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RICOH WOMENâ€™S BRITISH OPEN

August 4, 2018

So Yeon Ryu

Fife, Scotland

Q. Slow start but you must be pleased?
SO YEON RYU: For sure, to be honest, my putting didn't really work well for the first four holes and finally my putting started to work the middle of the round and that's how I made a birdie four in a row.

Also the 15 birdie was quite a lucky birdie. My eagle putt was quite long but good enough to hit the cup and ended up a really easy birdie.

Really pleased with how I played out there and hopefully I can bring my A Game out tomorrow, as well.

Q. What are you most pleased with? Obviously the putting you just mentioned but when you have a slow start like that, it's such a big tournament. What are you most pleased with?
SO YEON RYU: I think especially when you play links golf where you just cannot really predict what's going on, and then I talked to my psychologist just before heading into this weekend, and then we said, as long as we commit to what we're going to hit, and then if you did it, you never look back.

Even though I started with two bogeys through four holes, I never looked back, and I just keep focused on what I'm going to have so I think that kind of attitude was really, really great and I'm very pleased with my attitude out there.

Q. You're placed well and you know what it's going to take to win. What's it going to take tomorrow?
SO YEON RYU: You know, sometimes just better not to expect anything. Just focus on what I can do, instead of just predict what's going on and I think for sure I'm in pretty good position heading into Sunday. I think if I can have this attitude tomorrow, as well, I can play good.

Q. Pretty impressive round and a special way to get through the second half of today. How are you feeling about how today went for you?
SO YEON RYU: Yeah, even though I started out having a rough start, my attitude was really, really great playing this golf course today. So I was able to putt really well in the middle of the round and then I made four birdies in a row and that gave me extra motivation and confidence to play really well the rest of the holes.

Even though 15 was a lucky birdie, I was really happy to have made a birdie out there. The last three holes, I finished really great, as well, and especially 17 and 1 was a really tough hole but I still was able to make a birdie chance even though I missed it. So right now I feel pretty comfortable with my long game and short game.

Q. Does rebounding from a tough start, and the finish -- the way you were playing, does that give you confidence going into tomorrow about where your game is at and you can rebound if there's challenges and play good golf?
SO YEON RYU: For sure. It's not just about the golf technique. I think it's more about just believeness for myself because like you said, when you're having a start with two bogeys, it's really hard to keep your head up, but that's what I did and I was able to make eight birdies after that.

So if I can have this attitude, for sure it's going to be a fun round tomorrow.

Q. What did you say to yourself to turn things around?
SO YEON RYU: I just keep saying, I'm not going to look back, because even though you look back, what you can do, it's already past. You cannot go back to the first tee.

So what I can focus is on rest of the hole. I really focus on what I could do instead of what I cannot do and that one really helped me out to make birdies afterward.

Q. You were four back to start the day. Did you have a game plan in mind or a certain number that you wanted to go out and shoot?
SO YEON RYU: No, well, sometimes I have those, you know, kind of thing, but for this week, not at all. Especially, you know, when you're playing links golf, you really don't know what's going on and then just I was more expecting to just keep calm and just not be frustrated with anything.

Because out here, finishing in the bunker is really penalizing, so you just have to accept the fact instead of think about, why did I hit the bunker. I try to be really kind to myself and that's the way how we can play really great on links golf course.

Q. Losing in the KPMG playoff, how much has that been a motivator this week?
SO YEON RYU: I think not just the fact that I finished second at the KPMG Women's PGA Championship. It's more the fact of how I performed that week. Because like beginning of this year, to be honest, I couldn't really get much confidence, like even though I just played okay, I wasn't really sure about my golf swing. I didn't really know what was going on.

Q. You mentioned winning the career Grand Slam is a big goal for you. What would it mean to pick up another leg for you at your favourite major?
SO YEON RYU: Yeah, this is the Home of Golf and I always dream to become a Major Champion at this tournament, and like you said, if I could win this tournament, it would be one step closer to be a Grand Slammer. It's going to mean a lot but I'm better to focus on what I can do.

Q. You holed so many great birdie putts. Can you talk us through the length?
SO YEON RYU: I've got to see it. 5 was about 20 feet. 6, tap-in. 7, ten foot. 8, like 18. 10 was 30 and then 12 was 12. 15 was like tap-in birdie putt.

Q. You mentioned over there about being kind to yourself. After a playoff loss, how important has that attitude been and maybe just rebounding from a disappointment?
SO YEON RYU: Well, because I'm a professional golfer, golf is quite a big part of my life but even though it's really a big part of my life, the golf is not really everything. You know, to be honest, really hurt to lose at the playoff but that's not going to affect to make my life, and once you start to talk about it, I cannot -- it's really hard to get over it.

So I just, after I finished the tournament, I just keep telling myself, even though you finished, you lost in the playoff, I think that was one of your best performance and then that attitude really may help me out to get rid of it. And then I just never look back. Like, well, maybe after KPMG, I had like ten days off. I didn't really play golf at all, and then I just went to see a lot of my family, friends, and that really helped me out to think about like forward instead of backward.

Then just before I came this country -- I played the Scottish ladies the week before this one, I came to play the Scottish ladies. A lot of people encouraging, we know the British Open is your favourite and you want to win a major tournament. They gave me positive energy and that really made me feel like how I'm going to play, I'm going to have so many supporters and I really want to enjoy my life.

It's really something special, you have a lot of supporters in your life. It's rare, that kind of support from the whole world, so that was more motivation, to playing my fourth major of the year.

Q. Is it commonplace for you to call your sports psychologist mid week during a major? What was the impetus for that call?
SO YEON RYU: I try to talk to her every week and even though I'm not going to have an hour session or something, I just told her when I practise, this was my mind-set and right now I'm having this kind of mind-set heading into the weekend. Then like she explained to me, you know, like when you're having this kind of attitude, that was your best attitude and we just sort of discussed that. Then I would say I just talked to her like pretty much every like two times a week.

Q. How did Cameron react to KPMG?
SO YEON RYU: He also said it's a really great tournament. He didn't mention about any bad shot. He just mention about the shot I had are really, really great. He also said he was really proud of myself, how I handled all the situation. Like he's always focussed on what we can improve instead of what we've done wrong. So i.e. especially the Scottish ladies was first time I've seen him after KPMG and we're more focused to play links golf instead of talk about bad shot at the KPMG.

Q. Following that up, you talked about how Cameron helped you hit so many more shots, a variety of shots. That must be most useful here, right?
SO YEON RYU: Yeah, for sure. You know, that's most important thing, and playing at this kind of golf course. Also, like for example, last week, he just put my ball behind the ball and I only had maybe like five yards from the bunker to the pin and then of course I wanted to do like flop shot and he wanted me to use hillside of the bunker just like into the green. I think he's just seeing those different ways to play and that definitely helped me out to having better creativity. He was at the Scottish Monday and Tuesday.

Q. You talked about trajectory?
SO YEON RYU: Basically he helped me out to hit a lot of different sort of shots, like just trajectory and cut, fade, shape, just every kind of shot.

Q. Could you have won this championship prior to working with him, do you think?
SO YEON RYU: Well, we never really -- well, obviously when you prepare the season, you're not really particularly focused on one tournament, but we went through pretty much every sort of my game. So when I'm playing links golf course, I need to pull up the shot I've been practising with him and then when I play -- like mountain course, I need to pull out other technique we've been focus on. I never focus on one tournament but we're always going through like every sort of shot.

Q. When you say this is your favourite tournament, is it because of links golf or is it the British culture? Do you enjoy traveling to this culture?
SO YEON RYU: Like everything, this is Home of Golf, Scotland and when we are coming this tournament, we play a very unique golf course and very historical golf course, as well. It's something before I came to this tournament, I talk to Michael Clayton, like my Aussie uncle and he said when Seve played his tournament, he had a 40 bunker shot and he was up-and-down like 13 times. It's really fun to know those kind of facts and those kind of historical thing just make me more thrilled to play this kind of tournament.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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