CME GROUP TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP

December 19, 2020

Minjee Lee

Tiburón Golf Club

Flash Interview

THE MODERATOR: Nice 6-under par 66 today. Take us through the day, especially those five straight birdies on the back nine.

MINJEE LEE: Yeah, so I think I turned 1-under the front nine, and then going into the back nine I think I made birdie on 11 and then I made bogey on 12.

Then had -- from 13 to, what, 17 I made birdies, so, yeah, no, it was just a nice stretch. I hit really good iron shots into a lot of those holes, so it was nice to have little putts for birdie.

So, yeah, no, just had a good momentum swing.

Q. You like climbing the leaderboard on moving day. Seems like you've found a lot of low numbers on this day before. What's moving day mean to you to climb the leaderboard and put yourself in position like you are for tomorrow?

MINJEE LEE: I think after -- like there is no cut here, but after the first two days, you work hard for those two days, and then the weekend you sort of really want to climb that leaderboard.

So I think my mindset is to make as many birdies as I can. Yeah, you know, I haven't really been in contention the last couple weeks so it's nice to be in contention here.

Q. In what has been a crazy year, is there extra added excitement that this is the season-ending event?

MINJEE LEE: I mean, it's Christmas next week, so, yeah, no, it's -- I've been really grateful that we've been playing all these events, but it is nice to be at the final event of the year.

Q. You mentioned you have some host housing here in Florida.

MINJEE LEE: I do here as well.

Q. At this event. With no fans here, it's beautiful sunny skies. Nice time for them to kickback, maybe enjoy a beverage of choice at home while they're watching.

MINJEE LEE: Yeah.

Q. Anything with your host housing that they like to do?

MINJEE LEE: My housing from Dallas that I'm really close to, housing dad, he likes to have beers when I make birdies, so if I make a lot of birdies then he gets a lot of beer.

So he texted me that he's a little bit behind on the beers today because I made a lot of birdies. Yeah, no, just a little fun there. It's nice.

Q. Do you guys text often?

MINJEE LEE: Yeah, I see them quite a bit. I live in Dallas, so yeah.

Q. You went there for Thanksgiving, right?

MINJEE LEE: Yeah.

Q. How was Thanksgiving?

MINJEE LEE: Really good. They cooked so much beautiful food. It was just really nice.

Q. Was there a shot or putt that got you locked in for that stretch?

MINJEE LEE: Well, I made bogey on 12 and then I had a really good birdie on 13. So I was like, Yeah, this is good. And then the next hole was a par-5, so obviously on a par-5 you want to make birdie.

So, yeah, I think that's just sort of got the ball rolling, and I hit a really good shot into 15 and 16 and obviously 17 is a birdie chance as well.

So just sort of lined up really well.

Q. What happened on the bogey?

MINJEE LEE: Oh, I hit it left and then my ball sort of like rode left with the wind, so went into the hazard.

But I could still play the shot. I just sort of over-cooked it a little bit and two-putted for bogey.

Q. So on a course that is typically challenging, that players see a lot of high numbers or struggle a bit, how do you get in that zone to attack and really, really go at pins, especially with some of the pin positions out there today?

MINJEE LEE: I think because the greens are a little bit more receptive this year they're playing a little softer, so I think you can go a little bit more at the pins than usual. In previous years we've had to play sort of a lot of undulation or just sort of away from the pins, so I think just in that sense playing later in the year we can be a little more aggressive.

But there is definitely enough trouble out there.

Q. Looking ahead to tomorrow, how do you keep your foot on the gas pedal?

MINJEE LEE: Looking at the leaderboard I think Sei Young is kind of running away with it. I mean, I'm probably going to be -- I mean, I think I'm going to have to have a really fast start and a lot of birdies tomorrow.

So just play my game, be aggressive, and try and hole a lot of putts.

Q. Last one for you. We've seen Sei Young do this before. From your vantage point, what's it like to just see her do what she does?

MINJEE LEE: I think she starts off well and she ends well. If she's on, she's on. It's kind of really hard to keep up if she's really on her game.

So just means we have to step up a little bit.