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LPGA KEB HANABANK CHAMPIONSHIPOctober 14, 2014Ha Na JangHyo-Joo KimLydia KoMinjee LeeINCHEON, SOUTH KOREA THE MODERATOR:  Thank you all for coming into the media center today at the KEB Hana Bank Championship. I am honored to be joined here by four rising stars, already very accomplished in all their careers with some very, very bright futures. I'd like to introduce them and I'll start off with some questions and then we'll open it up to the media for follow‑up questions. We have Minjee Lee, former world No. 1 amateur, Hyo Joo Kim, Lydia Ko and Ha‑Na Jang of the KLPGA. So I'll get started with you, Lydia. Let's talk about your year so far. It's very, very solid. I know you always say you've been pleased with how you've been playing but you've been playing good as of late, as well. How do you feel coming into this final stretch of the year? LYDIA KO: Yeah I think this year has been a pretty awesome year. Really enjoyed playing on the LPGA. I've learned a lot of things that I didn't know before and experienced different situations, like being in the final group and having a five‑shot lead going down the last. Yeah, I've been really pleased with how I've played so far and I'm really excited to play this week. It's my first time playing in Korea, so I think it's going to be a pretty awesome week and I can't wait for Thursday. The MODERATOR: How is the wrist? I know since you had your procedure, you said it's been feeling good. How has it been holding up? LYDIA KO: I think my wrist is really good right now. I know I got a couple of different treatments on it and it felt good last week and I've been thinking about it. So yeah, I feel so much better and it's one less thing I need to think about. THE MODERATOR: First time here in Korea, have you heard anything about this event? I know you probably heard big crowds, a lot of support. Did you have any expectations for this week? LYDIA KO: Yeah, I heard a lot of good things about this tournament, about the course, from the other players. Yeah, I'm really looking forward to it and always the first is going to be one of the most memorable times, and obviously having my background from Korea, it is great to I guess come back to play where there are so many people coming out to watch. THE MODERATOR: Have to ask about the No. 1 question, I know Stacy gave you some flak last week, but she's not here this week to intimidate you. Does it help that she's not here? You always say you try to put things in your control and not what other players are doing so you didn't have to worry about that, and just play your best and whatever happens, will unfold? LYDIA KO: You know, like she mentioned last week, she said are you happy she's not playing in Malaysia because she's world No.2, and I would say the same thing. We are trying to play against the world's greatest golfers. I think it would have been great if she would have played here. But I'm not thinking about world No. 1 right now. I just want to go out there and have some fun and produce some good scores. I think there are going to be quite a good scoring days, so yeah, I'm just going to go out there and only think about my game and if it happens, that's great. THE MODERATOR: Hyo Joo, I heard you just won just last week. You won on the KLPGA and you've had such a successful year so far, both on the KLPGA and at the Evian. Talk about how you've been so successful, what's been key this year. HYO JOO KIM: I can't really pinpoint the reason behind my success this year, but I have to say that last year I played very consistently and also this year, I played very consistently. I think I was playing consistently enough times, I got very lucky, and I won. THE MODERATOR: Wasn't just luck, but you won a major last month in your first major start, which was great. What has changed? How has life changed for you since you won at Evian? What has changed for you? HYO JOO KIM: After the Evian championship, I returned to Korea, and I also took part in a lot of other competitions, and I noticed the support from the gallery is a bit different. I think that people actually have higher expectations now for me, and some people ask me directly now, what's your next goal. So I feel like I have to play better. THE MODERATOR: Since they ask you, what is your next goal? HYO JOO KIM: It feels a little burdensome for me to actually state what my next goal, just in case I don't make it. So if people ask me what my next goal is, I tell them I'll try to have fun and enjoy the game more. The MODERATOR: Any celebration when you came back home? HYO JOO KIM: Unfortunately I did not have timed to celebrate in any special way with my family and friends. I took part in another tournament two days after I arrived from the Evian championship, so I only got to meet my family very briefly. So unfortunately I haven't been able to celebrate properly yet. The MODERATOR: Now you played in this event twice before. How comfortable do you feel on this course and playing in this event? How comfortable do you feel? HYO JOO KIM: Since I started coming to this championship two years ago, I played a lot with foreign players, players from abroad. There is a little bit of a pressure to hit long shots. Sometimes there's no run on the fairways, so I feel like I have to hit longer in some points and that can be a little bit of pressure. But having said that, I have been playing consistently on this championship, as well, so I feel pretty confident. THE MODERATOR: Ha‑Na, your sixth event here in the LPGA this year, how comfortable do you feel playing in LPGA events? Are you starting to feel more comfortable? HA‑NA JANG: So I have been going overseas, especially to the States, to play golf since I was in middle school. So I know some of the players on the LPGA Tour are familiar faces and I feel quite comfortable on the LPGA, and I have not actually come out and said this before. But I'm considering Q‑School next year, and I hope that through that, I'll be able to play even more comfortably. THE MODERATOR: Now, you played very well at the Evian, as well, tied for third. What was the biggest thing you learned about your game that week, playing so well in a major? HA‑NA JANG: Taking part in that competition, I was comfortable, and at the same time I felt a bit of pressure, as well. Because it was a major, I really wanted to win but I made a small mistake at the 18th hole, so that cost me a bit and that's I think why I came in tied third. But I think that that experience, making that small mistake on the 18th hole, was an invaluable experience, and I think that it can be a foundation for me to grow more as a player. So I think the Evian Championship was invaluable in that sense. THE MODERATOR: Now I just have to ask you what has gone into the decision to go to Q‑School? Has that been the ultimate goal, to play on the LPGA? HA‑NA JANG: So I guess a lot of players, for them the ultimate goal would be the LPGA to play with the best players and be on the best tour. So in that sense, the LPGA I guess can be my ultimate goal but at the same time, I have a broader horizon and I want to experience more. So in that sense my ultimate goal is not the LPGA. Having said that, though, I told everybody that I'm considering Q‑School and I hope that I can win at this competition so I don't have to go to Q‑School. That would be nice. THE MODERATOR: Last but not least, Minjee, speaking of Q‑School, you played very well at second stage going to third stage, what were the sights on preparing for the final stage of Q‑School? Anything in particular you're going to be concentrating onto prepare? MINJEE LEE: I think nothing to like‑‑ yeah, I don't have anything that I'm like working on specifically. I think just trying to get as much experience on the pro circuit, so if I have that kind of experience, then I can obviously put it into play at Q‑School. So I'm trying to play as many tournaments as I can. But this is the only one I'm going to play in and then I'm probably going to go home. THE MODERATOR: And you did very well in your pro debut at Evian. What did you learn from that experience and was it any different than playing as an amateur? Did anything change for you? MINJEE LEE: Not golf‑wise, it was all the same. But I made a mistake on the 16th hole the last round. So, yeah, this is kind of learning from that mistake and taking it forward, so that's pretty much it. Q. You two are basically the key star players of the KLPGA and now this championship is the LPGA in Korea, so a lot of the fans have very high expectations. Going into the games, is there anything different in terms of your mind‑set? HYO JOO KIM: I will think this is a gathering of the best players, the best golf players, so for me it's more like a festival rather than a championship, and I think it's a great honor to play with other players on the LPGA here in Korea. So I think that personally because I know that there are a lot of supporters out there, especially from Korea, I have high expectations for myself this week, as well, so I'm looking forward to this week. HA‑NA JANG: Of course I also want to have fun as well but this is a competition and that's on my mind. I want to play well on this championship and people have been mentioning how there's going to be a lot of gallery out there and I think that in some ways might works as a bit of pressure on me so I'm trying not to focus on that and think about my game for four days. Because this is an LPGA Championship, we have a lot of players from abroad and I really want to get to know them and talk to them. But unfortunately I haven't been able to really speak to them, so that's a bit sad on my part, but I hope I can become more friendly with the other players. Q. My question is to Hyo Joo Kim. You mentioned that you may be at a disadvantage because this course is better suited for long hitters and there's no run. So my question is, what is your strategy then? And if you win, you would be the first non‑member player other than‑‑ to have multiple wins on the LPGA, is that on your mind at all? HYO JOO KIM: I have to say I'm not quite sure right now what my strengths are at this point. But I can say that the courses on the KLPGA are also getting longer, so I'm just going to go out there and try to have fun with my caddie. About the second question about the multiple LPGA wins, as a non‑member, I'm trying not to think about that because my focus on that, I tend to putt a lot more pressure on myself and I get unnecessarily more nervous. So I'm trying not to think about that. Q. I understand that both players, you're very close and since your amateur years and next year you're likely to go on Tour together. When you're in a round together, do you feel especially comfortable? What kind of feelings do you have? And I would also like to ask you to comment on what the other players's strengths are? HA‑NA JANG: I have played with Lydia since middle cool and extremely comfortable when I see her on the field. Doesn't feel like we're in a competition. It feels like I'm hanging out with a friend. As for her strength, I think she's an extremely strong putter so even though I feel like I'm hanging out with a friend on the green, I think I learn a lot from her, so on the 18th hole, it always feels like I learned something from her. LYDIA KO: Yeah, you know, I feel comfortable when I play alongside her and she's a great player. She's proven it in Korea and also globally. I always feel kind of lucky when I play alongside her because I seem to learn something every day, and she's so composed. She goes out there with a straight face and makes a lot of birdies. I haven't seen her play an average round of golf. She's always a couple under or right there. And putting, I would say she's a great putter. The days I've played with her, she's holed a lot of putts and like the first day at Evian, she holed many putts and obviously she hit it a lot closer to the pin also. She's overall a fantastic player, so hopefully she'll be able to play on the LPGA and get more opportunities to play alongside her. Q. You actually debuted as a pro in this championship and now you're back here after winning the Evian Championship, so I think that your mind‑set or coming back might be coming back with a bit of a different feeling. Any thoughts on that? HYO JOO KIM: Well, I have to say the mind‑set this time around is very different. It's not like you win one tournament and you're set for life. You continue to take part in competitions and championships. So I think that the mind‑set is not different but I'm extremely happy now that I'm back here, I'm reminded that I'm no longer in my first year after my debut as a professional, I'm moving onto my second year, so I'm happy about that. Q. I have a question for all four players and it might be a slightly odd question. But let's just say that there's a betting company and you have to select or guess who or which player will win the championships this year and you will receive $1million if you guess correctly. So please tell me who you would name and why. HA‑NA JANG: I think all the players out here this year are extremely strong players. In fact, I think we are all in contention, so it's very difficult to pinpoint somebody, but since that's the question, I would have to say I would pick Hyo Joo Kim and Shanshan Feng, she has been playing very well and is very accurate with iron shots. And compared to last year, the greens are soft so I think the key to success at this championship will depend on how they use their irons and how well you read the greens. I think it would be extremely awkward if I didn't pick myself, so I pick myself, as well. LYDIA KO: Yeah, the tournament really has not started yet, so it is quite hard to pick a player. All the players out here are trying to get that trophy at the end of Sunday. So it's obviously hard but if I would say someone, maybe Inbee Park, she's been playing pretty awesome the last couple weeks. She got married yesterday, so congratulations to her. I'm pretty sure she's going to feel pretty awesome this week. It's a very special week. So you never know, she might be the new bride with the trophy at the end of Sunday. HYO JOO KIM: I don't think I can guess who could win. I'm not going to place my bet. I think that the person who manages their game well from Thursday to Sunday and who manages to lower their score will win. And since she's badgering me to, I might select Ha‑Na. MINJEE LEE: I think it's quite early to say. Like they said, it's quite early to pick a certain player who is going to win but since that's the question, I think Suzann Pettersen, she's a really strong player and she's done really well in this tournament. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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