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MICHELOB ULTRA OPEN AT KINGSMILL

May 4, 2004

Grace Park

WILLIAMSBURG, VIRGINIA

DANA VONLOUDA: Thank for joining us. We're back here at the Michelob ULTRA Championship, defending champion this week. You have already had a great year, winning the Kraft Nabisco. Talk about the start of the year and then coming into this week.

GRACE PARK: Well, first of all, this is the first time I will get to defend my title so I am excited. My previous three wins, my first three wins out here, ended up losing the tournament, so I never got to defend, but I am back on the same golf course, same track that I played really well on and I am very excited.

Obviously have had a very good start of the season and, you know, winning Kraft Nabisco and finishing Top 2s, Top 3s, just finishing second last week is a plus. I am looking forward to this week.

DANA VONLOUDA: Questions.

Q. What are you doing best right now to get those Top 2s and the wins so far?

GRACE PARK: I don't know. (Laughs).

Everything, really. I am much more consistent from the tee-to-green than in the past and I think that consistency is giving my scores more consistency, just not making too many mistakes.

Q. People will often say like a Mickelson, once he wins one major, watch out. You have won your first major. Do you think there are plenty more to come for you?

GRACE PARK: Oh, I am sure there is. But it is far down the road. I just want to stay focused this week.

Q. Does this tournament have a major feel to you?

GRACE PARK: Oh, definitely. I think for everyone. This golf course is awesome. It is one of the best that we ever played. The condition is in tremendous shape. Obviously Michelob ULTRA being a very, very supportive sponsor and this place, I mean, the whole thing, the resort is awesome. We get treated so well, from the volunteers and the staff, it is just feels like we're at a really great professional major event.

Q. Anything different about the golf course from last year?

GRACE PARK: I played nine holes this morning and it was really cold. My body was really tight so I didn't really hit very well. But I just chipped and putted. The course seemed to be in great shape. The rough is thick and long, and I think they were thick last year too. The greens seem to be rolling very well, so...

Q. What were your goals coming into the year? For example, if winning a major was winning a goal, do you reset now that you have accomplished that so early in the year?

GRACE PARK: I did have to reset my goals because in the beginning of the year before the season started it was one of my goals to win a major championship. I wanted to win multiple times in one year because up to this year I have only won once each year. I just wanted to improve in every area I could and winning the Kraft Nabisco, getting that major out of the way, I had to set another goal to win another one. It definitely gave me much confidence and I believe that I can win more out here this year.

Q. There are so many Asian players out here, so many Korean players. Can't be a coincidence. There has to be a reason why a culture, you know, has become a dominant force on the LPGA Tour. Is it the work ethic that's instilled at a young age?

GRACE PARK: Yeah, I have said it all along, that it's got to be hard work. There is no other explanation. Whoever is at the top is there because they worked that much harder than the rest of the field, rest of the, whatever, Tour. Koreans, you know, you have parents following most of the players and they -- they are very strict even though everybody is grown up, they still guide them and they support them and they make sure that golf is the only thing that they have to think about and to really focus and so they don't have to worry about anything else. So they practice and, you know, sometimes they push the players to work harder, but it pays off out here.

Q. There's been talk about whether it be players or adapting to the Tour, just the whole, you know, not just the golf. Do you feel a responsibility because you sort of bridge both cultures, you have grown up there and here, that you are a very important link to helping them adapt?

GRACE PARK: I don't know if I am responsible for it or if I can take that responsibility, but if any of them need my help I am willing to help and offer whatever I could. But I don't think I am the one that has to bridge those two cultures and whatever.

Q. Shortly after Tiger came on the PGA TOUR the talk was how he would raise the bar and force the other players to improve their games in order to continue to compete with him. Do you feel that collectively the Korean players have done that for the American players on this Tour?

GRACE PARK: I think -- I know that every player definitely looks out for one or more Korean players in the field each week because you do see three, four, five Korean players on the Top-10 list and I don't know if it's the Koreans, but those young players and plus Annika, you have to give huge credit to her, everybody is, you know, working that much harder to get there, to win more and in order to do that you have got to work hard.

Q. As the International representative on the board - if that's the right terminology - what sorts of things have you been asked to give your input on?

GRACE PARK: Well, so far it's still early in the season and I am just attending the meetings just listening. I am just learning about the Tour and what goes on behind the actual playing and, you know, so far I am just listening in to what they have to say.

Q. You mentioned hard work and where Annika is. Can you imagine what it takes to get to a level where you are dominant for upwards of a decade, 50 wins on a resume?

GRACE PARK: I am working on it (laughter). I have got 45 more to go. I am working on it.

Q. How daunting a number and a bar is that?

GRACE PARK: Let me get six before I get to 50. It's, I mean, she's -- it's got to be a tremendous amount of work obviously. She's so talented and her ability is incredible, and it's got to be hard work. You can't get there without hard work. As I said, same thing as Koreans.

Q. Grace, last year at the LPGA Championship losing to Annika in the Playoff, was that something that was difficult to recover from or did that help prepare you maybe to win your major this year, to improve as a player?

GRACE PARK: To be honest, I didn't really relate my past experience at the Kraft Nabisco. That was done, over with, last year. It never crossed my mind that I had lost the major championship in the past or anything. My focus was to win that week, win that tournament, to play best on the last day and that was it.

Q. Did that stay with you last year for a couple of weeks, that tournament?

GRACE PARK: No, no. I just -- I remember at the McDonald's I just didn't prepare myself to win. I didn't think -- I was so far back going into the final two rounds - I guess we played 31 holes on the last day - I was so far back that it happened so quick I didn't think I could catch, but I did, and I just -- I didn't prepare myself for the Playoff and to win a major championship. But this year I was definitely ready, mentally and physically.

Q. How much of what happened in the summer of 1998 when you won the U.S. women's Amateur and Se Ri won the U.S. women's Open is responsible for the influx of the Korean players on the Tour?

GRACE PARK: Oh, I think it's huge. I can't really relate myself into that because I pretty much grew up here. I grew up playing golf here. I did all what all the American players do, but for Se Ri, I have got to give a lot of credit to her because ever since she joined the Tour, everybody followed along and it just opened a huge door for all the Korean players.

Q. Can you see a difference having grown up here, can you see a difference in the cultures and the way parents are or the way the kids were brought up to the way you know, the Korean --

GRACE PARK: There's huge differences. Everything is so different. (Laughs). I can't really describe it, but Koreans are more traditional, very conservative. For example, children stay with their parents until they get married. So parents overlook them, I mean, as long as they live, but until they get married they are in their own shell. I don't know, just a lot of things are different.

Q. How does that play into what you see on the golf course and what you see in terms of the way the players develop?

GRACE PARK: As I said earlier, how parents are out here with the players, with their daughters, and giving them their support, some dads even cook for them, breakfast lunch and dinner in the hotel rooms and they can have some taste of Korean food. Just giving full support so that they can focus on golf and they do push their kids at times. So then they work harder and they do better out here.

Q. You touched on hard work. Do you think people in the media and around golf know how hard you work or -- it tends to be well, she's so gifted she's so talented that sometimes they may not realize how hard you work --

GRACE PARK: Oh, I am just gifted. It's all talent. (Laughs).

I don't know. Do you guys not know that I work hard? Well, I do. I work very hard.

Q. Have you stepped up in the last two years?

GRACE PARK: Oh, definitely. I have definitely committed myself to getting better and in order to do that I had to practice more and, you know, spend more times out on the course and, you know, getting physically ready as well as mentally.

Q. You were so accomplished as an amateur player. Was that ever a burden when you became a professional that you thought you had to maybe live up to all the things that you did as an amateur or was it only positive?

GRACE PARK: Everything is positive in a way. Every stage I was at is so valuable to me and I just carry that on with me. I just, you know, my first few years out here I just didn't play well. I struggled, and it happens. But I am back on the right track and I bring all that memories with me.

Q. So the player you are right now did you always know you would get to this point or was there ever moments where you wondered?

GRACE PARK: I knew I was going to get there. I just had to get myself together before doing that.

Q. Talking about the rough being high or the difficulty of the course, do you like when the course is difficult feeling that the better player stands the better chance?

GRACE PARK: I love it. I love it. I think although when I get penalized, it sucks. (Laughter). I think it separates the field. It gives the better players better opportunities to win out here. You don't have to shoot 20 -, 25-under to win. You got to hit good shots. If you miss the shot, you are going to be penalized, you have got to expect that.

Q. What are your impressions of first of all, Michelle Wie's talent and secondly, the lifestyle she and her parent have currently chosen to support?

GRACE PARK: I think Michelle has incredible amount of talent. I said after playing with her at Kraft Nabisco I said she's more than what everyone is talking about. She's such a good player, you just forget that she is, what, 14? And I don't know about her lifestyle. That's what her family has chosen and I just wish her good luck.

DANA VONLOUDA: Thank you, Grace.

End of FastScripts.

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