BMW LADIES CHAMPIONSHIP

October 19, 2023

Alison Lee

LPGA International Busan

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Welcome inside the Media Center here at the BMW LPGA Championship. I'm here with Alison Lee. I will start it off with a few questions, and then I will open it up to the group.

All right, Alison, a phenomenal first day here at the BMW LPGA Championship. What was the mindset and the game plan of attacking this course?

ALISON LEE: For me personally, I feel like my game is in a really good place. I'm striking the ball really well. I feel really good about my swing. Just something that's been lacking over the last year has been the putting.

And so today I was just making the putts I wanted to make. And it was a lot of fun for me out there, being able to shoot 9-under. I think that's tying my record for lowest round out here in tournament play on Tour. So I'm really happy with that.

THE MODERATOR: Five birdies in your first nine holes. You talk a little bit about improving on the putting. What were those putts looking like going in?

ALISON LEE: I would say honestly overall I hit the ball really well. I gave myself a lot of putts inside 15 feet and was able to make almost all of them.

I may have one putt that was a little longer, like 25, 30 feet. But other than that, I gave myself a lot of good birdie opportunities today.

THE MODERATOR: And then to have four birdies in your last six holes, what was working well during that stretch to be able to close out the round that strong?

ALISON LEE: I just felt like I got in really the groove. It's just one of those days I just felt very confident on the course. The ball was going where I was aiming, I was hitting the numbers I wanted to. I was reading the greens well, which I haven't been able to do all year.

So it was a lot of fun. It almost makes me want to not stop the round and just start on the second round right now because that's just how good I feel, no matter how tired I am. It's just one of those days where everything just kind of falls into place.

THE MODERATOR: All right. We will open it up to questions in the room.

Q. Last year when you came to the tournament, you score the first day of under par-4 and also 68 score and you finish with top 10. I think that you show very good results during your play in Korea. Is there any reason behind that you have very excellent performance?

ALISON LEE: Yeah, that's a good question. I always feel good when I come over here. I almost had my first win in Korea back when we played at Sky 72. Yeah, I got a top 10 last year. I don't know. It just seems to be like around this time of year I feel like my game starts to come into place and fall into place. And my swing feels good.

Like I said, the key today for me was my putting. But, yeah, I really like playing over here. I came to Korea a lot when I was younger. Both my parents were born in Korea. So it's nice to come here, eat kimchi every day, be able to have a lot of good food and a lot of good memories.

Q. I know you have experience playing at Sky 72 golf course, and Seowon Hills is actually the first to be held for the LPGA Tour. So I just wanted to ask a question about the course in general, what kind of strategies did you have in mind to attack this course and also what kind of scores do you think you need to get to win this tournament?

ALISON LEE: Yeah, it's a very scorable course, as you can see on the leaderboard. Very easy to make a lot of birdies. The greens are rolling very nicely. So also the greens are very big. The biggest greens I've ever played in my entire career.

It definitely is going to play very differently day to day, depending on where the pin is. I mean, there were a few holes today where I hit driver or wedge, but if the pin is in back tomorrow, it could be driver, 7-iron. So it's going to play very differently day to day.

Other than that, with the rain that came in this morning, the greens are a little bit softened up. So you can be a little bit more aggressive with your approach shots. So, yeah, I mean, usually when the greens are pretty soft, you can hit it close and make a lot of birdies.

With how big these greens are, the key is to try and get it as close to the pin as possible. It's really tough out here if you have -- if you're on the other side of the green and try and putt, and you can very easily have a three-putt here.

So I think that's the key, being able to hit your approach shots in the right spot and putt well.

Q. Your score, you carded very well today. But what was your expectation if let's say it didn't rain and the green was not solid, how many scores you think you have saved more?

ALISON LEE: Yeah, I mean, it would definitely make the course a little more difficult if the greens were firm. A lot more to think about, especially with where the pins are.

A day like today if it's 130 to the pin, you can just play it 130. If it's really firm, you kind of have to communicate with your caddie a little bit and have a little bit of a game plan of where you want to land it and try and use the slopes on the green to get it as close to them as possible.

So, I mean, it's so hard to say a score or a number. But, yeah, I personally don't think -- if they firm up by Sunday, I don't think they will be as low.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Alison.