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OLYMPIC GAMES RIO 2016: GOLF

August 19, 2016

Inbee Park

Rio De Janeiro, Brazil

KRAIG KANN: Two‑shot lead heading into medal day. Let's get your thoughts on this day in the conditions, it seemed very challenging out there.
INBEE PARK: It was very challenging conditions. I feel like I really struggled out there. My putting was really, really good today, six birdies out in that condition is phenomenal. I feel like I made too many mistakes. My ball‑striking wasn't as great the last couple days, and just trying to keep it under the wind didn't really work out that well.
But yeah, very happy with where I'm positioned right now. I started off really good with three birdies, and coming in No. 10,11, 12, 13, those holes are really tough holes. I wasn't able to get through them really well today, but hopefully I learned from the mistakes today and hopefully I can play better on the back nine tomorrow.
KRAIG KANN: Before we take questions, those who wouldn't follow professional golf for the women that closely until a week like this, maybe don't know what you've been through this year.
I know you've talked about the thumb and all that, but you're leading this tournament with one day to go, potentially standing on a podium after a year of injury and everything.
Did you expect to be in this position? This is an amazing story right now.
INBEE PARK: You know, somewhere in my heart, after I made the decision to play this week, somewhere in my heart, I really believed in myself that I can do it. If I didn't have a trust in myself, I wouldn't be playing this week. That's one thing. But coming this week, just being realistic, I haven't played for two months and I haven't played well for awhile.
Obviously being realistic, it's hard to expect a lot from myself. You know, I've had trust in my heart, and just put some really hard work into it, and sometimes hard work pays off.

Q. Did you watch Sunday with the men? Did you see the medal ceremony or were you out playing?
INBEE PARK: I was actually out playing. We just heard the sound, but we didn't actually watch the ceremony.

Q. Along those lines, do you envision yourself being on the podium, or you don't want to go that far ahead?
INBEE PARK: I think not just golf, but all the other sports that's been played in the Olympics, we've seen our National Anthem coming from‑‑ on the podium. Just watching, felt so good, felt so proud, and wanted to be on the podium obviously.
It will be an unreal thing and just going to try to enjoy tomorrow. Just doesn't matter what the result is. I'm really happy that I played this week and how I'm doing right now.

Q. Is leading this event after three rounds somehow different from leading, say, a major after three rounds, and if so, how?
INBEE PARK: Well, I think because there is so much attention from my country and from all over the world; I think it's definitely a lot more attention than the major championship. So therefore, I definitely feel a lot more pressure. I've felt it since the first round of this week. I feel exhausted‑‑ it feels exhausted, every day, it feels like every day is a final round of the major championship in the final group.
I mean, that's how I felt all week, and after today, I think I really deserve a good round.
KRAIG KANN: When you sat down here, you said, "I need to sit down, it feels so good to sit down."
Most of us don't know a lot about the golf course because it hasn't been played in a big competition like this. How tough was it out there with the wind, and is this course super challenging in that regard?
INBEE PARK: Well, I just didn't realize the last couple days, the golf course was playing quite easy, because there was not much of a wind.
But today with the wind, some holes were just not reachable, and just there is a lot of areas where a lot of people walk through, so we just don't get a lie in the sand.
Yeah, it's tough. The ball is oscillating on the greens, it's hard to concentrate and hard to judge the distance. Some holes we played three, four clubs of wind. Yeah, everything was just tough out there.

Q. You talked about a few mistakes that you felt like you made today. Do you feel like if you had played mistake‑free golf today, that you maybe would have put away the Gold Medal, because you're still up by two shots; you obviously were up by three going into the final round?
INBEE PARK: I think if I didn't make a few mistakes today; if I didn't make as many bogeys as I made today, I think I definitely could have shot three or four shots better with really good putting today. I felt really good around the greens today.
Six birdies and five bogeys, and six birdies is really hard to do in these conditions. But five bogeys, I think I could have eliminated maybe two of the three bogeys. So I think I definitely left a couple of shots out there.
Even I had four or five shots of lead, I think it's hard to guarantee that I'm going to run away, because the conditions like today, shooting a 3‑over par is not that hard.

Q. Unlike most of the weeks that you've played on Tour normally, if you don't win this tournament, there's still a Silver Medal and a Bronze Medal, so there's more than one winner in a way. I was wondering if that changes your approach to how you might go about things tomorrow.
INBEE PARK: Well, I think it is very important to have Silver Medal or Bronze Medal or Gold Medal. I think all the medal is very precious, very, very important. But I think it's maybe a little different to a regular golf tournament because you only get one trophy, but here you get three medals.
So somewhat, I think it's somewhat more forgiving I think, even if you don't win a Gold Medal. If you win a silver or a bronze, I think that can maybe make your bad day a little bit better than finishing second or third in a regular major tournament.
Yeah, I'm just going to‑‑ it doesn't matter what color the medal is. I'm just going to try to do my best and try to show what I've just done for the last couple months and just try to enjoy tomorrow.

Q. They were talking about the difficulty of your second shot on 16, the chip shot over the bunker. Can you just kind of walk us through that, and is that what you intended it to be with your drive?
INBEE PARK: Well, my driver was a little bit of a missed shot. I pushed it a little bit right and the wind kind of held it on, so it just didn't go as far as I'd like to go. It left me the worst spot to be on that hole, but luckily I had an uphill lie and I was able to stroke the ball a little get quicker.
Even if I hit it to the left, if I hit it long, it's going to be over. I said, I'm just going to go for this pin. I have confidence that I can stop it if I hit the distance.
I played aggressive golf there and it really worked good.

Q. How would you grade your ball‑striking today, and whatever struggles you had, how much of that was internal and how much of that was from the conditions?
INBEE PARK: Well, I think for the last couple days, my ball‑striking was really good. Today I think it's hard to tell whether it's just me or it's just the wind, because it was just that windy.
But you know, I missed a lot more fairways and greens than I did the last couple days. So definitely feel like my ball‑striking needs some improvement tomorrow. I know I can do it, because I've just done it for the last couple days.
Yeah, if you miss the fairways here, it's really hard to recover. That will be the key for tomorrow.

Q. You're three days into this now and here you are, you're leading this. And also, given how little you've played recently, where do you think this is coming from?
INBEE PARK: Yeah, it's a good question. Everybody has been really asking me, where does this come from. It's just hard to explain. You know what, I just gave my body a good rest and I tried to gather a lot of things mentally. Tried to come here mentally and physically strong, and that's what I did. And I said, you know, I didn't expect much of a result, but what I want to do is I want to show all the people how hard I've worked, and if I'm lucky, I'm able to show the result.
I just try to do what I can do and just try to concentrate on what I can do, and this has really been working well.

Q. Could the result tomorrow impact your thoughts on your future career, your future in golf?
INBEE PARK: I think result wouldn't matter so much tomorrow. You know, Gold Medal or any medal would be great. But it's really not going to change much in my career.
I'm just happy that I am playing right now and that I am playing in the Olympics where all of the best players in the world is playing. Being able to show the fans some excitement and yeah, being able to compete at the highest level, it just feels an honour to represent my country in the Olympic Games is something I can't really exchange for anything.

Q. Taking a look at the leaderboard with so many big names on there, how important was it in your mind to have an exciting, packed leaderboard with such a big name in the women's game from a viewership standpoint for the people who don't know women's golf?
INBEE PARK: Well, I think it can make the game‑‑ being the first time in a while, golf in the Olympics, I think having big names on the leaderboard can make everything a lot more exciting and that can help women's golf grow a lot bigger.
I'm very happy what we are showing in the Olympic golf right now. It's really exciting for everyone. Really exciting for me. Really exciting for all the other players that are competing. Exciting for all the people who are watching. Yeah, it's a great scenario.
KRAIG KANN: You've always been able to show great perspective and have things in the proper place.
To follow that up, Lydia is right behind you representing New Zealand, Gerina Piller representing the United States, Shanshan Feng representing China.
Everybody has a podium jacket that they are given at the beginning of the week, all the athletes, in case they get to stand there.
You've talked this week a lot about the pressure that it is to play for Korea. If you were to stand there tomorrow on that podium, what would that be like for you and for your country?
INBEE PARK: You know, it's really even hard to imagine how I'm going to feel. I've held a lot of golf trophies, but I never really get to represent my country in the Olympic Games. It's going to feel‑‑ I think I'm going to feel so proud and proud of myself, and obviously I'm proud to represent South Korea. It's going to be a good competition tomorrow, and everybody wants to be in the podium. So we are going to do our best and try our best and try to bring the best out of us.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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