FORD CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY KCC

March 29, 2024

Lydia Ko

Seville Golf and Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. All right, here with Lydia Ko. A 64 for you today on a day we're seeing a lot of bogey-free rounds. What was day two like for you?

LYDIA KO: Yeah, yesterday was a little frustrating. I didn't have my A-game but I thought was playing better than I scored. Obviously to finish off with a birdie on the last yesterday I think made dinner taste a little better.

You know, normally any other golf course you shoot 69 and you're like oh, that was a good round. Hopefully can keep building on that. When you're seeing 8- and 9-under and you're 3-under and you're on the cut line, it's I think a very unique mindset that you have to come in.

But to be honest, I don't think the golf course is like that easy where like there is 9-, 8-under like coming from everywhere. I putted a little bit better today and never put myself in that many awkward positions, and I think that's what you got to do around this golf course.

Q. Five birdies in your back nine coming down that closing stretch. What is it about the back nine holes?

LYDIA KO: I just holed a couple more medium length putts. The longest putt I holed yesterday was a 12-footer max on the last hole. So it was nice it hole a few more medium ones.

Nelly and Celine have been putting really well, so I was hoping my putts would also fall. To be able to see them go in was a bit of a confidence booster.

The greens are really pure. If you got a good read and you've got a good gauge of how the grain is, you've got good chances of making birdies. It seems like there is a lot out there.

Q. One from me is the fact that you're playing with Celine, playing with Nelly, and the fact that all of you had some great days today, are you one to feed off that momentum or are you still in kind of in your own process and your own shot?

LYDIA KO: I think there was quite a few holes where maybe two out of three players made birdie, or even on the par-5, 5th, Nelly made eagle and I made a birdie and Celine made birdie.

It's nice when you're all playing well, everybody is going the same pace of everything, you're seeing a lot of birdies.

So I don't think it's a huge factor but it is a good momentum for the whole group.

Q. I'm curious about the Olympics. Where do you rank that on your wish list of things for the year?

LYDIA KO: It's pretty important for me. I think every Olympic year has been the one where I'm hoping to be peaking in August. I played Rio as the No. 1 ranked player and I played Tokyo where I hadn't won for a couple years, so I wasn't going in there with a lot of expectations and I was able to medal in both games.

I'm hoping I'll be able to give myself a good chance and be one of those standing on the podium at the end of the week. But it's just a treat to be able to even compete in the Olympics. I think in the last two we've had COVID and Zika, so I think it's been a little bit unique and not the most ideal situation.

So hopefully -- knock on wood -- that there is going to be nothing. And I think Paris is going to be great. We play in Europe between July to August anyway, so I think it's just going to be a great stretch for us. I'm not really sure if I'm going to be playing in like five plus years, so this could potentially be my last Olympics. I'm just -- I want to enjoy this last one potentially.

Q. There is talk of a mixed event and that would probably be the next time and you just said you may not still be playing. The concept of mixed golf, there is more interest in it, on the Olympic level, what do you think that can do the game?

LYDIA KO: Yeah, I don't fit into that many categories of being in team format. Don't get into International Crown, don't get into Solheim, so I love that I got to team up with Jason Day at Grant Thornton last year. That was so much fun.

I haven't had many chances to be able to watch the men. To be inside the ropes and see them play and hit shots maybe differently or similar to how I would hit a similar shot, I thought that was really cool.

I think it's just great to be more cohesive, and that's what we're all striving for. We're just trying to grow the game of golf and the sport itself. I think that is the very exciting thing, and maybe if I am still playing during that time, like I would love to be teamed up with a fellow Kiwi.