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SWINGING SKIRTS LPGA CLASSIC PRESENTED BY CTBC

April 22, 2016

So Yeon Ryu

San Francisco, California

Q. How was the weather when you got to the first tee this morning?
SO YEON RYU: Actually I think the weather was pretty bad until 6th hole. It was like really strong wind and rain. Also wind direction just keep changing, and so it was really hard to judge where is the wind coming from.

Well, as I said it was really fortunate to play well yesterday. It was kind of a bit of bad luck to start in the afternoon because it was like bad time of the day. But yeah, still, I know I started with three bogeys in a row, but it was still a good comeback then. I'm happy with what I did on the golf course.

Q. What did you say to yourself after the third one in a row to maybe right the ship?
SO YEON RYU: Well, the thing was, first hole I hit a really bad tee shot. Then second hole I thought it was a really good tee shot, but it just clipped a little branch, then dropped down. It was just bad luck. Third hole was my ball pitched literally half inch left of the cup, then hit the pin, then it's just coming back, so it finished like literally 50 yards from the pin, so it was bad luck.

Q. Did it come back at you?
SO YEON RYU: Yeah, yeah. Actually it hit the pin and started to roll, then everything just coming back, yeah, front of the green, so it literally finished like 50 yards.

Q. What did you hit in there?
SO YEON RYU: 8-iron with the tee shot, and then next shot, second shot was 58. Everything that happened, we cannot keep just saying like, it's bad luck. I cannot blame only luck. I really tried to keep it positive, then Tom really helped me out to keep it positive. He kept saying, it wasn't your fault, it was just bad luck. So I would say, yeah, maybe I already spent every bad luck I've got this week, and I only have good luck the rest of the way.

I think my mindset was really good. I'm really proud of myself.

Q. After you've taken a breath and you look at the board and you see you're tied for second, you're right there, how do you evaluate the round?
SO YEON RYU: Yeah, yeah, it really feels great to be in contention because I was struggling with my game earlier this year, so I haven't really been in contention, so I'm so thrilled to go to battle with the other girls.

Q. Does that say a lot for this course, where 75 you think, oh, we lost a bunch of shots, but you're still right up there?
SO YEON RYU: I think this golf course, as soon as you struggle with your game, it's really easy to make a lot of bogeys, so you really need to keep it positive and you really need to only think about good way rather than bad way. I think if somebody shot 75 today, I think it's still fine. It's like even par I would say. Then I think it's really a matter of what they think about their game rather than score.

Q. I think this is most of the mental challenge, like a major do you think?
SO YEON RYU: Yeah, I think this tournament is definitely one of the major quality golf courses. Yeah, if greens more firm and fast, it's definitely like a U.S. Women's Open. I'm always happy to be back at this golf course. To be honest I always enjoy playing challenging golf courses, which suits my game, so I cannot wait to play the next two days.

Q. Other than your luck, do you have anything else that changed between the two days?
SO YEON RYU: Yesterday and today?

Q. Mm-hmm.
SO YEON RYU: No, I mean, I didn't change myself anything, but I think just only maybe tee shot was a little not really accurate than yesterday, but wind was stronger, and after that happened, all three holes, I couldn't really like totally focus or like couldn't trust myself, something like that. So I wouldn't say I changed anything by myself, but yeah, it just happened like that.

Q. Do you almost look at the leaderboard thinking, well, Lydia is going to be there now?
SO YEON RYU: Yeah, even like I saw the leaderboard at the sixth hole, seventh or somewhere, that Lydia had three birdies through four holes, five holes, then I thought like, hmm, maybe another lady has a chance to shoot 9-under then. Then wind just really picked up, then this golf course is not really easy one to shoot a low score. But Lydia is definitely one of the hardest ones to compete with, so I thought she's going to be really great. But then I just look at the leaderboard right now, and she just dropped down a little bit. But also she has two more days and a few more holes today. Yeah, let's see what's going to happen.

Q. That first hole did the tee shot go left or right?
SO YEON RYU: Yeah, a little right. It was left-to-right wind, and the hole goes right to left, so it's in my mind, okay, I really need to hit a draw shot. I think I maybe pushed myself too much, and I just couldn't concentrate enough. I just kept pep talking myself, I need a draw shot, I need a draw shot. I think it was a bit of a bad mindset.

Q. What does shooting 9-under on the first day do for your mindset?
SO YEON RYU: Well, it was kind of awkward feeling because it was only the first round, but everybody started to text me and Tweet about congratulations. Well, you know, it was good. It was a really good thing to have 63 the first round, but it was still not the end of the tournament, so I kind of like felt really weird, so I kept telling myself, okay, this is first round, tomorrow is a new day, new golf. So I really had to tell myself today was just totally new day. But always really good to have 63 the first round.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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