THE ASCENDANT LPGA BENEFITING VOLUNTEERS OF AMERICA

September 30, 2022

Lydia Ko

Golf Clubs at The Tribute

Quick Quotes

Q. All right, here with Lydia Ko after her second round here in Texas. Really good round for you. Put yourself up near the top. What did you learn after yesterday? I know yesterday was really tricky. What did you learn from the course yesterday that you applied to today?

LYDIA KO: You know, morning to afternoon yesterday I thought was a pretty big difference. With the leaders coming in at like 3-under for the morning wave I think it just showed how tough it was.

The course itself with the greens being firm and fast, it's tricky anyway, so the wind kind of made that work not double, double the trickiness, but more like ten times.

I think we said after nine holes it felt like we had already played 18 at that point.

Yeah, today I think knowing there was going to be less wind, it's a little bit of a sigh of relief. I got paired we great players, Madelene and Jess, so whatever way the golf was going to be, I knew we were going to have a good time.

To play a solid round I think was kind of a cherry on top of the cake.

Q. Would you say you're one of those players that really feeds off the people you're playing with? If they're playing well you're also playing well?

LYDIA KO: Yeah, they played really well yesterday and today, so I was trying to learn from them, feed off their momentum. I think they were playing like better than me, so I tried to kind of feed off the good vibes.

But, yeah, no, I think there was just a lot of laughs and everybody was just having a good time. I think that just makes it that much like easier, even though it shouldn't really make a huge difference who you're playing with.

But I think if you do play with some of your close friends or people that you know you enjoy playing with, I think it makes the day more enjoyable and relaxed.

Q. Let's talk about the last four holes coming in. Bogey there on 5 and then three really good holes. What happened on 5 and how do you change that momentum to birdie the last three?

LYDIA KO: Yeah, I just hit 6-iron and over-cooked it a little left. Wasn't like a super difficult chip shot but wasn't like easy.

I think I got a little tentative and just missed my putt for par, but I didn't really chip it to like a good up and down range, so it wasn't like an automatic make.

But on the sixth with that being a par-5 I got near the green and then hit a good chip shot, so that was probably the more stress-free birdie out of the three.

And then holed a really good putt on 7 to kind of keep that momentum going.

Hit a couple good shoots and holed a putt on 8.

And making the 12-footer for par on the last was definitely a nice way to finish.

I think today I had more opportunities and wasn't able to take advantage of them; whereas yesterday I putted really well.

So to finish off with a string of one-putts was nice, and hopefully that's a good way forward for the weekend.

Q. Last question, what do you have to do tomorrow to really put yourself in contention, take advantage of moving day, and especially it seems like your group is still at a little bit of a disadvantage because of that wind yesterday morning.

LYDIA KO: Yeah, it was like, oh, man I kind of wish somebody from the morning wave wins because like it was like really tricky. You know, there is still a lot of golf to be played. Obviously just because it is calmer doesn't mean like it was super easy out there. So just whatever wave you're in, if you're at the top of the leaderboard or around, it means you're playing really solid.

So I feel like I'm playing solid. It could be a little bit more tidier, but hopefully kind of bring that together and just enjoy to this weekend.

I haven't been at this course in I think five years, and it's a lot different to when I played it. So just trying to get used to it and just play smart and take advantage of the opportunities when I have them.