JM EAGLE LA CHAMPIONSHIP

April 24, 2024

Alison Lee

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: All right, here with Alison Lee, ahead of the JM Eagle LA Championship presented by Plastpro.

Alison, this event is obviously super close to home for you. I know you had a lot of the experience probably playing here when you were at UCLA. What is to like to be back and tee it up here at Wilshire Country Club?

ALISON LEE: Yeah, I love it any time I play here anywhere in Southern California, but especially here. I definitely feel at home. I went to elementary school just around the block from here and my grandma lives just around the block from here. I came here quite a bit in college, and thankfully I am going to have a lot of friends and family out this week.

It's always really cool they have them out, especially with how much we travel. I don't get to see them a ton and they don't get to watch me play a ton, so that really means a lot.

Yeah, really looking forward to the week. I performed well here the past couple years, so feel pretty good about my game. Hopefully I can shoot a low round the first couple days and put myself in a good spot for the weekend.

Q. Alison, obviously Nelly has been on quite the run. What's it been like watching her play over this stretch?

ALISON LEE: I mean, it's been really cool to see basically history being made. You know, I always say I feel like competition nowadays on the LPGA Tour compared to how was it 10, 15, 20 years ago, I feel like it's definitely more competitive now than it was before. You see a lot more talent. You see a lot more young girls playing golf. You just see a lot better golf out there.

For her to win that many times in a row -- even just to win once is tough out here, but to have that kind of streak at this day and age with golf being so difficult -- same with Scottie as well -- I think is really, really cool to see.

Q. I have a question about Megan since she is right here. Yesterday we had a little jersey swap competition. How cool is it to see your friend in her Lakers gear and actually watching the Lakers in the playoffs this year.

MEGAN KHANG: Lakers are 0-2. Had to add that in there.

ALISON LEE: It's great. Megan and I are really good friends. We like have to friendly competition every now and then. To see her in a Lakers jersey I know hurt her soul a little bit, so it made me feel pretty good. It's tough to do that.

MEGAN KHANG: They didn't show me. No offense, LeBron, but I was flopping out there but they didn't show that.

ALISON LEE: No offense to LeBron.

Q. Talk about something you just touched on. Your game is in a really good place. I know you won on the LET not so long ago and had a really good showing at the end of the year at CME. How nice is it to feel like your game is in a good place and get to come someplace where you're super familiar?

ALISON LEE: Good. I feel like -- I mean, not going to lie, I definitely feel like over the last couple of months with how I've been performing, I definitely feel like there is a bit more pressure to perform well because I've had a few weeks here and there where I've been really close to winning, a lot more than I have been doing in the past and a lot more frequently than before.

It was really, really disappointed in the last two weeks. I missed the cut last week at Chevron, which really hurt and didn't perform well at Shadow Creek, which is basically my new home now.

But, yeah, all that aside, I'm trying really hard to move on. Like I said, I do feel good about my game. Just trying really hard to hold onto how my game has been. Just need to be in a good strong mental place.

This place is great. I feel comfortable here. Like I said, I have performed well here in the past, so going to try and take all those positives into this week and try and do my best.

I feel like I do have a lot at stake. I want to make the Olympics, Solheim Cup team. I want to win out here. I feel like there are so many things I want to do this year, not so much over the next however many years of my career.

These next couple months feel really important to me. I feel like I'm never going to get -- it's very possible I'll never get a chance or opportunity again with playing as well as I am and trying to make the teams, the Olympics and Solheim Cup teams, and trying to win.

So I'm doing the best I can to just enjoy the moment and have a really good time over the next couple months, but also I have a lot of big goals and dreams for the next couple months. So it's just trying to find the right balance.

Q. Yeah. What are some of those techniques that you use for yourself to stay in the moment when you have such big goals ahead of you?

ALISON LEE: It's tough. I mean, I don't think I have anything specific working right now. Clearly I haven't found anything the last couple weeks.

But this week is nice. Came to LA a couple days early. To see my family. Going to see a few friends tonight, get dinner with them.

Just try and do everything I can to get away from the noise. There is a lot of noise, like I mentioned earlier, with everything I want to accomplish in the next couple months.

Yeah, just trying to do everything I can, just try and find a little bit of an escape, whether that's hanging out with friends, reading a book. I've really enjoyed reading a lot recently. I love my Kindle. I don't go anywhere without it. It's in my golf bag. I travel with it, and it's with me on the golf course as well. If I have a long wait on a hole I will pull it out and read a couple pages.

Yeah, just trying to do a couple things here and there to calm my mind and take me out of certain moments. Sometimes it can be a little bit overwhelming.

Q. What are you reading?

ALISON LEE: Right now, sorry, I just started this book so I forgot the name of it. I can pull it up on my Good Reads. If anyone wants to be friends with me on Good Reads. Before We Were Yours.

Q. So fiction then?

ALISON LEE: Yeah. I usually read fiction. I read a few memoirs. I just finished Elon Musk's -- that's not really a memoir. I finished his book by Isaac Walter I think. That was really good, too.

Yeah, I do enjoy fiction. I feel like if it's full on fiction, fantasy, for some reason, I don't know if there is a correlation or coincidence, but every time I'm in the middle of a fantasy series I play well that week.

I'm trying to save all those fantasy series for when I'm playing in competition and read those in the morning and at night.

So we'll see. Maybe I need to skip this book and read a fantasy starting tonight. That's been working.

Q. I love that. Last question from me. Your game is in a good place. What is it about your game that just feels really good for you?

ALISON LEE: I think a lot of it has to do with confidence and momentum. You know, I feel like my game has been in a good place, better place the last couple years. Something has just been able to click over the last six, seven months, making a few more putts here and there, feeling a little bit more confident and comfortable over the ball when I'm hitting approach shots, things like that.

So it's just small things here and there that really make a big difference if you look at the big picture.

So, yeah, I saw my coach. My swing coach was here yesterday. We worked on a few things. It does feel really good.

I don't mean to jinx anything or get too ahead of myself, but you truly never know until you tee it up and you play that first round of a tournament. You might feel great, -- like even last week I felt really, really good. I felt so prepared going into Thursday of Chevron and had a really bad round. Sometimes there is nothing you can do.

Thankfully I had a good second round last week, but wasn't enough to make the cut. Yeah, I'm just trying as best as I can to stay positive. Like I said, I know I can go out there and shoot a low round. I know I can win.

It's just a matter of manifesting it and seeing to happen and truly, truly trusting and believing it can happen.