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ANA INSPIRATION

April 1, 2016

Lydia Ko

Rancho Mirage, California

Q. Not really a tough day for you on the golf course, but a tough day physically. A lot of people fighting these allergies. How are you feeling?
LYDIA KO: I'm currently one eye blind. I don't have very good eyesight, especially my left side is the worst, so it was really irritating me and hopefully it will be okay by tomorrow. But I pulled through. I made a few birdies down the stretch, so maybe it was actually better that my eye was a problem.

Q. Phoenix, Carlsbad, you had a couple weeks there of exceptional ball striking. How do you feel it is this week?
LYDIA KO: It's not as good as the last few weeks, but I still feel like I'm hitting the ball pretty solidly. I've just got to give myself good chances. I'm pretty sure I won't be able to give myself 18 chances, but as many chances as I can. If I am in trouble, try and advance it out and try to make up-and-down for par.

Q. What do you think the key is on Saturday?
LYDIA KO: I think it's the putting. The greens are so pure. When you see by the leaders, they're making a few good putts and trying to stay out of the rough. You can get some tough lies in there, so to stay on the fairway and make a few putts, I think at the end of Sunday they will be the winner.

Q. She is one contact down, but I'm told we won't see the glasses. I?
LYDIA KO: I might be winking then.

Q. When did the eye start bothering you?
LYDIA KO: Before I got on my first tee I thought, hey, maybe I should get it out because I could feel something in my eye. But then I kind of washed it out and changed to another pair on my second hole, and I thought, hey, it was done. But then it was just getting worse and worse, and I changed it out to another pair of contacts and that didn't help. So that was kind of going through as the day went on.

But because it was getting irritated, the more I changed it out, put another contact in, took it out, I think that irritated my eye a little bit more. So I'm going to try to rest it up, wear my glasses. I thought I might be doing an interview or something in glasses, so the return of Lydia two years ago. But hopefully the eye will settle down overnight and be fine for tomorrow.

Q. So dealing with something like that, does that make this round even more impressive for you that you were able to keep it going and maybe not have your best vision?
LYDIA KO: I played better in the back nine when my eyes were really sore. I actually made more birdies. So I said maybe that's the key for the weekend. But it's just uncomfortable when you've got all these to deal about.

But at the same time because I wasn't as focused as I wanted to be, I think that kind of made my putting and everything just more simple. I think that was kind of the key down the stretch. I said, hey, we've got six more holes, five more holes. I was kind of counting down. I think that made it more simple. Obviously, you don't want to be physically irritated, but I think having my eye being a little sore kind of got my mind a little bit off all the focus and got me to think a little bit more in a simple way.

Q. One eye, dealing with allergies, not your best ball striking and yet you're one shot back. How much confidence does that give you going into the weekend?
LYDIA KO: Yeah, I feel like I left a lot of putts out there yesterday. It wasn't the best ball striking day to day, but I still gave myself a few good looks at it. Here I think driving is key because the many shots you hit out of the fairway, I think it's as important, especially as the greens get firm, it's hard to stop the ball when you're in the rough.

Obviously, when you have the chances to make the putts it's going to be crucial. Obviously, making a few good putts, sometimes you're going to have three, four, five, six-footer par putts, and I think those are some of the key putts, actually, more so than the birdie putts.

Q. What will you do now before tomorrow?
LYDIA KO: I might just putt one eye closed just to have a few putts. Obviously, ball striking's not going to be great with one eye, but just have a few putts and go home and take the other contacts out and rest it up.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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