	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

CANADIAN PACIFIC WOMEN'S OPEN

August 23, 2016

Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada

THE MODERATOR: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the media center for the 2016 Canadian Pacific Open. My name is Dan Pino. I'm with Golf Canada. 17 Canadians in the field this year. Proud to have two proud Calgarians in the field list joining us today.

To my left, Jacqueline Lee. She's 19 years old. She is a member of our national team program. She spent two years on the development team. This year she's on our national amateur squad, a sophomore at Ohio State University. She's the 2014 Alberta Amateur champion. When you won that at 17, you were the youngest ever to win that, and you also won back-to-back Alberta junior titles.

We also have Jennifer Ha, 22 years old, playing in her third CP Women's Open, fourth LPGA event, turned pro in 2015, also a graduate of our national team program and an alumni of Kent State University.

For both of you, representing us here as Calgarians, what does it mean to you to obviously play in your first LPGA event, first Canadian Women's Open, but just to be here as the local stars?

JACQUELINE LEE: For me, it's really exciting to be playing in Calgary in my first LPGA event just because I'll have the support of all my family and friends, that they can come out and watch. So it's definitely really exciting. I see a lot of familiar faces walking around, so everything doesn't seem as new as it really should be.

So yeah, it's just been great to feel that home support.

JENNIFER HA: Same goes for me. I played my first Canadian Open in Edmonton actually at the Mayfair Club, and it was great being in Alberta, but it just means a little bit more that it's in Calgary and I have my friends and family here. I actually just saw my high school teachers. They're all here, too, which is amazing. Yeah, I'm really looking forward to the week.

Q. Jacqueline, you took part in a clinic with RBC today. Tell us about that. You're obviously part of the national team. They're a sponsor of it. What was the clinic all about, and how did they react to you?
JACQUELINE LEE: I think they all really enjoyed themselves. It's a little chilly outside right now, so lots of winter jackets you had to put on. But we had three stations. We had some of them hitting balls and chipping and putting. We were also there with Morgan Pressel and Brooke Henderson, and so Maddie Szeryk and Naomi Ko were also helping out, and we were just spread out amongst the stations helping the clients wherever we could, giving them -- I was on the driving range helping them give some swing tips and tips to help hit the ball a little bit better, and I think they all enjoyed themselves. They all had some laughs. It was a really good time. It went on for about an hour and a half. They were troopers out in this weather, that's for sure. But I had a lot of fun, especially meeting the people helped make being on Team Canada possible and helping Golf Canada be what it is for sure.

Q. I was wondering if either of you could talk about Lorie Kane; she's being inducted into the sports Hall of Fame, golf sports Hall of Fame today, and I'm wondering if you're old enough to actually have been influenced by her growing up.
JENNIFER HA: Well, I played with Lorie earlier this year at a mini-Tour event in Daytona before stage 3, and she was amazing. We played together for the first two rounds, and after the round she actually ended up helping me on my chipping, and I'm like, wow, like we're competing here, and she's actually taking the time out of her day to come help me with my chipping, and it was like 30 minutes but it was awesome. It was very insightful and she helped out a lot.

She actually invited me to her house to stay there if I had other tournaments up in Orlando. Like she's just so open. Every time I've seen her since then she gives me a big hug, and it feels amazing to know someone that is of her caliber would take me, which I'm just starting out, and she's been a great role model for all Canadians.

JACQUELINE LEE: Yeah, I haven't had as much experience with Lorie as Jen has, but I first met her actually when the Canadian Open was in Edmonton and I was out there for the Junior Skills Challenge, and I got to walk down one of the par-3s with her and she let me hit a shot onto the green and hit her putts on the green for her during the pro-am. And when I met her, she was very nice for sure, and she's definitely been a great ambassador for Canadian golf and definitely a great inspiration to a lot of people my age and I think a little older to do great things in Canadian golf.

Q. Are you both good wind players?
JACQUELINE LEE: I mean, I think that this weather is a little unusual for Calgary. I haven't experienced quite this much gusting in Calgary in a long time for sure. But yeah, with the help of Team Canada and like Tristan and Ann Carroll, before being on the team I had no idea how to hit a wind shot or anything, but definitely since being on the team, Tristan has helped me with that part of my game, so hopefully I'm prepared for this coming week.

Q. What's your time on the Symetra Tour been like?
JENNIFER HA: It's been great. I've only played maybe seven or eight events. I started a little bit late this year, but I've caught up and got a good status after the reshuffle, and I'll play most of them after this. It's been really good for me. I've learned so much for the past couple months that I have been on tour. It's a lot of traveling for sure, and I'm driving everywhere, and I got my license a couple months ago, so watch out, and I've been driving. That's kind of scary. My mom told me she's not getting much sleep. I've been doing that.

It gets a little lonely at times to be honest. My dad comes every once in a while to caddie for me, keep me company, and he's been great with that. Overall it's been great. I've had some good finishes. I've had some not great finishes, but I'm learning all the way.

Q. I'm told that it's a tour where there's a lot of you that are hoping to make it to the big tour, but there are also a bunch of players like Lorie or perhaps a little bit older, almost like an alumni tour, if you will, and I wonder what that's like. You talked to Bill about the help that Lorie gave you. I wonder if others are as open as she is, that you're picking some stuff as you go along and play in tournaments with them?
JENNIFER HA: Yeah, I mean, there's definitely a lot of girls out there on the tour. Each week it's 144, but I actually think the number of Symetra members is like 400, well over 400, so there's a lot of players out there. There's players like Nicole Jeray who's been on tour, and she comes out and she talks to the girls, and she's really nice. The hard part is that the end of the year only 10 make their card. This year the people who consistently have been in the top 10 are pulling way ahead, and that's kind of the challenge of it is that there's so many good players, and there's only 10 spots, which really goes to the deserving people then. It's been great. For me personally, I've learned so much again from the Tour, and I just hope to continue with it.

Q. A three- or four-month tour doesn't leave -- there are no lies; you find out very quickly when you play that many events in that long a season, you find out quickly if you can take the next step.
JENNIFER HA: Yeah, you can, and I think every player goes through that moment of doubt and saying like oh, is this really for me, but then there's those moments you make a top 10, and you're like, all right, I'm right back in it. It's 22 weeks, and it is a long season. We play three or four events, even five in a row, and we get a week off here and there. Actually I'm playing this on my week off, so this is my second tournament in a row, but it'll be in a row six. It is a lot to handle, but it's definitely worth it in the end.

The money in the tour is not great, but it's a learning device. It's a learning tool. It just builds my experience, so I'm getting the most out of it.

Q. What is it going to take for you to play well out here this week, for each of you? What's the key to scoring well at Priddis?
JENNIFER HA: I think staying out of the rough is going to be a big one. The fairways are quite wide, so I think they've made the rough a little bit more penalizing, so try to stay out of there. And for me the biggest thing was just to keep my head grounded and not get worried about anything else and just kind of take everything in, and that's been my biggest thing this year.

JACQUELINE LEE: Yeah, like Jen said, stay out of the rough. It's definitely really penalizing, especially if we have to play in wind like this this weekend, like it's going to be tough to play in the wind and also if you're in the rough to get out of there. But then again for me, kind of like Jen, but this is my first LPGA event, so definitely keeping my nerves down and just trying to treat this like it's another event but also enjoying the whole experience and having fun and learning from all the players around me, just like kind of Lorie was mentoring Jen, there's tons of players out here who I look up to.

Yeah, it's just a mixture of everything, and I'm just trying to keep out of my own head, I guess.

Q. Have you seen the draw yet? Do you know who you're playing with?
JENNIFER HA: No, I have not seen the draw yet.

JACQUELINE LEE: Me neither.

Q. As far as your first Canadian Women's Open and the player experience, who are some of the players that you're maybe looking forward to seeing how they go about their business, kind of take care of things in practice? Who are some players that you look up to?
JACQUELINE LEE: I mean, Michelle Wie for sure, and I'm excited to see like Alena and Brooke and also there's a fellow Buckeye who's playing this tournament. Her name is Rachel Rohanna. She used to go to Ohio State, as well, so I'm excited to see her. Honestly all these ladies are so good that you just kind of want to learn from them, and they've been doing it so much longer than I have and they've got so much experience that they've got and so much to share. So just kind of watching what they do, how they handle themselves on the putting green and chipping green and driving range and everything. Yeah, just kind of going to be aware of my surroundings and soak up as much as I can.

JENNIFER HA: For me, I'd say just a couple players coming in. Brooke for sure. The kind of pressures that she's handled, it's amazing to watch, and she's done so many good things for Canadian golf. So I think she's definitely going to be one to watch. Lorie, again, I mean, this is her home tournament, and I'm really excited to see how she does. Also one of my favorites is Karine Icher from France. I played in a pro-am with her years ago at Mayfair. I think I was 12, and she said, maybe one day I'll see you out here, and I actually just saw her on the chipping green, and I'm like, this is amazing. This is really cool. Actually she's one of my favorites, too.

Q. Did either of you get a chance to watch any of the Olympics on TV, the Olympic golf competition? Any thoughts from that?
JACQUELINE LEE: I didn't really get to see too much of the Olympics except for the highlights, which is not much. I wish that I had seen a little bit more, but I was keeping an eye on what the scores were like on my phone.

JENNIFER HA: I was actually playing a tournament that week, so I didn't see much of it, but I did see Inbee win, and I thought that was really cool with her being injured and her pulling through there. She's South Korean, I'm South Korean, I have a special place in my heart for people who do that and just work really hard to get there, and I think it's well-deserved.

THE MODERATOR: Thanks for joining us today, and good luck this week.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297