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MARATHON CLASSIC PRESENTED BY OWENS CORNING AND O-IJuly 16, 2013Inbee ParkSYLVANIA, OHIO MODERATOR: Thank you for coming in. I don't think I need to do much introduction. I think everybody knows who you are. Six‑time winner this year, Rolex Rankings No. 1. Thanks for coming in out of your busy stretch of media obligations. Let's just start off with that. Just talk about dealing with all the good attention that you're getting and how you've been able to‑‑ hopefully you've been able to embrace it. Have you been able to enjoy it at least a little bit now that you're getting more comfortable telling your story and the demand for you? INBEE PARK: It's nice to have a lot of fans and a lot of people following me around when I'm playing the golf course. When I'm playing the tournament a lot of people come out and watch me and root for me. A lot of fans' attention means a lot of fans and I can share a lot more of my story to a lot of people. So it's such a good opportunity that I'm having at the moment. Sometimes it just gets really hard because I'm running such a tight schedule and I have to play the tournament. I mean, if this is a total off week and I'm just doing the media, probably I could handle it a lot better. But really burned out when I'm on the golf course. It's such a hot weather. After nine holes and some practice you really want to go home, but I still have three hours to go. Sometimes it's hard. But I don't know how Lorena, Annika or Yani done it for such a long time. I start to feel like it's getting a little bit too much. I start to feel like last weekend ‑‑ I've only done it for two weeks which is not long, but it's just hard for me. I don't know how people did it for such a long time. I really admire them for what they were doing. Yeah, I'm trying to enjoy. This is what it comes with playing good golf; this is what it comes with, you know, winning great tournaments. That's some kind of thing that I need to handle and some kind of things that I need to be good at. MODERATOR: Well I can say you're doing a great job. Well done. Very admirable. Let's just talk about last week. You went for four in a row. People say, What happened? I just looked at your rounds, and you had four rounds in the 60s and you had a top 15. You didn't play bad by any means, but did you get any backlash of, Oh, she didn't get the four in a row? I mean, it's kind of trying to understand that it's not that easy. INBEE PARK: I played great last week. Just my putts didn't fall in as much as I wanted to, but hit the ball great. I shot 16‑under for four days. That's very low number. 16‑under can finish in top 10. MODERATOR: Sure. INBEE PARK: I mean, a lot of people just played better than me. Sometimes you get tournaments where a lot of people play better than you. I mean, golf is a sport where you could win this week and miss the cut next week. It's so hard to be consistent. I mean, expectations of people can go up to the sky. After winning so many tournaments this year, people expect a lot more from me. But I'm just a human and just a golfer. I have limits. I'm not God. You just can't be thinking too much of what people saying or what people talking about me. If you listen to everybody, you know, how could you keep your thoughts? So you really have to be yourself. If you think you're doing great, you're doing great ‑ no matter what other people say. Even if I didn't win four in a row I had a great week last week. Even if I didn't play as well this week, I'm fine. But a lot of people think, What's happening to her? But it's just about the tension. People think different ways as I do. Some people think same way I do. Everybody thoughts are different, so I can't control what everybody is thinking. MODERATOR: Sure. Do you think that was maybe a blessing in disguise for an event like that to happen last week where 26‑under didn't win the event, it just got them into the playoff? Where that shows how hard it is to win week in and week out. Do you think that was a good thing maybe that you didn't have to go in ‑ and you weren't runner up or something ‑ but to see performances like Hee Young and Angela or to see such a low score didn't win outright? Do you think that helped a little bit? INBEE PARK: Yeah, I mean, everybody knows the fact that LPGA Tour is so competitive. Everybody out here can play. Winning out here is very tough thing. Everybody knows that. Last week we proved that. I'm not a person where I like super‑low‑scoring golf courses. I love the challenges of the golf course. I love making pars. I mean, birdies are fun, but it's tough to make ten of them every day for me. So, yeah, I consider myself very good player in major championships where the challenges come into play, where the thinking is coming into play. Playing a lot of birdie golf courses, you know, they could really test your game, too. You have to think of your shots and really have to be sharp with the tee game. It's just different types. I think some people like very‑low‑scoring golf courses. Somebody like tough golf course. I think I'm on the tougher golf courses. I think it depends on the player, but LPGA Tour is very competitive. I mean, 16‑under got me into playoff last year. I shot 16‑under, which was the same score as last year, but they improved ten shots. That's amazing. MODERATOR: It is. Talk about the course here. Moving forward to this week. You've improved. Looking at your record at this tournament, you've improved every year. It was a missed cut your first year; tied for 25th; 6th; and tied for 3rd last year. Talk about your setup and how your game sets up for this course. INBEE PARK: When I first come here to Highland Meadows, I thought this course was tough golf courses. Fairways were narrow and it just looked for the first time like very tough golf course. But it seemed like everybody was scoring so low out here that I couldn't keep up with them for first couple years. Then I start to really get used to this golf course and used to seeing this golf course and start to get a lot more comfortable. My game sharpened up a lot last year, and I really crime close to winning and So Yeon just ran away with 9‑ or 10‑under last day. She played great out here last year. Last year here that was best I played in this golf course. That definitely gives me a lot of confidence going into this week. MODERATOR: Questions for Inbee. Q. What all the reminders of what could still be coming for you, do you have any time to relax or get your mind off this? Do you have to make a real effort to do that? INBEE PARK: Well, a lot of people wants a little bit of pieces of me, so it's tough to, you know, find a lot of relaxing time in this kind of situation. I don't think I'll be getting a lot more relaxed until we finish British Open or we finish Evian Masters. But I'm really look forward to summer vacation after British Open with family. Really looking forward to some time off, that's for sure. But, I mean, this is time that I really need to keep my game going and really need to sharpen up my game. So, I mean, I know right now is not the time that I could relax. I really want to keep it going for maybe a month, and then I could have as much time as I want. Q. With the chase for the Grand Slam, are you feeling more pressure after each victory? INBEE PARK: Yes, I do. First major didn't really think about any kind of history or anything. After winning second one, at the interview with the Golf Channel they just told me I was like third player to win two major tournaments in a row. So now after the tournament I start to think a little bit about going in a row of major championship. After U.S. Open I felt a lot more pressure than those two before. It's just raise little bit by little bit every tournament I played in. Obviously British Open is going to be the highlight. I handle quite good in situations of appreciate in U.S. Open. I think I had a very good practice there, so I want to handle it very nicely in the Open. Q. In a couple weeks going to the British Open in St. Andrews, can you talk about how exciting it would be just to go there and how exciting it would be to win. INBEE PARK: So happy to go to home of golf. That's every golfer's dream, going there and playing as a professional golfer. That's a golf course where you want to go and play well, and hopefully you can hold the trophy on this golf course. It's a lot about history making and historical golf course. That golf course is such a unique golf course. It's just in a lot of people's memory. Everything about little piece of that golf course is just very special. Every piece of that. Q. Then for Evian as a fifth major, you'll be defending there. Talk about that tournament as being a great tournament and becoming a fifth major. INBEE PARK: Yeah, I mean, Evian, this year it became major, but, I mean, last 10, 20 years that we had with Evian we always treated like major tournament anyway, so there is no change to us, to me, in treating. I've always treated Evian as major. It's such a great tournament and such a nice partner for LPGA. I love playing in Evian Championship. Such a beautiful city. Yeah, being able to go there and defend my title is something that's going to be great. But I haven't done it‑‑ I mean, this is only my second time as a professional going in as a defending champion. My first win was four years ago, so it's going to be a while where I'm going somewhere to defend my title. Q. Inbee, the Grand Slam has always been defined as four, even though that's not really always been the case on this tour. But I guess there is really no number involved in it, but if you win the Women's British Open, is that a Grand Slam in your mind? INBEE PARK: Yeah, I think I can treat it like a Grand Slam. It's four out of five, and I've won Evian before. So truly, if I win British Open, I put my name in every major trophy. So now winning British Open, even if I don't do it this year, in my career if I could win British Open, that will be a Grand Slam for me. Q. With the growing number of fans that you're attracting, do you think this helps with the acceptance of the LPGA Tour being a global, worldwide tournament, you know, from maybe Americans in the past that weren't used to that? INBEE PARK: Well, it's always great that we get a lot of exposure. Inbee Park and LPGA is getting a lot of attention and being in a lot of media. I think it's really good for all of us out here playing professional golf. Everybody is just trying to do that and trying to grow more fan base, trying to communicate more with fans. That's what we live on, so we try to attract more people and get loved by a lot more people. Yeah, I mean, it's a fun job to have. LPGA is a partner of us. Also it's a unique experience that people will get when they come and watch us. We're much better than people think. So hopefully I and a lot more LPGA players can make this tour grow a lot bigger. MODERATOR: I have a follow‑up question. Kind of off the point that Tom said, just telling your story, I mean, I've been sitting next to you in a lot of interview the past couple weeks, you telling your story and us trying to show the personalities of the players. Just in the back there you were on a conference call from call‑ins all over the world. You said one of the celebrities you love is Brad Pitt, and you love the British breakfast. Tell us on thing that us in the room don't know about you. Tell us one thing that you might not have told in the story. On course, off course, anything. Give us one nugget. INBEE PARK: I think I shared it. MODERATOR: All right. I won't put you on the spot. Perfect. Any other follow‑ups for Inbee? Q. How many parts of the British breakfast can you name? INBEE PARK: What is it? MODERATOR: How many parts of the British breakfast can you name? Sausage, hash browns. She said she'll be looking forward to the sausage and bacon. Anything else? All right. Thanks for coming in. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
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