JM EAGLE LA CHAMPIONSHIP

April 26, 2024

Auston Kim

Quick Quotes

Q. All right, here with Auston Kim after her second round at the JM Eagle LA Championship.

Something very exciting happened. Can you take us through your hole-in-one today.

AUSTON KIM: Yeah, it was my first ever hole-in-one. Very cool that I can finally say I have a hole-in-one now.

Yeah, I was trying to hit about a 128 shot into 18 green and just landed perfectly up front. Bounces a couple times, rolled, and went in. It was awesome. It was really cool.

Q. When you first hit your shot, I know it hit the fringe. Did you think it was maybe a miss-hit? Did you think that it was perfect?

AUSTON KIM: I was trying to aim, have it come in, hit a fade from the left edge of the green. I basically did what I wanted to do. It didn't feel like the greatest shot but still worked out. It was good enough.

Q. I'm going to ask about the big hug celebration with Sarah. Was that just like spontaneous?

AUSTON KIM: Yeah, it was spontaneous, and then the next hole she was like, oh, you're coming in a little hot there. I was really excited. I'm really thankful that I could celebrate that shot with her. It was very cool.

Q. How fun that it happened here on 18. Big crowd it seemed. We heard the roar. What was the environment like?

AUSTON KIM: Very cool. Again, everything, so many people watching and I love playing in front of crowds. Of course there are nerves involved, but it's always fun to embrace the moment. Just tried to hit the best possible shot I could. It was a really awesome moment and I'll never forget it.

Q. Even on the day; can you wrap your round for us? I know that was probably the best moment.

AUSTON KIM: Yeah.

Q. Other than that, what were some of the highs and lows?

AUSTON KIM: Yeah, had a water ball on 17. Hit a poor shot. Was a bit unfortunate. Saved a really long putt there and made bogey. Was happy about that.

Then obviously made the ace on 18. That made up for it.

Made a couple bogeys in my second nine, but drained a really good putt on 7 after hitting a pretty good tee shot and just barely missed on 8 and 9.

Putting could have been a little bit better today, but definitely made a few good putts today. Overall pretty happy.

Q. Saved yourself some putts, so that's good, too.

AUSTON KIM: Yeah.

Q. Just generally, how has your rookie season gone and what are some of the biggest things you've learned so far?

AUSTON KIM: Yeah, it's definitely been a big adjustment. I know I've been doing a lot of things pretty well. I've also been doing some things not so well, and being able to learn from that every single week, and the Chevron Ron last week was a really good test with that. Pretty proud of how I played there.

Every single day, every single week I'm just trying to do the right things with discipline and know I'm putting in the hard work. Every single day if I show up and try my best and let things happen, I'll be fine.

Q. What's the big difference in the Epson Tour and the LPGA Tour? You mention the big adjustment.

AUSTON KIM: Yeah, there is more pressure. The stage a bigger. More rounds, more competition.

I'm pretty sure that the Epson Tour really helped me prepare for these moments. There are nerves, but I'm really learning to embrace every single moment and I'm just having fun with it every single day.

Q. We have a list of hobbies including movies and books. What are you reading right now?

AUSTON KIM: Yeah, so I start reading for fun again after college. That was kind of tough. My senior year burned me out a little bit.

Right now I'm reading the Tiger by John Vaillant and it's really, really good. Very interesting. So that's keeping me going when I have some down time.

Q. Fiction, non-fiction?

AUSTON KIM: Fiction.

(Watched video of ace.)

Q. Seemed like you or Sarah didn't know who was going to jump.

AUSTON KIM: Sarah was like, you were coming in really hot there. I could see her kind of bracing. Yeah, I was just really excited. I was ready to jump on top of her, too, but I kind of held back there. Thankfully I caught myself last moment.

Fastscripts by ASAP Sports...