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DIAMOND RESORTS TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS

January 20, 2019

Eun Hee Ji

Lake Buena Vista, Florida

CHRISTINA LANCE: Ladies and gentlemen, it's my honor to be joined by the winner of the inaugural Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions, Eun Hee Ji.

Eun Hee, it was an amazing four days for you. It got very tight there toward the end with the bogey there late, but you followed up immediately with a birdie. Did you know how close things were or how aware of your surroundings were you as you were playing down the stretch?

EUN HEE JI: Actually, until 15 or 14, I didn't know any other players' score. I couldn't see it. So I was asking to my sister how it's going on. So I was leader and, okay, I think Mirim and Lydia was one behind it. So I just kept focused on my game.

CHRISTINA LANCE: How much fun was it out there today playing with Lydia and John Smoltz, and with all the other celebrities we've seen out here? Tell us about the fun of this event and how different it was, a unique event.

EUN HEE JI: This is my first event for this kind of event. It was really, really fun. I love this tournament. Actually, with celebrities, they're really funny, and it makes me laugh every hole. It was just fun. I was just having fun with them. This tournament is great.

CHRISTINA LANCE: You had your sister out there with you, you mentioned. Was she here the whole day? And what does it mean to you to have your sister with you as you get this big win?

EUN HEE JI: Yeah, normally she's not following every tournament. Always come to Florida tournament or like bigger tournament. She's actually supporting me a lot with my pets and everything, all the pets. We're staying together in Miami, and we drove here. She's just relaxing here and following me and just fun, having fun with the celebrities.

CHRISTINA LANCE: It's always good to have family around. Does she live here in the states?

EUN HEE JI: Yeah, she lives with me in Miami.

Q. Eun Hee, you got off to a little bit of a shaky start, pulled the tee shot on 1 into the trees, made bogey, and made bogey on 2. Did you have a talk with yourself between 2 and 3 to kind of turn things around, or what happened there?
EUN HEE JI: No, it was a little bit chilly for me today. My body was a little bit tight on 1st tee, so I just pulled a little bit, and I made a bogey. I made a bogey again 2nd hole. I was like, okay, wait a minute. I need to play this.

But I have like 16 more holes, and I just trust my swing actually after that, and I just chip it in on No. 3. That makes me more -- how would I say? It makes me different feeling in my game.

Q. More confident?
EUN HEE JI: Yeah, yeah.

Q. And how long was the chip in on 3?
EUN HEE JI: Like 15 yards, yeah, to the pin.

Q. Congratulations. So you became the oldest South Korean player to win since Se-ri. When you joined the LPGA, how long did you think you would play? And can you compare your game now to when you won the U.S. Women's Open?
EUN HEE JI: I was going to play until 30. That was my goal. But I just keep playing right now because I love to play out here, and playing with all the players, I really enjoyed playing on the LPGA Tour. What's the second question?

Q. Compare your game today to when you won the U.S. Women's Open.
EUN HEE JI: Actually, it's a lot different. I'm used to playing a different kind of shot when I was in 2009, and right now I play a lot more easier. Yeah, a lot different.

Q. When you say different kind of shot, you mean the shape of your shot?
EUN HEE JI: Better -- 2009, I was used to playing all the fading shots. But right now I can play both draw and fade, and I can shape the ball a lot, yeah.

Q. Congratulations. You went like almost eight years without winning an LPGA title. Can you kind of tell us how your journey was and what sparked this run of winning again?
EUN HEE JI: So 2009, when I won the U.S. Open, after that, I tried to change my swing. So tried to change. That was my big change. I used to do a lot of lagging on my swing, so I was trying to keep it more coming back and forth, like more straight down. But I couldn't hit a ball for eight years. I hit it way right, way left, and I really struggled with my swing.

But I just kept focusing on my game. I just tried my best, all my best.

Q. So your swing right now then is -- describe your swing right now.
EUN HEE JI: How I swing right now?

Q. Yeah.
EUN HEE JI: Actually, more -- a little bit shorter on my backswing, short a bit, and my downswing is more coming down in front of my body.

CHRISTINA LANCE: And how about you as a person? Leave the technical side. Leave the golf side. How have you as a person changed since you had that win at the U.S. Women's Open and now three straight years with an LPGA victory?

EUN HEE JI: I think same, yeah. When won in 2008 and 2009, I was never nervous in my game when I played out there. But after that, I struggled with my swing, and I was nervous all the time. But after win in 2017 in Taiwan, I get more confidence. Actually, I get more better, my mental, than 2009 actually, yeah.

Q. Could you tell us a little bit about your passion with Legos and maybe what your biggest Lego project has been.
EUN HEE JI: When I go back to house, nothing -- I don't want to do nothing, but I don't want to go outside. I just want to relax in my house. But if I don't do anything, I just get bored easy. So I just do some Legos stuff. My favorite is cars, making car Legos. It was like this big. It took me like four hours to make that, yeah.

Q. And have you been to Legoland? It's not very far from here.
EUN HEE JI: Not yet.

CHRISTINA LANCE: Congratulations. Enjoy this victory, and we'll see you back here next year.

EUN HEE JI: Thank you so much.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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