your country, you cannot imagine the nerves you're going to have. You think you do, but you don't. Have you talked about that among teammates and how are you preparing yourself for that? SO YEON RYU: I think absolutely American and Europeans players have more benefit, because they already had like quite a lot of experience, Solheim, Junior Solheim. But at the same time when I was amateur, also I had a really great experience of playing like world class tournaments, like Asian Games and World Women's Amateur. I mean, if I compare to them, I don't have any experience, or not enough experience about this like national championship, but I think I'm still like good enough and having good enough experience about like the country versus country. The other thing is, when I won the Asian games, I got a gold medal at the 2006 Asian Games. And then when I was there, I was almost crying there. When, if you heard your anthem, and if you got a gold medal on your neck, it always feels really emotionally really like, it's like happy and sad, like proud of myself, that kind of thing. So I really want to get a feeling like that again. NA YEON CHOI: I think that we all really wish to play Solheim Cup. Always we watch it on TV and feel like sad that we can't play in the tournament. But like this year, we can play International Crown. And being in the top eight countries in the world, that's making us very proud of ourself. This is a great opportunity. Also, we had like team match game against with Japan like every two years, so we had some of that kind of experience from in Korea, so hopefully that experience gets us an advantage. KRAIG KANN: With I.K. and Inbee not here, maybe not fair to ask the question, but I'll ask it anyway, who is the team leader? Who is the captain of the team, even though there are no captains? Na Yeon? Is it you Na Yeon? SO YEON RYU: I just want to be honest, I think that Inbee's fiance is our team leader. (Laughter.) Well, you know, we were today we were playing together, and then Inbee's fiance' was there for Inbee's coach, but he's kind of like set it up like all the plan kind of like thing, so I would say our captain is not me, not Na Yeon or Inbee, I.K., just Inbee's fiance. KRAIG KANN: Is there any feisty necessary in the team room? You all get along so well, I can't imagine anybody disagreeing with anybody on anything. What's that like? NA YEON CHOI: I think we are understanding everything about what players think. Even when we decide for team, we didn't have any complaints and even like if I go with this, it doesn't matter Inbee, doesn't matter who, because we know all our games. And I think that actually the distance‑wise and I think technical‑wise is pretty similar with all four players. So I think it really doesn't matter. KRAIG KANN: Other questions? Q. You played so well last week, I'm just wondering if your game is, if you feel like that you're at a peak and that it's carrying forward and you're bringing a lot more confidence in this week. SO YEON RYU: These day, to be honest I cannot understand why I cannot win the tournament, because my shots are really great and my short game's really great, and definitely I can feel my game is so much improved. So I really got a lot of confidence and I think to myself it's just a matter of time, it's not a matter of how many wins of the tournaments this year, that kind of thing. This week is more important to have teamwork. So I got a lot of confidence to myself. So I'm pretty sure I can be a really helpful teammate for my team. KRAIG KANN: Na Yeon, ya'll were the No. 1 seed for quite a long time until the very end when the Americans surpassed you and became the top seed. In a way, are you glad that the U.S. perhaps has more pressure? Do you like being No. 2 or do you wish y'all were at the top? NA YEON CHOI: I think that it's like a little bit of both. When we were top seed, I think that all players have a lot of pressure to keep that top in the world, but also we got great pride ourself, but when we moved back to No. 2, we kind of like were a little bit released from the pressure, but also we got some motivation to back to where we are. So I think like this week, we really will try our best to move back to where we were, yeah. KRAIG KANN: Time for a couple more questions. Q. I was wondering how, with your inexperience in match play, how can you use that to your advantage? NA YEON CHOI: I don't have many experiences, I had only like some rounds, not even like more than 10 rounds with match play. But I had a good result back to Sybase Classic on LPGA Tour. I finished third and I played a lot of games out there. So hopefully I can take some advantage from that week. Q. For both of you, it seems like every year there's another young teenage girl who is kind of breaking out on to the LPGA and competing with veteran players. What do you make of that? Why does that sort of happen so frequently in women's golf? SO YEON RYU: The good thing is if you see a lot of young kids on the LPGA Tour, it means a lot of girls are already on the Tour, that girl has played so super well. That's why a lot of kids were inspired with players, that's why they started to play golf, that's why they really like start to practice hard to growing up to their ability. So sometimes I'm still‑‑ I'm 24, so I think I'm still young. KRAIG KANN: You're so old. SO YEON RYU: Thank you. (Laughter.) I don't think I'm old. I'm not that old. If you think about it, Karrie Webb, she's almost 40, but she still plays really well. She won two times this year. So when I see the young kids on the Tour, I think to myself, Oh, maybe a lot of great players gave a lot of great inspiration to them, that's why they're growing up so well. So I want to be one of the great role models to them. Also, the other thing is, when we play with Lydia or Lexi, it seems like they're not afraid of anything, they just hit it. If I think about me, I have enough experience because I already, being on Tour three years on the LPGA, and also I played four years on the KLPGA, so I have a lot of great experiences. At the same time, also I had a kind of like bad experience, so that makes me sometimes afraid of it and sometimes makes me like nervous to maybe I'm going to like competing with someone. But as teenagers, it looks like they're not afraid of anything. So that kind of thing is an advantage to them. NA YEON CHOI: I have pretty much the same answer. I was thinking when I was young, I think that I didn't be scared of losing anything. I've been on Tour, I've been a professional like 10 years now, and seven years on the LPGA Tour. I think I built every year gradually a little bit. And then I think I learned so many things, but it's kind of very scary to like lose all like my earnings or experience. So, but when I watch Lucy Li on the U.S. Open, she didn't really care whether she has bogey or double bogey or triple bogey. So after actually I watched her game, I just want to go back to when I was a rookie, you know. I wish I could, but like these days I think I'm kind of like scared to lose when I play. So I want to be more aggressive on the course and I don't want to care even like at all about the results. Q. What country are you guys most concerned about playing against this week? KRAIG KANN: Here we go. What country has you the most concerned? SO YEON RYU: Every country. First of all, we're going to play Australia on Thursday. If you think about Karrie Webb, she's a legend on the Tour. If you think about Katherine Hull, she already won a couple times on the Tour. And even Lindsey Wright, playing on the Tour at least more than five years, and Sakura Yokomine is No. 1 amateur in the world. So if you think about like just each player, we have to be afraid of everybody. Then, but the thing is, I'm pretty sure our team is more, we're the strongest team, so I just want to care about my teammates. Q. To expound a little bit about the pressure that you're feeling, is that self‑imposed or is that something that you feel like unfortunately external pressure from others? NA YEON CHOI: I think it's like everything. Also, my mental and my body physically to get really tired. I mean, I started being a professional golfer very early, when I was like 16 or 17. And it's been already 10 years. 10 years is quite long, I think. I think almost every year I improved my game or my results or statistics, everything. Then, especially like I was like last year, when I started the season, I was No. 2 in the world and I put so much pressure on myself to be No. 1. Then I could see my length is going back to 3, 4, 5, 6. Then like I think I got a lot of pressure and tried to be better every week and win every week. But I think that it didn't help at all. I learned so many things last season, after last season, and even this year, I tried to more feel free from the like World Ranking or even Money List and everything, but still I came really away from that. So I'm still trying to working on it. KRAIG KANN: Last thing before we let you go. Only one country will wear the crown come Sunday night. You first. What would it mean for you, what would it mean for the Republic of Korea? SO YEON RYU: I don't know if you know about it or not, but we had kind of a really big accident last April with the ferry accident. And after that, all Koreans were pretty sad. Now, everybody still thinks about that, all the young kids and everybody feels really sad about that accident. So we really want to win this tournament and we want to give a really great energy to all the Koreans. So that means kind of like this tournament feels more bigger than the Olympic games. So I really want to win this tournament and I really want to give great energy to my Korean friends. NA YEON CHOI: Yeah, we talked yesterday. We want to encourage all the Korean fans in Korea, they had a hard time like the last four or five months and they call me also, we are like ferry kids, so we want to make this happen for us, not for us but for country, for the people in Korea. KRAIG KANN: Thank you very much for being up here Na Yeon Choi and So Yeon Ryu. Good luck this week. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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