LOTTE CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY HOAKALEI

April 14, 2023

Siyun Liu

Hoakalei Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. All right, Swing Liu. I got to say, you have a fabulous smile, fabulous laugh. You were laughing so much talking about your front nine. How was your day today?

SIYUN LIU: It was -- well, if you look at my scoring it was a rollercoaster on the front and an emotional rollercoaster all day.

It ended up all right, but it was very mentally draining.

Q. I think you were probably talking about that stretch on the front nine where you went bogey, birdie, double, birdie. But you bounced back and still shot 2-under par today. What did you learn and how did you make your way through that?

SIYUN LIU: Well, so I feel like the double was more like a shot selection. I went for the longer club and then I hesitated and end up chunking it.

So I feel like I guess the takeaway for me is that if I like made a decision on the club, just go for it. Doesn't matter where it ends up. I'll just go there and hit the next shot. Like what's the worst thing going to happen? It's going to be over the green, just like a normal chip shot.

I just hesitated too much. But, yeah, on the other hand, with my putting I was very confident with my stroke so I was able to make some good birdie putts.

Yeah, I think that kind of explained the up and downs from today like front nine.

Q. You mentioned to me yesterday that you made the cut, that's the hard part. That's why you came. Now you are going to be more aggressive today. Did you have that mindset?

SIYUN LIU: Yes. I was very aggressive today. Too bad my ball striking wasn't as accurate, so I end up off the green a lot more than I wanted.

But like most of the time my chipping was pretty good so I got to like knock it close to the hole and make a par. Like the couple bogeys that I had, they were like really tough shots, so like I'm not like mad that I made those mistakes. Everybody makes mistakes, especially on like course condition like this.

I'll take that. As long as I can make birdies after it's all going to be fine. So, yeah.

Q. This course is in beautiful condition but it's tough, isn't it?

SIYUN LIU: Yeah.

Q. Where would you rank it as far as like what you've played on?

SIYUN LIU: In terms of difficulty?

Q. Yeah. I mean, it just looks like a difficult course. You guys are scoring well, but like you said, it's up and down, hard to get rhythm, right?

SIYUN LIU: Yeah, like I don't know if I can put a number on the ranking and stuff, but like, yeah, it is tough, because like I played on very windy courses but the fairways aren't as narrow.

For this course especially towards the finishing stretch, like the wind is picking up but then like you only have like a very small like landing area. For example, 16 today the pins is tucked in the back left corner. So, yes, there is a wider fairway on the left, but if you want a good angle you want to go to the right fairway.

But like for my -- at least my landing distance, I only have a ten-yard fairway if I want to stay on it. I hit a decent shot and still ended up in the rough and out ball sat down and it was hard to hit.

Just holes like that make this course a lot tougher, because once you're in the rough it's really hard to stop the balls on the green.

Q. I guess a course designed by Ernie Els would be challenging.

SIYUN LIU: Yes. I just learned that yesterday from LPGA post. I think it was Christina Kim who mentioned it. Yes, I 100% agree with her statement. A great course design by a modern architect, if I quoted correctly.

Yeah, I very much enjoy playing out here. The weather is beautiful. The course is in pure shape. Yeah, with the wind it's a big tester on like shaping shots and fighting against the wind and all that kind of stuff.

Q. You said you came here to prove you were ready for the next step. Playing alongside Nasa Hataoka, Lauren Hartlage, playing among these great names. How do you feel so far your game is holding up over these three rounds?

SIYUN LIU: I think I've been doing pretty well. Like surprisingly. Yeah, because like last year it's kind of embarrassing, but I couldn't even keep my Epson Tour card last year and I had to go back to Q-School to regain my status on the Epson Tour.

So I entered this year with zero confidence, but like couple weeks ago like I shot like a 7-under on the final round, and I feel like that really helped me like trust my skills again. Like I used to have like a big weakness in my short game but I think I fixed it.

So, yeah, like I feel a lot more confidence in my game now. Like playing with Nasa and Lauren, I can see they don't make the random mistakes I do like stuffing a 120 yard from the fairway into the water.

But like, yes, they are a lot more I guess like diligent on all of their shots versus for me, I feel like sometimes mine wanders places and that might lead to big trouble.

So that's going to be something I work on in the future.

Yeah, overall I feel like my game is in a good place. I'm also learning a lot from the big stars and hoping I can keep playing good tomorrow.