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UL INTERNATIONAL CROWN


July 23, 2016


Shanshan Feng

Simin Feng

Lin Yuxin

Jing Yan


Chicago, Illinois

KRAIG KANN: Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome back into the media center here at the 2016 UL International Crown. We've got team China from Pool A with a total of six points. First off, congratulations. It was obviously a very good day. I'm going to make this pretty easy. Start with the match on the end that just finished. That half a point is probably going to be pretty big for you there, Jenny Money.

SHANSHAN FENG: Well, I mean, on the last hole there, I didn't hit it very close after the second shot. Simin hit a great shot there, and then I finished the par first, and I was on the other side, and then we thought it was a pretty straight putt, so maybe we gave Simin like a little bit wrong read, so she under-read that one. But overall she played really really well today. I played well at the front, at the beginning, but Simin was unbelievable today.

SIMIN FENG: Thank you.

KRAIG KANN: Simin, were you nervous today to be out there knowing the importance of today to Team China?

SIMIN FENG: I think like I'm the kind of person where I start teeing off like super nervous, like I can't even hit a drive, but then I kind of start chilling out.

At the end I was just really enjoying the round, but I didn't get too much nerves on me.

KRAIG KANN: Obviously a good day for these two right here. I think it's interesting, Xi Yu, from what I heard, somebody just told me you borrowed a putter from one of the club pros here at the Merit Club because you left yours at your hotel room. Is that accurate?

XI YU LIN: Yes because last two rounds I didn't putt very good, so yesterday afternoon I decided to bring my putter back to my room and do some extra practice, and today heading to the putting green, I just realized that the putter is not with me. Yeah, it was really struggling. I have to thank to all my teammates because after they all know it, it's obviously my very big mistake, but my partner and Simin and Shanshan, they even just keep telling me, it's okay, it's okay, just relax, and yeah, we borrowed -- I borrowed a putter from the club pro here, and yeah, I have to thank him, as well.

I guess today I just keep telling myself, just hit closer, and it's easier to make the putts. I did really good. My long game is awesome today, so I think that really helps.

KRAIG KANN: The easy follow-up question is are you going to give him the putter back, or are you using it tomorrow?

XI YU LIN: I don't know. I don't even know if -- I guess I'm going to give it back to him. He can have actually mine.

Q. Let's get some thoughts from you on your day today. This was a big win and obviously puts China in position to play tomorrow. Your thoughts?
JING YAN: Yeah, well, we know that going into today we needed to have a big day either to advance to the playoff or to go straight into Sunday singles. I'm just seriously incredibly proud of what we did today. Everyone here, all my girls, we just went out there and played our hearts out, despite many setbacks that we had, like Xi Yu with the putter. She did a fantastic job using the putter on day one, so maybe that's my strategy for tomorrow.

Q. Was it the same kind of putter?
XI YU LIN: It's the same brand. It's an Odyssey putter. I first borrowed a putter from LPGA ruling, and it's also the same brand, but it's a little older one, and then he found me that one, actually got a pretty similar club face, so it's kind of like the same putter, yeah.

Q. A blade putter?
XI YU LIN: It was a blade putter, yeah.

Q. Shanshan, what was the extent of your match play experience prior to this week?
SHANSHAN FENG: Well, I've learned a lot.

Q. Had you played at all before this week?
SHANSHAN FENG: No. Well, we used to have that Sybase Match Play, the tournament, but that was an individual game, and I only played one year. I think I lost maybe on the second round or something like that, so I don't have much experience playing the match plays. But I think I've learned a lot in these three days, and I think I kept playing better and better every day.

I think all of my teammates have been doing really, really great. So I think just feeling happy, feeling confident, and we're just waiting to see what's going on.

Q. Did you ask anyone for advice or anything?
SHANSHAN FENG: Yeah, I was asking a lot of different people, and actually in our team, Simin and Jennifer, Jenny Sexy, they actually have more experiences with playing match play, so I actually -- we had a talk, and we were talking to the Taipei team and I was asking a couple more players like what should I do in match play and what's the difference that I should do like compared to playing like individual games. Yeah, so I learned a lot.

Q. Jing, what does it mean for China to be able to play on this stage, and what would it mean to advance to the weekend for China?
JING YAN: Oh, it would be just such a huge incredible deal because we came into this event throughout the year not knowing whether we were even going to get into this event that we were trying desperately hard to get into. At the end we became the eighth seed. We were the seventh seed a week before. There was kind of a nervousness whether we would even get in or not. Just to be here right now and possibly go into a playoff later, to have the opportunity to represent your country and wave that Chinese flag on Sunday in front of 170 countries or something, it's just ridiculous right now.

Q. You already mentioned coming into today your backs were against the wall in your pool. You needed points. But today you guys switched your pairings up. I was wondering whose idea was it, how did that come up within the team chemistry to change the pairings coming into today?
SIMIN FENG: Well, yesterday we were just sitting down like super casual in the lunchroom, and bringing this up because we finished a little bit earlier yesterday so we had a little extra time to decide who's going to play with who, and Xi Yu was mentioning if we could switch something fresh, and it ended up to be double Feng, Feng squared, and our Asian Games silver medalist actually, so it worked out great for us today.

KRAIG KANN: Let me ask you this: As she just mentioned, you did not know that you were going to get into this event. The question was just asked about changing pairings up and all that sort of stuff. England seems very relaxed, your team seems very relaxed. Is it because there is no captain, because there's nobody making the decisions, because you all have to truly bond together? Is that what makes this special for you all?

SHANSHAN FENG: Well, I think I mentioned to the media like earlier this week, I said, normally for team events, we do have a captain, but this time we don't. But I do think we have four brains, four people working together is better than one brain like thinking. So I think it's such a good thing, and we all know about our games, and we know each other so well. It's really -- this is a team event, so it's all about communication. So I think that's why -- we really communicate really well, and I think also it was because England and us, we got in the last two -- I believe seventh and eighth seed, so we've got nothing to lose. That's why we're kind of relaxed, yeah.

KRAIG KANN: Has this been one of the best golf experiences for you?

SHANSHAN FENG: Oh, yeah, sure. It reminded me of maybe my rookie year. I never tried so hard to make birdies and tried to hit it really close to the pins like recently because this is already my ninth year on the Tour, and I would say I'm not playing as aggressively as when I was like 18 or 19. When I was young I'd always go for the pin, just doesn't matter if I make it -- it might be either a 3 or a 6 but I will just go for it. But now as I'm growing older, I'm more mature. Actually in this situation maybe I actually tried to make more like a 4 instead of either 3 or 6. But this time I'm really trying to go for the pins. I'm really trying to be aggressive.

It's a great thing for me. It makes me more refreshed, I think.

KRAIG KANN: How much fun are you having? How great is it to be here this week and see where this is all going?

JING YAN: It's pretty surreal. I think this is the best tournament that I've had all year, just being able to bond and making aggressive plays, pulling off shots that you usually wouldn't under the pressure.

XI YU LIN: Yeah, definitely, because we always playing the individual games, like we have to think by ourselves and make decisions by ourselves. Sometimes when I'm approaching the green, I have to think even more like about next shot and the shot after. But here I just feel very relaxed, and we have a very aggressive strategy. I always know, no matter if I'm playing with Jennifer or Shanshan, I always know even I hit a bad shot, they will always be there and support me, and they can figure that out.

It's a very, very fun experience for me.

SIMIN FENG: Yeah, I would say this is the most fun event ever I've played, because first of all, it's a team event, and then everybody is playing -- bonding with each other and then playing with each other instead of kind of playing your own golf. And also you get to hit, like Jing said, we can hit shots that we would never really hit on individual play, and just pulling out shots and then forget about it and go to the next hole, tee off fresh. It's a different kind of feeling.

KRAIG KANN: Congratulations to team China. We appreciate you coming in here.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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