	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

MARATHON CLASSIC PRESENTED BY OWENS CORNING AND O-I

July 19, 2017

Lydia Ko

Toledo, Ohio

THE MODERATOR: It's my pleasure to welcome in the two-time Marathon Classic winner and defending champion, world No. 4, Lydia Ko. Lydia, how does it feel to be back in Ohio?

LYDIA KO: It's definitely nice to be back to a place where you've played well at, and definitely being the defending champion it's always exciting to come back. The fans have really taken me in and have been really supportive, so I love coming back to places where you've got a lot of great memories, and you actually get to see familiar faces like the volunteers, too. Ohio has been really great to me. I've got a lot to thank, won the US Women's Amateur in Cleveland, Ohio, in 2012, so yeah, Ohio will always remain to be a special place in my heart.

Q. You have four starts here, you have two wins and two additional top-seven finishes, so what is it about this course that suits your game?
LYDIA KO: You know, it's actually a traditional golf course. I feel like there are a few trees here and there, and you've got to be creative. Every year I feel like the course has played a little differently, and this year it's pretty firm and fast, and it's one of the best conditions I've seen this golf course so far. It's a great golf course, and I think this is one of the few where it doesn't really fit one type of player. It's important to hit the fairways and give yourself as many birdie opportunities as you can. I don't know exactly why I've played well the last few years, but I've grown to really like this place.

Q. Flashing to this year, you've got seven top 10s, you're coming off of two straight major championships. How do you feel about your game right now?
LYDIA KO: You know, I feel like the puzzle pieces are there, but I've been struggling to kind of put those pieces together. Sometimes that is almost the hardest bit where you feel like those little pieces are there but to connect it and put them all into good rounds, I feel like there are a lot of positives going on, so I'm trying to stay patient. Obviously even though there are good things, there are always things you can work on, and I'm going to continue to practice hard and kind of maintain those things. But this is a busy stretch of events. I'm playing the Scottish and the British the next two weeks after this, too. You just have to be patient and confident, and every week is a new week.

THE MODERATOR: This is the site of your last victory on Tour. Do you feel like you're close to making it back to the winner's circle?

LYDIA KO: I hope so. The pieces are there, so just I've got to put it together. I've had weeks where I've been really good at ball-striking but the putter wasn't there, and then sometimes the putter is there but the ball-striking isn't as good. It's just to be able to get the balance and put those rounds together, and then the more that -- the many more times that I put myself in position and put myself in contention or shoot under par, those are the confidence boosters. I'm just trying to do that, and basically I've got my team supporting me and helping me to get myself to play consistently and go out there with confidence.

Q. When you come to a place like this where you've had so much success, does that give you an extra little bit of confidence, energy, whatever it might be, to help you get through the four days?
LYDIA KO: Yeah, I think it just gives you the confidence to say that, hey, you've played well at this golf course before, and I've been in different situations, like last year I played in a playoff and played the 18th hole a few times, whereas when I won a couple years before that, I made a birdie on the last hole to end up winning. Anything can happen, but when you have played well at some course, no matter if you're playing good or not, it gives you the confidence to say, I can make a birdie on this hole, I've done it before, and just kind of move on.

Q. Talk about the four-hole playoff.
LYDIA KO: Yeah, I think being in that playoff, it can get really hot here, so it was actually not only physically a little tiring, but playing those holes over and over, I think it was kind of mentally tiring, too. You know, we were all getting to this stage where, hey, can somebody make a birdie and get this over and done with. But no, I mean, fortunate for me I was the one that was able to pull that birdie off. But it's always nice to play in that playoff format. Sometimes it might not go your way. I've had it gone my way and gone the other way, too. It's almost like a match-play style where you kind of have to compare where you are to that other person that you're playing that playoff with.

Q. I'm sure you've gotten accustomed over the years to winning every once in a while. Having had a stretch of a year, does that weigh on you?
LYDIA KO: I don't feel like it's been a year since I actually won here last year. Time really goes fast. You kind of have to think of it in a very positive way. I think when you've had 17 or 18 different winners in the last 19 events or something, it's kind of crazy to think that, but it just shows that the amount of talent on the LPGA and not only these certain amounts of players are going to win, you just never know who could be holding the trophy at the end of the week. I know that I'm playing solid enough, and for me I've just got to focus on my game and try and get better in the aspects that need improvements and just kind of move on and be positive and not really get down on the fact that I haven't won in some period of time.

Q. What do you think of the new dress code?
LYDIA KO: I think the dress code was obviously really shown last week, but it really hasn't changed much to the original code that was there. It's just, I guess, kind of like a reminder. But golf is a sport, so there are -- every company has their own trademark, like every player has their own trademark. As long as, I guess, we stay in the boundaries, it's fine with us. But no, it's more like a reminder rather than saying, hey, this is such a big deal about it.

Q. Your first event here you said one of your ambitions was to play in the Olympic Games. You got to do that last year. What was that like?
LYDIA KO: You know, actually playing the practice rounds during the Rio Olympics, I said, hey, this is the same as any other tournament I felt like, and when I was teeing it up on the first tee on the first day, I think it was probably the most nervous I'd ever been, and just to know that you're not just representing you or your sponsors or your team, you're representing the whole of your country, the whole of New Zealand for me. So it was definitely an experience. Really cool to be in the environment of the top athletes in the different sports, and you don't get that many opportunities to do that. I think overall just even outside of golf itself, just being in that Olympic vibe, going to visit the village and with the other Olympic athletes watching you play, I thought that was really cool. The last day I almost -- it was close to, I think, 50 Olympics that came out and watched me play, New Zealand Olympics, and I would have never imagined that to happen at any other event. It's definitely a week that I'll remember, and even though I didn't win the gold and I wasn't technically first, at the Olympics you are a winner no matter what, and I think that's the great thing about the Olympics is that everybody is a winner just being there, and you get to celebrate.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297