MAYBANK CHAMPIONSHIP

October 26, 2023

Kelly Tan

Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club

Press Conference

Q. All right, hello everyone. Thank you for coming inside after the lightning. Here with Kelly Tan. Happy birthday by the way. How happy are you to be getting off the course now as the lightning threat starts and your first round at the Maybank Championship is under your belt?

KELLY TAN: Yeah, thanks for the wishes. Yeah, I was just telling Rose that I think our tee time will be the last tee time to get done, and she was like, oh, really? It looks pretty clear.

I just now how Malaysian rain is, and if it wants to come down hard it will literally be within a couple minutes.

But, yeah, you know, I was very nervous obviously today before I tee off, but I'm really glad that I was playing under and I managed to shoot minus one. I know that the few shots (indiscernible), but there are lots of birdie opportunities out there and I gave myself lots of good looks.

Struggled a little bit off the tee but I still managed to get myself around the golf course. I was proud of that.

Q. After today's round how will you be going into tomorrow or the next three days?

KELLY TAN: Yeah, just like I said, I think the first round will be my hardest, just getting off this first few holes and get the nerves out of the way.

I mean, my game plan is not going to change. I'm still going to keep playing aggressive. The course is playing so soft. They move up a couple tees, drivable 14 and stuff like that, so if the rain don't come down too hard I think the course will play the same as we did today.

You know, you can really go at pins and the greens aren't too fast yet, so you can also be pretty aggressive with your putts.

I'm just going to do those and post a score.

Q. How special does it feel that on your birthday in the first round of the return of the Maybank Championship, and if you want to share like how you're going to celebrate it.

KELLY TAN: Today think I'm just going to go out to dinner with my husband, just the two of us. We had friends from Canada that flew over here celebrate my birthday and my week, and my whole family is here and I got all my friends, all the members that I know at this course.

There is a lot of people around me this week that I feel very loved, and I'm very grateful that my birthday falls on today and I feel like the next few years will be around the same time.

So, yeah, it's special. I don't really get to celebrate my birthday too much at home because I've been playing on the road on the LPGA Tour. Now that Maybank Championship is on the schedule, and just because it falls on my birthday week I think that's very, very special.

I don't think we planned that, but I think I'm just lucky that I get to play at home my birthday week for the next hopefully few years.

Q. Happy birthday.

KELLY TAN: Thank you.

Q. Can you give us a snapshot of your round?

KELLY TAN: Like I said, I start off really nervous. Probably the nervous I've been in a long, long time. Didn't really sleep very well last night.

No, I'm just proud that I got through this today. Yeah, I actually played very well with what I brought on the course. I was struggling a little bit with my driver.

You know, even though I was in the rough on the first bunker I still managed to hit good shots and give myself looks on the greens. I birdied my, was it my third hole? Sorry, my fourth hole. I chipped in on the par-3 and birdied fifth; hit it tight.

And, you know, I think today's round really give me the confidence. Golf is not a perfect game. I definitely didn't play a perfect great game today. I play with Rose. She played a perfect game. I felt like our game is not that far off. She just made a few more putts than I did.

Yeah, I didn't make all the putts but I just feel like I'm not far off. I'm excited to go out the next few days and see where I can put myself and play more aggressive.

Q. Is there a game plan for the next three days?

KELLY TAN: Yeah, I think all week, I mean, the West Course rough is pretty long. I think if you keep hitting fairways and the greens, the greens are pretty sectioned and you can give yourself a lot of good looks.

The trickiest part about the green here is the grain. The grain is so strong here at the West Course that you really have to study the green really well before you read the slope. I thought I did that pretty well today.

My game plan is not going to change. Keep hitting fairways and keep hitting greens and really give myself the looks, and I can stay aggressive with the putts since the green is not too fast.

But even if I'm not on the fairway, I knew I've made a few like crazy pars today, so those I'm carrying.

Q. Would you consider 1-under par is a good round?

KELLY TAN: I would say, I mean, obviously it's not a great round if you were to look at the leaderboard. Obviously everybody is going pretty low, especially how the conditions playing soft and it's not too fast and it's not firm.

But I mean, under-par round is an under-par round and I'm going to choose to look at the positive. I know there is a lot of birdie chances out there, so those are encouraging moments for me.

Q. What I notice is that in quite a few of your tournaments you actually start quite well; you shoot under par. For some reason, when you progress through the tournament it's like you kind of lose your way or something. So what I wanted to ask, can you share with us your thoughts on that or maybe even tell us why that happens?

KELLY TAN: Yeah, I think I'm a human, not a robot. Obviously this year hasn't been great and there are some setbacks. I'm just working on myself. Obviously golf is not -- I mean, not posting the score I wanted, but I also know I'm working towards the right thing to build myself up.

If this is a bad year, I'm still playing on the LPGA Tour at the end of the day. I feel like I'm not going to focus on the negative so I'm not going to really answer your question. I'm just giving you my own self-thought.

Just reflecting on my year, I know I've gone through a few setbacks and I know I'm a fighter, and no matter what I'm going to fight this. If this is something that I'm struggling with or whatever it is, obviously it's coming down to the mental game and I am addressing that.

I'm going to work hard and I know I'm going to come out on top.

Q. So for you, with this kind of weather, do you like it, you don't like it? You can handle it? Also, good luck for tomorrow.

KELLY TAN: Well, I'm a Malaysian. I feel like my blood is used to this. As much as it is hot, I got the umbrella, yeah, I don't mind this. Do I love it? Not really. I'm sweating, constantly cleaning up myself on the golf course.

But everybody is playing in this condition, so I feel like it's a level playing field. And, yeah, I grew up in this weather. I love Malaysia, playing at home, so I'm going to chose to look at that.

Q. Kelly, did you set yourself any personal target in terms of your game or anything in particular?

KELLY TAN: No, I didn't really -- obviously the main goal is to win the golf tournament, but there is not a specific number I'm telling myself. This is a confidence boosting week for me and I want to be able to walk away Sunday telling myself I've done everything I could.

If that puts me winning the golf tournament, 1oth, 20th, 30th, the position it's not really what I'm focusing on. I want to be able to walk away telling myself I've done it all and I'm happy with my week and I want to really embrace -- I've had so many people around me this week, so I really want to really embrace the people around me, the Malaysian fans I don't get to play in front of every week.

That's more my main goal.