KPMG WOMEN'S PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

October 6, 2020

Lydia Ko

Aronimink Golf Club

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Lydia, thanks so much for joining us. We're here at the KPMG Women's PGA Championship with Rolex Rankings No. 38, Lydia Ko. Lydia was the runner-up at the 2016 KPMG Women's PGA Championship. Making your ninth start of the season and your eighth appearance here at the KPMG Women's PGA.

We're here in October, a month we're not used to playing KPMG, but it's a perfect time to take to Aronimink. How are you feeling right now as you gear up for this major championship?

LYDIA KO: I had a couple weeks off prior to coming into this week, so hopefully I'm well rested. I think we're -- obviously this is later than when we normally play this event but I think we're all super grateful to be able to play and play at this amazing golf course with a lot of golf history. KPMG and PGA of America have taken us to a lot of great golf courses, so I think it's going to be another great test for us this week.

THE MODERATOR: What is the experience like when you walk into the clubhouse here and you see all the artifacts around? You go out on this golf course and you know all the history that's taken place here, and now the LPGA Tour gets to add to that history. What's that experience like knowing you're making your place in golf history?

LYDIA KO: Like I said earlier, I think KPMG with PGA of America and the LPGA, I think we've moved really in a great direction to bring women's golf to some of the best golf courses in the U.S., so I think it's a great opportunity for us. We have the world's best players, female golfers here, so hopefully we'll be able to show some great golf alongside some of the great golf played in the history.

But just even looking down the road, we're able to go to some of these nice golf courses where the men play, so it's great that the female golfers can go there because it's the best of the best, and I think we're all super looking forward to a great week.

THE MODERATOR: Speaking of best of the best, your game has been in great shape since we've come back from the COVID break. You said you've had a couple weeks off, didn't play after Portland. How are you feeling right now? How is your game rounding into shape as you head here?

LYDIA KO: Hopefully I'm feeling good. You know, I'll be able to know on Thursday. But I think this is a pretty tricky golf course. Personally I don't think it'll be a very low score around here, so you just have to be really consistent, and I think hitting a lot of fairways is going to be key. With the rain overnight on Sunday and Monday I think there's going to be a lot of growth to it. Keeping it on the fairways and playing smart when you're out of position is going to be key, and I think you just have to be patient like at any other major.

THE MODERATOR: What is it about this course that you think is going to keep the scores on the tough side?

LYDIA KO: The fairways aren't super wide, and the greens are quite big, so even if you're on the green for a green in regulation, it doesn't necessarily mean it's going to be an easy two-putt or birdie. I think you really have to play smart. But at the same time because there's a little bit of slope, I think you can use it to your advantage.

I think being smart is going to be a big key around here.

Q. I guess you're a few months into working with Sean Foley. I was curious what that's been like and what you've seen in your game since you started working?

LYDIA KO: Yeah, I think obviously it's been a few months working with Sean, and I think we've kept it really simple, not overcomplicating anything. Anytime I see him for a lesson or talk to him over the phone, I think we're covering all the same things, and it's great working with my trainers, as well. We're kind of on the same page and making sure that we're looking in the right direction. But it's been good. I think he's really been able to help me not only in the technique standpoint but also trying to clear out some of the questions in my head, and I think sometimes those are more important than the technical parts.

Q. We talked earlier in the year about your fitness and putting on muscle, and I was just curious where you are with that and traveling in terms of trying to maintain what you started.

LYDIA KO: Yeah, obviously with COVID you do have to be a little bit more, I guess, careful when you're on the road, and I've been trying to do a lot of in-room exercises and being careful to not do too loud like jumps in the room, especially when I'm not on the ground floor. But yeah, it's a little hard, but I've been keeping in good contact with my trainers to make sure I'm doing the right things, and they have an app that I'm able to go straight on and see some of the exercises I can do with the bands or a few equipment that I have. It's definitely difficult, so I think in the off weeks I've been trying to do more strength and more weight work then and then do more conditioning and body weight stuff on the road.

Q. How many protein shakes?

LYDIA KO: I am a one-protein-shake-a-day person, though if I could have as many as Bryson DeChambeau and play that good, maybe that's the option. I think what he did at the U.S. Open was pretty incredible and what he's done after the quarantine. Maybe that's a trend; I don't know.

Q. I've noticed along those lines that you seem to be also playing a lot of other sports, playing a lot of tennis, you've taken up running. Has that helped your golf game, as well?

LYDIA KO: To me personally, I love -- I don't like running, but I like the feel of after a run, you sweat it out, and I feel like some of the stress or things you kind of keep in are expressed out. I like that bit. Obviously the duration of it I'm not a huge fan of, but I think we're fortunate in our community we have a lot of the girls out there around Lake Nona, so we can just go out and play some tennis, and I played some tennis with the Jutanugarns and Jen and Lindy the other week, and I think that's a great thing even during quarantine; because some of the other players were there, we're still able to have friendly -- not getting too close as usual, but still able to have friendly matches, whether it's golf or in tennis or we go rock climbing. It's been nice to kind of expand -- I think most of the time when we're playing we kind of look down the golfing world, but it's been nice to see what else is out there, and I heard rock climbing is really good for your grip strength, and that obviously reflects into golf, as well, so hopefully more of those.

Q. I wanted to know what you like most about the Aronimink golf course, and in your time off were you able to do any research about the golf course, or do you just wait until you get there and just take it from there?

LYDIA KO: I love that this is a very traditional style golf course. A lot of big trees, tighter fairways, and I really think the biggest characteristics about this golf course is that it doesn't -- obviously you need to hit it straight, but I don't think it plays in the favor of any distance hitter. I think there's bunkers here, there and everywhere, so it kind of goes into play for everyone, so I think anyone who's really consistent is going to be a big key.

Coming into this week I did go on the website and kind of see the little course map, but it looked a lot tighter on the photo than I am here, so that's a little bit more of a relief from that stand. And there's a member out at Lake Nona and he said his brother is a member here, so he told me to stay clear from behind the green, like you'd rather be a little short than a little long, and as I was playing I could totally understand what he was saying.

Q. Why do you think sustaining a high level of play, sustaining success, why is that so difficult do you think in golf?

LYDIA KO: I think everyone -- I think people don't realize the amount of talent that is on the LPGA and just in golf in general, and it is that much harder to win and to play great week in, week out, and to those players that have been doing that, I think it just shows how well they're playing, how well they're prepping. It's all thumbs up to them.

I think every year people are getting better and better and better, and you think, how can they get better from there, and the players do. I think it's really difficult, and that's why even the No. 1 player in the world or No. 1 hundred or anyone, everyone is putting in time and grinding it out to just make them a little bit better, and I think that's the direction where everyone is heading anyway.

I think I myself, we're trying to put in the time to kind of keep up with the field.

Q. We're going to speak to Nelly Korda in a while and she's chasing that No. 1 spot. What was the meaning of that when you attained that, and what was the moment like when you got there?

LYDIA KO: I think my first week as No. 1 was maybe around Bahamas time, early in that season. I had just -- I think I kind of didn't have a great finish on a Sunday at Ocala, but I was still able to finish whatever rank I was and then able to become the No. 1 ranked player. To be honest, I think I was so young that like at first you weren't able to embrace it all and take it in, but I think when I was No. 1 at that first time, I think there was a lot of pressure that I had built up in myself and how others perceived me and kind of the thought that if you're No. 1 you should be always in contention or you should win all the time, but that's really not the case. It's the person that puts themselves in contention and is really consistent.

But I think when I became world No. 1 the second time around, I think I was able to kind of embrace it a little bit better and try and not think of the rankings and just focus on my game, and everything else kind of takes care of itself. I always think that all I can do is try my 100 percent best, 110 percent best, and if somebody else is better than me, there's nothing I can do from there.

Q. You were talking about Sean helping you to answer some questions; can you give us any of those answers that you've learned along the way?

LYDIA KO: I think most of the questions were technical aspects. Obviously every coach or every person has their own different little perspectives, so for me, it was just some of the things that I wasn't sure about that he was able to kind of clear that out and no matter who it is when you believe in them and they go, okay, this is it, then you kind of go, okay, that's what I've been thinking was wrong or right, and then you never really think about it.

Sometimes he says when I ask him a question or there's something, he'll say, just go out there, dig a little hole, put all your bad, crappy thoughts in there and then put the sand over it and never look at it again. I actually did that in my back garden. I didn't dig a hole, but he told me to put this -- we have this thing that I do technically, and he was like, go get a little canoe tombstone thing and put it on the ground, and I actually did it. So I sent him a picture and I said, "See? I did it." It's a fun way of interpreting it, and I think everybody out here, we all -- we've been playing the game for so long, so sometimes, man, where did that come from, but I think it's just as important to kind of clear those questions in your head like mentally and philosophically, and I think he's really helped me in that aspect where I just kind of bury it and then just walk away and try and not think about it again.

Q. You've said a couple times here how weird this all is, and it really is, what we're all going through right now. Is it weird to you to be playing a major so late in the season? And then the second part of that, how have you adjusted your game and your preparations to be able to compete in a major at your best so late in the year?

LYDIA KO: I mean, it's definitely not going to be as weird as the U.S. Open in December. But I think obviously this year you would think this is October, only my ninth tournament this year. It's something that you wouldn't have projected, I wouldn't have projected going into the season. You know, things are a little out of sorts, but at the same time I think we're all super lucky that we're able to do what we love and to be able to compete. Obviously this isn't the perfect circumstances that we'd want. It would be great to have our usual big crowds and grandstands and everything, but I think we're just lucky to play, and everybody is playing in the same conditions, so we're all just prepping and trying our best and hopefully have a good week here.

THE MODERATOR: Thanks so much, Lydia. We hope you have a great week. We'll see you later.