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RICOH WOMEN’S BRITISH OPENJuly 26, 2016Lydia KoWoburn, England COLIN CALLANDER: Good afternoon, we have the world No. 1 Lydia Ko with us this afternoon, won four times this year. You must be very confident with the way you've been playing so far this season coming in here. LYDIA KO: Yeah, this year has been a lot of fun. There are a lot of highs. I think actually winning the Evian Championship I think give me the confidence, and then winning the ANA Inspiration, and to contend in the next two majors, even though I wasn't holding the trophy at the end of them. No, it's been a learning progress, and just to be able to play in major championships, going down in the last group or to be in contention, I think there's always a lot to learn from that. COLIN CALLANDER: You've had a chance to look at the course. What's your initial thoughts? LYDIA KO: Actually walking up yesterday to the first tee, when you know that you're in the British Open, you expect flat grounds, long fescue rough, deep bunkers. It was a breath of fresh air. It was definitely different. It just feels like a parkland course. I think even though it is a parkland course, I think there's so many tough bits around it. You definitely don't want to go in the deeper bunkers. The greens are pretty undulating, so you need to hit it into the right sections of the greens. I think it's going to be a tough course. Just because we are away from the water and away from the really high winds, I don't think it means the scores are going to be incredibly low. I think the course has a lot of tough challenges and that we need to be smart when we're out there. Q. You've won so many times, but also, when you've had tough losses, you've shown this ability to rebound very quickly. How do you approach losses in ways that enable you to be successful so quickly afterwards? LYDIA KO: I feel like every failure, every loss, there's meaning at the end of it. You're always learning from it. And even if you do win I always feel like at the end of the week, there is a key thing that I learn from my game or I learn more about myself or I learn more about advantages or disadvantages and things I need to work on. I always say every day is a new day. Every round is a new round. I've come from a British Open a couple years ago where I've shot I think 80 or 80-something in the final round and then the week after, I ended up winning the Marathon, the Classic in 2014. It just goes to show that sometimes you might not be feeling well or you just hit a few loose shots and end up hitting a higher number, but you can always bounce back for a minute. A good night's sleep and a good warm up and knowing your game, knowing what you've done from the day before, you can learn from it and how to avoid it. I think that way, I think sometimes you get carried away from what just happened a hole ago or what happened yesterday. But to me, I'd like to think of it as today is a new day and anything can happen. We've seen scores in the past, I think the proof is that even if you're like six, seven shots behind, there have been times where on a Sunday, somebody goes incredibly low and ends up winning. Those are the things that just every day is totally new. Every hole is new. You could be hitting it great and then one hole, you hit a loose shot. I think that's the thing about golf is that we're not all robots. Even though I would love to have a button and go, beep, hit it down the middle, hit it down the middle, make that putt. But sometimes we have those days where everything clicks but sometimes it doesn't click. I think you've just got to not punish yourself so much about those bad ones and just think, hey, what have I learnt from this. Q. What have you been working on with your coach, David Leadbetter, out on the range and out on the course so far this week? LYDIA KO: We actually haven't been like doing whole new different techniques. Similar things what we have been working on throughout the year. Just trying to play to the rhythm and that's why I say, you know, sometimes even with the swing, I feel like I'm swinging it exactly the same. And one day it feels good and one day it doesn't feel so right. I think that's the thing is that we are doing just small things and we're not working on a whole new thing. We are just trying to polish it and how can we be a little bit more consistent. It's kind of like getting sandpaper and you're just grinding away little by little. Q. I saw you on Saturday you were here and I think you were working with Jamie Donaldson. Is that a new thing for you, AimPoint, or is that something you're putting into your game? LYDIA KO: No, I've been doing AimPoint for awhile now, I think around two years. Because we are always on the road, it's hard for me to go back and see Mark Sweeney, because Mark is travelling all over the world himself. I haven't actually seen Mark in a while. I got to meet Jamie earlier this year back in Florida. I saw him here on Friday and I said, hey, I would just love to work on a few things. We weren't doing anything new. Trying to get used to the speed and just a couple drills I could do throughout the week. Q. Can I ask you about the Olympics, first of all, how excited you are to be going, and also what your take is on the other side of the game, the men's side of the game; that everything of the top players are pulling out? LYDIA KO: Yeah, I'm super excited. Ever since they announced that golf may be in the Olympics, and then for them finalising, I said: I want to get myself to Rio. I would love the chance to be an Olympian. Golf isn't the most fastest sport. We are not running. It's not speed golf. We are not throwing something. But there's a huge biomechanic side of it. There's still a large physical side part of it. It's huge mentally, as well. I think golf deserves to be in the Olympics, and I think this is a way that a lot of juniors and fans and people outside the golfing industry can get into golf itself and get more interest in it. So I think this is a great step forward. I'm super excited to be there in a few weeks. Obviously hearing some of the guys pulling out, it's unfortunate for that to be happening. But at the same time, you have to understand where they are coming from. It's quite hard to hear about the Zika virus and everything. But especially on the girls side, I think we are all excited. It's not like there is nobody playing on the men's side. There are still so many great names and great players that are still excited to go to Rio. I think there's a lot of positives. But it's hard for me to state in their perspective, because it is different. For some of them, it's about family and growing a family. It's hard to say it's wrong of them to do that. I think we all have to understand where every player is coming from and every player has their own choice and own decision, and I think we all have to respect that. Q. It's been such a busy run this summer of one big event after another. How challenging has it been to pace yourself and how do you think you've done it? LYDIA KO: Yeah, for actually throughout the year, I scheduled it to not play more than three tournaments in a row. So every couple weeks, or whenever I get the chance, I always go back home. That way I'm not just resting. Obviously resting is good, but then I've got some time to work on things, and I think that's worked well. Sometimes it is good to go into a major with good momentum, kind of like going into the ANA Inspiration, but sometimes it is good to go into a big event feeling fresh and feeling like you're rested and you're ready to go. With the Olympics, we have I think 11 tournaments in a row, so I think some of the girls may have played all 11. I know Brooke played 10 out of 11 and I think that is pretty amazing. She's like Super Woman. Every player different and every player has their own schedule. But I feel like we have scheduled it well, so that I don't feel tired in any event. I know my limit, and you know, it's not just about golf. You know, we're out there practising and it's long hours on the course. Even though it just seems like, hey, we're playing four rounds in a week. I think there's a lot more time aspect to it. That's why we've been smart on how to control my limit and so that I feel fresh going into every week, rather than thinking, hey, this is my fifth week in a row and I'm ready to go home. I think that way, I feel more smart and I think I'm capable to play better when I know what my limits are. Q. And the follow-up is a lot of people would have loved to have seen you at the International Crown, but having the week off, what did you do? Did you do anything special that you might not normally do? LYDIA KO: I went and watched a musical in London. I watched Matilda. We asked some friends which musical. I've watched three, four other musicals here in London. I said, "Hey, what's popular right now? I watched Miss Saigon, Mama Mia, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, what's my next go-to?" And they said Matilda. I had a great time. Matilda, most of the actors that are doing it are actually kids, and it's amazing how they can memorise all their words and the lyrics to the songs. I can't memorise a whole verse in a song. It was really cool as an event perspective. I guess kind of takes you back to childhood memories, even though that's not too far away from me. That's something I'd like to do and I just got to see the town a little bit. Q. There's a 15-year-old Swedish girl playing this week, Julia Engstrom. You were very young when you started playing on this high level. Can you give some advice to this young girl? LYDIA KO: Yeah, she's only like four years younger than me. So it's hard to say if I'm coming from a lot of experience. But to me, every experience playing alongside the girls here and playing alongside these legends and girls who played on these tours for many, many years, I think that was the experience part of it. I think as an amateur, you have so much fun just being alongside -- even though you're inside the ropes playing beside them, you almost feel like there's two ropes and you're looking and going, wow, Karrie Webb hit these kind of shots, I wouldn't be able to do that, man, I would love to do that. I think it's a learning thing. You know, you need to have a lot of fun. Obviously you do want to perform well and play well, but at the same time, I think experience is something you can never buy and every experience you get in and every situation, you can learn from it. I would say just have a good time. Every one of the players is super welcoming and super sweet, so she has questions, I'm sure the girls will be able to answer. I know that she'll have a good time this week. Q. Do you think golf needs a new format, shorter holes, fewer clubs, to attract younger players to it? There's talk of the Tour going to something like that next year? LYDIA KO: I'm not -- I don't know. I've never really thought of it. We have the Pro-Ams, like the Pebble Beach Pro-Am where the men compete and there are some celebrities and amateurs that combine. We have I think those kind of championships that sometimes attract fans outside of the game. I don't know if it is necessary to make it a competition with less clubs or a shorter -- I don't know, yeah. Because I think that way it would feel more like mini golf. I feel like this sport itself, there is so much history. And that's why like the Claret Jug for the men's or this Women's British Open, there is so much history to it. I mean, obviously throughout the years, some rules have changed. In the olden days, they didn't have markers, so they had to either putt or chip around it or over it. I think those rules may change. But I think, you know, sport and our basic part of it, I don't think it necessarily needs to change. Obviously as Tour players, we are all trying to grow the game, and they are trying to inspire one more junior to take up the sport; that's job well done. But I don't think we necessarily need to change how normally this sport needs to be played because we have championships like the Solheim Cup or the International Crown where there's match play and that's a different approach to it (choking on dry throat) where's my Evian? (Laughter). I don't think golf needs to change. Maybe rules may change throughout the years, but just how it is played. I'm fine with the way it is played. There are three-day events four-day events; there are Pro-Ams. I think there is a whole variety that a lot of fans and juniors can take interest of. Q. The British Open can be a stressful week. Are you doing anything different on a night with your friends or cooking? What sort of takes your mind off? LYDIA KO: I was asked this question on Saturday of going into the Sunday of U.S. Open. I said, "I might go clubbing all night." But I am legal here in the U.K. Nothing changes. We're in an apartment this week. I'm able to eat mom's cooking and a little bit of Korean food, and even the restaurants around here, I've heard -- I saw Ian Poulter on Friday and he gave me some great restaurant recommendations, and I've been to a few of them. And the food is really nice here and quite diverse; some Asian, some other original English pubs. I think there's a lot to enjoy. But I'm going to get a lot of rest in the evenings. It's quite hard to sleep early here because it's still light at nine o'clock. I love my nine-hours-plus sleep, but to look outside and it's still light, it's quite hard. But we have good curtains to block the sun out. Nothing out of the ordinary. Just stick to my own routine. COLIN CALLANDER: Thank you very much indeed for your time. Good luck in the championship. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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