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HSBC WOMEN'S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

February 28, 2018

So Yeon Ryu

Republic of Singapore

CHRISTINA LANCE: We welcome So Yeon Ryu to the HSBC Women's World Championship, five career wins including two majors. So Yeon is playing in here fifth HSBC Women's World Championship, finished in a tie for seventh last year and twice previously she's tied for fourth.

Welcome back to Singapore. You had a nice lovely day out, warm day enjoying the Pro-Am. How do you feel coming into this week's tournament?

SO YEON RYU: I love Singapore. I always really enjoy to come to Singapore. If you like Asian food, Singapore is the one you have to come to. I love eating chili crab, everything in Singapore.

We played this golf course last year for the first time, and I think this year, the golf course is in really great shape. I think it's much better than last year. Even last year was good, but this year is even better. I think the greens are rolling even truer than last year, so I look forward to playing the next four days.

CHRISTINA LANCE: We're now several weeks into the LPGA season wrapping up this Asian Swing. How is your game progressing as we come out of the winter quiet and back into play full-time?

SO YEON RYU: Bahamas was my first event, and I only started practicing three weeks before I started to play. And then it wasn't really a fully three weeks because the weather was so cold. So when I played the Bahamas, I wasn't really feeling like I was ready to play, but I was able to play, I think well enough than I expected. So that gave me a lot of confidence.

Also, I played the Australian Women's Open and I really enjoyed the course. My coach was there for a couple of days and I really enjoyed the preparation. I think I feel good.

CHRISTINA LANCE: I know you participated in the photo call yesterday. It looked amazing. They hoisted you up on top of a shipping container. Did you ever think in your life you would be standing on top of a shipping container?

SO YEON RYU: I never expect that. I never imagined that, and I've never done it, but now I've done it.

Actually it is quite serious just climbing up there because that climber was quite vertical. So I was like, how am I going to go up. So I let Lexi go first, and then Shanshan did, Inbee did, and I thought, okay, if these girls did it, I can do it. It was quite serious.

But yeah, it was a fun photo shoot, especially when I have Inbee and Shanshan with me. We are always having fun. That was really cool.

CHRISTINA LANCE: I know you and Inbee are close. It must be good to feel you have your best friend back on Tour.

SO YEON RYU: It is really great to have Inbee back. Unfortunately I couldn't play a practice round with her for the last two days, but I was able to spend a lot of time with her. We had to catch up on a lot of things.

Actually this morning, I saw her on the range and said it was really kind of a weird feeling to see her, because when I saw her in Korea, always it was kind eating and drinking. But I'm glad to have her back, and I know she had some time off, so hopefully everything is going well for her.

Q. Can you talk a bit about what drives you? What is your motivation? Given the fact that last year, you were world No. 1 for 19 weeks, do you feel like that's where you want to be again this year, and what do you have to do to get back there?
SO YEON RYU: Yeah, actually, before I started the 2017 season, I couldn't really dream about becoming No. 1 or getting the Player of the Year award. I couldn't really think about that in the big picture. Only thing I was thinking about was I want to win a tournament.

But 2017 was definitely a special year for me. I did way more than I expected and because of that, actually it was really hard to set up the goals for 2018. But yeah, becoming No. 1, it's a really, really cool thing. It's a very unique experience. You cannot have that opportunity every time, so I feel really blessed that I was No. 1 for a while.

Just one thing I'm really kind of like missing was when I was No. 1, I haven't win any tournaments. That was the only part, I wish I won a tournament when I was No. 1. Hopefully in the 2018 season, I can play well and hopefully I can get back to the No. 1 position, and then if I'm able to get back to No. 1 position, I really want to win the tournament when I am No. 1.

Q. What do you enjoy about the Pro-Am? How do you use it?
SO YEON RYU: First of all, because when I first joined the LPGA, the Pro-Am was one of the toughest things because my English wasn't that great and I wasn't really so comfortable speaking English, and I didn't really know about American culture. Because we have most of the tournaments in America, and even when we play in Asia, we play with other guests who come from like England or like France, a lot of western cultures. So because of that, I was kind of feeling uncomfortable.

I think the Pro-Am was giving me a lot of opportunity to learn English, also learn different culture, as well. Also, since I played a lot of Pro-Ams in a lot of different countries, I was able to feel more comfortable to speak English with them and also had better understanding about a lot of different countries cultures. So I think that makes me grown up. I think that makes me interested to traveling in Europe or that makes me interested in maybe politics, as well, sometimes, because sometimes they are talking about the politics and I never really knew about it. But I started to know about it and then I started to like search about it.

I think, well, maybe we can see Pro-Am as work to be honest, but at the same time, I think I learn so many things through Pro-Ams. So I always really enjoy it, and especially this tournament, I'm always playing with the same guy for like four years in a row, and he said he might move back to England next year and I might not play with him next year, so those kind of things make me sad, as well. So during the Pro-Am, I can make a friend and learn a lot of different things. So I really enjoy it.

Q. I think there are five golfers who came in world No. 1, yourself included. Are you you surprised how quickly the world No. 1 ranking keeps shifting? And is it also a reflection of the Tour in the sense that it's been the most -- I mean, previously, Lydia was dominant, but now it feels like everyone can win and everyone is at a level where you have five or six people fighting for world No. 1 whereas previously it was just Lydia sort of hogging world No. 1.
SO YEON RYU: I think I get this question quite often these days, because like you said, Inbee was dominating for a while, and Lydia and after Lydia, just a few different players been like No. 1 for like even one week or like ten weeks.

So it could be maybe a good thing and bad thing, because sometimes you're like a rock star and you could represent our game better. But I think since I joined the Tour, I think our tour is getting better and better. Like we can have better golf courses, and we have more tournaments and we have better practice facilities, kind of stuff.

I think that makes us to play even better, like improve our game. Maybe that's why so many players started to play really great but maybe too many players improved their game a lot.

You know, it's more easy to dream about it. Like you feel like, okay, if my friend is becoming No. 1 right now, one day I might have a chance to do it, so maybe girls can be more motivated to keep working hard.

I think at the same time, even though we have so many No. 1 right now, so many previous No. 1 right now, I feel like all the golfers have been really representing this game really well, so I think it's not a really big concern.

CHRISTINA LANCE: Thank you so much. Enjoy the rest of your day.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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