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SWINGING SKIRTS LPGA CLASSIC PRESENTED BY CTBC

April 22, 2016

Lydia Ko

San Francisco, California

Q. 1-under in the second round. Talk about your day today.
LYDIA KO: Obviously Minjee went out low this morning, but I knew with the wind getting up, I knew it would be tough, and just seeing yesterday afternoon's scores, I saw that the back nine played quite tough yesterday, and it kind of played the same. I don't think it was because the holes are particularly more difficult. I think the fairways are a little tighter, so if you miss them, you're having a tough time trying to scramble for par. I think that's what happened out there. I kind of hit a few wayward shots, so that kind of made my bogey, but overall, I played pretty solidly. My ball-striking wasn't too good on my back nine, but hopefully we can get that sorted and be positive and play well on the weekend.

Q. On a course like this, it's firm and fast, pretty tight, traditional-style golf course, forces you to play one shot at a time, do you think that plays into your hands?
LYDIA KO: Yeah, you've just got to think about the one shot that you have. I mean, it's tough. Even when you're coming out of the fairway, because of how firm the greens are, it doesn't particularly mean it's going to be an easy shot and you're going to have an easy birdie opportunity. You just do have to focus about that one shot. If it goes well, that's great, but I think with some of the slopes around here, you've got to hit and hope sometimes.

Q. I know a bit of an up-and-down day. It was more of a mental test do you think?
LYDIA KO: I think the first nine holes, I struck the ball really well and gave myself quite a few good looks for birdies. I made a good birdie on 1, so that kind of kick-started the day. Heading towards the back nine there were quite a lot of holes where I was trying to make up-and-down for pars, and around these fast greens, firm greens, they're not easy, just because you're just off the green, it doesn't necessarily mean it's a gimme par or birdie.

It was tough when you don't hit the fairways as much as you want to, but I've just got to maybe go to the range and try and get this sorted, but I feel like I've hit quite a few quality shots, made quite a few good strokes on my putts. I've just got to think positive, and we've got two long days to go. I know Haru is playing great and there are some other big names that have played well the last two days, but there is still a lot of golf to be played. I've just got to focus on my game and just enjoy it, and because of the three-peat thing obviously there is a lot of say about it, but I've got to enjoy it, and at the end of the day, just try my best. If it goes my way after 36 holes from now, great, but if it doesn't, I still feel fortunate that I won this tournament two times, last year and the year before.

Q. How tired are you? I know a lot of players and caddies have been walking off and they're like, we're exhausted.
LYDIA KO: Yeah, I was kind of using my putter as a walking stick up the 18th going towards the green. I think with the wind being up last week and with the breeze again today, I think that makes it a little bit more physically tired. But I feel fine. I had a lot of time to rest after yesterday's round. I got to chill out. I think that's kind of a good thing about the morning-afternoon rounds is that you have that time where you can just rest up and rest the body. But I don't feel that tired. I'm not playing next week, so now I've got two more days of just keeping mentally strong and physically strong, and then it's time for me to go home.

Q. Younger players tend not to have great short games. How did it become so important to you?
LYDIA KO: I mean, I'm not one of the long hitters out here, and especially as the courses get tougher, and out here as the greens get firmer and faster, you're not always going to be on the green and you're not always going to be right by the pin. I think moving over to the States, that kind of made me learn more variety of shots. There's not just one shot that's going to be that one rough shot. There's going to be a couple different ways I can hit it, and with us playing in Bermuda, paspalum, and bent, there's just so many different things that I think coming over here and playing on Tour that has made me learn more about how I need to control my shots and how I can play these different types of shots.

Q. I think younger kids don't really like working on their short games. Did you not mind it?
LYDIA KO: To me, I always listen to music when I practice. I think that makes it more fun, and to me, I personally think my focus isn't super -- for a super long time. I think listening to music kind of gets me more engaged and just have fun. I think that's a great thing about golf is that there are endless things you can learn about, and there is no perfect. You think you've got this sorted and then here you see another thing that you need to fix and you can work on. I think that's the great challenge about golf, so I think I'm slowly trying to enjoy it more, but when I was a junior, I guess, in New Zealand, I tended to hit a few more balls on the range than short game stuff, but I think over the last few years I know with my parents, we've been working on trying to spend more time on the short game because even though I would love to hit the ball straight every single time, there's going to be those days where I don't hit it as good as I want to, and if you have a short game where you can trust, you can always kind of feed off that, too.

I mean, obviously you would love to hit the ball on the fairway and by the pin, but there are going to be times where you need to make up-and-down, and it's a crucial up-and-down to get in contention or stay within the lead. That's what we've been focusing more on, trying to spend more time on the short game stuff, because it is important. When something is off, it can definitely balance it and help your day out.

Q. What music are you listening to now?
LYDIA KO: Fun stuff. I don't really like to listen to slow stuff. But I'm pretty slow, you know, like I don't think of kind of as a fast rhythm person. Something kind of fast that gets me going and gets me energized. Obviously you don't want to listen to a super fast song at 5:30 in the morning, but just something to get me going, and obviously here and there when you hear like the guitar or some coastal stuff, it's great. But most of the time it's fast stuff, something I can dance to, but I'm not dancing in front of everyone.

Q. Could you tell where the ball hit on the flagstick on No. 3?
LYDIA KO: I saw a pitch mark that was like this much, like half a foot from the pin, so I thought maybe it hit short, hit the pin and ricochetted, but from our side on the tee, I thought it was like directly on the pin. But I came off with a birdie, but if I came off with a par, I would have said, oh, man, that was so unlucky. But I've never made a hole-in-one.

Q. Ever?
LYDIA KO: Ever. I say I've made a fifth of a hole-in-one because -- I'm sure no player has said they've made a fifth of a hole-in-one. I was practicing and then I sliced one in the water, and I hooked one into a tree, and then obviously my next, third, tee shot is for 5, and it went in the hole. It was a good double. So I call it a fifth of a hole-in-one, but a real hole-in-one I've never had before, so maybe it might happen when I'm on Tour, maybe not, but I'm hoping for that day and that thrill. I've witnessed quite a lot of hole-in-ones and I've been more excited than that player before.

No, I can't imagine myself being how excited when I actually make a hole-in-one.

Q. On No. 4 were you trying to drive it down the right side to open up that --
LYDIA KO: The wind was kind of coming from the right side -- yes, it was coming from the right side, so I thought I hit a really -- I aimed where my ball kind of ended up. I aimed there so it would feed more towards the middle of the green, but ended up being just a straight shot and ended up being fine, but I wasn't particularly wanting to end up on the right side of the fairway. I ended up nice, but I was a little worried walking down there.

Q. Does that give you a little -- the long iron that crawled up onto the green?
LYDIA KO: That green is tough. I mean, I mentioned yesterday that 4 is one of -- I think the toughest hole out here, and for me to come off with a birdie today, I felt like that was a one-shot advantage just even over myself. But coming in with a longer club, it made my ball kind of crawl up the hill, but with a shorter one you need to be more aggressive. Because of how firm the greens are, even like short pitches are -- like my 18th hole, it's going five, six yards forward. It's tough. But I wasn't aiming to go there.

Q. What about that third shot on No. 9? It looked like a clever little shot you played into the green.
LYDIA KO: Yeah, I haven't really hit a normal shot into 9 the last two days. Yesterday I was in the left rough and had to hit a punch -- it was like only 70 yards and I had to hit a punch 6-iron out of there, and today I just hit a punch 8-iron. The tree is perfectly placed. You're still on the fairway and it's in your line. You need to hit it under the tree, but fortunately the pin was back today, which makes it more accessible rather than the pin being around the bunker.

Q. What was your yardage there?
LYDIA KO: You want me to tell you the exact yardage?

Q. I'm curious about that shot versus a full 8-iron.
LYDIA KO: 134. It was like a normal 8-iron distance because I need to hit it under that tree. I would probably hit like a low 9-iron, but I didn't want it to have any chance of going around the tree, so I hit more of a softer punch 8-iron.

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