KPMG WOMEN'S PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

June 22, 2021

Sei Young Kim

Atlanta Athletic Club

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We're here with Sei Young Kim, our defending KPMG Women's PGA Championship winner. Last year took a five-stroke victory over Inbee Park at Aronimink, one of her two wins, 12 overall victories on the LPGA Tour. Sei Young, you're playing in your seventh KPMG PGA, but your first as a major champion defending this title. How excited are you to be here?

SEI YOUNG KIM: I feel so excited to be the first defending champion of a major tournament. I checked out the course already, but the course is really amazing. Yeah, I like this course.

When I came here, first off I saw the picture in the entry, so I was like ooh.

Q. What was that like driving in and seeing your face there as the defending champion?

SEI YOUNG KIM: Yeah, I took a photo, and I sent it to my family and my friends. They said, wow, awesome.

Q. That's quite an honor.

SEI YOUNG KIM: Yeah.

Q. How does Atlanta Athletic Club compare to Aronimink, where you got your win last year?

SEI YOUNG KIM: Aronimink golf course is a little long length overall, but this course has more bunkers I can see on the golf course. The course got a lot of rain, so it feels like more length, a longer length than last year, especially today.

Yeah, I look forward to this week.

Q. How would you assess your game right now?

SEI YOUNG KIM: My game?

Q. What's the best part?

SEI YOUNG KIM: Overall, it's fine. I just try to focus on mentally and stay calm, hit the right course tracking. Yeah, I think overall it's pretty solid right now.

Q. Do you have a mental coach?

SEI YOUNG KIM: No, not really. I don't have. But watching a lot of information from the Internet or around my friends or YouTube, something like that.

Q. You had won a lot of tournaments, but you were chasing that first major victory. Was anything different that week, do you think, that got you that trophy?

SEI YOUNG KIM: You mean last year?

Q. Yeah, last year. You were trying to get that first major.

SEI YOUNG KIM: Last year, the memory is really special to me because, even after I win the tournament, finishing the tournament, it reminds me how I play. In all the tournaments I had regrets. I could have made a better choice or better shots. There was a lot of things going on. But after KPMG, it wasn't like that.

I thought that tournament was the first perfect game for myself, yeah. I think that was really good playing last year.

Q. Do you have any advice for the other players now that are trying to get their first major?

SEI YOUNG KIM: Any player advice for me?

Q. Would you have advice for another player that's trying to win a first major now that you've done it?

SEI YOUNG KIM: Not really.

Q. A lot of players are trying to make the Olympic team this week. Tell us about your experience in Rio and what it meant to you to be there.

SEI YOUNG KIM: Yeah, I played in the Rio Olympics last time. It was an amazing memory because that was the first time they played golf in the Olympics. Yeah, I had a good experience because I can see a lot of athletic events, even different sports, and I stayed with Inbee Park and the other Olympians, and Se Ri Pak was a captain of my country. We had a lot of conversations, and I learned a lot.

It gave me a lot of confidence in how to play well, better. He gave me advice a lot, though.

Q. Will Se Ri be involved at all this year?

SEI YOUNG KIM: Yeah.

Q. Making the Korean team, as Beth Ann mentioned, is one of the more difficult things to do in golf. What does it mean to you that you've accomplished it again?

SEI YOUNG KIM: It's also my biggest wish list to represent my country, play the Olympics. So I'm very happy that I'm able to play this year. I wish I could make a good result because last time I couldn't reach the goal I wanted. This is a really big challenge, and it's going to be a very big challenge. Yeah, I think so.