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CN CANADIAN WOMEN'S OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPAugust 25, 2013Lydia KoEDMONTON, ALBERTA THE MODERATOR: It's my pleasure to welcome in our 2013 CN Canadian Women's Open champ, Lydia Ko. Lydia, another day in history in Canada. Congratulations. LYDIA KO: Thank you. THE MODERATOR: Now that it's a little settled in, are you still surprised, shocked, are you just happy? Tell us what your emotions are right now. LYDIA KO: I'm pretty surprised, but I played some really good golf out there, so I was really happy about that. My goal today was to shoot 5‑under and just play my own game. If somebody else shot better, then I can't do anything about it. THE MODERATOR: Looking at the scoreboard, you're 6‑under with three shots better than the next score. There weren't a lot of low scores today. You pretty much blew everyone out of the water today. What was the difference? Was the track a little harder? Were conditions harder? What did you see out there that maybe the others didn't? LYDIA KO: You know, I'm not really sure. I think it was pretty similar. Maybe there was a bit more breeze, but it's not like gaming, like St. Andrews, so, yeah. I hit a really good drive on 1 and kept it to the fairway. That kind of got my momentum going. Q. Now you're the first player on the LPGA‑‑ obviously, you're not a member, ‑but since Yani Tseng, to defend a title on the LPGA. She did it in 2010 and 2011 at the Women's British Open. No easy task. I know you said coming in this week you had some expectations and you wanted to play well, but did you see a 5‑stroke victory coming at all? Is this kind of a dream come true? LYDIA KO: Yeah, it definitely is. Yani is a great player. When I saw that red coat, I thought wow, that is amazing. Who can do that? And to have done that myself, that's pretty special. Yeah, last year was a three‑shot lead through ‑‑ or two, two shot lead, so I was pretty happy about that. Now having five shots, it makes it even better. Q. Now let's talk about your strong start. You're 5‑under through 8. Talk about the streak of birdies that you got off to such a strong start. Do you think that was really important for you to get in the zone and get in the swing of things? LYDIA KO: Yeah, definitely. I didn't hit the best shot, but ended up really great on number 2. 3, I was a little short and then putted in. 4, was a pretty tap‑in birdie. 5, to me is one of the harder holes, and I went off making like a six‑foot putt for par. Then the next hole birdie, and especially on 6, I one‑putted on that hole every single day. So I thought I might as well finish with a one‑putt there. So some other holes, I wish I could have done better, and I kind of made the situation better today. So I was really happy with the way I played. Q. How badly did you want to finish off on 18 with a birdie? I know the crowd appreciated it. LYDIA KO: I didn't have it coming. That's why I was like oh, my God. I was pretty worried it would just go straight down because I knew it was a slippery putt. No, I just hit a little bit, and it trickled down in the hole. Q. Can you just describe the feeling what it's like to walk up 18 knowing that it's in the bag? LYDIA KO: I don't know why, but especially when there are a lot of people, I kind of forget how to walk. Because you walk without thinking, but today I was like, oh, my gosh, right before I wasn't feeling like myself. So I was like, oh, my God, am I walking weird? But it's quite a different feeling to what I had yesterday‑‑ not yesterday. Goodness, last year, last year I was eating cherry tomatoes down the last hole, and today I'm actually quite starving. I was thinking about my walking rather than anything else. Q. I know you've been asked this many times, but where are you and what will the process be that you will go through to make a decision about whether or not and when to turn pro? LYDIA KO: I've got some people above me like my mom and dad, they're the boss. They're going to help me to make the right decision and to turn pro at what time. I think as I'm only 16 still, it's quite hard to make huge decisions. When I turn pro it's like a job. Money is all about it and everything like that, every shot counts. Yeah, I think my parents and New Zealand golf they're all going to have a say, and hopefully we'll make a really good decision on when I will turn pro. Q. Could you talk about the golf course? Obviously, you liked it and it liked you. LYDIA KO: Yeah, I definitely liked it, hopefully it liked me. You know, like I said in my speech, the course was in amazing conditions. The rough were growing out a little bit which made it a little challenging for us. But it can't be that easy, and it wasn't set up for us to shoot 30, 20, some crazy scores. So, yeah, I think the superintendent spent a lot of time. I saw yesterday when I was putting, even after we got off the course, they were cutting the greens and spraying them with water. They put a lot of time into the course, and definitely I could see it was really worth it. Q. Can you talk about your relationship with your caddie, Bruce, and how that sort of evolved over the week? Can you compare that to working with Brian last year in Vancouver? LYDIA KO: The similar thing was because they're both local caddies, but like last year, I think Brian knew my distances, but this year Bruce didn't. There wasn't that much going on apart from the green reading. But, yeah, they were both really shy, very quiet at the start. Then as the days went on, especially Bruce, he kind of opened up more. Then he gave me his thoughts as well, which was great, and Brian did that as well. It was really great to have such a good caddie, a good man on my bag. Q. You mentioned earlier in the week you were going to try to do your own club selection. Does that make this win so much sweeter knowing that you kind of did it more so on your own rather than getting help from a caddie or coach or somebody else? Knowing that you're going in the right direction, was it much sweeter for you that way? LYDIA KO: Yeah, definitely. I think the distances here are quite different to the other areas. I think we're a bit above. So I could see like I was hitting a 7‑iron when I normally hit a 6‑iron, and I've never done that before. So I think the practice rounds, it was actually more different because it was pretty much raining every single night. But for the last couple of days, the weather has been pretty perfect and everything's been drying up. So I kind of worked my way through it. Q. Lydia, did you think about the $300,000 that you could have had today and the $600,000 in the last two years? LYDIA KO: No, not really. Inbee played awesome last year. She chipped in on the last, and Karine played great again this year. No, I know I'm not going to get the money, so I don't really care. Q. You don't care? LYDIA KO: I don't care. I don't care. I can say that a couple times more, if you want. Q. Have you had an effective ‑‑ like Inbee Park and other Korean golfers have had such great success. Did that inspire you? How has that affected you at all? Do you interface with them? Do you give them advice, do they give you advice? LYDIA KO: I definitely don't give advice. What am I? I'm only a little 16‑year‑old that's just coming in. They've done so many greater and bigger things than me. I'm the one that's learning. No. Especially as a Korean, and mostly I think Koreans look up to Se Ri Pak. She made golf in Korea huge. She's one of those people that are legends of the country. So especially when I was young, she had just won the U.S. Open at Blackwolf run, so it was really good. I saw her tapes quite a couple of times especially when I was young. Yeah, she's such an inspiration and all the other players out here. They're so‑‑ how should I say? They're so‑‑ I'm lost with words. I learn a lot from them. Especially in Korea, it's less‑‑ it's very formal the way you talk. There is always Miss or Mr.Joe or Mr.Kim and stuff like that. So to me, it's huge. What they've done for Korea and what they've done for the Tour is amazing. Q. Seeing the group of LPGA players come and douse you with water, I think Jessica Korda was there, Danielle Kang, what did that mean to have a group of players come out and celebrate with you, knowing that you're not a member, but they pretty much treat you almost like a little sister. How much does that mean to have them stick around and congratulate you? LYDIA KO: I most of the time hang around with Danielle Kang. So we always say a sister from another parent. She's so fun, and so is Jess. I think I was quite surprised to see I.K. there spraying water on me. She's a great player. It was really special to get water sprayed. Q. How proud are you to make history? LYDIA KO: You know, I never really thought about making history and all that. History is‑‑ I don't know where it starts. So, yeah, it's awesome to be a part of history. There are so many big names among those, so it's such an honor. THE MODERATOR: Thanks for coming in, congratulations, again, and wonderful job. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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