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JAMIE FARR TOLEDO CLASSIC PRESENTED BY KROGER, OWENS CORNING AND O-IAugust 8, 2012Ai MiyazatoSYLVANIA, OHIO ALI KICKLIGHTER: I'd like to welcome Ai Miyazato into the interview room for her pre‑tournament press conference. First of all, the tournament took a year off last year. How does it feel to be back in Toledo. AI MIYAZATO: It's so nice to be back here. Last time I played this tournament was in '09, but this is such a great tournament because the atmosphere is so much better than at other tournaments because they always have a good crowd and the golf course is always in good shape, so it's nice to be back here. ALI KICKLIGHTER: You've had a good year so far. You've won twice already. How is your game shaping up heading into this week? AI MIYAZATO: It's been great. I'm very happy with my game so far because I have a good feeling with my short game, so that makes my confidence, and also, I don't know, just having fun with every single tournament. It's just trying to be more myself now. I'm enjoying my season so far, so it's been great. ALI KICKLIGHTER: The LPGA had a week off last week. Did you get a chance to do anything fun? AI MIYAZATO: I watched the Olympics most of the days. I went back home, which is in California, and it was nice weather and I should go to the beach or somewhere, but I just stayed home and watched the Olympics because it's so inspiring, and it's so fun to watch. Just most of the time I just stayed home. ALI KICKLIGHTER: How excited are you for 2016 for golf to return to the Olympics? AI MIYAZATO: You know, I still can't imagine with that because it's not like still for real for me. But it's so exciting. At the same time it's so exciting about it. I'm just trying to imagine if I'm in the Olympics in 2016, it's going to be like my dreams come true. I'm looking forward to it. Q. In regard to the Olympics have you had any images of putting yourself on the medal stand? AI MIYAZATO: Yeah, I did, and actually when I was an amateur I played the Asian Olympics, and I got the gold medal in the individual games. But the imagination that I have in my head of seeing the Olympics on TV as well as having been up on the podium in the Asian Games, I can imagine. So it feels great. Q. How does that stack up with the fact that you're chasing your first LPGA major tournament still? Is that a priority for you? AI MIYAZATO: That's a good question. Winning a major has been my childhood dream, but winning a medal at the Olympics, a gold, that just came up recently. That's kind of what I've compared it to. But I also feel that it's good to set new goals. It would be good to get both. Q. You said earlier that you're enjoying being yourself. Is that something new? Were you not enjoying yourself earlier, or is that something you had to overcome? AI MIYAZATO: (Laughing) I meant because, I mean, compared to last year, I won the Evian Masters last year, but then it was a little bit tougher because of the earthquake in Japan, so it was kind of tough to focus my game last year. But after the off‑season, I cleared out everything, and now I can be more myself and try and enjoy the tournament every single week. So that's why I said I can be more myself than I used to be. Q. You're one of those Japanese players who has raised a lot of money and a lot of awareness for the people after that earthquake. Can you talk a little bit about what that has meant to you and how are things back there now? AI MIYAZATO: I mean, still things are difficult in Japan. Little things are getting better, but still, there's many suffering people. I still need to‑‑ I feel I still need to help the people. I just want to keep continuing raising the money to Japan. Raising awareness and funds with two other players on the Tour, that ended at the end of last year, but starting this year I'll try to work on things individually. Q. You are followed on Tour by the Japanese media here in this country like no American player is followed. Does that put a little more pressure on you to perform well for your country, for yourself, anything like that? AI MIYAZATO: No, not really, because I've been playing on this Tour seven years now, so I feel more comfortable, and it doesn't feel like pressure from the media, Japanese media. All the Japanese media is really nice to me, and they are very understanding. We are kind of‑‑ I don't know if it's right to say, but we are kind of like good friends, so that's why I think I don't feel any pressure from them. But at the same time I also want to get back to good news to Japan. The only mode to communication to the Japanese fans and Japanese people is through the media, I believe, so I just feel that it's just work for me. Q. The first few years you were out, your media contingent was larger than the whole rest of the media contingent. AI MIYAZATO: Yes. Q. Is that still the case? Do you still have a lot of people following you around? AI MIYAZATO: No, it's definitely less now. It's definitely not as many as before. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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