ISPS HANDA WOMEN'S SCOTTISH OPEN

August 15, 2024

Lydia Ko

Dundonald Links

Quick Quotes

Q. Very well-played out there. It was a long day for you and a challenging day for you, but nevertheless, 3-under par and going very well indeed. How do you reflect on it?

LYDIA KO: Yeah, I actually playing really solid. I think it was crucial to make a few up-and-downs, especially on my front nine because there weren't many greens that I hit I would say in the first few holes.

But luckily since the wind was so strong the two par 5s on the front nine were reachable and I could take advantage of that. But it was almost so hectic that I think I was having more like fun out there rather than getting so stressed.

But it's a challenge for everyone, not only the players, but the caddies and the rules officials and even the volunteers that are like out there with us. It was difficult but I'm glad that we kind of got a little bit of a lunch break and then when the wind calmed down, the front nine played a lot tougher because it was playing really long on the first nine holes.

Q. Playing Scotland, challenging yourself, it's not a straightforward, sunny day, nice golf course. It's all part of golf, isn't it?

LYDIA KO: Yeah, it's part of our job. We have to get acclimated to the weather, the type of golf course, the type of grass.

So we just -- I think it kind of depends who adjusts the best in a short amount of time and that's why I I feel like a lot of players opt to play The Scottish Open before the Women's Open. We have two weeks over here playing links-style golf courses, so all in all it's great preparation for next week, even though this is a different style of course to St Andrews.

Q. Esther is also 2-under and started very well. We asked her; did you keep your medal in the bag during the round, or is it somewhere safe?

LYDIA KO: Did she?

Q. She says no.

LYDIA KO: I know it wasn't there yesterday because Suzann asked me if it's in the bag. I was like, "No. Who travels with it?"

And she's like, "Well, Esther had it in her bag."

Maybe I should have it in my bag. It's in my backpack. It's not here, and I would probably not be a hundred percent sure on how waterproof or rustproof it is. I just don't know how that works. So yeah, it much safer indoors, I would say.

Q. How was this compared to what you've played in over here?

LYDIA KO: I've played in sunny but I've played in a bit of bad weather. I was trying to go through some of the worst British Opens I've ever played. Hoylake was really horrible in 2012. Even when we were at Troon just down the road here a few years ago, that was really bad, where I had to play with my hat backwards.

So yeah, I think when you come here, obviously like at the British Open last year, we had beautiful weather at Walton Heath. So we could potentially expect that but we could expect the weather that we had this morning and that's just part of the experience of coming over. If you don't like it, you're probably not going to play that good, anyway. So it's just more about just kind of grinding it out and know that sometimes you're not going to be on the fairer side of the draw. But that's also part of, you know, playing tournaments over in this part of the world.

Q. You mentioned getting off the course. How important was that in terms of your day?

LYDIA KO: I'm always hungry. So it was nice to have some lunch. The Beef was really good. But yeah, I'm hungry now.

Yeah, it was blowing -- I mean, if it's just windy, it's fine. But it was windy and rain. It's hard when you have to hold the umbrella sideways and not up. I'm pretty sure it was built for you to hold it like vertically.

So it's just very difficult out there. But yeah, I'm glad that we did get a bit of a break and now it's sunny and it looks like it has not even rained all day. Yeah, this is Scotland and you know, Paul, he's from Scotland and he said if we just had snow, we'd have all the best seasons.

Q. Scoring-wise, you must be delighted because it could have been a reaction, performance-wise. To come out and get the score you did, you must be delighted?

LYDIA KO: The first few holes are pretty tricky. I hit my first green on the fourth hole. I grinded it out and made a good couple pars on 11 and 12, my second and third hole. I knew there were some par 5s coming in and hopefully the weather improving throughout the day that I didn't have too much catching up to do.

I think that's the difficult thing about playing at the British or at the Scottish, these kind of courses that you could potentially be on the wrong side of the draw, as they say.

So it's trying to minimise the damage and just still give yourself opportunities. I think patience is probably the most important here than to many other events.

Q. I know you were just talking about your warm up, that you didn't hit any irons at all?

LYDIA KO: Well, no, I didn't hit any irons on the front nine when I was actually playing, apart from the two par 3s. I hit 3-wood into the green on my first hole. I think I looked at the rules official and said, I can't even reach the green.

Then yeah, so it was only the par 3s, and other than that, I reached both the par 5s in two pretty much. But other than that, it was a lot of hybrids and my 3-hybrid comes in and out of the bag, between that and my 5-wood, it was very useful today.