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KIA CLASSIC

March 23, 2016

Lydia Ko

Carlsbad, California

KELLY SCHULTZ: Good morning, everyone. We would like to welcome in the No. 1 ranked player in the world, Lydia Ko:

Lydia, great to see you. Is it great to be back here at the beautiful Aviara Golf Club?

LYDIA KO: Yeah, you know, Carlsbad is like one of my favorite cities. I wish I could actually live here full-time. So it's always good to come back to a place where you feel really welcome and you just love the vibe of the place. I mean, every Aviara is one of the most beautiful courses we play all year round, so it definitely feels good to be back.

KELLY SCHULTZ: We are at that time of the year, we are getting ready to head into the major season with next week's ANA Inspiration being the first major of the year. Is this golf course a good test to kind of get you ready for that first major.

LYDIA KO: Yeah, this course is tough. There's a good mix of holes, but a lot of these holes are tough where if you come off with a par, you're happy.

Especially with the course setup being a little softer in the fairways and the rough being a little longer and the greens being firm and fast, that kind of tends towards a tougher side.

So it's going to be a good, tough challenging week here, so going into next week, I think will have a good few weeks, especially coming off last week, where it's a good couple weeks to go into the ANA.

KELLY SCHULTZ: You just got done playing nine holes in the Pro-Am. How is the course setting up? I've heard from a few players that it seems to be in one of the best shapes it's been in recent years.

LYDIA KO: Yeah, this is only my third time playing here and it's definitely in really good conditions. It's a lot of green stuff. You see them watering the rough so it's getting pretty lush. It's in really good conditions. I'm sure as the week goes on, the sun blares down on it, it will get in even better condition. So yeah, the course is in good conditions. It's going to be tough, so it's now up to us to play some good golf on it.

KELLY SCHULTZ: Speaking of good condition, your game seems to be in pretty good condition based honest out you played last weekend, 64-65 on the weekend at founders. How do you feel about your game and is there something that really clicked over the weekend?

LYDIA KO: I played really solid. Just the first day, I couldn't get any putts rolling, and the second day was a little better and obviously the third and fourth day was the best results of the week. I had a slow start, and especially around a course like Wildfire, you need to go low. If you shoot 4-under, you feel like you're breaking par.

When it's that kind of situation and the scores are crazy low, all you've got to do is, hey, I've got to make as many birdies as I can and try and limit the mistakes. I think that's kind of what happened on the weekend and just got a few putts to drop.

This week is a totally different course setup. I'm pretty sure that 27 under won't win this week. If you do, it's an amazing score. But I feel good and I feel like I played really solid last week. I mean, Sei Young just played incredibly well. I don't know that many events where you shoot 10-under on the last day and win it by five. I feel like I played good. She just played better, so during those situations, you can't do much about it. But I'm proud of the way last weekend did and confident coming into this week.

KELLY SCHULTZ: Can't do a whole lot when people are tying records on the LPGA Tour for total under par.

I know last week you went and did Callaway Live and kind of had a chance to have some fun with your sponsors. What is that event like and what is it like to be able to get with Callaway when you're in the Carlsbad area.

LYDIA KO: Harry, as you all know, has the glasses. And with me having glasses a few years ago, we were called like the Team Big Glasses. I obviously don't have any glasses anymore, but it's always good to go to your sponsors and do an event, especially doing Callaway Live where it's a lot of fun.

Obviously you're out there with your sponsors and trying to have a good time, but the team itself, they make it fun and they find ways where it's not just another interview or just another Q&A. They like to mix it up a bit.

Hardy made fun of me. I tried to give him a few good come backs, but he's hard to beat. But I had a good time and just to see the whole Callaway staff and Callaway team, because obviously they are guys that I talk to, but there is people outside of there, people who work with just people in equipment, just retail and everything.

So it's good to see them and it was good to meet Anthony who custom does like my wedges and the little cool signs on it, like the Kiwi Fern. I feel like I already met the guy but it was actually meeting him for the first time then.

KELLY SCHULTZ: We have two of our girls golf members here who are acting as junior reporters, and they have just a couple questions for you.

Q. Being a young player, what have you had to give up in order to have a career in professional golf?
LYDIA KO: I feel like I was missing out on a few things more before I turned pro. I think when I was an amateur, I couldn't go out on a Friday night and go out and watch a movie or do a sleep over. I think that was the kind of key things that I thought, man, I wish I could do that.

But looking back at it now, I think it was worth it. I mean, to try and be the best at the thing you do and not sacrifice anything, I don't think it works out that way. At the end, I feel like I've got more time to go out and watch some movies now, where a player comes over and we do a sleep over. But that's probably the biggest thing I miss, spending time with my friends and just going after school, going over to their house and just hanging out.

Q. What are some issues that happen as a pro woman golfer and how do you deal with them?
LYDIA KO: I don't feel like we have a lot of issues. Yeah, I mean, I feel so fortunate to play on the LPGA. It has always been my dream to play on this tour, so just to be able to be out here with the world's greatest players, such an international field. Everyone is so nice and so welcoming.

It's always been my dream to play here. It's hard to like even pick an issue. Everyone is so friendly and we feel like a huge family and I think that's a key thing about the LPGA is that everyone really gets along and has fun out here.

Q. Is it hard and stressful being No. 1?
LYDIA KO: I mean, there is ups and downs. I think that's with everything. It has always been my dream and my goal to be the No. 1 ranked player. I didn't imagine myself to be that at the age of 18. That kind of came as a surprise, but you know, it's cool not just for myself but for the team that has worked so hard along the way to kind of bring me to this position.

So it's kind of like a reward at the end of the day. Obviously everybody else is trying to become world No. 1, so everyone is trying to chase you and you're trying to run away from them. So that's I guess the hard part of it, but it's always cool to hear on the first tee, or during a press conference, that you are the No. 1 ranked player. It's a dream come true.

But just being at this position, I think people say, oh, you might lose motivation. But I don't think so. I think you always work harder to get better at what you do, and I think that's why it's been really cool, especially against Inbee and Stacy and now with Lexi where the rankings can change in any minute. You could win a couple events and boom, you could be world No. 1. So I think I've still got a lot to learn and a lot to practice to get better at.

Q. So you're No. 1 at the age of 18. What did you do as a teenager, as in practice and your eating habits?
LYDIA KO: I ate anything I want (laughing). Yeah, whatever my mom cooked up. I think home food, home style cooking is right up my alley.

Food-wise, I didn't really stick to one exact nutrition plan. For practice, I obviously went to school whenever I was in New Zealand. So after school from like 4p00 until 6:30, 7:00, that's when my practice time would be.

As an amateur, I kind of worked out three times a week with my trainer, so have to fit that in with my training. I don't really like to do gym work outs prior to my practice. I always feel like I'm a little bit fatigued and I lose concentration if I do the gym before that. So I always kind of put gym at the last, I guess event of the day.

KELLY SCHULTZ: Thank you very much core coming in this week.

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