CME GROUP TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP

November 24, 2024

Lydia Ko

Tiburon Golf Club

Quick Quotes

Q. All right, here with Lydia after the final round of the CME Group Tour Championship. What a run today. I men, just incredible golf. Talk through today's round for you.

LYDIA KO: Yeah, I played solid all week. Yesterday was kind of the first day where I had a lot of mid-range putts go in. I think I lost a bit of confidence after the second day.

It was actually one of the worst putting rounds I've had in a really long time. I think yesterday was kind of a reboot, especially on the back nine, to say, hey, you know what? Don't make a big deal out of it.

I wanted to shoot a final low score. Didn't know if I was going to be able to win, but to be able to finish this tournament on a high and this tournament because of CME and Terry, it's a very special place for me in my whole career.

It's always nice to come back to a place where I have a lot of good memories and I've made some even better memories today with that final round.

Q. And coming down the stretch as well, were you aware where you were at coming in, and did you get any confidence from having such a great performance here before?

LYDIA KO: I think I've shot a really low score before here I think a few years ago. I knew that was in the bag. It's definitely deep down in the bag.

But, what the wind being down, I knew the scores were going to be a little bit more gettable than the other days, so I just wanted to keep giving myself a lot of birdie opportunities. I missed a couple five-, six-footers for birdie and if you think, okay, what if all of those fell maybe I could have had a better chance.

Still shooting 63 on any occasion, I'm very grateful for it. Especially on the final round it makes it extra special.

Q. You're headed down here soon for the Grant Thornton Invitational in a couple weeks. You think Jason will appreciate your yardage book after a round like today?

LYDIA KO: To be honest, like he was the ace in the group last year. Especially on the final day I felt very useless because I was just making pars and then sometimes I would make mistakes.

But he was the one that was making birdies and good par putts. I was like, okay, I'll turn up at one point. That was on 17 hitting that good shot in there.

We made such great memories. Coming into the week I had never met Jason. We were starting from a blank page. I feel like just through the event I was able to have this amazing friendship that I'll take forever.

I saw him at the Olympics, at the Genesis Invitational as well. It's just been like awesome because he's someone I've always seen on TV for a really long time. To think he's my partner, I think I was able to play with more freedom which is obviously a little different situation here.

I'm excited and I'm excited to learn from him and just be alongside him and just get his good energy.

Q. To cap it off, it's been a year for you. To shoot a 63 to put an exclamation point on the season, what does that mean to you?

LYDIA KO: It's honestly been crazy. The things that I could have only asked for all came true. Even just winning the first tournament of the year after having one of my worst seasons last year.

So actually winning Grant Thornton at the end was a bit of a confidence booster even though I still had a month until Tournament of Champions.

It's been unbelievable. There were points where I was struggling with my game during the middle of the season, but then at the right place at the right time I was able to bring it back at the Canadian Open and then go on from there.

Just to be able to finish on a high this week, but this summer and pretty much from August it's been crazy. I was joking that I should change my birthday to August 2024. Might be the oldest one year old out there.

It's just I think no matter what and no matter what's ahead of me, 2024 is going to be a special one. Going to be a year that I'm going to always look back on and know that I can't take in moment for granted.

Q. I know obviously we're not super far from 2025, but everyone wants to take a break. How do you rest and reset for another year and set your goals having accomplished pretty much all of them in like three months?

LYDIA KO: I'm excited to have a week off and then get some practice in so that I'm not rusty for Jason in a couple weeks.

But, no, that's the thing, right? Nelly has had an unbelievable year and I've had a great year and so many other players had a great year. When the season starts it's a new one and you have that break and you're not sure what it's going to be like.

I feel like my game is moving in the right direction and I have more clarity on what I need to work on and what works well. I think that's what I'm going to stick to.

I have full belief in my coaching staff and trainers and everybody around me. I think thanks to them I was able to have a lot of these moments that now looking back are some of the highlights of my career.

We're just going to work on the same things and sometime the same things may seem boring but I think it's like the recipe to knowing what's good.

I feel like I have a better idea of that, so I'm excited to be able to work hard this off-season and have another great 2025.