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P&G BEAUTY NW ARKANSAS CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY JOHN Q. HAMMONS

July 2, 2008

Inbee Park

ROGERS, ARKANSAS

ASHLEY CUSHMAN: Inbee, thanks for coming in and joining us today. Your first event this week since winning the U. S. Women's Open last week. Can you just talk about what the past couple of days have been like for you and playing here in Arkansas?
INBEE PARK: Yes. I'm very, very glad to be here, and a lot of people are welcoming me here, so I'm very, very happy with that. I've been spending time very, very busy last three days. I've got a lot of phone calls from Korea and hardly slept any hours. I finally got to sleep last night a little bit, so it's very good. I'm trying to get a good condition for myself to play this week.
The course is in great shape. I like the course very much. It's a very pretty golf course. Hopefully the weather holds up all right this year and I will have a great event.
ASHLEY CUSHMAN: And also just to let everyone know a little bit of information about you, you've worked your way up the ranks. You had a great amateur career. You were actually a graduate of the Duramed Futures Tour to earn your Tour card last year for your rookie year, competed in 2007, and now in 2008 you've already got a major championship under your belt. Can you just kind of tell everyone about the last couple of years and building upon your successes?
INBEE PARK: I really took it really step by step. I turned pro when I was 17. I went to Duramed Futures Tour and played for a year there, and I finally got my card there and played LPGA on the Tour in 2007. It was a really great experience on the Duramed Futures Tour. It was a very, very good experience for me to prepare myself to get on the LPGA Tour and be able to compete.
It was very good fun, and especially with a major win last week, I really can't describe it in words. I'm very, very honored with that.
ASHLEY CUSHMAN: All right. Grant, we'll let you start with some questions.

Q. Inbee, congratulations on your win last week.
INBEE PARK: Thank you.

Q. At what point in the final round did you learn you had a pretty good lead? Was there a certain point in the round? If so, did it kind of change your all-around view?
INBEE PARK: Last week I started looking at the leaderboard on the Back 9. I think the first time I watched was No. 10 and I made a birdie on No. 11 and made a couple more birdies after that.
I thought maybe about time when I hit No. 15, I thought that it's going to be tough, everybody's really having a tough day and it's going to be very tough to catch me with only four holes left to play and three or four strokes behind, so that really made me relax a little bit more, and I think I was very calm all day, and I was really able to handle myself very, very good out there on the last day, so I thought that I could actually do it.

Q. You have such a nice kind of slow back swing. Do you think that helps you in situations like that? Do you have to remind yourself to keep things slowed down?
INBEE PARK: Yes. I do have a slow back swing, but I really never realized that I actually have a slow back swing until everybody told me last couple days, and it's been a swing that I've been swinging for ten years and I'm really not looking to change that and I think it's working very, very good.

Q. I was looking in the media guide, and there are six other girls that have the last name of Park. Did you find it kind of hard to distinguish yourself and set yourself apart having the same last name as six other girls? And talk about how last week might have done that for you.
INBEE PARK: Yeah, in some ways it's hard because people have a more hard time remembering you because they are confused with the Parks. I think at this time I think people really recognize me a lot now and I think the U.S. Open will help very, very much. All of them are pretty good friends of mine, so yeah.

Q. I was looking at the statistics. You were like middle of the pack driving for this season, about 248 yards, but last week you hit it 20 yards further than that. What was allowing you to have more distance off the tee?
INBEE PARK: I think everybody hit 20 yards further last week. The fairways were really firm so the ball was running, and I am one of the players who hits the ball very, very high, so I usually don't get any of the rolls on all the other golf courses, but last week I had a lot of runs, so that's why I was able to drive a little further, and definitely with more confidence balls going definitely further .

Q. How many holes will you hit driver here on?
INBEE PARK: This course?

Q. Yes.
INBEE PARK: I think except for a couple holes I will hit driver.

Q. There was some word earlier in the week that maybe you thought about going home this week. Can you kind of talk about that and will that happen next week or what are your plans about going back home?
INBEE PARK: A lot of people asked me when I play this tournament, it was a rumor that I wasn't going to play this week, and I'm actually going to Korea next week to spend time with my family back home. And it's my birthday week next week.

Q. Why is it important for you to play this tournament, just to kind of keep that momentum going?
INBEE PARK: Well, I came here last year and saw the course and I really liked the course very much. This is a very beautiful golf course, and I enjoyed it very much out here.
A lot of people are coming out and watching me play, and especially with the last week's win, that gave me a lot of confidence, so going into this week I was very, very confident.

Q. Do you remember what you shot here last year?
INBEE PARK: I think I shot 1-under, and I was like something in the middle of the field, 30 or something. But I really have -- I was really looking forward to playing two more days, but it didn't really happen.

Q. People talk about winning a major potentially meaning a lot, financially and every other way. Has it been more hectic for you this week? Have you heard from, you know, like possible endorsements, things like that?
INBEE PARK: It's been very, very hectic. I never thought that this would happen to me this quick, and last couple days have been very, very crazy. I didn't know -- this is such a big thing. I mean it's so big in Korea, and everybody knows about me, and it's a weird feeling going on in my mind. It's not something that I was used to before, but I'm liking it very much, and I'm tired, but I like it very much. I like it this way.
ASHLEY CUSHMAN: Are there celebration parties planned in Korea next week?
INBEE PARK: I don't know about yet, but I'm pretty sure there is some kind of thing going on.

Q. You talk about being woken up when Se Ri Pak won. What time was it in Korea when you won?
INBEE PARK: Well, the country was very bad with IMF, and she won it in '98, I think, ten years ago, and I started playing golf in '98. I watched her play a little bit, but back then I didn't play golf, but all my friends were cheering for her, and it was very, very loud, and early in the morning, like 3:00 in the morning, and I was like, "what's going on out there?" I just went out there and Se Ri was playing and it was very impressive, and I wanted to be like her.

Q. What time in the morning in Korea was it on Sunday?
INBEE PARK: Sunday, I think it was like 2:00.

Q. 2 in the morning?
INBEE PARK: Yes. (Laughs).

Q. Talk about your pairings this week. You're playing with Morgan and Paula.
INBEE PARK: Am I playing with?
ASHLEY CUSHMAN: Paula and Morgan. The pairings just came out.
INBEE PARK: Okay. I played with them very, very a lot of times when I was younger in AGGA and junior events, so I think it's a very good pairing and I think it's going to be very fun.

Q. You've lived here a long time, in this country.
INBEE PARK: Yes. I came when I was 12, so it's been seven years since I came here.
ASHLEY CUSHMAN: Inbee, thanks for your time today and good luck this week.
INBEE PARK: Thank you.

End of FastScripts

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