	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

THE EVIAN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 27, 2019

Hyo Joo Kim

Evian-les-Bains, France

(Through translation.)

Q. Leading heading into Sunday. How was it putting at 18 when you can hear the thunder and the rain starts coming down? A little bit of extra pressure on you?
HYO JOO KIM: It came up a lot faster than I thought, so in order to have a good putt I just wanted to finish as quick as possible. With the onset of thunder, yeah, just came a lot quicker than I thought. Tried to make it as quick as possible.

Q. Do you like to lead going into the final day of a major?
HYO JOO KIM: Of course.

Q. Does it put a target on your back?
HYO JOO KIM: Looking at tomorrow I'm not going to think about what other players are thinking about. Just going to work on my own game.

Q. Give us an idea of conditions out there. Some of the players were saying it was maybe a little bit more forgiving today than the first two days. Would you agree with that?
HYO JOO KIM: Actually, for me it was a lot more difficult today. I'm not sure when the rain happened, yesterday or this morning, but definitely more soft and I was a little more shaky on my driver.

Q. You've been a champion here before. Must bring some fond memories for you.
HYO JOO KIM: I definitely have good memories of this tournament because of my win. That year I was able to go out on the LPGA Tour because I got my card, so I definitely have good memories. I'm going to keep that going into tomorrow and forget everything else.

Q. How long was the putt on 18?
HYO JOO KIM: Five meter.

Q. Five-meter putt and two-putt?
HYO JOO KIM: Maybe five meter.

Q. How did winning this, outside of getting your status on the LPGA, change your life in Korea?
HYO JOO KIM: So it was awesome for my family. My dad was here for that win. Obviously he was happy. But my mom and my sister were both in Korea, and they were happy for me.

Really looking forward to going back to Korea to see them. As long as my mom is happy, I'm happy. I have a lot good memories from this tournament.

Q. Who is here this week?
HYO JOO KIM: My dad and my sister. My mom is still in Korea.

Q. What's your sister's name, dad and sister's name?
HYO JOO KIM: So my dad's name is Ho Chang Kim, and my sister's name is Ju Yeon Kim.

Q. How were the conditions last time compared to this year on the course, and do you think you can have like another 61 or even better?
HYO JOO KIM: So I'm not really sure about what kind of went on that year, but the fairways were a lot softer this week than what I remember in 2014.

Q. Another low score is possible?
HYO JOO KIM: That would be awesome if I could.

Q. What's your most outstanding memory of that day, the 61? What do you remember most about your game that day?
HYO JOO KIM: It was a really long time ago.

Q. I know, but it was a record.
HYO JOO KIM: So the last hole, it was a par-4. I remember I hit it near the hole and it looked like it was going to go past the hole and miss, but ended up going in.

Q. One more thing. You and Sung Hyun were national team members together when you were younger. How old would you have been when you were teammates?
HYO JOO KIM: 15.

Q. And how would you describe her game? You guys will be going head-to-head tomorrow. What will it be like? Will it be friendly? Quiet? Tense?
HYO JOO KIM: She has like a really quiet style of play. I like to talk a lot, so...

Q. Will it be threesomes tomorrow?
HYO JOO KIM: Not sure.

Q. I was going to say, you might have someone else to talk to.
HYO JOO KIM: In the case that we're playing together, it's probably going to be really quiet. I'm going to be the only one talking to myself.

Q. What were you thinking as you saw that it began to rain so much as you were walking off the course?
HYO JOO KIM: I start worrying about the rain on No. 17. We were able to tee off on the last hole and it didn't start until I was getting ready to putt, so I am very, very happy that I was able to finish the round before the rain started to pour really bad.

Q. Also very, very good at making birdies today. You had eight of them out there on the course. What was the key to birdieing so consistently?
HYO JOO KIM: So my putter was really good today. I think that's how I was able to lock in a lot of birdies. I didn't think that I hit a lot of greens but I did, and that's also how I managed to hit a lot birdies.

I'm really happy about my score. Chipping worked well today. I think overall my short game turned out to be good.

Q. How much fun is it out there when all the parts of your game are working together?
HYO JOO KIM: Today was really fun to play with Sung Hyun and Mi Hyang, players that I have known for really, really long time. I think that helped to be comfortable. We were sharing food and just talking together.

Seems like I'm going to be playing with Sung Hyun tomorrow, and hopefully we can continue that.

Q. You won this tournament in 2014 with a final round 68. What did you learn from that final round that you can apply as you try to win this tournament for the second time in your career?
HYO JOO KIM: When I won in 2014 I was a little bit nervous. It seems like this year I'm in the same position. Obviously winning is on my mind a lot, but I've won before, and so that will help my confidence for tomorrow.

I just need to be focused, and it would be really nice if I played well tomorrow.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297