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RICOH WOMENâ€™S BRITISH OPEN

August 1, 2018

Inbee Park

Fife, Scotland

MODERATOR: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. We have the 2013 champion, Inbee Park with us. Inbee, thank you very much for coming in. You've had a chance to see the course out there a couple of times this week. What are your initial thoughts on how it's playing?

INBEE PARK: Yeah. It is very tough links golf course, and it is a true links golf course. My last couple of days and obviously the most important thing will be not hitting it into the bunkers, especially off the tee, because if you're in the fairway bunker it's really almost like an automatic bogey. And there are too many to avoid. You can't avoid all of them but just try to minimize going into the fairway bunkers. Yeah, the fairways are probably -- one of the narrowest fairways we play in links golf. And you have to go around the bunkers and that really makes it even tighter. So off the tee will be very big factor on this golf course. And obviously the greens are I think pretty forgiving because I think it is hard to get to the greens obviously. So yeah, most important is to hit it well out of the bunkers and try and hit as many fairways. Even if you are in the rough, it's much better than being in a bunker. So I'm going to try to keep that in mind.

MODERATOR: And some people are saying this is the hardest course among the links courses. Would you agree with that?

INBEE PARK: I think so. Even without the wind this golf course was playing quite hard, and the last couple of days the weather was great. It wasn't that cold. It wasn't that windy, and it was still playing very tough. So I think if it gets windy, it's going to be a really tough golf course. But I think weather wise it has been the best British Open weather in a few years. It's a good sign. We don't want to play this golf course in crazy wind. It's not so much fun. But I really love the challenge of links golf, and I had the success in 2016 in links golf course, and it was one of my best memories I ever had in my career.

MODERATOR: I was going to ask that. You won in 2016 at Turnberry. So it must be special coming back here to play on a yearly basis in the championship.

INBEE PARK: Yeah. Playing in the links golf course and playing in Scotland and England is one of my favorite places to come, and all the places that we were in, even if I say to my husband and my friends that even if I retire later, I think I'm going to come here for like a week just to have fun every year. It's so much hard work, but it's something to memorize.

MODERATOR: Okay. We'll open it up to questions.

Q. Inbee, I can't imagine that you played a lot of links golf growing up. Did you take to it naturally or could you just tell us about how you learned to love it?
INBEE PARK: How I learned to play links golf? I think it's just pretty much the professional years because I never played a links golf course as a junior golfer. And I started playing links once I turned professional. But we came to British Open every year. That was pretty much only opportunity that we actually play like true links golf course. So I have been very successful on the links golf course, even though I have only won once, but I had some good finishes over the years. And I think because I am a little bit of a low ball striker and it makes the ball run a lot, it doesn't lose as much distance as other golf courses. And the course doesn't play as long as other golf courses for me. So that has been a good advantage. And yeah, just a lot of bunker play, which you really to be a good bunker player on this golf course. So yeah, there's something like over 200 bunkers on this golf course, and you have to have your sand wedge ready to play well. And how I learned, I think just experience and -- yeah.

Q. The last time you were in a major you were dealing with the loss of some items, some personal items. What was the most important, meaningful thing that was taken, and just kind of give us an update on that?
INBEE PARK: Well, really, though, I was really lucky that there wasn't really nothing there, nothing of my trophy or nothing of memorabilia or nothing like a photo album or anything like that that was taken. So everything else can be replaceable. So I think that was the good part. And now, I am totally over with it. I feel really relaxed and I'm ready to play again. I took a good month off. So I always think that being rested is better feeling than being burnt out.

Q. So when you took the month off, how much time did you not touch a golf club in that time?
INBEE PARK: Well, I try to practice every week because I have the British Open coming up. So maybe two, three days is like my maximum of not touching a club and then I started playing again. And it was just really hot in Korea. This is so much relief coming here. This is not a summer. Everywhere I went it was just so hot, and coming here -- my sister lives in London, so I came here, and last Thursday I had like sightseeing in London, seeing everything in London and stayed at her house for like three days, and the weather was lovely. And I was like, this is the best vacation ever.

Q. What does your sister do in London?
INBEE PARK: She studies at the Cordon Bleu, like wine and food. She's younger than me. She's right there.

Q. What is her name?
INBEE PARK: Inah Park.

Q. What was your favorite thing that you saw in London?
INBEE PARK: What was my favorite thing? The food. Because yeah, she studies food, and she took me to some great places that it was just really delicious. And it's a really cool city. It's a mix of old and new, and yeah, it was just really cool to see the city, and where she lives, was nice to see it. I haven't seen her for a while, and it was just nice to have like sister time.

Q. Does your sister play golf? And also, I believe you love wine anyway. It's a passion of yours. You've had some bets with So Young Yoo.
INBEE PARK: Oh, yeah.

Q. About wine.
INBEE PARK: Yeah. Sorry, what was the first question? Does my sister --

Q. Does she play golf?
INBEE PARK: Yeah. She's actually -- she used to play professionally, like when she was in college. She played college golf in USC, and now she's changed the subject to wine and food, but yeah, I mean because of her I really got interested in a lot of good wines and how to match with food and stuff like that. So yeah, it's just really fun. Probably maybe two to three years ago that I started really learning wine, and that's when she got into the wine, and yeah, it's just another hobby to enjoy. And maybe start two hobbies.

Q. Do you have a favorite wine?
INBEE PARK: Do I have a favorite wine? I think I like a lot of wines, but I think I'm more a fan of the French wines. At the moment. I mean it changes. Sometimes I like the Italy wines when it goes well with certain food. And yeah. It varies, yeah.

Q. You said you stayed with your sister in London. What part of town was that?
INBEE PARK: She lives in Canary Wharf. And I got to experience the tube, the hot tubes of London. And yeah, we rode the boat to the city. And yeah, I did all that touristy stuff. And yeah, I couldn't believe how hot it was down there, because how cold it is upstairs, it's really -- because in Korea there is air-conditioning, and I was surprised, because I think that was still a long time ago. And I was like, maybe 10 years that I haven't been in the tube.

Q. One day we'll get air-conditioning. What day did you arrive over here in the UK, in London?
INBEE PARK: Thursday. Last Thursday. So I spent like three days in London and came over here Sunday night.

Q. Where are you staying this week?
INBEE PARK: I'm just staying in a house that's around the corner here, really close from here. And obviously she graduated from the Cordon Bleu, so she's cooking for me this week, so I got a special chef here this week.

Q. Oh, that is very special, very good sister to have. Because I was just going to ask if either you or your sister have recommendations for somewhere to eat in Blackpool, but obviously it's all done at your house.
INBEE PARK: Yeah. It's been my house. So just come over.

Q. Inbee, I just wanted to ask you about the international travel. How long did you mull over that decision, and what were the main factors that went into deciding not to play?
INBEE PARK: Well, I think it was pretty much what I said in the media is really true. And so many have been writing about it already. So I mean I really want players that are in the field to get more attention instead of me not playing in the field to get attention. And whatever was said in the media was kind of be the lead player of that. But it's nice to give an opportunity to other players. I know they might have an opportunity there already. But I always thought that -- I kind of thought about this even before like this year started, like that really was in my mind for the whole year and I just thought that that was the right decision to make, and yeah, that's why I made that decision.

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