DOW GREAT LAKES BAY INVITATIONAL

July 15, 2021

Lydia Ko

Danielle Kang

Midland Country Club

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Welcome back into the Zoom session here, here with Danielle Kang and Lydia Ko. Team Sisters From Another Mister. Take us through the second day here at Dow.

LYDIA KO: I think overall we played really solid today. You know, just being best ball, I think you can be a little bit more aggressive in knowing that if one of the partner doesn't hit a good shot you've got the other one to kind of back you up. I think I was playing a little bit more freely, not getting too stressed if I hit a bad shot here and there.

It was good; sometimes when you play this format, if you make birdies on the same hole, it's kind of not -- it's great, but it's not like you're going to be 2-under. I feel like we balanced each other off really well on that point, and nice to finish off with a birdie on the last from Danielle.

THE MODERATOR: Danielle, we were just talking about No. 12. You both had eagle on that hole and it was a hole-out from you.

DANIELLE KANG: Yeah, honestly today I told Ollie, I go, What a great day to have a partner, to just have my back, because I was not playing very great. I tried to have a par at least secured here and there, but Lydia -- I wanted to give her a little bit more freedom as much as possible, but I wasn't making any putts and just wasn't as tidy as yesterday.

The last hole putt was my highlight because I never wanted to make a putt more for Lydia in my life than that last hole because I kept missing. I was like, I have to make this; Lydia, it's good! She had my back today. I asked her if her back hurts from carrying me all day. But today was just a good day to have a partner. I go, Lydia's got it. I was the biggest cheerleader.

THE MODERATOR: You both did play well. Looking at the scorecard, birdies all around. How much confidence did you take from yesterday's round going into this one and also just the confidence that you have in each other?

DANIELLE KANG: Honestly, today and yesterday we were just having a lot of fun. It's really casual golf. Genuinely like playing golf with my sister and we're hitting shots and I know what kind of game she has. I just sometimes look over, and I go, gosh, she's so good. And then I go, how do you hit that chip shot, I keep just asking her like a normal day. I go, man, Lydia is chipping so good. I go, I'm going to ask Lydia how to fit fairway bunker shots with a wedge because that was beautiful. She stiffed it to four feet from a fairway bunker with a wedge in her hand, and I went, what? So it's just admiring her golf game and just having a really fun time out there.

Q. Lydia, how would you say?

LYDIA KO: Yeah, we're having so much fun. A lot of laughs, a lot of shimmies. But yesterday, yes, it could have been better, but at the same time to play alternate-shot and make seven birdies, I think you just know that the game is there.

I felt like I could have been a little bit more helpful at times yesterday, but no, you've just got to enjoy it, especially with this format being now the next two days alternate-shot and best ball again. You just never know what's going to happen.

Obviously after making the cut you know you can be a little bit more aggressive there, as well. We're just going to stick to our game plan, just keep having fun and see where we end up on Saturday.

Q. What is your game plan as we switch back to that alternate-shot format for tomorrow, especially you guys just said the seven birdies from the first day. How do you refocus on the same game plan you had the first day here?

DANIELLE KANG: I don't think we're going to switch up the holes that we already set to play. I mean, we both have our games -- I don't know how to explain it. We played really well yesterday, and we saw the golf course. We made mistakes, but also had a lot of birdies. We did make seven birdies as alternate-shot.

With that being said, one person is going to hit a little more shots, one person is going to putt more, but the game plan is just to give Lydia as many birdie opportunities as I can.

Q. Lydia, Danielle has played Solheim Cup; how often do you play alternate-shot, and when was the last time you played?

LYDIA KO: The last time I played alternate-shot I was partnered with Minjee at Inbee's event in 2019 at the end of the year. I played that event a couple times, '19 and '18, and obviously a little different because it's match play, you pick up and go, but to play stroke play, playing with inn gee in '19 at this event was my first time.

I think alternate-shot, it also really depends on how you're playing and also who you're paired up with, and I think that chemistry is really important, and obviously me playing with my sister, it makes it a little bit easier for me, and I think we're a little bit more -- we're focused but not overly stressed out about the what-ifs.

Yeah, I don't have a lot of experience, but just being in that team atmosphere and playing that, I really enjoy it. I sometimes think I enjoy that more than like playing by myself.

It's just great. You're trying to will it in more because it's like double the excitement when you're playing well.

Q. I don't know if you know this, but the shimmies got a lot of airtime yesterday. What's the origin of that?

DANIELLE KANG: I had just made a birdie and I just wanted her to give me something.

LYDIA KO: We even got Derek and Ollie to do that today.

DANIELLE KANG: Yeah, our caddies started doing it.

LYDIA KO: All the cool ideas come from her, it doesn't come from here.

DANIELLE KANG: We tried to come up with a handshake, but it seems really natural. When she makes a birdie I just want her to be happy and excited.