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KRAFT NABISCO CHAMPIONSHIPApril 7, 2013So Yeon RyuRANCHO MIRAGE, CALIFORNIA THE MODERATOR: We'd like to welcome So Yeon Ryu to the media center at the Kraft Nabisco Championship. Round of the day, round of the week, best round of your year. How do you feel? SO YEON RYU: It feels so great because I played this tournament a couple of times as a non‑LPGA member, but I always finished like tied 30‑something, 40‑something. I always played really bad. But today I finished 65 and bogey‑free round, how good, to have the bogey‑free round at the major tournament, especially with a really hard golf course. It feels really great and looks like I can finish like second, so I'm really proud of myself. Also I really feel so great to have shot 65 than waiting on Inbee's trophy or whatever. Q. Her jump into Poppies Pond, it's not a done deal yet, but she is at 16‑under par. Did you see 16‑under par, anybody getting to that number, maybe even the number you're at right now? Did you see double digits under this week? SO YEON RYU: No, she looks like she played another golf course. This golf course is really hard, and especially before we start the tournament, she really worried about the game because her ball flight is a little low, but this golf course is pretty firm greens, so she said, oh, I think‑‑ I don't think I can stop it on the greens because my ball flight is too low. There's not enough speed on the greens, but she hit it so well. I think she was lying to me. Q. What about you right now, you're top 10 in the world, seemingly moving up each and every year. This is a big week for you obviously and could be a real good springboard to a terrific season. Where are you with your game? SO YEON RYU: Actually the last couple of tournaments I struggled a bit with my game because I couldn't trust myself. That's a really big key. But last week I worked with my coach like three days, four days, and he really highly recommended your game is really perfect, your swing is perfect, your stroke is perfect, just the problem is you didn't trust yourself. So this week I really tried to just trust myself, and I just believed what I practiced and how I dedicated about the golf. So I think that's really important key. So I just want to keep trusting myself, just keep enjoying this wonderful Tour. Q. How good a putter is Inbee? We're watching her make everything the last couple of days. Is that how she usually is? SO YEON RYU: Actually first of all, she really likes to gamble, so when I practice with her she always calls me to gamble like 10 bucks a hole, whatever. But she always makes the hardest par putts, like eight‑foot par putts, 16‑foot par putts. I can't win like 10 bucks. She always wins like 50 bucks. She always takes my money, so she always buys me dinner, lunch, whatever. Anyway, the important thing is she looks so easy, and putting is so easy. Sometimes my putting was really great when I was playing with her, but not enough. Q. Does she ever get nervous? She looks so calm all the time. I'm assuming inside she's nervous but she doesn't show it out there. SO YEON RYU: Well, one thing I'm pretty sure, she is not really smiling on the course, but she's really funny person. She's really‑‑ yeah, she has a really great energy and she really loves playing golf. Q. Does she ever get nervous? SO YEON RYU: Yeah, 100 percent she's nervous. Also now maybe‑‑ she looks like 100 percent okay, but maybe she's really nervous. But the thing is now these days she really enjoys playing golf. She's traveling with her fiancé and everything is so great, even her fiancé supporting her so well. So that's why she's playing well. Also she has a lot of talent. Q. Was there ever any outside thought that you might be able to do something to win this tournament today? SO YEON RYU: You mean what I did? Q. At the start of the day did you think to yourself, well, maybe I could win? SO YEON RYU: Well, it's hard to say, but I really wanted to finish strong, so I was just expecting to finish top 5. I couldn't expect winning because I know how Inbee is playing really consistently and I know how her putting was great, so I couldn't expect winning, but I really wanted to finish top 5, but I finished second, so I made it. Q. Yani Tseng was No.1 for so long, Stacy Lewis has grabbed the mantle, but this battle for the top spot, and you're in it certainly, as well, if you continue to play the way you're playing. Inbee is projected to move to second on that list and we have a real battle with Na Yeon Choi and Yani and Stacy and Inbee now, as well. How good a race is this? SO YEON RYU: I think that's really good. Might be all the golf fans think like Annika or Lorena is like queen of the golf, but these guys there's a lot of great players on the Tour, a lot of people battling at the tournaments. I think that's a really good thing. But also yesterday I saw that Stacy's autograph, she changed autographs. She signed it then put No.1 under the autograph, so I was jealous. So I'm trying to copy her. The first thing I have to play well, but anyway, I think that battle is a really great thing. Q. These money games that you have with Inbee, are they on the practice putting greens? SO YEON RYU: No, at the golf courses. We played at Aviara and we played at this golf course, so the last week I played with Inbee, Inbee and Eun‑Hee and J.J. and we didn't get a money game but we got like a dinner battle, but absolutely she won. She finished first, I finished second and J.J. finished fourth and she bought me the dinner. Q. So is it in the practice round early in the week that you all play? SO YEON RYU: Yes. Q. During the week of a tournament? SO YEON RYU: Yes, and earlier this year I practiced with Inbee at the wintertime, we played golf a couple of times, and we always had the money battle. Q. Just as a follow‑up, you've seen her putt so much. What is it about her stroke or attitude that makes her so good as a putter? SO YEON RYU: I think her tempo is really great. Her tempo is always consistent. And what else? Oh, and she taught me that when she was putting, the weight is a bit on the left side. She looks like 70 and 30, and she says, before her weight was like 50/50, but now she changed it, and her weight has moved a bit more to the left side. She said that's really helped her putting. Also it worked for me, so I think that's really important one for me, for her. Q. You haven't had the greatest results here until this year. What's changed? Do you have any idea? SO YEON RYU: Trust myself. Battle with Inbee, that's really great practice. It's kind of just‑‑ how can I say, it's like before you start the tournament we can feel like just trying to exactly same routine at the tournament. I felt like nervous before I made a birdie putt like that. But biggest thing is trust myself. I really trust myself this week. Q. What was the money bet this week, and just kind of go over what the bet was and who won. Can you tell us something about Inbee Park that we don't know off the golf course? SO YEON RYU: Okay. The last week it was not a money battle but it was a dinner one here. So J.J. was fourth and she bought us dinner at the Yard House. This was last week we played. And off the golf course, oh, she don't like shopping. But her fiance so much love the shopping. She said that's the biggest problem for her because she really wants to just rest in the bed, but he always wants to go into shopping, especially last week she wanted to go back home, but her fiancé wanted to go to shopping, and there she said is the most tiring thing. And what else? She likes food. Me and Inbee always really enjoy food. We are really foodies, so we're always looking for great restaurants. Oh, she so much loves the babies. She loves babies. She looks like she's not really smiling on the golf course, but when she meets a baby and when she's hanging out with a baby, she looks like happy, like always smiling. So different than on the golf course. Q. You could make the argument down the stretch she was playing the best golf, she and Stacy were battling for Player of the Year. I'm sure nobody in here would be surprised if Inbee got to No.1 in the world. How good a player is she in your mind? Is she as talented as anybody, the most talented player out there? SO YEON RYU: Absolutely. She is really talented golfer. Also she's really strong, I mean, physically, because she played in Japan and in America. I believe she's playing like 10 tournaments in Japan, also she played in LPGA tournaments, over 25 tournaments, I believe, and she says she's going to play 32 tournaments this year. Q. 32? SO YEON RYU: 32. But she looks like always comfortable. She don't look like tired and she's playing well. So most talented thing is physically she's really strong. Q. Inbee would be the fifth winner from Korea in the last eight majors. How proud does that make you of Korean golfers? SO YEON RYU: Well, first of all, a lot of Koreans playing in this Tour, so we feel like really comfortable because we help each other a lot. Then also there's Se Ri Pak and Inbee Park and Na Yeon Choi and a lot of players playing so great, and Inbee looks like she makes a second major win this year. So I feel like maybe Inbee can do it, maybe I can do it. So it's kind of really great goal, and it's really great model, role model for me. THE MODERATOR: Congratulations. Fantastic round. Thanks for coming in. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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