PELICAN WOMEN'S CHAMPIONSHIP

November 13, 2021

Lydia Ko

Pelican Golf Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Going out with that bogey-free round today, what was the strategy to start the day?

LYDIA KO: I mean, just focusing on my game and trying to play the best golf I can. I've been hitting the ball pretty good, so hoping to continue that over this weekend.

I'm, you know, also hoping that a few putts drop. Yeah, holed a few good putts, but I think ball striking has been the key for me the last few days.

I'm going to hope, again, that it's good for tomorrow. Then just put a good roll on the putts. I think it's really difficult out here, and when the wind gets up it's not easy. Staying patient is a big key around this golf course.

Q. Coming off the win last week on the Ladies European Tour, what do you feel like you found with your game?

LYDIA KO: Well, last week I played really solid. My iron shots were really good, so set up a lot of opportunities. You know, when your irons are good, if you're not holing putts you feel like, oh, you're making par, but par is not a bad score.

You kind of have to keep doing that well, and I feel like I've done that well over the last few weeks, and that has fed on and I've took that as momentum.

When you play well, day-to-day things don't really change much, but you're feeding off confidence and the belief that you can shoot good scores.

So I think that's kind of been the approach and that's been working so far this week as well.

Q. Here with Lydia Ko after a strong showing in the third round of the Pelican Women's Championship: Bogey-free 6-under 64. You continue to perform very well here at Pelican Golf Club. What's been the secret so far this week?

LYDIA KO: I think my ball striking has been good. You know, I've been setting myself up with a lot of opportunities. I felt like I left a lot out there over the last few days just with the putter. Normally lengths that you think, Oh, it's just outside right or just outside left, because of the contours of these greens it's a lot trickier.

I think I had one putt that was only like ten feet and I played three feet of break and it still missed low. You just have to stand over the putts and believe that it's going to break or do what you think it's going to do, and then you just put a good roll on it.

I'm hoping that when I do that a few of them will be able to fall.

Q. How do you play so well for two straight weeks on opposite sides of the world?

LYDIA KO: You know, in some ways when you've got another week right after one, you know, you just kind of feel like it's not two weeks but one really long week.

I landed on Monday and then I was out playing a practice round on Tuesday. Kind of didn't know who I was at that point.

When you're playing well and you have played well you feed off that momentum. I think at the end of the day, I just got to trust my game and trust my training. That's what Sean says a lot.

That's all you can do, and just enjoy it out there. If I get to play good golf on top of that, that's an extra bonus.

Q. We had a very short rain delay, about 20 minutes. It did soften the golf course up. Did you notice? What difference did it make?

LYDIA KO: The greens haven't been super firm over the last few days. It's been really fast but not firm with the shots coming in.

So I didn't feel like there was a lot of difference because my next shot was a wedge shot anyway, so it was going to stop either way. And I didn't hit a very good shot so I wasn't able to get a good gauge of that.

Yeah, I don't think it made a huge difference. Because of the contouring I think apart from some selective areas, I think it drains really well. The greens have been so good. If somebody just came here right after the rain delay they wouldn't have known that there was rain.

I think that just shows the quality of the golf course itself.

Q. What tricks have you learned over the years about dealing with jet lag and what was your worst case of jet lag?

LYDIA KO: Just sleep. I'm a very good sleeper, if that is a thing. I sleep pretty well, so it's normally hard when you go from like Asia, especially and you come back to this side. You're dead awake early in the morning.

But I think my trick is sometimes obviously I don't do it when I have a tournament the week after, but I will not sleep the night before so that I am very, very tired on the plane so I sleep the whole flight. Sometimes the flight attendants asks me if I'm okay because they're worried I'm sick because I've slept through a 15-hour flight.

So just land, and then obviously you're up doing things. If you work out, that kind of gets me tired as well. I normally don't sleep the night before and sleep the whole way on the plane. So to all the flight attendants out there, I'm the most probably low key, hands off, hands free passenger on board.

Q. Have you ever had a particularly bad case of jet lag?

LYDIA KO: I mean, I guess this case was kind of bad. I went to bed at like 1:30 and I woke up at 5:30 really ready to go. I was pitch dark, and you have to play like a practice round in a few hours.

But it doesn't go for very long. Yeah, so I think I'm pretty lucky with that, yeah.

Q. Two-win season for you, albeit on different tours. What does this year mean to you as we start to put the 2021 season in the rearview mirror?

LYDIA KO: I think this has been one of the most consistent seasons for me. Even when I was world No. 1 I think I'm not sure if I had played this consistent then. I guess you could go back through the stats and everything.

Yeah, I feel like it's been a really consistent year. I started off the season really well with a few Top 10s, and then winning in Hawaii just kind of gave me the confidence that, Hey, I can be back in the winner's circle.

It's good to be back there again last week even though it was on the LET Tour. Just gives you confidence. You always wants to start the season well because it kind of sets your mode for the rest of the season.

Then you want to end it well. That's kind of the best-case scenario. So I'm hoping that I can finish the season off strongly.