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LOTTE CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY HERSHEYApril 17, 2015In-Kyung KimSei Young KimInbee ParkKO OLINA, OAHU, HAWAII MODERATOR: Happy to be joined in the media center by Inbee Park, I.K. Kim, and Sei Young Kim. Sei Young leads at 12‑under par; I.K. sits at 11; Inbee is at 10. Ladies, conditions were tough out there again today. What were the keys to your rounds? Start with Inbee. INBEE PARK: Today was a tough day. It was probably the most wind out of the three days. It was tough, but it was blowing from same direction every day. It was just more today. I think overall our group was really good. We all played really good golf and just trying to follow each other, and, yeah trying to keep up with them. I think that's why I was able to play y. I.K. KIM: What was the question? Sorry. Yeah, today, I agree with Inbee. I just had tough day today. It was tough wind, but I was hitting the ball kind of everywhere, especially on the tee. I didn't know what was happening. I was pushing it to the right few times and I was pressure reading my putting on the greens. On the back nine it was much better, but until 12, 13 I was struggling but kind of getting around. I'm happy with how I finished. Just one behind to go tomorrow, so, yeah, it's going to be exciting. MODERATOR: Sei Young. SEI YOUNG KIM: (Through translation.) I think overall I didn't have the really good feel for my shots today. Started to get better as the round went on, but my putting wasn't working too well. Overall it was a pretty tough round. As I mentioned, it was starting to get better. There were several holes think I had misses here or there, otherwise it was okay. The score wasn't as good due to those holes. Overall I didn't have the greatest day, but it was okay. Q. Was this a comfortable pairing for you three playing together? INBEE PARK: Yeah, I think so. I mean, I haven't played with I.K. in a long, long time, and it was actually nice to play with her to see her game and actually talk to her. It's nice playing with her. And Sei Young, I've played with her three days in a row and maybe tomorrow. Going to be four days in a row, so that's no surprise. She has been playing pretty good golf and, it's always exciting to play with good golfers. So I'm excited for tomorrow. Q. Either of you want to speak to that, playing in this group? I.K. KIM: Yeah, it's nice to kind of speak Korean around. I don't know, it's just kind of nice to play with friends. I think I see Inbee more on the outside the golf course more often, so it was nice to kind of play with her and play with Sei Young. I play with her ‑ not in the tournament; first time‑ but we had a practice round before, so I knew her game a little bit. Yeah, it was nice to see her game and playing with friends. SEI YOUNG KIM: (Through translation.) Overall it was pretty comfortable. It was really good to play with two players from Korea so we could speak Korean and converse together. As Inbee mentioned, I played with her three consecutive days, and each round I'm getting more and more comfortable. I love the way Inbee plays, and same with I.K. today. So it was good. Some of the other rounds when I'm playing with other players, as you know my English isn't quite there yet so sometimes it's tough to make those conversations. Given this group, it's been a fantastic few days. MODERATOR: Questions. Q. Sei Young, yesterday you spoke about the last day of Kraft and how that's motivation for you this week. What do you need to do differently today as opposed to what you did at Kraft? Sorry, ANA. SEI YOUNG KIM: (Through translation.) I'm going to enjoy and try to have a good time. When I was playing the final round at ANA Inspiration I was under a lot of pressure. I felt a lot of nerves during that tournament. But tomorrow I'm going to try to do the same thing I've done the past three days here and try to enjoy the rounds. I think I'm going to be able to come out with a different outcome tomorrow. Q. Would you rather play from ahead or behind? SEI YOUNG KIM: I like to chase. Play from behind. Q. Inbee, you won so often over the past few years, but when you win, when you look back on that, what do you do consistently well the weeks that you win? INBEE PARK: I think the ball striking has to be very consistent.  I mean, even if you strike the ball well and some tournaments when you don't putt good you don't get the trophy. So I think the most important thing to win the tournament is putting. Clutch putts, putts inside ten feet, that's probably the most important thing in the final round. Q. I.K., both players won this year. It's been a while for you. What would it mean for you to win this tournament and get back into the winners' circle? I.K. KIM: I think it means a lot to me. I've been playing y last few weeks and I've been working very hard this off‑season. Where I'm at now I'm very comfortable actually. It was funny, I haven't played in the last group, but I play last group first day, second day somehow. So I feel more comfortable. Hopefully it's not as windy so we can have some good conversation and good golf. So much wind we have no time to just kind of enjoy. But I guess just that's the game this week. I feel good. If I hit a good drive tomorrow and I make some good putts, I think it'll be very interesting. Q. I.K., when you donated all that money five years ago, what caused you to do it then, and then what was the reaction from it? I.K. KIM: I just got from you. No, but that's something I always thought about, and I was kind of, Oh, I'll do it when I'm successful, when I win tournaments and things. I never really got to do it, and it was just right time. I really appreciate Lorena's support for LPGA Tour. She's continuously supporting our tour. I felt it was the right thing to. Got inspired but a lot of players, not just me. A lot of players have found their own foundation and things. Felt right things to do. I still get credit, so sometime I get little, I don't know. But I hope kind of inspire to other players that they could do anything really with so much money that we make. Yeah, I'm happy that I'm able to do those things. How about you? Are you going to donate some of your... Q. (No microphone.) I.K. KIM: You know, I'm still involved with special Olympics, and they're going to have the World Games in L.A. this summer. I'm very excited about them. Hopefully I will have enough wins to kind of support them more often. Q. Why do you like playing from behind? Has it always been that way? SEI YOUNG KIM: (Through translation.) You know, believe it or not, every tournament I won in my career I was the chaser and coming from behind, so I'm more used to that and more comfortable with that. Being able to be in the lead and close out the tournament is probably something that I need to overcome and learn moving forward. I look forward to doing that as well. Q. Sei Young, along with experience at ANA, having won at the Bahamas and dealing with the pressure in the final round, is that going to help you preparing for tomorrow? SEI YOUNG KIM: (Through translation.) Yeah. I talked about that a little bit yesterday, but, yes, of course having an experience of winning an LPGA tournament this year will certainly help me with my last round tomorrow. I mentioned a couple days ago it would really be because of ANA. The fact that I didn't win that tournament is giving me a lot of motivation. If I win tomorrow, sort of the first point that I will point to is the fact that I didn't win last week. MODERATOR: Anything else? Q. Are you going to feel pressure not having won from leading until you finally do win? SEI YOUNG KIM: (Through translation.) For this particular moment right now, no, I don't feel the pressure. Obviously once I tee off tomorrow I'm not sure what's going to go through my mind. Because I put a lot of pressure on myself and I was under a lot of pressure last time at ANA, I think it'll be much better and I will have a different experience tomorrow, I believe. Q. Sei Young, how has all this been, the media? You had to do a lot last week at ANA and obviously with your win in the Bahamas. How are you dealings with that aspect of being on the LPGA Tour? And then as a follow up to that both for I.K. and Inbee, what was that process like for you? SEI YOUNG KIM: (Through translation.) It's actually a lot of fun, but unfortunately, as you can see, my English isn't quite there yet. Hopefully in the next few months I'll be able to learn enough English. I'm taking a lot classes and time to learn the language today. In the next few months I'll be able to speak to you on my own, and I look forward to that. MODERATOR: How about you, I.K.? How was the process coming over to the U.S. and going into it as a rookie? I.K. KIM: That's a long story, but make it short, actually I was able to learn how to speak English before I came on the tour. I play junior golf in the U.S., so that process kind of help me go through the rookie year, I guess. I was traveling by myself then so I had a lot of fun, yeah, meeting a lot of people, staying at the housing and things. So it change a lot actually. It's my ninth year on the tour, so I would love to feel that young again. Not that I'm old, but for the rookie it's kind of fun going to the new places and things. I'm so grateful to Sei Young and Ha Na and few other Koreans that came along and had that same kind of experience. So that's it. INBEE PARK: Yeah, I think I was fortunate because I went to middle school and high school here. I wasn't fluent, fluent, but I was speaking enough to get aways on my rookie year. Yeah, I think it was fun. Everything was new and fun in the rookie year obviously. Dealing with media‑wise, I started dealing with them a lot since I won U.S. Open in 2008. I think at first you get a little bit nervous and you don't know what to say. I think it's just a little bit hard at the first, but the more you get used to it the easier it gets. I'm sure the good players will have a lot of experiences with the media, and I think the more they do it the more they're going to get used to it. To practice it, you just got to play well. MODERATOR: Anything else? Q. I.K., you were struggling for a lot of the day. Talk about the birdie on 16, the par‑3. I.K. KIM: On 16 I hit 5 hybrid. I saw Inbee, how much the ball was move, and, yeah, I think Inbee inspire both of us. She hit a really good shot and I hit a good shot and Sei Young hit a good shot. Yeah, but it's been blowing the same directions, so hitting the same club every day. Yeah. Is that it? 16. Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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