KPMG WOMEN'S PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

June 22, 2023

Xiyu Lin

Baltusrol Golf Club

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We are joined now by Xiyu Lin, bogey-free round, four birdies. What was working for you today?

XIYU LIN: My patience. I think it wasn't -- well, bogey-free is phenomenal but I don't think it comes from I hit every shot great and I putt every ball great. I definitely have to save lots of good pars and some hard tee shots, some shots from the bunkers, some shots from the rough. I'm very glad I deal with this whole thing with lots of patience and do it pretty smart.

I think this is -- like to me, bogey-free, I never really imagined I can do that in a major, so that's pretty good.

Q. Do you feel your strength is back? You talked a little bit last week about your time in Orlando.

XIYU LIN: I think so. I think it's not very hot, and like last couple of days, I've still been taking it easy. I played the pro-am and just putt on Monday and yesterday I played like four holes and did some chipping and putting mostly. Then that was it.

I feel like I'm giving myself enough time and slowly getting back to it.

Q. What's it like for you to look at that leaderboard and you see two players from China, a good friend of yours, too, on top of the board at a major championship?

XIYU LIN: It's pretty cool. I hope to see that more often. I know Ruoning is going to do well. She's a good iron player, and I feel like last week she took a week off, so she must be working on something. She's also very passionate, and she's a lot younger, more aggressive, so I learned a lot from her on that part.

I guess it's the first time, but it's always a good thing, yeah.

Q. You've been playing well the last two seasons consistently. What's been the key to your longevity as far as this solid stretch of golf is concerned?

XIYU LIN: I compliment myself a lot more than before. I feel like I get to a point that I know what's going to happen. I'm experienced enough. I'm still going to miss a cut here and there, still going to feel hurt, still going to feel bad from a bad round, but I'm old enough to be able to deal with them. I feel like I work hard and I balance my life. I feel I enjoy what I'm doing right now, just not playing tournaments, playing golf, but also being a golfer, living in the States, playing on this tour. Like this is -- I really enjoy doing this right now. So I feel like maybe that's the reason I've been playing better.

Q. Ruoning is someone that's been right off the green waiting for you in LA, and last year in Texas she was the first person to come over and hug you after a disappointment. What has that friendship meant to you and how great is it to see her playing well alongside you?

XIYU LIN: I met her in 2019 in Buick, and that was the first time, and then we played the China Open together, and now I kind of start to know her a little better, and I always know she's a very talented player and she's going to make it on the LPGA one day. I was always like kind of looking forward to it.

I mean, yes, I think to her, I have a little bit different -- little more emotional for what she has done because I've just been watching her. It's also a good feeling when you make a good guess. Like she's going to be on Tour, and now she's doing pretty good on Tour.

She's a lot younger than me, but she's very mature. It's good to have buddies on Tour, and especially from your home country.

Q. It seems like you've come to some good places mentally in terms of your perspective. Do you work with a mental coach, or have you just kind of come to these realizations of being kinder to yourself on your own?

XIYU LIN: I don't have a sports psychologist, but I do talk to one of my friends that -- he's not a sports psychologist, but he helps me a lot with how I see things and more like how I'm living my life.

Also my swing coach, Tony, I think if he's not a swing coach, he can make pretty good money as a mental coach, too.

It's nice when you can work on your swing with someone you trust a lot and you're so close with. He's always there for me no matter what happens, so that's a good feeling.

Q. Do you guys practice together in Orlando?

XIYU LIN: Tony and I?

Q. No, you and Ruoning.

XIYU LIN: Not really because we play at different courses. We probably play together once every couple weeks when we're both there. We kind of have a different schedule. Well, she lives in my house. She rented my old house. Unfortunately we've been dealing with some draining problems, so when I see her, I always feel so sorry, not with the golf but it's like the toilet is clogged or something.

We finally fixed it like three weeks ago, which is great, so now we don't have any problems. But yeah, we live like 20 minutes from each other. She will come to my house when I need her to do something, and obviously I have the key -- we kind of just go have dinner. We will meet every once in a while, yeah.

Q. So you're her landlord technically?

XIYU LIN: Yeah, I know. After she win, I'm like, I need to raise the rent. It was way too low for you now. (Laughter.)

Q. This course compared to many other courses that you play week in and week out and throughout your career, how much more difficult was the course out there today?

XIYU LIN: It was hard. I feel like because my second hole, I saved a really good par because I hit a poor approach shot, a little heavy. My ball was just at the front edge of the green. That putt breaks a good four yards to the left, and I never really seen that before.

Luckily I made the par putt coming up, but then I kind of remind myself, it's going to happen a lot today, you just need to stay patient. You might miss a couple of them, but you just need to keep the confidence on your putter. I'm glad I didn't miss any today.

Q. Ruoning said you've been like a mentor to her. Can you describe how you've seen her grow and evolve over the years?

XIYU LIN: I don't think I'm really a mentor because I also learn from her. But yeah, maybe I guess I have a little bit more experience how to play on Tour. I did help her a little bit with like flights, hotels and stuff.

I just remember when I met her back in '19, she wasn't even 18 years old, and she came up and asked me what would be the proper way to get on the LPGA. At that time I was like, wow, like this kid, she really wants something.

There's not many like 16, 17 year olds that are planning that far ahead. That's actually how we started talking.

Then the more I talked to her, the more I feel like she's definitely way more mature than her age, and she has very clear goals, and she's very aggressive. She's not scared of anything.

I think it's good to see -- I'm not old, but it's good to see younger people doing that and kind of inspire myself a little bit to kind of push myself a little harder or be a little more aggressive times.

Q. Will you talk to her tonight about the round, about you two being atop the leaderboard?

XIYU LIN: Maybe not. She's a little shy. I don't know if you guys see that. I think she's a little shy.

It's only the first day. There's still three rounds of the tournament to go. Like every week we're playing, we're trying to win, so there's still a long way to go.

I think today is a good day. We set a good start. But there's still plenty of hard work to do, so we're just going to get some rest and come out bright and early tomorrow.

Q. Those of us who have been watching you for years have always thought you were patient. Can you walk us through how your patience has improved over the last few years?

XIYU LIN: I think the patience playing the majors is a little bit different because the courses are normally way harder. I've been working on just accepting the mistakes I make. I would say on a regular day in a regular tournament, you can easily have a bogey-free round. You can easily have a round that you're kind of on fire and do everything right.

But here, no matter how hard you do it, you're going to -- even if you hit a good shot, it's going to still end up probably 60, 70 feet from the hole. I've been trying to work on those.

Also, when there's some -- like just not always go for the pin and for the middle of the green. I hit 14 greens today, which is pretty good. But I did have lots of long putts.

I feel like majors just play a little different than other tournaments, which requires lots of patience, and if you are -- like you have lots of long putts, and maybe one of the days you're off with one or two three-putts and you still have to trust the process. You still can't be too aggressive on some of the shots. I think that's the hard part.

Q. The house that you rent her, is that a house in the States or is that a house in China?

XIYU LIN: It's in Orlando. That's where we live.

Q. You've been so close to winning; are you sitting there going, maybe it'll come?

XIYU LIN: Yeah. I've been thinking about it. I feel like throughout the journey, the second, the third I finish, I felt I always had a pretty strong Sunday. I'm proud of what I've done, and I feel like every Sunday I gave all I have.

I've already done the best I can do, and it just hasn't come. I think we just wait, and hopefully one day soon it will come.

Q. When did you first come to the U.S.?

XIYU LIN: I joined the Tour in 2014, but the first time I came was the summer of 2011.

Q. Did you speak any English then?

XIYU LIN: I did. We learned English at school. When I was in the national team, our coach, he's from New Zealand, but he speaks really good Chinese. So he helped me a lot with my English.

Q. Who's your coach here, Tony?

XIYU LIN: Ziegler. He's in Orlando.

Q. What was your best birdie today?

XIYU LIN: I think the birdie on -- is that 14? 13. 13 was the best. I hit a poor drive and I thought it was in the water, in the creek. But I think it clipped the tree, whatever, but it stayed two yards short of the creek in the rough, and then I made a good decision on what club I'm using, hit an 8-iron chippy to get it on the green, and I have like a 13-yard putt or something, and I made that one. That was pretty sweet.

Q. How far do you think the putt was at 2 to save par?

XIYU LIN: Oh, like a 10-footer.