U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN

December 8, 2020

Jeongeun Lee6

Champions Golf Club

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We are pleased to welcome our defending champion, Jeongeun Lee6 to the 75th U.S. Women's Open.

Lee6 was the 2019 Rookie of the Year and is making her first Women's Open start. What does it feel like coming back as the defending champion?

JEONGEUN LEE6: I mean, this is my first defending champion Player of the Year so I'm a bit nervous, but half the time I'm pretty excited about playing this week, so I'm just going to try my best as I can to play well this week.

THE MODERATOR: It's been such a strange year; how are you feeling in general with your game coming into this week?

JEONGEUN LEE6: I mean, yeah, it feels weird being in Korea for that long, but I really did enjoy staying at home with my family and then got to play on the KLPGA Tour, and my goal was to win one of the tournaments on KLPGA Tour, but I'm glad that I got to play all the tournaments in Korea.

But coming back to the States, it just makes me more excited, and I'm happy about it.

Q. Having played a practice round now, I'm not sure if you've played both courses, but what's your impression of the course and what's going to be the challenges this week?

JEONGEUN LEE6: (Answer not translated.)

Q. What was the biggest difference between playing in Korea as much as you did recently versus over here as you normally would have been?

JEONGEUN LEE6: Yeah, I mean, the difference between the Korea golf courses and American golf courses is just that the grass is very different.

In Korea it's like very hilly and there are a lot of mountains, so it just feels different than America, because in America all the golf courses are very flat and not very hilly.

So that's one thing that's much of a difference comparing to the U.S. and Korea golf courses. But also in America like the range facility is really great to practice and it just feels good to be back in the States.

Q. What was the most interesting thing you did while you were at home?

JEONGEUN LEE6: Pretty much I've just been practicing my short game, especially because I just wanted to kind of get used to -- be stable with my swing and my short game.

Yeah, I've been trying to take care of my condition, so that's all I've been doing at home.

Q. Anything fun off the course?

JEONGEUN LEE6: I mean, I couldn't meet my friends and going on a trip with my family, but unfortunately I just wanted to be safe since the pandemic is pretty bad. That was the part that I was kind of really frustrated being at home all the time.

But yeah, other than that -- yeah.

Q. So when you got back over here, how long did it take you to get back into the rhythm of competition on the LPGA, or did you fall back into it immediately?

JEONGEUN LEE6: I mean, I've just been trying to play consistent as much as possible. Since I've been playing the KLPGA Tour. After KLPGA Tour I had a tournament in America, so nothing really much of like feeling like confused or anything.

Q. There was no difference?

JEONGEUN LEE6: Not much of a difference.

Q. And defending any week is difficult; defending at an event like this can be especially challenging. How sharp do you think you are given the added things you have to do as the defending champion?

JEONGEUN LEE6: I mean, I'm a bit of a nervous, but I'm just trying not to think about it too much. I just want to feel kind of loosened when I play on the course so I don't feel super tense and then feel nervous all the time.

So I'm just going to try the best I can on the course.

Q. Have you heard much about Champions Golf Club in the past? Do you know anything about the club's history? Have you heard much about it?

JEONGEUN LEE6: No, never heard of it.