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ANA INSPIRATIONMarch 28, 2017Lydia KoRancho Mirage, California CHRISTINA LANCE: Good morning, everyone and welcome to the ANA Inspiration, my name is Christina Lance. Welcome you here to Mission Hills Country Club and more importantly, we welcome our world No. 1 player and our defending champion, Lydia Ko. Birdied the 72nd hole last year for a one-strike victory here at the ANA. You became the youngest person to win two majors. Tell me what all that excitement was like, the win and jumping into the pond last year. LYDIA KO: I think the biggest thing I remember about that whole day was that I really wasn't focusing on what anybody else was doing and I was just trying to play the best I can. And it really did come to the last hole and I think that's why it's so exciting was the par 5 -- that has happened in the past two. But I really didn't know what position I was in going into the last hole, so I thought I needed to make an eagle but birdie was good enough. Actually winning the Evian Championship, I think gave me the confidence to say, hey, you know, I'm able to win major championships and I think that give me the confidence to win this one again. CHRISTINA LANCE: What were your thoughts on 18? Were you putting pressure on yourself in that situation? LYDIA KO: You know, I was actually thinking about maybe going for it in two. But you know, I didn't have the greatest of lies and at that time, my caddie said, hey, I think it's smarter for you to lay up and then make up-and-down and make birdie and go from there. Obviously in the past, we have seen Karrie Webb holing out from a similar position and making eagle to win the championship, too. So there's just so many scenarios that was going on. But I think it was a good thing that I did listen to him, and who knows, you know, might be a different story if I had actually hit 3-wood. CHRISTINA LANCE: And then you got the honor of jumping into Poppy's Pond. LYDIA KO: Yeah, definitely, I think everybody dreams of hopefully being able to take (the leap into) Poppy's Pond, especially since Amy Alcott started the tradition. Even though you dream of hopefully taking that leap, you don't know what type of leap you're going to do: Are you going to walk in, are you going to do a long jump, a small one, a belly flop, who knows? There's just so many. It's not something you practice in your pool trying to say, hey, this is my jump into Poppy's Pond. I just saw the New Zealand flag towards the position I was jumping and I did the heart to kind of show them the love and the thanks to all the fans. I didn't actually realize I held my nose going down. I might be one of the only players, if the only player, to hold my nose. I must have been scared of the water, you know, going up my nose (laughing). CHRISTINA LANCE: No pressure: Only one player has defended the title, and that's Annika. Are you up to the challenge? LYDIA KO: Obviously I'm not coming in with fantastic momentum, you know, not being able to play in the weekend last week. But every day is a new day and every week is a new week. I'm just going to try and enjoy it out there and have a lot of fun. Obviously you know, being the defending champion, there is a little bit of pressure but then at the same time, I think it gave me the confidence to say that I can play well at this course. Especially because I had not had the greatest results prior to winning the ANA Inspiration. So yeah, I think I'm going to try my best but you can see the girls are playing great. We've got the world's best golfers here and I think it's going to be an exciting few days. CHRISTINA LANCE: You did mention last week, the struggle and missing the cut. But you've also had three Top-10s this year. How do you think your game is setting up for this week? LYDIA KO: Yeah, it's been really solid since -- until last week. I've been hitting the ball pretty good. I was in contention in Singapore, which was a nice feeling to kind of be in that position and try and play the best I can, try and make as many birdies as I can. Obviously it wasn't the greatest Sunday. I think a few Top-10s gave me the confidence that, hey, the game is still there. Obviously there's a lot of aspects to work on but I think Top-10 is a good result and a solid result gives you confidence going forward. I'm just going to think last week was just an off-week and just move on. Q. What happened last week? Was it ball-striking, putting? LYDIA KO: I actually hit my drivers really well. You know, irons weren't like fantastic but they weren't far off. But I was just struggling with the putter, and I've been -- it hasn't been in a very -- it's been very on and off but mostly not on the past few weeks with the putter. But no, especially on a course like last week with poa annua, it's not the easiest greens to read and there is a lot of elevation. But no, I think it was definitely the putter last week. But I've been trying to work a little bit more here but you know, the greens are so pure here, I've got nothing to blame. So it's all me here this week. But no, I'm just going to think -- I'm just going to try and erase last week. I know that even though I did miss the cut, there were still a lot of positives and you know, the things that we've been trying to work on in the off-season, I think they are starting to show a little bit by little and I think those are the confidence boosters and not only just results. Q. As a follow-up to that, how is the work with Gary growing and is the ball-striking in major championship form? LYDIA KO: I hope so, because we are here, the first major of the year. No, I think it's been pretty solid. I think when I look at my results, I hit a lot of greens in Phoenix and I hit the ball really well in Thailand and Singapore, too. If I could reduce more shots, I think it was due to not being able to make as many putts. And sometimes if you're not hitting the ball that good, if you're still able to make up-and-down and make those crucial par putts and a few birdie putts along the way, those make a huge difference. So hopefully I was saving it up for this week. Obviously a big week here, because the course is in such amazing condition. I think it's really up to the players to just go out there and have a good time and play some great golf. Q. Being No. 1 in the ranking, how do you define the pressure and how do you neutralize it for yourself? LYDIA KO: There is a pressure because you're the No. 1 ranked player; you should play awesome week-in and week-out, try and win every week. I said, hey, if that was the case, I would love it. But you know, almost it if you second every week, I think you'd probably be the No. 1 ranked player anyway. I think that's the big thing is that it's more about consistency and how many times you can put yourself in contention and then sometimes being able to pull it off. I think being in this position, you know, there's been a lot of cool things and positive things that have happened. I've been trying to not think about what ranked player, and when I'm out there, we're all golfers trying to make as many birdies and eagles as we can, rather than thinking about I'm the No. 1 ranked player; she's No. 2, she's No. 90. At the end, we're all golfers trying to play the best, and you know, hopefully be the one holding the trophy end of Sunday. Q. As a follow-up, the younger players -- have quite a bit of pressure put on them by parents. Your comments on that? LYDIA KO: My parents have been really supportive for me, even since I was an amateur. My mom was on the bag. She pulled my little golf cart when I won the U.S. Amateur in 2012, and she's travelled with me all over the place. I remember her, like not too long ago, but navigation system wasn't like a huge thing. So she printed out pieces of A4 paper of like how to get to certain places, from LAX to, you know, San Diego. My dad's always been there with me to train and practice. They have been super supportive and I know that I couldn't be here without them and honestly, I'm not the most organized person, so they help me to put everything in place and I think I'm here because of them. Q. You don't have a lot of experience with weekends off. How much did it rattle you mentally and did you take a little bit of a breather afterwards, or did you drive straight here and grind on the weekend? LYDIA KO: You know, I think rather than -- I don't think I was sad. I was a little bit disappointed because I was within the cut line and then not the greatest finishes, missing two short putts and then 3-putting the last. I think that's what kind of was in my head. I said, hey, I almost rather wish I miss the cut at like ten over or something, not just by one. I said, at least I missed the cut at a very nice place. I hung out, watched a movie with another player that evening, and obviously I need to think everything through coming into this week. I just wanted to have a day off and just chill out. There's actually a really, really good shabu-shabu place like ten minutes from here. So I said, hey, I've got one more day to eat shabu-shabu. And I went on Sunday, which ended up being -- I just tried to think positively. Last time I missed the cut in New Jersey, I went and watched Wicked on Saturday. I'm just trying to take the positives of it, and hopefully it doesn't happen often. But I chose the right places to do it and I found a great thing to look forward to, which is shabu-shabu this weekend -- last weekend. Q. When you're bored or have some downtime on your phone, do you ever look at the rankings and see where everyone stands and the differential between you and No. 2 and who is closing in? LYDIA KO: I actually can't remember the last time I checked the Rolex Rankings. When I get the odd social media pop-up of, hey, it's closing down to this much, that's when I know. But other than that, I don't look at it. Obviously even though I wasn't playing on the weekend, I'm a fan of the girls out here. So I was checking the leaderboard to see, you know, who was playing well, and obviously Miriam played amazing, and especially with all the girls playing so good, it's hard to win by that large margin. It was pretty cool to see, and then I saw the coverage on Sunday, too. So yeah, rankings-wise, I haven't checked into quite a bit, yeah. CHRISTINA LANCE: There was some great coverage of last night's champion's dinner. Must be a special moment for you to gather with all those great names and realize you're one of them. LYDIA KO: Yeah, I think it's part of I guess the experience and the fortunate thing that comes with being able to win this major. You know, the real special thing is walking down across that bridge and seeing all the different names of these great legends that have walked this path and also jumped in Poppy's Pond and won this championship. That's the great thing about this event is that there is so much history behind it. And you know, especially at a night like yesterday, you know, there are just so many generations of golfers there, starting our LPGA founders, Shirley Spork, and to see those people that have really made the Tour what it is today, I think that really is humbling. There's not that many times where I'm sitting next to Patty Sheehan and then sitting across from Kathy Whitworth. There's not that many times that those things can happen. So it was such an amazing night and for me to be able to join that club of those amazing women, it's very cool. And it was I think the ten-year anniversary for Morgan and then 20 and 30 for Betsy King, and then 20 and 30 and 40 years for Kathy. I said, man, I'm turning 22 and it's been their 40-year anniversary. It's just so cool to see these generations of people and to be able to hear their stories and get advice, it was a really awesome, awesome evening. Q. You mentioned last year, the thing that kind of changed for you here was you just holed some putts; you figured out some of the greens. You played a practice round here a couple of weeks ago and you're here now. Can you just talk about the golf course? Does it seem like the same course you played last year? LYDIA KO: I think this is -- I don't know if this is my fourth or fifth year here. I'm getting old; I'm losing track of how many times I've come here, and it's less than my fingers. But I think this is the best I've seen the course condition at. The greens are perfect. The greens are rolling really nice. The rough is thick, which I guess you'd imagine it to be. Even comparing to the week before Phoenix when I was here, the rough has grown out a lot, and you know, you can just see all the hard work that the tournament team has put in to make the course what it is. I think it's looking amazing, and I think all the players out here would agree with that. On the last day, I holed putts, but I didn't hole that many birdie putts. Actually on the back nine, I missed a few birdie -- a few shorter birdie ranges in the par putts that I holed. That's why I say sometimes it's more important to hole the par putts, because they kind of keep the momentum going. Par but the course is looking great and like I said earlier, I've got nothing to blame. It's all on me now. Q. Would you prefer the rough to be thick or maybe down a little bit? LYDIA KO: As long as I'm hitting it on the fairways, thick is fine. And if I do hit it in the rough, maybe get a lucky lie and it will be okay. But I think at a major championship, to have it at this length, I think is good. You know, it just also means you have to be creative, where, you know, if you do end up in the rough, are you going to lay up or are you going to go for it. It just makes the player think a little bit. But I think this is definitely many major championship course condition. Q. And you did finally get to see your plaque with your name on it, right? LYDIA KO: Yes, I did. When I was here before Phoenix, it was the first thing I looked for (laughs). CHRISTINA LANCE: Thank you so much for joining us and good luck this week. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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