DIO IMPLANT LA OPEN

April 22, 2022

Yu Liu

Wilshire Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Here with Yu Liu. What an impressive day when the winds got gusty you still stayed calm. Take me through how you're feeling after day two.

YU LIU: To be honest, it was a really bizarre round. My game did not feel solid at all in comparison to yesterday, because yesterday I hit a lot of greens and fairways, but today I just started off really shaky in that wind. I just snap-hooked the first two drives, and that really got me. But I was able to stay within myself and just stay present. I think that mentality really helped me get through the round today.

Q. When you talk about snap-hooking those first two drives, what goes through your mind, and how do you mentally reset after those first two opening holes?

YU LIU: It was bizarre because it's just a miss that I've never had before, so I felt like it's probably something to do with my rhythm and stuff. I wasn't feeling as confident. Starting off the year, I haven't been having very good finishes so far, just a lot of swing changes, but I think it's been paying off gradually.

Q. Swing changes that you recently decided to make or something that's kind of been evolving all year?

YU LIU: Yeah, just at the end of last year after CME I started working with a new swing coach, and just a lot of changes to all my techniques, which is very hard mentally. It's harder mentally than it is on the technique side of things I would say.

Q. Who's the new swing coach?

YU LIU: Grant Waite.

Q. A lot of girls -- I know you're in the Orlando area.

YU LIU: Yeah, it's really nice.

Q. What led you to him, and what does it mean to you to kind of see the fruits of your labor reward you in a way like it did today?

YU LIU: To be honest, I would say I'm still not 100 percent confident of what I've -- like the progress that I've made so far just because I feel like there's a lot of --

Q. It's different?

YU LIU: Yeah, it's different. A lot of work needs to be done, a lot of calibration. Today it was really nice to be able to get a good round of golf in, but it hasn't really been the way that I wanted to play just because standing on the tee I was -- I guess I wasn't 100 percent confident.

Q. But you were confident I feel when the wind started to die down a little bit. If you look at your back nine, no pictures on the scorecard, but how did you feel on the back nine compared to your front nine?

YU LIU: I feel like it's just mentally I was definitely calmer after just getting settled with some par saves on the first couple of holes, where my game was actually really shaky. I think it was a confidence booster for me knowing I can still shoot some decent scores even though my game is not there.

Starting out that back nine, my putter was -- I was able to see the line pretty well and then I rolled some pretty good putts. Yeah, I think that made a real difference.

Q. Take me through the three consecutive birdies right there, No. 11, 12 and 13.

YU LIU: Yeah, 11 I had a really good wedge close, I had a tap-in birdie. Then the next hole I had a 6-iron to about 10 feet and then made that putt, and then the next hole was the par-5. That was a very tough sidehill downhiller. I was able to make that pretty confidently. I think that really changed the whole momentum.

Q. And then being able to close there, I know you hit the bunker off your tee shot on 18, but that chip --

YU LIU: Yeah, standing over the ball today I just wasn't feeling comfortable at all, and I was able to just grind it out and just got those par saves when I need it and then took advantage of the good shots that I hit. I think that was the main thing for today.

The last hole I just hit -- I was trying to kind of change my swing throughout the round, but then the last shot didn't work out, but then I was able to get a really nice up-and-down from the bunker.

Q. I saw a little bit; what was the tap-in range?

YU LIU: The tap-in?

Q. How close were you to the pin?

YU LIU: It was like 25 yards, because I missed that pretty bad.

Q. I meant from the bunker to the pin.

YU LIU: Yeah, like 20 yards. But I was really glad that it stayed in the bunker because my bunker play is definitely way better than my chipping.

Q. Going into this weekend, it doesn't really take the lowest of low rounds to get yourself in contention here at Wilshire. What will you take away from your first two days as you head into the weekend?

YU LIU: I think it's still going to take a bit for me to sink everything in because I feel like to be honest I've never really done well here at Wilshire. This is my fourth year playing here and I've only made one cut. First of all, I'm just really glad to be playing this weekend, playing at this amazing venue because it's a really good test for us players.

I guess to be able to be where I am right now, I've done something to be where I am right now, so I'm going to just take advantage of those things that I've done well and just go to the range and try to figure out a little bit about my swing.