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UL INTERNATIONAL CROWN


October 3, 2018


Ariya Jutanugarn

Sherman Santiwiatthanaphong

Pornanong Phatlum

Moriya Jutanugarn


Incheon, South Korea

(Through translation.)

CHRISTINA LANCE: Welcome back everyone. Happy to be here with your our No. 6 seed, Team Thailand. Allow me to take a moment to introduce the players.

Start with Moriya Jutanugarn playing in her third UL International Crown with a record of 2, 3, and 2.

Next we have Pornanong Phatlum, also playing in her third UL International Crown with a record of 4, 2, and 1.

Making her debut this week is Sherman Santiwiwatthanaphong.

And then we have Ariya Jutanugarn playing in her third UL International Crown with a record of 1, 4, and 2.

Moriya, I'm going to start with you. I saw your pairings and saw you'll be playing with Pornanong. Bit of a surprise. I think a lot of us thought you might play with your sister. What was the strategy in coming up with the a least your first day pairings?

MORIYA JUTANUGARN: Well, I been playing with Pornanong last time and it's been work out pretty good.

And also we had pretty similar game, and I'm pretty sure that we going to support each other really good.

CHRISTINA LANCE: Sherman, I'll go down to you. You're the only rookie on the team. How much of a goal was it for you to make this team and play for Thailand this year?

SHERMAN SANTIWIWATTHANAPHONG: This is my first time play team with these girl. I'm so excited, and I think just going to go have fun and do my best.

CHRISTINA LANCE: Pornanong, this is your third now. What advice do you have for Sherman who hasn't played before and for the other rookies? What are some the big takeaways you have from previous times playing here?

PORNANONG PHATLUM: I just try to support her and tell her that do her best and try to have fun on the course. Yeah, she going to play with Ariya tomorrow, and just do your best and be relax.

CHRISTINA LANCE: Ariya, your turn. Again, three times playing here. Tell us about the honor of playing, A, as a team in what is such an individual sport, but also to be able to wear Thailand's flag on your sleeve and represent your country.

ARIYA JUTANUGARN: It's my third time, and such a huge like honor to be representing Thailand. Every time I play International Crown I feel like I never want to do for myself. I want to do for my country, for my team. It's so much fun every time I play. This time going to be the same.

We work so hard. We come here on Monday and we practice together in the morning; we do everything. We work hard.

CHRISTINA LANCE: We'll open it up for questions.

Q. Ariya, can you hear me on this? Yeah. What's the most intense, loud gallery you've ever played in front of? Where have the crowds been the biggest where you've felt the most pressure in the past?
ARIYA JUTANUGARN: I'm going to say Thailand. You know, because like every time when we play it's lots of people come. Lots of people come and support us. Sometime I feel pressure, but I think going to be tomorrow or maybe like Sunday this week I think.

Q. So how do you deal with that when you're playing on home soil? How did you find success when you have the most pressure with fans?
ARIYA JUTANUGARN: I think it been so tough for me. Maybe still now. I still feel the pressure or sometime I feel like excited or nervous. But it's just like I have to just come back to myself and just focus on the thing I can control and don't think about the outcome.

Because when lots of people expect you to play well it's so hard for you to play well.

Q. Can I ask you to answer that too, Moriya?
MORIYA JUTANUGARN: For me it's always hard because you know people expect. What I'm going to do, I try to like create my bubble and just be myself on the golf course. Just create my zone, my own space, and when you're inside rope, as a player you just got to enjoying everything on the golf course.

And sometime like everybody is rooting for me, or rooting for my team.

CHRISTINA LANCE: Pornanong, I'll hand this over to you. How long have the four of you been talking about your strategy and any plans you would have for the next week? Have you had any team chats or texts or anything?

PORNANONG PHATLUM: On Monday, right, we talk. Yeah, we play together on Monday. Yeah, we just plan.

ARIYA JUTANUGARN: Maybe for us like first time we have like three plan. Just like, How about I go with my sister. And be like, Can I go with Pornanong? I never play with her in match play. I be like, Oh, actually I should play with the rookie once, so I go with Sherman.

CHRISTINA LANCE: Sherman, do you think you'll have nerves on the first tee tomorrow? How do you think you're going to feel?

SHERMAN SANTIWIWATTHANAPHONG: I think I'm going to be like really excited, so I have to like try to focus on my game, yeah.

Q. Question for Mo. Jack Nicklaus Golf Club career, what sort of test is this as a match play layout, and how well suited is this course to the four players you have on your team?
MORIYA JUTANUGARN: I would say because the fairways is quite soft this week from what we been playing, I think it's probably fit my sister the most because she will like hit it longer than us.

That's good for our team, because, you know, like my sister, and then we had a rookie here that's going to save her back. I think that's what we need in match play.

Also for two of us it's probably we going to have -- like for me, myself, I have quite a pretty long irons into the green, but, you know, like I'm pretty sure like my teammate hit it really straight and hit the fairway and green every time. She going to help me and maybe carry me tomorrow. I don't know.

But, you know, like I think it's -- like everybody have to play in the same condition. We never know because it's going to be a match play.

Q. You're all such great golfers. Are you comfortable out there even during your practices about giving each other tips? Like do you say, You know, hit it here or make sure you don't hit it there? How comfortable are you with that?
ARIYA JUTANUGARN: We really comfortable practice together. All I got from my team is tell me if I going to hit driver, make sure I hit in the fairway. That all I go from them. I don't know what other.

CHRISTINA LANCE: Will we see driver this week?

ARIYA JUTANUGARN: Yes, maybe few hole. I have to pray tonight.

Q. I actually have two questions: First one is about the driver. If you were to hit driver several times every day this week, do you think that it's something that could give you confidence to then use it in play in a regular event? Is that what you're hoping?
ARIYA JUTANUGARN: Actually I been practice my driver every tournament in practice round in pro-am. After that I just decide like what I want to do. You know, I didn't hit driver for a while, maybe more than one years. I just need to see a good shot. I feel like if I see enough good shot I'm going to feel really confident to hit in the regular tournament.

Q. Just curious for either one of you that wants to answer how this tournament, in terms of the awareness, has grown in Thailand. Are people paying attention to this tournament in Thailand? Do you think this would be a successful event in Thailand perhaps?
MORIYA JUTANUGARN: I'm pretty sure everybody really exciting like us as well. It's pretty big deal for Thailand because like to play for your country, and also really big deal for us as well.

I think people going to be waiting for the match tomorrow, next day, and like people going to try to follow a lot. I'm really exciting for it. I'm pretty sure people really very exciting to rooting for team Thailand.

Q. (Through translation.) I have two questions. One goes Ariya and the other goes to Moriya. For Ariya, seems that golf in Thailand is really growing. Do you think that you get a lot of inspiration from Korea, or do you think there are other factors contributing to the growth of Thailand golf? This is for Ariya.
ARIYA JUTANUGARN: Like of course we all like watch like how Korean doing because I feel like they got the best female golfer in Korea. Also I think all the people in Thailand, all the kid, always inspire from Thai golfer. We got like, you know, Pornanong been playing on LPGA for long time.

Q. Second question is for Moriya: Korea is being cited as one of the strongest to win, strongest team to win. What is your comment on that? Do you get inspired from the Korean team as well?
MORIYA JUTANUGARN: Well, yes, Korea has a really strong team this year. I mean, ever years, but I would say it's match play. You never know what's going to happen. And also team Thailand, you know, as long as we get along well and try to help each other, hopefully we doing pretty good this week.

Q. (Through translation.) This question is to Ariya. On the LPGA Tour you compete alongside a lot of Korean players. Do you think that Korean players in general have a particular area where they have strength in, like particularly good at something or some area in general?
ARIYA JUTANUGARN: Going to say everything. I mean, Korea on the LPGA is like one of the best country on the LPGA. I feel like they have everything like so good. If you look at one player, I feel like one player got everything. Short game, strength, everything.

CHRISTINA LANCE: Thank you so much, ladies, good luck this week. See you tomorrow.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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