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U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 1, 2019

Yu Liu

Charleston, South Carolina

THE MODERATOR: Good afternoon, media. We are pleased to welcome to the Media Center Yu Liu of China, who started with a bogey on 3 today but came back with six birdies to finish at 5-under 66, currently 7 under for the championship.

Can you talk a little bit about that first bogey, and then do you change your mindset heading into the rest of the round and coming back with those six birdies?

YU LIU: Honestly, I wasn't really paying attention to my scores today. Today, I had a really good grouping, playing with Minjee and Inbee, one of the best players in the world, I think. So it really helped keep my mentality in the right place.

I was just trying to play my own game and just trying to learn from the best. So I think that's one of the reasons that I was able to stay really focused.

So after that bogey, I knew it was playing hard. I was just having a bad club selection. I didn't really mis-hit that shot. It was just playing hard with the gusty wind and everything. But I was able to bounce back with a birdie from 30 feet.

THE MODERATOR: On that next hole?

YU LIU: Yeah. So that definitely helped keep the momentum going throughout the day, yeah.

THE MODERATOR: Can you talk a little bit about your birdie on 11, which has obviously been such a challenging hole this week. Can you take us through your birdie there?

YU LIU: It's a hole that I'm okay with bogey with. So today was just -- the pin was -- the wind is not as severe as the last two rounds. So I would say it's playing a little bit easier with a shorter iron in. I hit my 6 iron. I actually didn't hit it 100 percent where I wanted it to be. It was a little chunky, but at least it was on the right line, so I ended up being 12 feet past the hole and just knocked in the putt.

THE MODERATOR: Is that a hole you've been playing all week, you played two championship rounds before today and a few practice rounds. Is that something you can learn from, or is it you just arrive there and say let's get through this and hope for the best?

YU LIU: Yeah, I'm more the latter one. Just trying to be conservative, aiming for the middle of the green, and I would be happy with any par on any day, yeah.

Q. Can you talk about your relationship with Celine and the possibility of your playing the final group tomorrow?
YU LIU: Yeah, she's just one of our best friends on tour. We had pretty similar backgrounds growing up. We were at Duke together for one year, and we won the National Championship together. But unlike her, I wasn't able to finish school. So I entered the pro rank a little earlier than she did.

But we graduated from Symetra Tour the same year in 2017. And then last year we were an LPGA rookie together, and we played pretty well, saved our status. So, yeah, it's just really nice to have a best friend on tour.

THE MODERATOR: Does it make a difference when you're playing in a group, and particularly in a Major championship like this, does it matter if you're playing with friends or with other Major champions today like Inbee, or do you just really focus on your game and what you have to do?

YU LIU: Yeah. To be honest, because we don't -- I don't think we're going to talk that much on the course tomorrow because we played tournaments in the last group before. So I didn't play very well, and she didn't play very well either.

But, you know, it's a Major championship. Everybody is out there trying to win, and we'll be very focused, I think.

Q. Is this something, being at the top of the leaderboard in a Major that maybe you and Celine talked about during those days? You know, not on the course, but in the locker room, maybe having dinner together on the other tours?
YU LIU: To be honest, no. We've never talked about this. I think this is something that's really out of my expectations because it's only my first ever U.S. Open. I was just happy to make the cut and being able to play the weekends. But now it's something that I didn't really expect.

Definitely just trying to embrace the moment, playing with my great friend, possibly on the last group tomorrow. It's going to be a lot of fun.

Q. How do you feel about handling the nerves and the pressure tomorrow in this position that you haven't been in in a Major?
YU LIU: I'm just going to try to take it as a normal tournament. So it's not going to be my first time playing the last group of the final round. I did it in Phoenix. So definitely just trying to learn from that experience.

I know Celine would have a little more experience than I did because she, obviously, already had a win under her belt. So for me, just trying to learn from the experience in the past, yeah.

Q. Do you have any special single memory from your year together at Duke, the two of you?
YU LIU: The two of us? Actually, a lot. She always -- because I didn't have a car when I was in school so she always drives me to wherever I wanted to go. We'd always go get dinner and stuff because I wasn't -- I didn't have my license back then as a freshman, and she was -- I just remember her being really kind, really was taking good care of me.

Q. Just real briefly, you said you played in the last group with her in a tournament before.
YU LIU: Yeah, in Singapore this year.

Q. In Singapore?
YU LIU: HSBC Women's. That was the second round, though. It wasn't the last round.

Q. Oh, it was the second round?
YU LIU: Yeah.

Q. Was that this year?
YU LIU: This year. We were tied for the lead.

THE MODERATOR: Before we let you go, obviously, it's been a really exciting time for Duke recently with the National Championship. Can you talk about what it's -- you obviously played on a National Championship team. They won again last week. What's it like to continue to watch the program that you played for be so successful? Does that give you a little momentum as you head into a big week like this?

YU LIU: So I knew Duke has one of the best women's golf programs in the nation because that's why it was my dream school since day one. When I read an article back when I was really young in China in Golf Digest, it was the No. 1 ranked golf program as well as the No. 1 ranked academically school.

Since then, it was just a goal of mine to be able to play golf for the team.

So, yeah, I would say the year that I spent at Duke really helped me transition my life here in the U.S. because coming state from China, I wouldn't say I'm completely used to the culture and everything out here.

THE MODERATOR: It was different.

YU LIU: Yeah, it was very different, so just helping me get settled in the U.S., it was very crucial, I think.

THE MODERATOR: I think we are all set. Yu Liu is at 7 under for the championship. Good luck tomorrow. We look forward to watching you play.

YU LIU: Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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