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SWINGING SKIRTS LPGA CLASSIC PRESENTED BY CTBC

April 24, 2016

Lydia Ko

San Francisco, California

Q. What was the toughest part about today?
LYDIA KO: Just standing still. I said, hey, if I was half my weight, I'd probably already be flying away like a balloon. But it was just tough today straight out of the bit. I came out here to warm up, and it was blowing. It didn't seem like it was going to settle down any time soon, so just even a wedge shot was tough. Even those three-footers, they're not easy. Obviously they're not easy on any days, but when the wind is blowing, it's tough, and with the putts, if it's going the opposite direction to what the actual slope is doing, how do you calculate off that. It almost was kind of look a British Open, U.S. Open mixture today. Obviously the course style is more like a U.S. Open, but when we go out and play the British, this is when we have big gusts of wind like this all day.

I mean, it was challenging, but I tried to enjoy the most of it and always love played with So Yeon. It was a pretty cool day. Obviously I would have loved to have shot something crazy under par, but it was tough. I felt I played really strong, made quite a few good up-and-downs on the back nine, and I'm happy with the way I finished this week. Yeah, top 10 around here, I'll take it.

Q. So many times it's been said, "I just couldn't get anything going." I guess in this case, it's true, huh?
LYDIA KO: Yeah, I don't know if many players could get anything going today. Today is just -- a par was a birdie, a birdie was an eagle, and I only made one birdie today, and it was on the 12th hole, and I said, hey, I made a hole-in-one, I should get the car maybe. So that's how tough it is. Sometimes you're struggling and you need to make bogey. Today is not the day where you think you're going to go really hot, and if you do, that's great, and I see there's a couple under-par scores, and I think that's almost like a 65, 63.

Q. So many people backed away from putts or shots where they were addressing the ball just because of the wind. Was it as bad as it looked?
LYDIA KO: It was probably worse. You stand over a putt, and something would -- you'd probably cleaned out your line and then you'd get something flying on your line again, and you'd have to go and pick it up. I said we almost needed to go with a vacuum cleaner today, vacuum it out and putt. Just every aspect was tough out there.

There was a lot going through the mind. It wasn't just golf, golf, golf, or how I need to hit the ball. There was maintenance stuff like try and keep myself warm and try and play smart and then try and pick up all the things in my line, try and be steady in the wind, too.

Q. At least it's your birthday; you've got that going for you?
LYDIA KO: I'm old now, huh? Older than yesterday, older by the second. You know, it's been a really fun week. It's been really cool to have my birthday here the last three years, including this year. Unfortunately it was leap year this year, so it skipped Saturday, so I'm not sure where my birthday will be next time, but Swinging Skirts and IMG and the whole of LPGA and even the fans, they've given me so much support. It's pretty cool when you're going down the fairway and they wish you happy birthday. I think the whole IMG team sang me the happy birthday song on the first tee, and I said, I don't know if I should get emotional or get embarrassed. It was in the middle of that. But it just went great, and it's always cool to come back to a place where you feel the support and that I've been feeling that the last few years.

Q. Technically you are still a teenager.
LYDIA KO: Yeah, Annika Sorenstam sent me a Tweet today, and she said, hey, enjoy the last year as a teenager. It's pretty cool for somebody like her to just sent me a Tweet to wish me a happy birthday. Yeah, I'd better enjoy it. Next year I'll be the big 2-0, and then the year after that I'll be 21.

Q. I know you were worried about your game, but were you aware of the drama that was building in groups behind you?
LYDIA KO: Yeah, I saw at one stage it was just only one shot difference between Haru and Na Yeon, but every hole is tough. You might think it's a par-5, but it's not the easiest par-5. Like I said before, even a foot putt, you're still wondering if it's going to go in or not.

Obviously I think Haru has got a couple-shot lead coming down the stretch, and she's been playing so steady all week. She's been putting herself in good conditions, and hopefully maybe she will make a birdie on the last and make it a pretty dramatic finish.

Q. This is obviously a tournament that you want to win. Did you learn anything about managing internal expectations?
LYDIA KO: You know, I didn't feel a whole lot of pressure this week. I just tried to enjoy it. I had a really good first day, that 4-under, that put myself in good position. Obviously I would have loved to have played better, kind of finish out my round better on the second day. It was kind of not on exactly on the weekend.

But I enjoyed it. It was cool for people to put out signs like three-peat, three feet, and San Francisco with the K-O, and it was just cool to have that. Obviously if you're defending a tournament, it's great, but coming out even to try to get that three-peat, it's been awesome.

But maybe I'll have to do it another time. But this tournament is great. I just tried to enjoy the most of it, and with a top-10 finish here, especially around a course like this, I'm really happy with the finish.

Q. Where are you going to go to celebrate your birthday?
LYDIA KO: There's a group of us going out to I think Japanese buffet. We, I think, booked at 6:30. That's in like five minutes. So I'm late to my own dinner. But there's quite a few of the players coming. So Yeon is going with her mom, In Gee and Minjee and Su and Jessica Korda, so I think there's quite a few of us going with family and friends, so I'm really going to enjoy it. I'm going to be late. I might have to go in this. I'm sick of my golf attire again.

Q. Was there something in your swing this week that you were fighting?
LYDIA KO: You know, it wasn't more like the swing felt bad or swing felt off, it was tough when your misses were kind of left and right. If you're missing to one side then you can kind of play with that, but sometimes I would hit one right, sometimes I would hit one left, so when they are kind of going both sides, that's when it's tough to control. I felt like I hit the ball really well coming down the stretch, and that kind of happened yesterday coming down the stretch, too. But I've just got to take the positives. I felt like my short game really helped me this week, especially today, I was making quite a few good bunker up-and-downs, and I'll take it.

If my short game wasn't great, I'm not sure if I'd be in this position in the first case. Yeah, obviously there's going to be those positives and there's always things that I can work on, and I've got a few weeks to do that.

Q. With the wind conditions being how they were, how many swing adjustments were needed?
LYDIA KO: You know, when it's this windy and when it's so tough, you don't want to think about the swing, and that's what I was doing out there. Obviously if I wasn't hitting it great, I'm trying to figure out what's going on, but when there's so much going on and so much things to think about outside of trying to hit the ball, you try and not think about what's going to happen and what you need to do, and that's what I tried to do today.

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