|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
MARATHON CLASSIC PRESENTED BY OWENS CORNING AND O-IJuly 15, 2015Lydia KoSYLVANIA, OHIO THE MODERATOR: We'd like to welcome defending champion Lydia Ko to the media center, No. 2 world ranked. How are you feeling coming into this tournament? LYDIA KO: Yeah, you know, I had my best finish at the U.S. Open last week, so I guess in that way coming in with a little bit of confidence. Yeah, you know, this will be my third year playing this event, and I've always had so much fun playing here. The crowds are great. I'm looking forward to the next couple days. THE MODERATOR: Driving down the main drive you can't help but notice the street named after you. What is it like having a street named after you and you don't even have a license? LYDIA KO: It's pretty cool. I'm actually staying on that road this week, so maybe they should give me a discount in the hotel. But I don't think they are going to do that for me. No, it's really cool. That way kind of I think a lot of people will be interested in the tournament and in golfers overall, so I think it's a great to show all the different players' names throughout the year. THE MODERATOR: You are up for two ESPYS tonight. Are you going to watch? LYDIA KO: Might actually be bedtime for me. I'm teeing off early tomorrow. But, yeah, you know, it was pretty cool for me to just be nominated and just be amongst those amazing athletes. THE MODERATOR: Questions. Q. When you come to a tournament you've won before, does it feel any different than going to another place? LYDIA KO: I mean, I guess more people recognize you. That would probably be the biggest difference. I think the big difference is more that I played the course rather than I've won here before. To come back to a course where you've played good at always gives you a little bit of a relief and a little bit of confidence. But the big thing is more people recognize you, and I think that's the great thing here. Even today there are a lot of junior girls and boys coming out to watch and it was only the Pro‑Am day, so it was really cool on that part. Q. You're a little hard to recognize without those glasses. LYDIA KO: Yeah, I mean, I couldn't recognize myself when I looked in the mirror the first time. Q. (Question regarding being from New Zealand.) LYDIA KO: Not really. The big thing is probably accent, and then the water flushes the other way around the hemisphere. But I'm not going to look down there and see which way it goes, you know. But, I mean, worst thing for me is when I'm over there coming to this side of the world, jet lag is the big thing. But other than that, not much of a difference. Q. I know you said that you want to smile and have more fun on the golf course. What are you going to do this week to make sure you have fun? LYDIA KO: Birdies will make me smile. I just got to have fun out there. Just have fun playing alongside Brittany and Na Yeon next couple days. I am sure there will be great crowds this week, so hopefully we can make a couple birdies amongst the players and give them a good show. THE MODERATOR: I also know that you don't have another tournament coming up before the Ricoh Women's British Open. What are you going to do to prepare for that after this week? LYDIA KO: I am actually playing the Scottish Open next week, so I'll be flying to Scotland next week earlier on. So, yeah, you know, obviously won't be playing in Grand Rapids, but it was definitely one of my favorite events I played in last year. I'm gutted I won't be able to play this year. I think it'll be great to go to Scotland early. British Open is a hard tournament to prepare for. You never know what the weather can do, and it can change within minutes. So I thought it would be cool to play in front of the Scottish crowd. Yeah, no, I think it's like a Pro‑Am format. I don't know who I'm going to be paired up with. I think it'll be cool to play with celebrities. Q. Last night you made some jokes about Stacy Lewis being intimidating to you. Can you just kind of tell us about that? LYDIA KO: It's not a joke, first of all. Yeah, I mean, she's a tough player to beat, but at the same time, she's definitely one of the nicest players out here. I know she's a big role model for me and for I'm pretty sure a lot of future stars. Yeah, everybody is intimidating out here, but at the end of the day everybody is so nice. That's the cool thing about it. It's not just one side to golfer Lydia Ko or golfer Stacy Lewis is. There is the person, the personality part of it. It wasn't a joke. Q. (No microphone.) LYDIA KO: Yeah, you know, I was a little bit more aggressive with my putts on the weekend. I think that kind of led to a couple more putts dropping. People saw the coverage on Friday. I left a lot of putts short. Somebody mentioned that on my Twitter page, so thank you to them. No, I tried to be a little bit more aggressive. And then it's never in when it's short, so I kind of tried to think in that perspective. I just tried to have a lot of fun out there. The crowds were fantastic. It wasn't on a certain group. It was all scattered around. I just had a lot of fun out there. The course was in great condition also. THE MODERATOR: Any more questions? Q. You've practiced here now. What's your feeling? LYDIA KO: Yeah, I heard there was a lot of rain here the last week or so, so the course has definitely been playing a lot softer than what I played the last couple years. That kind of makes a difference yardage‑wise. I was hitting a lot of mid‑to‑long irons rather than hitting my short irons. That can play a huge difference. Yeah, that would probably be the big thing. So that kind of changes my game plan from last year, where I might have hit a 3‑wood but it's more of a driver hole right now. You just never know with the weather. If it starts blowing, I'm sure it'll get drier and drier and make the course closer to what it was last year. The greens are running pretty fast. They're pure. So I'm sure the person that makes a lot of putts will probably be the winner at the end of the week. THE MODERATOR: Thank you for coming in, Lydia. LYDIA KO: 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
|