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CN CANADIAN WOMEN'S OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPAugust 25, 2012Lydia KoCOQUITLAM, BRITISH COLUMBIA KELLY THESIER: I'd like to welcome our current leader, Lydia coincidentally into the interview room again. You've had a great round today, still managed to keep the lead. You mentioned in the past two round that's you've wanted to stay at 4‑under par. Take us through your day today. Was today more nerve‑racking for you since it's moving day for a lot of the other players? LYDIA KO: It wasn't‑‑ I wasn't that nervous. I don't think I was more nervous today than other days. Today I tried to have more fun, but my score wasn't as good. I mean, 72 is better than 73 or any other score, so I'm pretty happy. Yeah, it's good to stay at the top of the leaderboard, but my first goal was to make the cut and hopefully top 15 or something. But to be up there is just an honor, especially playing against the world's best. Q. A lot of the Tour's top players are trailing behind you. Like Stacy Lewis and Na Yeon Choi. How does it feel to have those players chasing after you? Does it add any pressure to your game? LYDIA KO: A little bit, because I know they're all great players, so the rankings are like Top 5 in the world, and Stacy Lewis is second in the world just trailing behind Yani.  I played with Stacy and I know she's a great player. Yeah, it's quite nerve‑racking, but I'm really here for experience and fun, and I'm having fun at the moment. If I don't win tomorrow, I don't think I'll be disappointed. If I do win, I'll take it like an honor. Yeah, it's kind of a thrill to see lots of people and especially them trailing behind, yeah, it will be a little nerve‑racking. Q. Have you gotten any response from your friends at home about how well you've been playing this week? LYDIA KO: Yeah, they've been congratulating me, and everyone has been supporting me, so it's really awesome. One of the ladies who kind of manages us when we go away New Zealand golf, she said every week I seem to be congratulating you or saying well done or saying this or that. So, yeah, I'm getting enough support, so it's really awesome to see that. Q. On the golf course it seems the fans here have really taken to you. Are you feeling that support as you walk up the fairways? LYDIA KO: Yeah, definitely. People are saying, go, you can do this. Especially it's surprising because it is a different country. It's Canada‑‑ it's not like Canada and the U.S. So it's really awesome. Everyone's cheering and it's awesome to see everyone supporting every player rather than just one player. Q. How close did your family come to moving to Canada? I understand it came down to New Zealand or Canada. You had a sister who was attending school here? LYDIA KO: Yeah, she attended primary school. I don't know where. Q. Here in Vancouver? LYDIA KO: I'm not sure. We were pretty close in coming, and I started golf. I wanted my sister to come back to Korea, and we all moved to New Zealand. At first my dad didn't move to New Zealand with us, and he came a little later on. Q. Lydia, 15‑year‑olds aren't supposed to be leading National Opens. What are you drawing on right now, and what will you draw on tomorrow? LYDIA KO: Um, yeah 15‑year‑olds don't lead at an LPGA event all the time. But like I said, I'm very surprised. But I've been playing really good golf and I've been really confident with my game. Tomorrow I'm just going to try my best. I've got to play my own game. I can't concentrate on what the other players are doing. If they shoot 66 and I shoot 68 and I lose, I can't control what they do. So I'm just going to play my game and have one shot at a time. Q. Everyone has someone behind the scenes that really helped them out and got them started. Who got you started playing golf? LYDIA KO: My aunt, actually. She gave me two golf clubs and I just went on from there. Now all my family is supporting me, all our relatives and people back at home. So, yeah, they are helping me to become a bigger and better player. Q. How did your caddie help you today? LYDIA KO: She's great. Like I said before in my interviews, there are places you don't want to be. She really warns me if it's going to be a fast putt or it's going to be right to left, and it's really awesome to have someone who knows the course really well. Q. You had a good first round second round, but you're very calm out there. How do you keep your emotions steady? LYDIA KO: If I make a bogey or three‑putt on something like inside I'm like on fire. But it's not like you're going to play any better by slamming your club or getting angry. So might as well just keep it in. People say I'm pretty calm, but I do make mistakes and I do get angry, but I try and not show it. Q. I don't know if you've been asked this already, but do you feel you've become more of a target the past couple of days with everybody kind of gunning for you here? LYDIA KO: I don't know. They're professionals and at a higher level than me. Everyone's wanting to win. So at the moment, I may be, but I respect them so much and I look up to them so much. Hopefully, I'm not a big target. Q. I know you're trying to stay in the moment, but this potentially could change a lot of things for you. Is this going to alter your future plans at all one way or the other? LYDIA KO: Not really. I mean, as far as this, I don't think I'll turn pro early or anything. To me winning the U.S. Amateur is much more meaningful as an amateur to win that event rather than me winning‑‑ I mean, it would be great to win this event especially against so many great players. But, yeah, who knows. Q. In terms of this evening leading and going into the final round, how do you relax? How do you loosen up and stay loose? What are your plans? LYDIA KO: I'm definitely going to do some putting practice. Yeah, hopefully, they'll drop tomorrow and you can't play perfect golf. And just going to do some practice, but don't overdo it. The sun is getting to them and it's hotter than any other day. Yeah, I don't think any other amateurs made the cut, so I've got nothing to lose. Q. Suzann Pettersen said yesterday, she's 15. She doesn't feel any pressure out here. Is that true? Do you feel pressure? What does it feel like? LYDIA KO: You know, I think the biggest pressure is me being world number 1 amateur and people are expecting things. The next thing is just playing against the big names, it's really hard to keep up with them. Yeah, pressure is one of the biggest things I try to handle. But it's not like I get a lot of pressure. It doesn't throw me off, yeah. Q. Walking up 18, all the fans, everybody around, all the TV cameras and everything like that. There are more fans on 18 than you've seen previously here in the day. Does that contribute to the three‑putt? LYDIA KO: No, I don't think so. I mean, I had putts, and I don't think any one of the players could two‑putt or one‑putt every single time. It's a long putt, especially with the pressure and everything. I wasn't putting that great today, but I don't think I putted horrible either. Yeah, like the whole round I've never seen that much people come to watch our group, even when I was in the finals for the new South Wales Open there weren't as many people there. When I was coming down 18, it was like, wow, there are a lot of people. Q. You seem pretty calm and collected. Very, very seldom does anything seem to bother you. What frustrates you or gets you upset? LYDIA KO: I don't know. Like today all three of my bogeys are because I three‑putted. Except 7, the other two were over 15 meters. I think bogeys upset me. I think it's the same for everybody else as well. But it's not like we're ever going to have every single day a birdie or a par round. It just comes. It's not a perfect world. We can't hit it perfectly all the time. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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