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AIG WOMEN’S BRITISH OPENJuly 31, 2019Inbee ParkMilton Keynes, United Kingdom THE MODERATOR: It's my great pleasure to welcome Inbee Park to the AIG Women's British Open media centre. Thank you so much for joining us. INBEE PARK: Yeah, glad to be here. THE MODERATOR: The last women's major of the year; are you looking forward to the week? INBEE PARK: Yes. Yeah, indeed I am. This is definitely one of my favourite tournaments to play in, and we just don't get to play that many times a year like the linksey style golf course, and visiting England or Scotland, wherever we play the British Open. So yeah, it's definitely one of my favourite trips in a year. It's a unique setup and somewhere that I always love to play. THE MODERATOR: You're renowned as being a wonderful putter, but recently your ball-striking has been really great. This is obviously quite a tight course; do you feel like that's going to be a strength this week? INBEE PARK: Well, this is definitely a different golf course than we've played. I didn't play here in 2016, so maybe over like 10 years or so that I've played the British Open, it was the really links golf style with a lot of the pot bunkers and very runny fairways. But this week it's definitely a really different golf setup. This is more like not as much as a links golf style. It's a lot of dogleg holes. And the course is in really good condition. I think probably the fastest greens that I've played a British Open because with the wind, British Opens tend to not make the greens as quick as other tournaments. But yeah, just a different golf setup, and I think the course is going to play a little bit long with all the wind and the rain conditions. As always, British Open is always just a fight with nature. You have to work your way around the wind and work your way -- try to maybe stay dry. I don't think you can, but yeah, it's been quite windy the last couple days I have been here, so it's going to be a challenge, and different golf course and course setup. It's going to be just a little bit different for me. THE MODERATOR: It seems that you have a real renewed passion for the game at the moment. Can you talk to us about what sparked that for you? INBEE PARK: Yeah, I mean, I have been having a lot more fun at the golf course. There were definitely the moments where I was really sick with the game, and I was a little bit burnt out from the game, and I didn't know where to go, and I got lost in the middle there a little bit. But I definitely got my interest back in the game a little bit, and yeah, I'm having a lot more fun on the golf course, whether I am playing good or bad. It's just a little bit different. I have been a little bit more accurate with the ball-striking, but my putting hasn't been the way I want it to be. I really feel like it's slowly coming around a little bit. I have been putting a little bit better the last few tournaments or so. So yeah, hopefully many good putts to come. It's always playing tough with the wind. You've got to try to keep it under the wind, and it's a little bit of a different swing strategy this week. Q. Do you have any advice for others who get burnt out and they think, well, I'm never going to get it back? Did you feel like that at any point? INBEE PARK: You know, I really don't know what would be the good advice because I think some -- I think a lot of the players will hit that moment, and they all know how to get out of that. I think it sometimes takes some time. Sometimes it takes a little bit of a different mindset. Sometimes you've got to -- I've tried all the other ways, as well, and I think it was just really a matter of time and trying to get your game back into shape. I think that was really the important thing for me, trying to get your confidence back, that you can play good again like you did a long time ago. It might not be as good as before, but I think as long as you get your interest back, it's going to slowly come around, and that's what I did. Just mainly the golf game, yeah. Q. Did you need anybody to tell you just hold on, you'll like it again, or was there a day when you think, I'm never playing again, because you bought a dog, didn't you. INBEE PARK: Yeah, I did. I kind of just stayed away from the game a little bit. So I tried to have my maybe mentality a little bit away from the game and tried to give myself a little bit of a break from golf and not thinking about swing or not thinking about the putting stroke all the time and trying to not think about the results all the time and trying to maybe have a couple of months off and just not thinking about golf at all, and that really helped my game, I think. That really made me miss the game a little bit more. When you have it every day and every week, you just don't know how much that you missed the game. But when you're kind of away from the game and maybe thinking that you're not going to be playing the game again, that really makes you think how much you love the game. Q. You took time off the game 2016, 2017, 2018, so are we talking with reference to what you're talking about there, are we talking over a three-year period then? INBEE PARK: I think it was more of a '15 and '16 period that I was a little bit struggling, and last year was just truly because I was just trying to cut back the schedule a little bit so I can just enjoy more out here, try to enjoy golf and try to enjoy just going back home and not travelling as much as before. So I'd say about a two-year period there, '16 and '17. Q. Was that why you missed the 2016 Open here? INBEE PARK: Well, I think mostly the '16 was after the Olympics because I was pushing myself so hard through the injury, and I was just advised from the doctor that maybe I should take some time off in order to play in the year '17. Q. Do you have a preference between links and inland golf in the UK? INBEE PARK: Well, I think to be honest, not that I don't like this golf course, but I really love playing the links golf course, with very high pot bunkers, and playing in Scotland, and not that I play better there, but I think it's just like a unique golf course that we never get to play all year long. Yeah, like the tree-lined golf courses we play all the time, and links golf with no trees and thick fescue and bunkers and tough greens, I think that's just something that we don't get to experience all year, so I always look forward to playing the links golf. Q. You just mentioned the Olympics, and obviously the Olympics are coming up next year in Japan. Is that a real goal for you for the next 12 months, to try and make that team? INBEE PARK: Well, you know, I think yes and no because I'm just trying to play the normal season that I would be playing, whether there would be Olympics or not. It would be nice if I get an opportunity, but there are so many good Korean players on the line right now, and it is just so tough to make the team. If I'm just not trying to have only that in my mind, I'm just trying to do it normal, and if I get an opportunity, that's good, and if not, I think it is what it is. Q. How many less tournaments are you playing now than you did before the break? INBEE PARK: I think about 10 events less. I probably cut maybe one third of the schedule. Yeah, so I'm playing about two thirds. Q. Clearly you're playing very well, so you feel that is working for you? INBEE PARK: Well, it is always tough to come from the break all the time, but I definitely feel like I need some time in between the tournaments to get my swing right, get my body ready to play again, my mentality ready to play, and I think it has been working pretty good for me. I don't know if I did better or even if I played 30 events now. Q. Do the younger Korean players seek you out for advice when they come out on Tour? INBEE PARK: I think everybody has got all the help they have already, and some girls have asked me for certain things, but I think most of the girls are doing really well and they get used to the Tour so quickly these days that they don't need much advice and they do such a great job as they are. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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