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ADT CHAMPIONSHIP

November 15, 2007

Christina Kim

WEST PALM BEACH, FLORIDA

DANA GROSS-RHODE: Christina, you had a great round today, no bogeys and one eagle on 15, so you kind of put yourself in a great position to be here on the weekend.
CHRISTINA KIM: Absolutely. I'm just really excited to be here, to have even made it and be one of the top 32 in the field in and of itself is a pretty awesome feat, and I'm pretty proud of myself for even getting here. It's always nice to be interviewed because I know it normally means it's been a good day. So I'm just thrilled to be here.

Q. Given the nature of the event and how scores eventually get wiped out, is just playing well more important even than your score?
CHRISTINA KIM: You know, to be honest with you, my strategy from the beginning of the week was just try and beat 16 people for the first two days and try and beat eight people on the third day, and then whatever happens on Sunday, happens on Sunday. Right now I'm sitting in a pretty good position, but I -- in all honesty, it doesn't necessarily mean a whole lot when it comes down to the million dollars.
If nothing more, it's just giving me the chance to get a whiff of it just because I'm not DFL (laughter) and, you know, not in 32nd position and not having to scrap your way up into the top 16. I'm at least in a place where there's a little bit of a comfort in knowing that I -- I don't know, I'm just happy to be here.

Q. Can we go over your scorecard real quick?
CHRISTINA KIM: Sure, started off with a birdie on the 1st hole. I was 148 yards to the flag, hit an 8-iron to about 25 feet and made the putt.
No. 4, I was 130 yards, put it to about four and a half to five feet, made the putt, used a 9-iron.
No. 12, par-5, I was 103 to the flag, and I spun a 52-degree to about 12 feet, made the putt.
Then on 15, I was 236 to the flag, hit a 3-wood to about 25 feet past the flag, and thankfully the cup was there.

Q. The weather tomorrow is supposed to be a lot more difficult, maybe 25, 30 mile-an-hour winds, cooler. Is that going to change the way you approach things? Will you be more conservative tomorrow, or are you not able to be conservative at a place like this?
CHRISTINA KIM: Well, that's the first I've heard with the wind, so thank you. I'm recalculating that right about now. I just heard it was going to be a little bit cooler. Boy, I'm glad I played well today then.
This is one of those courses that -- I like to call it very Trump-esque, where it's very -- I mean, it's hard to describe. It's very ornate and this and that, but it's one of those things where you've got to have balls and be aggressive to get what you want. To me that's very Trump-esque. That's the type of golf I like to play.
So tomorrow I'm just going to sit there and look at what 17th, 18th, whatever is not in is at, and say, okay, that's where I'm sitting at today. I need to get it to like 2-under or 3-under for the tournament, you know what I mean? Instead of being 5-over and saying I'm 2-over and I have to get it to 3-under, so I have to make a lot of birdies tomorrow, as well, just so that I can try and make my way through.

Q. Do you actually think about the million-dollar prize, or is it something you try not to think about?
CHRISTINA KIM: Well, this is my first taste at it. I wasn't able to play last year. So yeah, it's definitely in your mind. I probably thought about it for 13 holes or so, which is why I made par. No, I just -- it's always in your mind. You always sit there, like, all right, especially if you're waiting on the group in front of you, you're like, boy, I could buy three Rolls Royces or something like that, just something to help pass the time. You think about it, but it's just like anyone else sitting there, like winning the lottery. My odds are better because there's only 32 players, but the odds are sort of slim. Whatever happens, happens.

Q. Just a quick follow-up, last year they actually -- I don't know if it really was a million dollars, but they put a million dollars in a glass case on the green. Did you see it?
CHRISTINA KIM: I did see it, yes. Not this year, but I did see it on TV last year. It's funny, I actually had a dream about that, but I'm not going to delve into that right now because it's not Sunday.

Q. Perverted?
CHRISTINA KIM: No, it was actually really cool, but I'm not going to delve into it just because -- it's too early. It's not Sunday. I'll tell you on Sunday. I'll probably tell you in January when I'm like 6'2" with blonde hair and a size 4. You'll figure out how I spent the million dollars.

Q. Back to the Trump-esque nature of the golf course, when you said you have to have balls, you were not referring to a lot of golf balls I take it?
CHRISTINA KIM: Hopefully -- no, you've got to have enough golf balls just to make sure you can make it through your round, but no, you have to have guts and cojones, or whatever you want to call it. You have to be an aggressive person. It just was a term -- you don't actually have to have balls. You just have to be an aggressive person.

Q. Could you tell us what the ballsiest thing you did today on the golf course was and maybe at any time this year or ever?
CHRISTINA KIM: I don't know, just -- you know, a lot of these pins are like anywhere from four to six paces from either side of the green, and a lot of times you'll get -- like Pat Bradley, she was always center of the green, and she was like the greatest lag putter in the history of golf. You know, her birdie putts would be 30, 35 feet long, whatever.
But it's one of those things where you've got four paces to work with on the right side, the best putt comes from short right so you've got to aim right edge of the green and try to draw it two yards to get it in. That's why I meant by ballsy. I didn't do anything ballsy today. I did a couple things by accident that ended up really close.
All right, he just put me on the spot. I don't have balls (laughter). I made a couple mistakes out there. Thanks a lot.

Q. You're your own person, you're different from the other players out there --
CHRISTINA KIM: Thank you.

Q. Have you thought about -- and fans are drawn to you, they like watching you play. Have you thought about what winning this tournament over the other tournaments would do as far as breaking you out from the crowd when it comes to marketing and other things that an athlete hopes to get accomplished in her career?
CHRISTINA KIM: Yeah, that's kind of business, corporate-like, sort of higher level of thinking right now. I'm just focusing solely on chasing that little white ball and sticking it in the hole. That will come when the time comes. After the Solheim Cup in '05 I did some things with marketing and this and that, and then not for the last two years or so. I don't know, I just -- yeah, I'm focused more on just the aspect of golf and what I would do with a million dollars right now is probably more accurate to say.

Q. You've had a couple of close calls this year as far as winning a tournament, been right there, in the hunt, and I know you're disappointed that you didn't make the Solheim Cup team. How would you assess the season as a whole, and how much would a win here change all that?
CHRISTINA KIM: You know, to be honest with you, it says I'm 23rd on the Money List, but I don't feel like I was anywhere near my full potential as to where I should be. And like you said, I have come close a couple times to winning some tournaments. It happens, and I'd like to think I'm sort of one of those people -- both of my wins in my career have come toward the later half of the season, be it the last full field event, the Long's Drugs Challenge in 2004, or Tournament of Champions in '05.
I'd like to think that I just sit there and I stew and I wait until everyone is dead tired, then I make like one last surge. But this is the last event of the year so it's my last chance.
Even if I were to win, I would sit back and say, I can't believe I missed the cut at the Open by one stroke when I made the cut as a 17-year-old amateur with a mullet and golf sandals. There were just a lot of things that I'd sit there and think, it could have been better. But you've just got to take it for what it is, and in the end, still, top 25 on the Money List and still alive, so doing something right.

Q. Has anyone ever tried to get you to tone down your personality or the way you are on the golf course, and what's your response to them when they try and do that?
CHRISTINA KIM: I've had a couple -- well, I've had a couple of incidences where people have told me, you're too much, or you're a little OTT (over the top). But it's all good, everyone is entitled to their opinion and allowed to live life the way they want. Lord knows I wouldn't want to be one of those girls with a turtleneck and long sleeves and a little mousy. That's not the type I am. If that's the way someone else wants to be, more power to them. But I'm not going to change the way I am to appease anybody else. Last time I checked, it's my life, it's my body, I'm going to do what I want to do.
DANA GROSS-RHODE: Thank you all very much. Christina, great round. Good luck this weekend.

End of FastScripts

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