|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
SWINGING SKIRTS LPGA CLASSICApril 26, 2014Lydia KoStacy LewisSAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA MODERATOR: We'd like to welcome two members of our final group for tomorrow's final round, Stacy Lewis and Lydia Ko. First off, ladies, just seems that the two of you keep feeding off each other and putting together a great show for golf fans. Thank very much. It was fun to watch out there, especially that last hour or so of play. Stacey, I'll start with you. What was that like? You seemed to be trading birdies. We called it punch/counterpunch. Seemed like every time we saw you make a putt, Lydia then did something, or vice versa. STACY LEWIS: Well, I can tell you, one, it was a lot of fun. The front nine there were some hole locations you couldn't really get close to so the golf was boring. Man, on that back nine we both started making putts. Lydia chipped in. It's just fun to feed off each other like that. She hits it in there close on 16, I know I need to do something. I make a putt, and she chips in on 15 after I've hit it close. More than anything, it was just a lot of fun. We're both playing great golf. It's fun to watch her play. We'll do it another day tomorrow. MODERATOR: Lydia, what is that like when you're watching somebody play so well and you seem to be able to keep up and match it? You also showed off the great sportsmanship. We saw some fist pumping out there. It's fun to see you guys compete, but also appreciate the fact that you're both playing really good golf right now. LYDIA KO: Obviously we've got to have good sportsmanship. To me, it was really fun watching Stacy play. Kind of made me like I needed to play better. I spin my chip like 10 yards from the pin, and I'm like, Oh, my God. That was a shocking hole. Then the next hole I think we kind of found our rhythm and it was birdie after birdie after birdie. Yeah, I think it was really cool watching Stacy and playing alongside her for the last three days. MODERATOR: Three days straight. Do you get some sort of rhythm going in terms of what you're talking about out there? Does it change when you play somebody day after day, and knowing you're playing tomorrow, too? STACY LEWIS: I mean, other than running out of things to talk about, I guess that's kind of it. No, I mean, I love play with her. She doesn't take much time. We both kind of play fast. We got into a good rhythm there going back and forth. It's just nice to play with somebody when they're playing well. It makes you play better. I think it's made both of us kind of elevate our game. It's a hard golf course, yet we're still making some birdies on it. It's just fun to be the last group. I know the crowd got into it there on, what was that, the par‑5, 15. I think they were kind of tired of us making pars, so we both kind of went on a run there and made a few birdies for them. MODERATOR: When you look at the good play on a tough golf course like this, to be able to put together rounds like you have the past few days, what have been the biggest keys ‑ I'll ask each one of you that ‑ to tame this golf course? LYDIA KO: I think it's making putts. You know, some pins, especially today, like the par‑5s, you may be able to get on for two, but they weren't really holes you could have a nicely little eagle putt or something like that. It was hard to even have a birdie putt. You got to make some putts when the pins are tucked in. You can't be aggressive for every pin out here. STACY LEWIS: Yeah, making putts and playing smart, which both of us without even realizing, we've done it. We played away from some tough pins and had to make a couple ‑‑ just some really good two‑putts to make par. It's just taking that the course gives you. That's the key I think to being successful here. MODERATOR: Questions for Stacy or Lydia. Q. For both of you, how well did you know each other before this week, and what do you know now that you didn't know before? STACY LEWIS: We played a lot of golf together the last few years. Your first Canadian Open you were 15, right? So I played with her the final round when she won her first Canadian Open. I was impressed then. I think the best part of her game is like I was talking about, the maturity. Playing away from pins and not going after every pin. She is fearless out there on a couple of them, though, but she definitely doesn't play like she's 17. LYDIA KO: I already knew she was good. Her rankings show and her scores show, and obviously she showed today and the last couple days. You know, it's just really good for me as a rookie to play with a player like Stacy. It's a great opportunity for me to learn from another great player. Q. Lydia, they were showing on the telecast your dad in the crowd going crazy after some of your good play. Just interested. They were saying that your dad, has he been over to see you play outside of New Zealand, Australia before, like in the States or other places? LYDIA KO: Even when I was playing in New Zealand he never really came out to watch. Actually last week was the first one he came out to watch. Yeah, he caddied for me twice before then. I won both times, so those are good memories. Other than that, he hasn't been out there much. Last week I was missing a lot of putts, so when he sees them going in this week he's kind of surprised, and I guess the emotions are going. I'm just really happy that I can show some good golf in front of both my parents. Q. Do we know their names? LYDIA KO: Tina is my mom. Obviously. It's not a man's name. And GH, that's how my dad goes. It's initials of his Korean name. People have tried to pronounce it. That hasn't gone well. (Laughter.) MODERATOR: Ladies, I'll ask you, it's been a pretty spectacular year so far on the LPGA Tour. We've had great winners and a lot of momentum. Now we have a final pairing between the two of you that's going to draw a lot of attention. Both big names. Do you appreciate that when you're going out there today and playing good golf and understand that when you're playing well and the names you are, what that does to draw attention to the game? Do you enjoy that? STACY LEWIS: I mean, yeah, I think we both realize there is definitely going to be some extra attention when the two of us are kind of battling like that. It's been great for the tour this year. The leaderboards we've had at the majors the last couple weeks, I mean, it's been unbelievable for our tour. So we're trying to keep the momentum going, I guess. I don't know, that back nine, those last five or six holes had to be fun to watch. It was a lot of fun to play. We're doing the best to represent our tour. You know, us playing good golf at the end of the day, that's what does it. Q. You talked about just finding your rhythm out there. It was really obvious in watching on the back nine that you were really in sync with your caddies too as far as just interacting, seeing things the same way. Talk about that and how important that is as far as just being on the same page and having that chemistry going with your caddie. STACY LEWIS:  We got two different stories on that probably. My caddie, we're going on our sixth year. He knows my game; he knows me. The front nine he just kept telling me to be patient, be patient, be patient, because there would be only opportunities later. He read a couple of those putts at the end. I really had to trust him. There were some tricky putts and he read them perfectly. My caddie and I, he's like a brother to me. We know each other so well. Definitely helped me out there today. LYDIA KO: It's my sixth day with him. (Laughter.) I had Domingo on my bag two years ago when I was on this course. Six days this year, this week. Yeah, no, he obviously knows the course really well growing up from here and playing a lot of golf. Yeah, I think that's been a huge help. There are some tricky putts out there. There are some double breakers. So it's good to have a local guy, I guess, knowing what it's going to do. MODERATOR: Lydia, two wins in Canada; both came with local caddies, didn't they? LYDIA KO: Yeah. MODERATOR: Questions, please. I guess sometimes you just need a little local knowledge, right? LYDIA KO: Maybe I just need like a seven day person. I think it really depends. I think especially for that week, you know, at the Canadian Open. I kind of felt like I needed to take charge. I couldn't depend on somebody. I think that's why it kind of worked out well, where I was trusting my game and playing with it. Sometimes obviously it's not going to be right, but just going with it and still trusting it. Q. Stacy, how long would you estimate the putt on 16 was? STACY LEWIS: I would guess maybe 40, 45 feet. LYDIA KO: 50. STACY LEWIS: 50? I don't know. 45. Does that sound okay? MODERATOR: 45 sounds best. Q. Do you guys go into tomorrow with any kind of match play mindset going against each other, or still too early to do that? STACY LEWIS: I think it's too early. I think the golf course is so hard, you can make a bogey really quick if you're just playing the person next to you. I think we're both going to probably stick to our game plans and going to be close coming down to the end tomorrow. Hopefully it's the good golf we saw today. I'm sure it'll be a lot of fun. MODERATOR: Talking about those bogeys, the fact that you put together a bogey‑free round on the golf course like this... STACY LEWIS: I did? MODERATOR: You did. It's pretty impressive. What does that say about how you were able to play out there on a course like this where you're saying par is your friend to not have a bogey? STACY LEWIS: I putted really good. That's what it says. I probably hit the ball the worst today that I've hit it all week, but just I made ‑‑ early on the front nine a couple good putts for par. I think the first hole I made about an eight‑footer for par. Just really got good momentum early. Knew I was putting well. To go bogey‑free on this golf course is pretty good. MODERATOR: Any other questions for Stacy and Lydia? Thanks for putting on such a good show. No pressure or anything, but hopefully a really good show tomorrow. We're looking forward to some good golf. LYDIA KO: Thank you. STACY LEWIS: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|