KPMG WOMEN'S PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

October 8, 2020

Lydia Ko

Aronimink Golf Club

Quick Quotes

THE MODERATOR: Lydia Ko, here with a 2-under 68, just one stroke off the lead. You've got to be pretty happy. Looked like a pretty good steady round for you out there today. Tell us your thoughts as you leave the golf course.

LYDIA KO: I felt like I hit the ball really solid, tried to hit as many fairways and greens as I could. It was pretty tough out there with it being breezy. I feel like every day, even though the wind might say like 10 or 12 miles an hour, it always feels a little bit higher than that. So I tried to play consistent and I feel like I've done that well. Hopefully I'm going to continue doing that.

THE MODERATOR: You had four birdies and two bogeys on your run. Can you tell us about your birdies; were there any that stood out to you or what was the story of those birdies?

LYDIA KO: I think probably my highlight was birdieing the 8th hole. It's a tricky one down the hill, and I tried to hit a knock-down hybrid. When you're so high up and there's so much wind, you don't know what to say. I was like, I don't know what to say, so I'm just going to keep my mouth shut and wait for what the ball does. I hit it pin high, and that short putt itself broke a lot where it kind of went in on the side door. So yeah, I think that's probably the highlight.

Obviously a couple bogeys, but I think outside of that I was pretty consistent and probably making up-and-down on the 10th was another highlight, as well.

THE MODERATOR: I love the highlighter hat. Is this colors you picked out or anything?

LYDIA KO: I don't even know if I'm allowed to wear this, but I already did, so kind of too late to take it back. But no, this gentleman came up to me at ANA and said, oh, his business is like coloring hats, and I was like, oh, cool. He said he'd bring me one on the weekend, and he gave me one on Friday of ANA and I looked at it and it was really cool. Yeah, he said it's waterproof, and I haven't sweated rainbows yet, so I'm guessing it is. I've been getting a lot of compliments, so maybe it's a new trend for PXG.

Q. This is a really good championship test and you went out today and played a really nice round. What's it like for you to see the results matching up all the hard work?

LYDIA KO: Yeah, I know that with everything it takes time to get used to things. I feel like especially the five-week stretch kind of gave me the confidence and belief that I'm moving in the right direction. This is a very tricky golf course, and I think you really have to be focused out there, and with the breeze being up the last few days, the greens have really dried out. Being below the hole and giving yourself more uphill looks for birdies and pars there is I think going to be some of the big keys. Nice to be able to start with a solid round and hopefully I'll be able to keep the good momentum going for the rest of the week.

Q. Inbee said she thought this might be the easiest of the days in terms of how it's going to play going forward. What do you think the rest of the week will bring? And what kind of winning score might you expect?

LYDIA KO: I don't expect a very low winning score. Obviously they can mix up a few of the tee boxes, and there's only two par-5s out here, and most of the times when you see the winner I think they've played pretty solid on the par-5s because there's only two of them, and they're quite long without the tees moved forward. There's not a huge advantage around them, so yeah, you know, this is probably going to be -- even though it's not soft, this is going to be the softest the course itself is going to play.

Yeah, that is probably a very true statement that she said. But you know, I think the course itself today was tricky, and you just have to keep focused, and the PGA of America and the LPGA are going to do a good job of setting up the golf course depending on the weather, we hope. Yeah, everyone plays the same golf course in the same conditions, so you just play what you get.

Q. Just spending a little time on the putting green before you came over here, what were you working on?

LYDIA KO: I three-putted the last hole, and I hit it way too hard, harder than my driver, I think, on the last, so trying to get it to be a little bit more of a dying pace. I was talking to Sean after the round and he said, if you're going to think about something, maybe just a little shorter with the putting stroke just so that they're not ramming in there, especially as it's getting drier and with the slope. Sometimes you can have a longer second putt because of the harder lip-outs. That's something I'm going to try and be focused on, but for me and my game, I'm trying not to overcomplicate things and just go out there and simplify and do my best.

Q. Just wondering if you could expand a little bit on your relationship with Sean. I know obviously you said that you guys had chatted and I think I saw a video that he was there with you earlier in the week. I wondered what you guys specifically have been working on and your relationship up to this point player-coach.

LYDIA KO: Yeah, Sean is actually here this week, and I think he's around until tomorrow. I think this is less than five fingers how many times he's been at an LPGA event, so it's cool that he's come out here to work with a few of us. I think it's always a little bit different to what my misses could be or what the tendencies are like on the range to being on the golf course, and being at a tournament site, as well. It's been nice to have him here, and he can also see when I'm under the gun like what my tendencies are and all that.

Yeah, no, it's been good. I think he gives a lot of good vibes just him being here, so I've really enjoyed that, and we've really not done much -- too many technical things and just continued to do what we've been working on these past few months.