ANA INSPIRATION

September 10, 2020

Yu Liu

Mission Hills Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. We're here with Yu Liu, tied at the top of the leaderboard, 4-under 68. Looks like you had a handful of birdies out there, just one bogey. How are you feeling as you're at the top of the leaderboard midway through this first round?

YU LIU: I'm definitely very happy about my start, just staying very steady out there today. I think I stayed within my process very well. I communicated really well with my caddie. Even though my game was feeling pretty off to be honest during the practice rounds and coming off from two missed cuts for the last two weeks and just my expectations were pretty low, but I was able to stay within my process really well, and yeah, I'm really proud of myself.

Q. What do you mean when you say "process"? What do you work on when you're on the golf course to keep your composure?

YU LIU: Just focus on the shot at present, not thinking too much ahead of myself, and communicate very well with my caddie.

Q. You have Axel on your bag. What is that relationship like with him?

YU LIU: He's great. I feel like his personality really fits with what I need because I tend to get very anxious and a bit impatient sometimes, but he's pretty chill, so I think from a mentality standpoint, he's a huge help for me, yeah.

Q. You said coming in coming off two missed cuts and you weren't very confident with your game. Were you working on anything specific in practice rounds that maybe changed up to this successful round?

YU LIU: Yeah, but to be honest, I didn't feel like my game was super off. It was just some detail stuff here and there that the margin was quite small to be able to play well and bad out here. So this week I knew major week, we definitely have to get the putting really sharp, so I definitely had some extra time working on the putting. The greens were rolling super pure. It's probably the best greens we play all year, so yeah, you don't really get an excuse for not putting it well. Just spending a lot of time on the putting green, yeah.

Q. Reporters focus a lot on the major championships. For the players does it have the same weight or do you just look at every week as the same and try and do your best?

YU LIU: Yeah, I mean, playing on Tour I think every tournament has a special meaning behind it, but of course major week I get a little more pumped up than normal weeks because it always attracts the best field, the best players in the world.

Q. How do you control that extra energy and excitement?

YU LIU: Honestly I think it's a really good thing for me to be able to get that extra adrenaline going. It really helps me get focused on the course.

Q. Did the change in temperature between the start of the round to the end of the round have any effect on your game, and how are you going to prepare for tomorrow with the heat in the afternoon?

YU LIU: Yeah, we got pretty lucky to be early off this morning, so I feel like the temperature was pretty fine because I live and practice in Florida, so this is actually a little cooler than I'm pretty used to. I know tomorrow is going to be a battle, so definitely tried to conserve as much energy as I could today, not over-practice for the rest of the day and just be mentally prepared, as well.

Q. Did you feel like the greens firmed up significantly from the start to the finish of the round?

YU LIU: To be honest, not really. I thought it stayed pretty steady throughout the round.