ANA INSPIRATION

April 2, 2021

Lydia Ko

Mission Hills Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Here with Lydia Ko. A little bit of a rollercoaster of a round out there today. Take us through that and what it took mentally to get back on track there.

LYDIA KO: Yeah, I've been on this rollercoaster since last week. The good thing is I'm making plenty of birdies to make up for the bogeys I've been making.

But I think I been trying to not get too in my head when I been making mistakes. You know, just trying to stay positive and go, Hey, if I have nine holes left I have nine chances for birdie. I've been lucky enough to kind of have a good comeback after a mistake which kind of gets rhythm going.

Yeah, lots of birdie-bogeys or bogey-birdies, but hopefully I'll be able to reduce a few of those clumsier mistakes and keep having fun out there.

Q. Having fun was probably highlighted by an eagle on the Aon Risk Reward hole today, on 11. Take us through that eagle there.

LYDIA KO: Yeah, I hit -- I've been hitting my drive like okay, like fairly well, and then I hit a few stinky shots in my last few holes of the front nine.

So I was like, you know what? This wind is off the right and down. I'm going to aim right and hit it hard. Les said, Hey, you hit it 318, so I was super excited about that.

I kind of hit an iffy hybrid shot, but ended up working. Hit it to 15 feet and was probably the closest I could hit to that hole and was able to make that putt.

So definitely going from over par, you know, that kind of changes the rhythm for me, and then making the birdie on the next hole. I think it's a major. It's not easy out there. So you just have to keep going and hit one shot at a time and see where that takes me.

Q. When you say you're talking about not having your best stuff, what consolation do you take being T5, and is it a situation where, Hey, I can still turn this thing around?

LYDIA KO: I think it started last week where I felt like my ball striking wasn't there and my putting was okay. Then the ball striking kind of improved over the week and then I just had too many putts on the putting green.

But, no, I think the game is a little bit better in general coming into this week, and I think -- I've been taking it as a positive where even if I make a mistake I've been able to get up and make a birdie on the next or within the next few holes.

I think that's just helped me mentally. I think sometimes you're not going to have your A game. I would say most people, like it's really hard to have your A game every single day. You have to play with what you have. You have to play with that kind of shot that you have been hitting.

I think you just play with what's in front of you and not try to find it, and I think that is such a big key. Hopefully I'll just be able to keep continuing the aspects that I've been doing well and polish up on a few things and see where I finish at the end of this weekend.

Q. What do you think the things are that you're doing well?

LYDIA KO: I thought apart from a few shots I drove it pretty well yesterday. And the grass is only getting longer, definitely not getting shorter, so keeping in the short stuff, especially with the greens firming up, is good.

I've been able to just make a lot of good bounce-back birdies and I played the par-5s really well, which has been an area of my game that I haven't been able to take advantage of.

So good to kind of walk up to a par-5 and feel like I can make a birdie. I've just been trying to not get too hard on myself and just enjoy it. I know that it's tough, and at the end of the day, it's really me against the golf course and not think about everything else.