ISPS HANDA WORLD INVITATIONAL

July 29, 2021

Su Oh

Galgorm Castle & Massereene Golf Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Tell us about it, 68, 4-under first round.

SU OH: Yeah, like solid. I holed a few putts out there, but I obviously hit a lot of greens today, which always helps. They weren't too far. But front nine I just couldn't get any putts really. I three-putted a couple times, three-putted on the par-5 for a 6, which always hurts a little bit.

Then I holed a good one on 18 and I kind of got on a bit of a roll. But they were all -- I hit it pretty close, like 15 feet, 20 feet, 10 feet. Kind of set myself up, and it was nice.

Didn't quite get the speed of the greens, though. It's hard playing two courses, and I played at Galgorm yesterday and it was like 6:30 in the morning so I didn't know what I was doing this morning warming up. I got the speed of it towards the end, but now I'm going to have to figure out the other course and try and get the speed of the other course.

Q. You had a nice run of five birdies, so that's a positive. What was good out there? Tell us about a specific hole where you thought it was a nice birdie or --

SU OH: What did I do? I think -- I made a good par on the 1st because I got blocked out a little bit from the tree and then had to make up-and-down. 3rd I hit a good wedge, holed a good putt. 4th I got -- it kind of spun back up the hill and I had like a lengthy 20 feet probably and it went in, which was a nice surprise. Yeah, just kind of hit some good shots and made the most out of it really. I just set myself up, easy -- it wasn't too much break.

Q. You did well at the Vic Open, didn't you --

SU OH: Yeah, we didn't get to play this year. What a bummer.

Q. You play well in these male-female events, don't you.

SU OH: Well, yeah, it's only the first round, but yeah, I'll take my first round. Well, Vic Open, it's like I live not far from there, and I've played it for, I don't know, seven years maybe, since I was an amateur. So I know that course very well. I know how it plays. It's annoying we didn't get to play this year because it's always nice to get off to a good start to your year.

But yeah, it's been great here, honestly. I got here Sunday, and it's always a good thing when my clubs make it going through Heathrow, so I was off to a good start. It's been very nice, very relaxing really.

Q. And you got the challenge of a different golf course, so what do you do now? What are your thoughts on that course that you've got to go and prepare somehow to play it?

SU OH: Well, luckily I played it on Monday, and it's completely different because it was so dry and now it's probably wet. But I played it -- I got called into the pro-am yesterday, so I played nine holes. It was a little bit different. It was still firm.

Obviously I'm going to be tomorrow afternoon, I think it just depends what the weather is going to be like. But good course, just a bit -- a few funky shots here and there, so I think I'm going to have to figure it out like on the spot, because depending on the conditions, you can't just -- it's definitely not one of those, oh, just hit it down the fairway, which I really like. You have to think and hit some good shots out there. It's not just stand up there and hit another straight drive and straight on to the green. You actually have to try and place it a little bit.

Q. You've got ISPS, you've got Handa, you've got Modest, you've got LET, LPGA, EDGA, European Tour here. It's a magnificent event bringing so many people and golfers together. Tell us your thoughts on that.

SU OH: Yeah, it's really nice, actually. Well, for me I like it because I've seen some of the guys here that I haven't seen for a while. I actually saw them back home because we all play, but it's very nice, yeah. It's just pretty cool like having men, women -- I think we should have more events like this, honestly.

Q. You mentioned like seeing some guys that you play with. Can you just talk a little bit about who they are, where you guys play, how you know them?

SU OH: Yeah, like Jake McLeod, Mav Antcliff, Bryden Macpherson, Blake Windred -- I haven't really played much with Blake. Like Jake and I have played a lot of golf together. We played like junior and amateur stuff. We're from different states but national team stuff together. It was nice just kind of seeing the crew.

It was funny because the first day I got here, like the first few bays was just like Aussies. My caddie is Australian, too, this week, so it was just funny. I was like, where am I, Australia or Ireland.

Q. Kind of makes it feel like home then, a little bit?

SU OH: Yeah, just the same crew, I guess. But we drive on the same side, so somewhat similar.

Q. And then you had the four straight birdies today --

SU OH: Yeah, four, and then a bogey -- no, four, par, bogey, birdie. I think that's what I did.

Q. How did the momentum feel to get a tournament started like that? Did you feel like you got off on the right foot?

SU OH: No. So we got to the tee this morning. I don't know if you know this. There was no starter, no pin sheet, no scorecards. I normally get there like five -- like less than five minutes until the tee time. I'm like, hmm, that's weird. I'm like, am I in the right place? So we're just kind of there, and then apparently the starter was late, whatever, so we teed off a little bit late. I was like, okay, interesting start.

I guess the person that was there didn't know the order of play. Like I guess we should have, but normally they just tell us. We get announced, right. No announcement, so we just decided to go alphabetical order. I was like, this is a very interesting start to the day.

Q. And that probably reminded you of maybe amateur golf?

SU OH: It did (laughing) and then I missed a few short putts and I was like, oh, okay, well, whatever. I three-putted on the par-5 to make 6, which you don't want to make a 6 on a par-5.

And then I just kind of hit a few good shots and probably like holed a few 20-footers. But I kind of put myself in good spots, like good placements. Yeah, it was good.

Q. What's the difference between Massereene and Galgorm from what you've seen?

SU OH: I think this course has more par-5s.

Q. Par-73.

SU OH: Yeah, well, here you kind of go par-5, short par-4, and then another par-5, so I figured you can get off to a good start here, whereas there -- well, I teed off the 10th, and I hit driver, hybrid on Tuesday when it was really firm, and I hit driver, hybrid and I had 80 yards left. So it was completely different, so I didn't know what to expect because last time I played it, it was so firm. It was like running like 60 yards, and then I get there at 7:30 and it's like rainy and windy, and I was like, great.

Q. How much did it rain during your round over there?

SU OH: Just steady, but I think I'd take it. Like I thought it was going to rain a lot heavier. It was kind of drizzle and then a little bit heavier, but I mean, it wasn't as nice as this --

Q. It was raining here in the morning.

SU OH: Right, but for the afternoon, sorry. But it wasn't too bad. I was expecting like Scottish rain. I was like, to my caddie, I was like, nah, I'll just take drizzle all day. I don't really like wearing rain gear, so it was good it wasn't too heavy.