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JTBC FOUNDERS CUPMarch 16, 2016Lydia KoPhoenix, Arizona THE MODERATOR: Happy to be joined in the media center by Rolex No. 1 Lydia Ko. Lydia, let's start with the pro-am. You had Chan Ho Park in the group who was doing a little caddying for you. What was that experience like? LYDIA KO: Yeah, he carried the bag from the ninth tee kind of towards the fairway, and I think he was surprised how heavy it was. You know, when he asked Jason about how heavy the bag is and we said, oh, around 40 pounds, I think he was pretty shocked. But it was really cool to play alongside a legendary player like him, and he seemed like he really loved golf, so that was really cool to see. You don't get that many opportunities to play with a player like Chan Ho Park, so that was a really cool opportunity for me. THE MODERATOR: How is your game entering this week? LYDIA KO: I had a good week off last week. I did a couple days for the media day in San Francisco and then came here. But it can always get better, but we're trying to progressively get better every day, and yeah, I feel this is a course where I've played well the last couple years, so I feel good coming into this week on this course. But hopefully by tomorrow a lot of things will be more polished even through this afternoon. THE MODERATOR: You brought up the media day in San Francisco. Getting to meet the Warriors and go through that experience, what was that like for you? LYDIA KO: That was really cool. I was just excited to go and watch them practice. Obviously with every sport or even between players, everybody practices differently, so it was cool to see how they prepared for their game and just to be able to meet Steph Curry and Andre, it was a really cool experience. Andre I could feel like he -- it's only been two years since he played golf, and he said he's shooting in the 80s, and we all know that Steph is a scratch golfer, so I mean, they seemed to like the game, and when they get the opportunity they go out and have a hit. Q. I've been wanting to ask this for a while, but I wasn't there in New Zealand and I know there was a slight earthquake before you teed off. Can you talk about that final round starting with the earthquake and going on and why it's important for you to return home for that title? LYDIA KO: Yeah, you know, I think it was -- I've felt an earthquake before a few years ago, I think when I was there for the New Zealand Amateur, and I was lying down watching TV, and the ground started shaking and waving around. I thought somebody was running up and down on the second floor. But then I realized it was an earthquake. I think going into that Sunday when there was an earthquake, because I'd experienced an earthquake before, I think I wasn't as shocked and worried about it. The thing that did worry me was that after an earthquake that size, there tends to be smaller ones kind of throughout the day, and apparently there were some throughout that Sunday. But it was a shaky start, but I was glad that we were on the practice green rather than teeing it up or actually playing because you could be a foot from the hole and then with the earthquake, the ball might end up being 15 feet away and be disappointed with that, but I think there was no damage done. I don't think anyone got seriously hurt, so that was a good thing to hear, too. It's always good to go back to the national open. It's probably the biggest crowds I've played in front of. You can just see they're not all golf fans. They just want to come out and have a good time and just see some of the great players out there. I've been getting so much support from the fans and the organizers and the sponsors, so I just love going back there to that place, and obviously having played well at Clearwater, that brings up a lot of good memories, too. Q. Can you tell us about how your swing has evolved since joining David, and exactly why you wanted to evolve to where it is? LYDIA KO: Yeah, I think the biggest difference is probably the club face at the top of the backswing. Even since day one we've said let's keep it with my rhythm and just have the rhythm there and just try and make things so that it will be a little bit more efficient and more simple for me. I used to play with a really closed club face, and I had to compensate to try and make it square so that I wouldn't hook it very left. Now I'm playing with a much squarer club face, and because of that squarer club face, if I come down the way I used to, then I either hit it really right, or if I try and compensate at the last minute, then I hit it left. I think people have been thinking about we've been doing a lot of swing changes, but there's only like three or four, just a few things that we've been working on since day one, and we've been just trying to get better at it and just better and better and better, just trying to polish it. We're not working on new things. When David was there in Singapore, no, we weren't working on a whole new technique or a whole new swing or a whole new way to come down. We're still working on the same things, but maybe with different drills or different approach to do it. I think that's the way some people has looked at it is that they've been doing a whole new swing or a whole new A swing. But we've been working on similar things and trying to get better at it. The more time I spend on Tour, sometimes something is going to go out of place, so we've been trying to get back where I can be a little bit more simple, a little bit more efficient, where sometimes I don't need to compensate to try and bring it to square. Q. Just following up on that, I talked to David at the end of last year because he has the A swing, and I asked him about that, and he goes, Lydia is kind of like a mid-A swing. What do you think of that, and are you more of an A swing now? LYDIA KO: No. I feel like I'm not more of an A swing now than I was in November last year or April last year. I feel like it hasn't changed much. Sometimes I go out of position and then it might look more steep, but it's not like I'm trying to be there at that time or we're working on to try and get there. No, the A swing, I think the big thing about A swing was to try and get good synchronization, so I know some players struggle with synchronization more than some others, so to one player it might be easier doing that full A swing, but for me it has worked where it's kind of that mid-A swing where obviously you shallow out a little bit, but it's not as much as some other players. But that's why I think it all depends on the player. Michelle and I have the same coaches, but it doesn't necessarily mean we're going to have exactly the same swing because obviously our swing speed is different and our height and all that kind of plays into it, too. Q. Last time you and I spoke to each other was at the Women's Open in Lancaster, and you had spent quite a bit of time that week on the range with David hitting balls. Since the Women's Open you went on quite a run with several wins, several top 5s and several top 10s, and I noticed stat-wise while you were doing that, your putts per round dropped. Do you attribute that to the swing change that you're consistently hitting the ball closer to the hole, or have you also worked hard on your putting at the same time to improve those stats? LYDIA KO: Yeah, I'm trying to work to get better in all parts of my game. Unless I hit 14 fairways every single round and make every single putt that I need to make when I'm on the green, I'm sure, or try and hole every single second shot that I'm going to go for the green, then there is no perfect. I'm always trying to get progressively better at it. I've been working with Mike Sweeney with AimPoint and try and get better feels and try and hole a few more putts, and even if it's not those 20-footers, try and get comfortable on the shorter ones where at the end of the day, a four-footer may seem so short, but it counts. It means a lot. No, we've been working on that and obviously doing short game stuff, and then with David and Sean, we've been trying to put some time where it can be more simple, and even if I'm away for a long time, not seeing them, I still know my swing, and if it's off a little bit, I'm able to understand and know what one drill I need to do to try and help that. Q. How are you progressing with your driving, and have you ventured out on the highway yet? LYDIA KO: Which driving? This driving? Q. Your driving a car. LYDIA KO: When I was in Asia and New Zealand, Australia, I didn't drive, and I don't want to drive because it's on the other side, and I'm trying to get used to one side. So I haven't really driven yet since I've come back. I'll probably do more practice when I'm in Orlando. I'm pretty sure it hasn't improved, unless I've been driving in my sleep. Q. I've been asking you for two years now how it is that you do what you do. I'm interested in the mastery side of the game. What's the secret sauce that allows you to integrate all these things into your swing, take them to the golf course so seamlessly, play at such a high level almost all the time? Do you have some unifying thing? You've told me the last two years, just have fun. LYDIA KO: Yeah. That's the most important thing for me. During the middle of last year I kind of lost having fun for a month or so, and I don't know why that kind of came upon me. But no, after one round, I always kind of have to thank Jessica Korda because I played with her, and with her bubbly character and personality, and I started having fun again, and I realized how important that was to me. You'd think it would be so easy to say, hey, just go have fun, but obviously at the end of the day it means so much to you that it brings stress and pressure. But having fun is I think really important. But at the same time trying to work hard to try and get better. If you don't have fun, I feel like it's not worth it, spending all those hours and all that time out there to try and get better. Q. But you've also talked a number of times about how nervous you get sometimes on the golf course. How do you balance those two things, the fact that you get nervous and just have fun? LYDIA KO: I was nervous playing with Chan Ho Park today. I think obviously it's important to try and control your nerves, and I think it's good that you have nerves because I think you feel nervous because you're excited and you know that you've worked hard to be there and you know you're wanting to play good. It means a lot to you. If it didn't mean anything and you really didn't care, I'm pretty sure you wouldn't be nervous. So I think that's the thing where I try and accept it, and kind of like what Israel Dagg of the All Blacks in New Zealand, he told me to kind of just embrace it, embrace the fans, embrace everything, and I think that's kind of a good way to approach it. Q. You're going to Augusta I assume for your Player of the Year Award? LYDIA KO: Thank you to you guys. Q. What are you most looking forward to about that experience? LYDIA KO: You know, even after ANA last year, I really wanted to go to the Masters, but I decided to go back and work on a few things and chill out. I'm just really excited. I've heard so many great things about it, and I've heard that there is not one piece of grass that is in the wrong place. Anna Nordqvist said it almost feels like you're walking into a post card where it's so perfect. Some other people told me that I'd be surprised how undulating it is compared to on TV. I haven't had that many opportunities to go out and watch the PGA Tour players, so that's one thing I'm really excited about is to -- I was just talking about you. I haven't had that many opportunities to go and watch PGA Tour players, and I've watched a lot on Golf Channel or an TV, so that will be really cool to just see them play. I'm going to be there the whole of Wednesday, so there's going to be that par-3 contest, so that will be really cool to see some of the legends tee it up. I'm just excited to see the whole vibe of things. There's a reason why the Masters is the Masters, so you kind of want to experience it yourself. I'm really looking forward to getting the opportunity to meet Jordan Spieth, too, because I've read so many great things about him, how nice he is, so I'm really looking forward to taking a photo with him and getting to meet Jordan Spieth. Q. How many other times have you done the kind of swing work that you're doing with David now, and how long does it normally take you to integrate a new swing thought into what you're doing? LYDIA KO: You know, I think for the last year or so, we haven't really added a whole new swing concept. We're always just trying to get better at it and try and find drills where it would make it easier for me to do that. I like to take lessons frequently when I'm back in Orlando for the off week. I think that way I get a better understanding of my swing. You'd think two, three years is a long time, but being on the road a lot, playing so much, two, three years, it sounds like a long time because you're away from it so much, but actually at the end of the day you don't spend that much time unless you go into the off-season where you really get that month or two off and really work on things. Throughout the season we're not trying to rip the swing apart, and that was the same since day one. David didn't try and rip my swing apart and say, hey, this is going to be your new swing at the end of whatever. We've been just trying to get better at it little by little so that I would still be able to compete and not struggle with my swing that much. Q. You don't think about your swing that much when you play? LYDIA KO: You know, we try and make it simple. That's why like even when I call David or Sean, they just tell me like one key swing thought to think about, even like on a Wednesday, and then when I'm out there playing, I really shouldn't be thinking about it. I'm going to think about what club I'm going to hit, where I'm going to hit it to, and et cetera. There's just so much to think about if I thought about all those things. Q. How long does it take you to get to the point where you no longer have to think about it, three years? LYDIA KO: I mean, if I'm swinging good and it feels comfortable, that's the thing, I don't know, it could have been one month, two months. I can't exactly remember. But if I feel comfortable, even though if it's a little off, but I'm still striking it good, then we kind of let it go a little bit, and then in the off week obviously try and work on it a little bit. But at the end of the day, I've just got to feel comfortable, and I trust David and Sean and my team. They're wanting the best for me, so that's a big key. I've just got to have fun. The big thing for me is that I'm getting a better understanding of my swing so that when my coaches aren't there, I'm still able to know, hey, maybe this is going on so I need to do this, and I think that's a big key for me. Q. Lydia, any time you speak with one of the best players in the world, whether it's this Tour or the PGA Tour or European Tour, they say we a lot, and I know you have great people around you. When you're on the course playing, you definitely seem very conversational with Jason, and I was wondering, your relationship with him, does that really calm you down and make you feel less pressure when you're able to speak with him about each shot? LYDIA KO: Yeah. I mean, I joke around and tell Jason that I'm probably -- I spend probably more time with him than he spends time with his fiancé. That's how much time the player spends with the caddie. We're out there, five-hour rounds, an hour and a half warm-up prior, and maybe an hour or a half an hour warm-down or even through lunch. That's a long time. If you think about it, that's for four days straight, and we've got the practice days, too. That's a long time to actually talk and talk about things. Probably the first thing I talk about with him is what did you have for dinner last night, then that's where our conversation kind of goes. But that's why I think it's important to have somebody with you that knows your game, but it's important for him to have a personal where you're able to connect and actually talk about things and not get worried about, oh, is he going to do this or that. Obviously he's very skilled and he's been out on Tour for a long time, but another important aspect for me is to kind of connect where you're able to joke around, and I think personality is a huge part of Jason being on my bag and helping me out, because he keeps me more relaxed when I get nervous, too. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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