|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
SHOPRITE LPGA CLASSIC PRESENTED BY ACERMay 27, 2015Christina KimGALLOWAY, NEW JERSEY Q. Just because you played so well here last year, I wanted just to see, you know, coming back here, feeling good, good memories. You always seem to enjoy this event in general. How is this week feeling so far? CHRISTINA KIM: Well, it's been very slow and very fast at the same time, because since it's a three‑day event, you're always, you know, between practice rounds and pro ams. It's kind of tossing in another day. It's kind of‑‑ I still feel like I'm getting my bearings right now. Q. All over the place? CHRISTINA KIM: Yeah. But no, it's great. I love coming back to Atlantic city. I've got a lot of success here in Jersey. My first professional win was in Jersey on the Symetra tour. Q. Where was that? CHRISTINA KIM: That was in East‑‑ it wasn't Paramus. It was‑‑ it was somewhere. Q. North Jersey? CHRISTINA KIM: It wasn't in the city. Q. We'll look it up. CHRISTINA KIM: It was at the turn of the millennium. Q.  Ages ago. CHRISTINA KIM: Yeah. But it was‑‑ you know, I've got a lot of success here at this course, and I've had a lot of near misses, and you know, I just being out here. You know, it's a great golf course. The sponsors have always been such huge supporters of the LPGA. Leela and Tim, obviously they know how to run a world‑class tournament. There are just so many positives, you can't help but be happy when you're here. Q. I was going to say, everyone says you're kind of just a fan favorite, kind of have that Jersey personality. You kind of fit in with the fans. Do you feel like that, you kind of come here and everybody embraces you maybe more so than other places? CHRISTINA KIM: Yeah. You know, I think I've got‑‑ I've forged a lot of friendships out here, and you know, people are great out here, you know. They're just really excited for golf, and they're really excited to have us back. It's one of the traditions of the area, and I think people really, really‑‑ you know, they‑‑ tradition is very important to people around here, and I love that. Q. Talk about the course a little bit. Everybody says, you know, a lot of creativity. You have to shape a lot of shots. The wind obviously. What are your thoughts on course management here? Tough. CHRISTINA KIM: You know, I love it. It's not obviously one of our longer golf courses, so it causes you to think. Like you have to have every shot in the bag, and you have to be willing on some holes to lay become with your tee shot. You can't just blast driver everywhere and think you have a flip wedge in and knock it close. I've seen a lot of players hit driver on a couple of holes, had a flip wedge in and then hit it through the green into a hazard. Like it's not completely unheard of, because‑‑ and it is a very demanding course. I think that it requires a lot of patience and a lot of‑‑ it's being outside of your comfort zone. You know, a lot of shots we're not necessarily accustomed to. Q. Talking about this year, obviously you went on and won in November. Did your sort of performance here kind of jump start you or give you some momentum for the rest of the season last year? CHRISTINA KIM: Yeah. You know, I always love coming out here for the reasons that I had already listed, and you know, at this place I'm very comfortable being here and playing. But I think that, you know, putting myself in contention, you know, kind of reinforced the fact that, hey, you know, you can still do this, you know. It was my twelfth year on tour last year, and you know, it didn't feel like it. You know, I felt like there was still so much‑‑ you know, there was just a lot of opportunities out there, and you know, it just‑‑ shooting 7‑under here in the first round was huge for me because I hadn't shot anything low like that in a long time, and it was just a really good feeling, just happy to be back. Q. So you said you don't feel like‑‑ I mean even though you've been out here a while, do you still kind of feel like it's new or your learning? CHRISTINA KIM: You're always learning. Even my last day on this earth, whenever it may be, I know I'm going to be learning something. You're never going to have it all. And I think that understanding that and embracing it makes things easier when‑‑ you know, I know when I was in my 20s, I thought I knew everything; I knew nothing. Now I know I know nothing, and that has turned my perspective around where I want to learn and want to be able to better myself and become the best that I can be, whatever it is that I'm doing. Q. How do you assess where your game is right now? I know you played well in Palm Springs. Where are you right now? CHRISTINA KIM: Well, you know, I feel good about my game. You know, I can't‑‑ I don't like really‑‑ you know, I mean people ask me, you know, how is your season going so far, and the scores never reflect how you're actually playing, but you know, I feel like I am starting to get a little bit more out of my game. And you know, it's just‑‑ you know, so much of it for me is just attitude, you know, and just knowing that I can miss‑hit a shot but I can recover, and knowing that not every shot is going to be perfect; not every shot has to be perfect, and I think that is a lot of it. You don't have to get mad on the golf course. Q. What about health wise? I know last year around this time you were kind of getting back in the swing of things and getting over your injuries. That was the turning point where you got back to healthy, and then it was, you know, let's play. CHRISTINA KIM: Yeah. You know, I'm back to being healthy. I still have to ice body parts and things like that just to prevent any excess inflammation. And you know, I'm just‑‑ yeah, everything's good. I don't really think about any of that stuff. I think the fact that it's out of mind means that it's not something that I have to worry about, I guess. So I just feel very just. Q. Feeling good. Keep going. Solheim Cup year. I know it's always on everybody's mind a little bit. And you're right on the cusp. Something that you're obviously a goal towards. On the front of mind, back of mind, none of mind? CHRISTINA KIM: Back of mind. I think anybody that says it's not in their mind is lying, because it's plastered everywhere. So you can't avoid it. But you know, for me the big thing is just to play well, you know, and obviously Solheim Cup is something that I would love to be a part of again. It's something that, you know, it changes golf for me every time I play in it, but I'm not here to allow the Solheim Cup to dictate how I play. If I have to finish in eighth place, you know, in this tournament in order to get in the points or to move up in the rankings or this, I can't‑‑ I'm not here to think about that. The only thing that I can control is what I do with my golf ball. And you know, I've had a number of finishes where I've been just outside‑‑ I've been one shot outside of the top 20, so I didn't get a point. It happens. So my main goal is just to play well and then wherever the chips fall, you know, that's the hand I'm going to be playing. Q. Did you ever think the other way, like years past, maybe your first couple of Solheim Cups where you're like on the points, because I know a lot of younger players do, once they're in that first couple of years of contention, they're obsessing? CHRISTINA KIM: I know I was thinking about it a lot more in the 2007 Solheim Cup where I didn't make the team. And in 2005 I was just playing so well that it wasn't even something I had to think about. And then in 2009, in‑‑ when we were at Rich Harvest Farms, I knew I had to play well to maintain my position, but we were at the British Open, which I absolutely love going and playing in. So I, you know, I said I'm just going to have fun, I'm just going to play well and then whatever happens happens. The 2011 one was a little weird because I was going through so much stuff in my like. I was like, you know what, I have too many things on my table. I have no place for this. Q. You mentioned you played well in New Jersey a lot. Is it the type of courses, something in the air, turnpike, parkway? CHRISTINA KIM: It's definitely not the jug handles. I don't think those have a lot to do with it. I don't know. It could be just because it's such a‑‑ we're close enough to the city, but we're nothing like the city out here. You know, it's very, very much more of a slow pace compared to New York City, you know, and people say what they think here, which I appreciate, you know. And it's just‑‑ it's good vibes. I can't put a finger on why. I just enjoy being here. It's beautiful; it's green. It's lush. Yeah. I don't know. I don't ever put my finger on any one thing. Q. Just overall vibes? CHRISTINA KIM: Yeah. But good people is one thing I like. Q. I saw you became a Giants big‑time San Francisco Giants fan. CHRISTINA KIM: Yeah, in the last like 60 weeks or so. Q. That's a good time to hop on board. CHRISTINA KIM: Well, I had never been to a game before, and last year at the Swinging Skirts, the sponsors were kind enough to get tickets to the game, and it was nothing like I thought baseball was, and I was so, so wrong. And it was just so awesome. And then they were‑‑ the Giants were playing great, and then they had a lull in their season, and I was like, that's something I can so relate to. And then they had a huge surge obviously, went onto win the world series. Yeah, it was just great. And I follow a lot of teams now, which is kind of cool. Most I don't care much for the American League, though. Q. How is your game coming in here this week? Two off weeks, did that throw you off or is it good to have a rest? CHRISTINA KIM: We had one off week. We had one tournament between two weeks, but no, you know, rest is very much needed, you know. Even though last year when I won it was on my seventh out of eight weeks in a row, and that was in my fifth or sixth country or something like that. You know, I just‑‑ you deal with what's given to you, you know. And I'm told I get a couple of weeks off because we have a few spots in our season that we're not playing because we never go up against the PLAYERS Championship and we don't have tournaments at certain times of the year. That's fine. I hibernate. Q. Anything you do for fun? I know you're always having fun, or it seems that way. What did you do last week? CHRISTINA KIM: Went down to the water. I went down to Jupiter. My boyfriend just got a place in Stuart, so I went to hang out with him there. And then hung out with my family. Q. Did you go back to California? CHRISTINA KIM: I haven't lived in California for over‑‑ Q. You live in? CHRISTINA KIM: Orlando. Q. I wanted to ask you, I'm doing a story on Michelle estimate your workload, and I was wondering what you've seen of her since her win in the Open last year, and is it the same gold‑old Michelle that you remember from when she first got on? CHRISTINA KIM: Yeah. She hasn't changed from when she was struggling at 16 years old, before she‑‑ you know, when she broke her wrist and was struggling with her injuries then to, you know, where she is now, you know. The U.S. Open has not changed her in any way, which, you know, I don't think she thinks that, oh, I won the Open, so I have to do this or I have to do that or anything like this, you know. It's the greatest championship that you could win being an American. But that doesn't change who you are as a person. At the end of the day it's, you know, it's still something you do. It doesn't define who you are. Q. With all the criticism she took as a younger player, do you find it refreshing that she's been able to keep the personality that she's had, that bubbly, effervescent personality? CHRISTINA KIM: No, because people will always try and bring you down when you're up top. You know, if you're strong enough you're not going to allow them to, because that's them wasting their time on something that they shouldn't be focusing on. But no, she's incredible. She's fun. She's a goof ball. Like she's just‑‑ she's one of my best friends and I would take a bullet for her, and you know, nothing has changed in the last 13 years other than the fact that she has graduated from high school, then graduated from college and now is full time on tour. Who she is at her core has always been the same. Q. Thanks. All right. Anything else? CHRISTINA KIM: Awesome. 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
|