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HSBC WOMEN'S CHAMPIONSFebruary 26, 2014Lydia KoSINGAPORE MEGHAN FLANAGAN:  I heard you had a practice round with Amanda Tan from Singapore, how did that go? This is her home course. Did she give you any tips on the course? How did that go yesterday? LYDIA KO: Yeah, we played together. It was good. She always was a great player, and she's got that home‑course advantage, so yeah, I'm pretty sure she knows the course like the back of her hand and I hope she does well this week. MEGHAN FLANAGAN:  She didn't share any insider tips for you, did she. LYDIA KO: No. (Laughter) Maybe it would have been good. MEGHAN FLANAGAN:  How does it feel not to be the youngest in the field this week? That's probably pretty rare. LYDIA KO: Yeah, feels good. I had a couple girls similar to my age, but yeah, it's good to have actually someone younger and that doesn't happen too often. But yeah, it's always good. MEGHAN FLANAGAN: Now, you have three LPGA events under your belt so far as a rookie. Give me one thing that surprised you the most so far and one thing that you maybe expected that has happened through those three events. LYDIA KO: Nothing really surprised me. I think I've actually had an advantage by playing 11 tournaments last year. That's definitely helped. Yeah, it's been really fun. It's been all in different countries, Bahamas, Australia, Thailand, Singapore. It's been really cool, all the travel, and this is my third week in a row, so it's fun. MEGHAN FLANAGAN: How has the travel been for you? I know that was something coming into this year, thinking you wanted to manage your schedule well and the travel, and these are pretty lengthy trips, and travel can get to people sometimes. How has travel been for you? LYDIA KO: Nothing really happened. I felt kind of sick last week in Thailand but everything has been good. I played [] in Australia and she says she takes her Mondays off when she plays back‑to‑back, so that's great to have a fresh short. MEGHAN FLANAGAN:  Have you done anything cool off the course, anything in different countries that you wanted to do touristy‑wise, trying to take advantage of that? LYDIA KO: No, I haven't yet. I managed to stay here for a couple of extra days, so I think I'll do a lot of touristy stuff then. MEGHAN FLANAGAN: Thoughts about the course? The Pro‑Am, you practiced yesterday, thoughts on the course? How does it suit your game and what do you think will be key this week. LYDIA KO: I think it's pretty tough to be honest. The greens are slick, like it was last week. It's really pure. But the greens are quite big so that makes it definitely harder. There are fairway bunkers, so hitting my driver‑‑ sometimes if I hit it right or left, hit another club. It's definitely not an easy course. My mom said the winning score is like 20‑something under, and I was like, wow, is that actually like another golf course? It's going to be tough and with the wind it's definitely going to be harder. Q. Just a general question on your relationship with your parents, how much of a factor have they been in your golf, and how‑‑ are they very involved with your professional career right now? LYDIA KO: Yeah, my mom comes with me pretty much every tournament, so she's always there 24/7. We always get a room together and sometimes have to share beds. That's the great thing about a mother/daughter relationship. I haven't seen my dad too often because it's much easier traveling as two, especially the same gender, than having three and dad, and I'm 16 now, I've kind of grown out of having my dad everywhere. Yeah, I miss him but I have my sister here as well but they are definitely supporting me the whole way. Q. Now that you're a professional and playing on the Tour, is there anything about professional golf that maybe you didn't realize existed and how do you take care of that? LYDIA KO: Now I'm trying to think, it's similar. A lot of the thing is like it's prize money related, but I haven't been thinking about that when I play. It's just one shot, and sometimes one shot might have earned you a couple thousand dollars but that's not really what you think on the course. You kind of want to get in the hole as early as possible and not to make a birdie to get a couple extra dollars. It's been really fun and I've been trying to enjoy it and manage myself. Q. What, if anything, do you miss about school? LYDIA KO: Well, the year before, I did a lot of schoolwork‑‑ inaudible‑‑ so still doing that now. Yeah, I'm still taking school and this is my last year in high school. I want to finish it and go to university next year, as well. So that plan has not really changed. Q. Whereabouts are you planning to go to university? LYDIA KO: I'm not sure yet. It might be Korea. Not really definite. I've been trying to concentrate more on my high school, finishing all that right now. Q. But would it be something you would do mostly online or would you actually go? LYDIA KO: I think mostly online. Golf is my main priority and it you don't play ten tournaments and kind of get to go to school, because everybody is taking the route of turning pro early, so I guess it's mostly doing it online. I heard that Michelle had to take an exam just before teeing off and stuff. Yeah, that's what we had in mind before. Q. And what would you like to study? LYDIA KO: I really enjoy photography, so maybe photography but maybe I'm not good at it, I don't know. But my mom and dad majored in English language, and yeah, if I go to a Korean school, you get to learn Shakespeare and that's what I've done in high school so I can kind of develop that and could become easier to do. Yeah, a lot of players do like sports management and something related to the sports. MEGHAN FLANAGAN:  Who is your favourite author? LYDIA KO: I don't have a specific one. If I'm into one book, I read it when I'm having dinner, I read it in the bathroom, I read it everywhere. If I love it, I'm into it. MEGHAN FLANAGAN: So once you read it, you start it and you can't stop‑‑ LYDIA KO: Yeah, my mom sometimes‑‑ right when I'm eating, right when the spoon is going‑‑ MEGHAN FLANAGAN:  Are you a Kindle or hard‑copy reader? LYDIA KO: Hard copy, you kind of read the book once and you never go back to it, you just have so much fun reading it. MEGHAN FLANAGAN:  Last we heard you were going to buy a camera, you were going to make a splurge; did you make the purchase, or no, you haven't yet? I know you were thinking about it. LYDIA KO: I actually did. I convinced my mother and then I said, oh, let's capture it with my baby‑‑ the thing didn't come with a camera bag so I've been lugging it around. Luckily my sister bought me a new camera bag, and so everything is fixed and I got something that I wanted. Quite hard to tell my mom to get me something. THE MODERATOR: What kind of camera is it. LYDIA KO: It's a Canon an 70D I think. MEGHAN FLANAGAN: Would you want to take some lessons or take some classes specifically for that camera? I know people take them for certain cameras, is that something you think you're going to do down the line? LYDIA KO: Actually one of our courses is here, so we kind of have to model an actual photographer, so we kind of have to meet that person and get to know how they take it. Definitely through that I'll learn a little bit technique and gets tips along the way. Q. Do you ever ask the photographers out here for tips? LYDIA KO: Well, when I was actually doing that little clip for my turning pro thing, you know, one of the people, the production companies, she showed me around the Canon cameras and that's when I was like, oh my God, I need to get that thing. Yeah, it's all about quality. MEGHAN FLANAGAN: For sure. That probably helps. Q. The talk about you coming on the Tour this season, do you feel a lot of expectations or pressure to perform well this year? LYDIA KO: I think so. I know‑‑ I think because I came actually with the two wins, it was like a bigger thing, and I didn't expect to win those, but those kind of came, and it all happened kind of quicker than what I would have planned a couple years ago. But yeah, everything is going good, and I've been trying to concentrate on my game. The end of the day, all I can do is try my best. Sometimes I'm not going to finish well. You know, like for Thailand, I shot 2‑over on the last day. I can't play good every day. You know, I wish I could, to be honest. I wish I could be up there‑‑ but things don't happen the way you want it to, everything planned out. Q. Do you understand that you are‑‑ (Inaudible.) LYDIA KO: Yeah, I know lots of people call me‑‑ inaudible‑‑ and all that. I'm just Lydia. I just want to be me and‑‑ oh, now you're a pro, but just call me Lydia, you know. It's so comfortable in just being you‑‑ that's why I love being home, because my friends, they treat me like any other‑‑ their friend and like a teenager and not, oh my God, it's her, or oh my God, like taking photos. Actually, should be treating me like a superstar but I'm not going to, that's why you've got your friends, and sometimes that's why it might be good to have the sporting life and then you have the private life where you don't need to be out there and play good golf. You can just be known. Q. Have you made friends‑‑ and said something really amusing to you about what to do? LYDIA KO: A lot of people say, oh, I've had hole‑in‑ones in mini golf before. Oh, no kidding. You've got one‑‑ it's actually so much harder than it seems. No, I haven't had a hole‑in‑one personally, so I know what it feels like‑‑ even when I get a hole‑in‑one in mini golf it feels good. A lot of people I think they think golf is quite a boring sport. Actually make an eagle or a long putt, that's when the crowd goes really wild but if you keep hitting fairways and you keep making two putts and keep going with par, sometimes that's good, but maybe really boring. Yeah, can still play‑‑ that's the uniqueness about golf. Q. You're obviously a role model for a lot of teenagers. I know Amanda Tan wanted to play with you in the tournament. In Singapore, for teenagers, accessibility is a problem. But for you, what do you think was the advantages in golf environment for you growing up that helped you in your career and what do you think is perhaps an ideal environment for young aspiring golfers wanting to take up professionally in terms of programs or tournaments or just accessibility, that sort of thing? LYDIA KO: There has actually been a couple. My parents never played golf before I did, so a lot of young kids sometimes if their parents play golf and then they start teaching‑‑ which is good to have that kind of parent support. But in my case, I think it was actually good that they didn't know so I could start with a coach and I was learning the proper basics. That's where you kind of start, and obviously there are coaches and they know what they are saying. Yeah, that's why it was good that they didn't play golf. You know, they kind of got the coach to teach me the techniques and everything. I think especially growing up in New Zealand, it's very cheap to play golf there. Even when I'm home, like at my home club, it's a hundred dollars for the year. It's a junior membership but for a hundred dollars you can play whenever. They have got a swimming pool, a gym, for a hundred dollars. Sometimes one round is more than a hundred dollars. So it's always great. It's obviously a little expensive in other golf courses but it's so much cheaper than anywhere else. I think that's why like Korean winters, a lot of Korean players come over and spend their wintertime in New Zealand doing their practice. Yeah, I've always loved being in New Zealand, and yeah, also the support I've got from New Zealand golf, High Performance Sport New Zealand has been a huge help. Q. (Inaudible.) LYDIA KO: I got to play a couple times‑‑ and huge, obviously legendary‑‑ I've got a couple putting lessons from Dave Stockton. He was talking about what an amazing putter and everything. A month ago at New Zealand Women's Open, he lives there‑‑ so he's I guess a very inspirational person and a great person, as well as being a great player. Q. Did he have any tips for you? LYDIA KO: I was struggling with my putting and he told me to never decelerate. You've got to have a little bit of acceleration or the same speed for you to be confident enough to get it in the hole. MEGHAN FLANAGAN:  Thanks, good luck this week. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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