CME GROUP TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP

November 16, 2023

Minjee Lee

Tiburon Golf Club

Flash Interview

Q. Back with Minjee Lee again. Welcome back to the media center here at the CME Group Tour Championship.

Really good first round for you. I want to start at the end with that really awesome putt here on 18. Take me through it.

MINJEE LEE: Yeah, actually I hit two kind of average shots into the hole. Probably picked the wrong club on the last, but went a little long and that putt, I think it was just a bonus that it went in.

It was kind of two different breaks obviously before it got to the green and to the hole, so it was nice to see it go in.

Q. Looked from our angle the sprinkler head might have been in the way. Did it look that way for you?

MINJEE LEE: No, where it was in the beginning it was in the way, and then I just moved it a little left so it was not in the way.

Q. Okay. You got a drop. Lots of birdies there out in your round. Was the course playing differently than you expected after all that rain yesterday?

MINJEE LEE: I think the pin placements today, there were a few that were quite gettable.

I think I just tried to take advantage of the easier pin positions that we had, and obviously with a lot of the rain that we had yesterday some of the tees were up, so he had a couple shorter clubs into the holes.

Yeah, I mean, the first few holes, obviously they're tough I think. They play a little bit longer with the wind.

I think coming into the first par-5 you can kind of get your round going from there, so I think from there, I made a few birdies and then on the back nine I could capitalize on quite a few of my putts.

Q. You hit a lot of fairways today. I think 13 out of 14. The fairways, were they pretty soft? Did that help your round, being able to keep it in the fairways?

MINJEE LEE: We did play it up, but I was picking up quite a lot the mud, so I was getting maybe not even a yard of roll. It was all carry. Happy that a few tees were up otherwise would've played quite long.

Other than that, I think the wind was like just a good amount of wind to just be on your radar. Yeah, I just putted pretty solid today, so, yeah?

Q. How important was it to keep bogeys off the card? I know you went bogey-free today. Was that a really big challenge? Did you find yourself surprised that you had no bogeys?

MINJEE LEE: I mean, I hit a lot of good shots in today. Obviously giving myself a lot of birdie opportunities so I didn't have too many putts that I had to save for par, which is always nice. A bogey-free card is always nice.

Hopefully I can get it going, get it bogey-free for the resist of the week.

Q. Last question: Obviously lots going on this week with the season-ending event. Purse increase announcements, schedule announcements. How much do you like being a part of this season when the season is coming to a head and you get to compete among all of the good news for next year?

MINJEE LEE: Yeah, I feel like Terry surprises us every year with something new and more amazing, so always grateful for purse increases and guys like Terry and partners like Terry who step up to elevate our game and the LPGA Tour.

Really, really appreciative. I think it's always nice because it is the season ender and we always get to see the schedule for next year and kind of, you know, I'm thinking about which events I want to play next year and things like that.

The year coming to an end, I think it's always nice to finish here.