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SHOPRITE LPGA CLASSIC PRESENTED BY ACERMay 29, 2013Inbee ParkGALLOWAY, NEW JERSEY THE MODERATOR: I'd like to welcome in Rolex Rankings No. 1, Inbee Park, into the media center, thanks for coming in. INBEE PARK: You're welcome. THE MODERATOR: How is everything going? Coming off of a pretty unusual week in the Bahamas, you guys were shortened to 36 holes, a lot of delays. Just talk about how you're feeling coming into this week and coming off what was a unique week last week. INBEE PARK: Yeah, it was a new one, first‑time experience obviously, a new one and it was a little bit different. I didn't play my best last week, but just hit a couple of bad shots and that was it. So just try to start off fresh this week. Looking forward to playing more golf again. THE MODERATOR: Talk about your routine of last week, everyone was on delays and on a different path of holes everything and last week. Did that throw your routine off, or is that hard to try to get into your mind‑set of sticking to your game plan and sticking to your shots? INBEE PARK: It was a little bit difficult for me because I've never experienced that before, and playing different holes at different times. But the thing is, this happened the same to everybody. So I think it was quite a fair tournament. It's just another experience and just one bad tournament doesn't really mean anything. So yeah, trying to do my best this week. THE MODERATOR: Everyone said it's not the worst place to have that happen at down in Atlantis and you got a lot of extracurriculars in. Tell us about what you did off the course and what you enjoyed the most. INBEE PARK: It was fun, the beach and the ocean was beautiful there. I've never something like that before, so it was great. Yeah, I did jet‑skiing; I swimmed; pretty much everything that I could do out there. We had a lot of time off, so I was able to enjoy Atlantis, so that was nice. THE MODERATOR: Is that the first vacation destination with your fiancé? INBEE PARK: Yeah, I think that would be one of the places I would want to go again, yeah. It was very enjoyable and I enjoyed that. Actually didn't want to leave that. Everybody was saying, I was sick of this place and I want to leave, but I wasn't; I wanted to stay one more week there. THE MODERATOR: Possible honeymoon destination? Is it on the short list? INBEE PARK: I don't know, that's a little bit farther away from Korea. THE MODERATOR: So looking back to last year here, I just looked, you were ranked No. 26 in the Rolex Rankings. It's been quite a year since then. You've done a lot of work, a lot of wins, five wins; right after shop right last year you kind of started going on your war path of wins and Top 10s and really starting to click. Looking back to a year ago, how much different of a player do you think you were coming to this tournament last year to now? INBEE PARK: Yeah, we looked at the rankings and I looked, too, and we were thinking until last year at this point, I had never finished Top‑10 in last year till now, and I have already three wins this year. So I've been having a really lot of success this year, and it's been‑‑ sure feels like longer than one year, but it's only been one year. I mean, everything just happened really quick, and just last year here‑‑ I've been playing really good last year until this point but I just really had bad final rounds every week. I was in Top‑5 almost every week but this last round, I played really bad and finished 20th, 30th. Then after this week, I started putting really good. The ball‑striking got better, but yeah, I think that putting has been really a big key to my success last year after this point. THE MODERATOR: We always talk about handling the pressure of No. 1, since you've taken over, has not really seemed to have gotten to you. You've handled very well all of the off‑course stuff, on‑course pressure, is it still‑‑ answering the questions about being No. 1, dealing with the title, has it changed at all, or do you think you're still pretty on track with handling it the way you want to. INBEE PARK: Yeah, I'm not trying to think that I'm the No. 1 player. I just try to think I'm one of the players out here trying to win the tournament. That's what I'm trying to concentrate every week. Yeah, if you too much think about being No. 1, or I have to maintain No. 1 and I have to win every week, I mean, I'm just trying to enjoy the golf and enjoy the tournament. That's all I really ask for. Other people might think, you know, my family, fans, they might think, you have to be No. 1 forever. What I'm trying to do is just enjoy my life. That's what I try to do. Q. You mentioned last year the putting. Anything else specifically change after this tournament that got you on a good run, and just what about putting, did you change anything there? INBEE PARK: I was just going through a big swing change last year in the off‑season, two years ago in the off‑season, and my swing was a little bit uncomfortable to this point. I was playing really good, hitting the ball really good until the third round, until the final round. After I got to the final round under pressure, I was hitting a lot of loose shots but I had a lot of experience with that last year. And then after this tournament, I was able to finish off strong and really got comfortable with my swing last year. So yeah, that's been the big key. The putting, obviously, it was a big key, too. Q. You had success when you first came out, and then you dropped off a little bit. Are you mentally better able to handle the success now than you were back then? INBEE PARK: Yeah, I think so, because I've done that before and I've gone through the bad times before, and I'm a lot older now than before. Yeah, I mean, experience has really helped me. Yeah, I was able to handle the pressure a little bit better now than before. Q. What do you think of this course and how does it suit your game and what do you think you have to do well to play well this week? INBEE PARK: I think this week, reading the greens is tough. They have a lot of small ridges here and there that you really have to pay attention to. And ball‑striking, the course is playing pretty short two years ago, but it rained a lot yesterday and it's going to play longer tomorrow. Going to hit maybe a little longer irons than when I played a practice round. So I think it's mostly the putting that you have to read, getting the speed right and getting the breaks right. It was pretty tough when I was playing a practice round. Q. Was it a difficult decision to make those swing changes, or did you know that something had to change to get your game going in that direction? INBEE PARK: I think I should have done that before but I really wasn't confident enough to do it. But you know, two years ago, I think that was a time that I really needed a swing change, and I was hitting the ball really bad, so I didn't really have a choice. I had to do something to proceed on golfing. Q. You talked about last year; was there like a moment or a round or anything where you kind of just said to yourself, you know, I get this; now I see what I have to do? INBEE PARK: Last year, beginning of the year, my goal was just finish in Top‑10 in one tournament, and that really usually gets me going for the rest of the year. Usually Top‑10 finish for me gives me a lot of confidence, and it happened last year at Wegman's and after that I've been playing very good. Until this point, I was playing really good, and then the last round, I just had a bad round and couldn't finish in the Top‑10. But the Wegman's last year really gave me a lot of confidence. Q. As you're going through that swing change, and I'm sure some difficult times trying to get that, could you ever have imagined that it would be the result of that? INBEE PARK: I knew that I was going the right way, but I didn't know if I would be able to be that comfortable with the swing this quick. I thought it would maybe take a couple years. I was expecting myself to be comfortable after two years, but it came a lot quicker than I thought. You know, it has been working really good. Sometimes I have bad swings, but most of the times I have better swings than before, so that's been a success. Q. You went to high school in Vegas; we have a casino down here, do you see any similarities and will you go down to Atlantic City this week? INBEE PARK: I'm staying close this week, so I'm just right there. When I was living there, I was in high school, so I really didn't get to gamble much. I was really young to enjoy Las Vegas. Now I'm old enough to enjoy, and, yeah, I'm here this week and just a little bit of gambling, playing golf. It's just a lot of fun and I just really enjoy this week. THE MODERATOR: I remember at Kraft you said you like to gamble and bet ‑‑ that's what Sun Young was saying, you guys like to do bets. What you are your favorite casino games? I know you like to bet on the course, but do you like blackjack, slots? What's your go‑to game? INBEE PARK: I think I can play everything. I like playing craps. THE MODERATOR: Okay. I'll come with you. You can help me out. Fellow South Korean Ilhee Lee just won last week; Jennifer Johnson won the week before, two first‑time winners. Talk about the sign of having two up‑and‑coming stars and new, emerging talent; I don't want to scare you, but for up‑and‑coming players that are emerging as threats each week. Obviously we said it's so competitive out here and it's so hard to win, but two new ones that are becoming, I want to say, competitors, on a week‑to‑week basis, what does that have to say for the Tour and the talent on it? INBEE PARK: It's really good for the Tour when you have a lot of different winners. It's good to have everybody actually have success on the Tour and everybody is competitive enough to win every week and we are not just playing against five people; we are actually playing against a hundred people. I think that's very good competition for everybody, and I think that really makes everybody play better every week and gave motivation to each other. Yeah, I think that's been a big help. I know Ilhee, she has been going through some tough times, came to America, and, yeah, it's really good for her. Earlier in the year, I won two times this year, and she said, "Let's share some wins."   That's what she said. So she finally won, she finally won, so it's really good for her. THE MODERATOR: How long have you guys known each other? INBEE PARK: Since she came to America I started to see her, yeah, so like three years. THE MODERATOR: Has she ever asked you for advice, except for asking for one of your wins? INBEE PARK: Well, she says sometimes she else me, "Just teach me." But she's been doing really good on herself, and she travels by herself a lot of the time, so I think that's really good for her, somebody that just came from Korea, yeah. She's a good girl. THE MODERATOR: We've heard her story about how she's staying with host families to try to learn English. Obviously you've gone through that; in terms of just telling a story of the struggles of coming and playing on the Tour, and mostly in America, what does that have to say for someone who, like you said, has gone through the struggles but has a win under her belt and is so much more comfortable in front of the media and doing things like that. What does that say for Ilhee? INBEE PARK: I think last week will give a big confidence boost for her career. Finally she won, so she kind of knows now how to win and how to handle the pressure. I think she will win moreover the years, and she'll be able to handle the pressure. I think experience is really important; that she might not win every week, but once she wins and once she knows how to handle the pressure and how to win the tournament, I think it just really helps. THE MODERATOR:  Thanks for coming in. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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