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U.S. GIRLS' JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPJuly 27, 2019Lei YeStevens Point, Wisconsin Q. You're a USGA champion. How does that feel? LEI YE: Amazing. Q. What does it mean to end your junior golf career this way? LEI YE: This is -- this tournament is the ultimate achievement of junior golf, so yeah, it's been a perfect ending. Q. It was really a back-and-forth match. LEI YE: Yeah. Q. Every time you won a hole, it seemed like Jillian would win the next hole. At any point were you thinking, what do I have to do to shake her? LEI YE: Well, I think coming into this match, I was prepared to have a lot of up and downs. Were there a lot? Yeah. But I think I knew that I was playing well this week and that if I just kept hitting it close and making birdies, eventually something will work out. Q. Take me through 35 and 36; you hit the great shot on 17, and obviously what happened on 18. Take me through those two. LEI YE: So 17 I saw her hit it left, and I thought it might have gone in the water. I mean, it didn't change too much how I was going to approach that shot because it was 105 yards, which is a wedge shot, which I have been hitting well this week, so I just thought that I'd hit it about -- land it about 100, a couple yards right on that sleep and have it carry it down towards the flag. Q. And then on 18, she hits it tight, and then you're probably 50 feet from the hole. Talk about your lag putt first and then watching her step up with a five-footer, ones she'd made all day. LEI YE: Yeah, knowing she had been putting so well this week, I was trying to make that 50-footer, you know, hoping -- it's not impossible. I've made like 50-footers before, you know? Yeah, hoping for a bit of a miracle there. It got pretty close. I gave it a pretty good chance. I guess it was a lot of pressure on her to extend that match with that five-footer. Yeah, that got to her a little bit. That last putt, though, it was three feet, but I was definitely nervous. It's a big putt. I just told myself, you know, you've practiced this thousands and thousands of times, you could do it in your sleep. Q. It looked like Rose might have helped you with the line on that last putt. LEI YE: Yeah, it's a big putt, so I just wanted to have her confirm what I was seeing, give it the best chance that I can. Q. Second player from China to win. I don't know if you know Alice Fumie Jo at all. LEI YE: Yeah, I do. Q. What does that mean to you? Obviously last week Bo Jin got to the finals. You delivered for your country today. LEI YE: You know, China is definitely a growing player in the game, and I think winning this is definitely a huge achievement for us, and I know that it will inspire other juniors back home to work harder to play better. So I think being able to help grow the game back home, that's really cool. Q. You first came to the States when? LEI YE: I came three years ago. Q. 16? LEI YE: Yeah. Q. How much English did you know before then? LEI YE: I spoke perfect English. Q. Did you go to an American school or something over there? LEI YE: Yeah, I did. I started American school in fifth grade. Q. This win gets you into the Women's Open, Augusta, Women's Am for two years. What does it mean to take the pressure off and not have to qualify for that kind of stuff? LEI YE: I think it's definitely a relief, especially knowing that the Women's Open qualifier is going to be around regionals, around finals, around -- there's going to be a lot going on. So yeah, having that is really amazing. And the Augusta one, it's the golf course. It's the golf course to play around here, you know. So hopefully I can go back and do better this year. Q. How did you do last year? LEI YE: In April I missed the cut. I wasn't very good. Q. Is it harder or easier to shrug off a mistake in match play versus stroke play? LEI YE: I think -- like the ones that Jillian had where she was in a plugged situation and hit it to the other side and came back and it was still like a hard bogey putt, I think that's easier to shrug off. But missing putts is harder to shrug off in match play because missing a putt, it's like losing a hole, right. In stroke play you think, oh, it's okay, I'll just make the next one. It's technically the same thing, but I guess -- Q. Feels bigger? LEI YE: I guess it feels bigger to miss a putt in match play. Q. Just your impressions overall of the golf course? Did you enjoy the course and do you think it's a venue that can and should hold other big events like this? LEI YE: I loved it. You know, I came out here on Saturday, stepped on the putting green. I told my mom, I told my coach, I love this green. I love -- like the fairways were super nice, and they did the last 20, 30 yards of the fairway like they do in majors and stuff where they shaved it really close, and you could either putt it or run it up or just get creative around the greens. So I thought that was really cool. I think this might be the first time I've played where they had a setup like that. Yeah, I think this course is -- there's some challenging holes and pins around there, especially when the wind picked up, really kept things interesting and changed it up a little bit. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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