COGNIZANT FOUNDERS CUP

October 8, 2021

Xiyu Lin

Mountain Ridge Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Xiyu Lin, solid 68 today. Take us through your round.

XIYU LIN: Yesterday I didn't get to finish my first round, so I came really early to finish my last through holes of the day.

Unfortunately we had the fog delay again this morning, but, I mean, I finished the last three holes with a birdie, which is a good finish.

And then after short break I played my second round. I'm not hitting the ball really good today, but I'm putting it really well and I get really well around the greens, so I'm really happy with my score.

Q. Having that little bit of break in between, how do you stay focused on what you're doing between the two different rounds?

XIYU LIN: I mean, I'm actually glad that we have a short enough break, because after I put my scorecard in I think I only had 30, 35 minutes. So I grab new balls and then have some food and then just quickly had a couple putt and just go.

And, I mean, and this course is very challenging and really needs to have a good strategy of it, so I think I been doing it pretty well.

Q. You said you found something on the greens this week. On a course like this where the greens are so challenging, how do you strategize, you and your caddie, to get yourselves in a good mindset?

XIYU LIN: This course is definitely very challenging overall. For me, because I was in China for last three months, so I had -- didn't get to see my coach until last week. So I was doing quite a bit of swing changes, so I know I'm going to be a little, you know, hitting some bad shot that I don't like.

From the practice round I know I need to be smart around the green. And then for putting, this year I always try to be as confident as I can. For these greens they're so smooth so I really enjoy putting on these greens.

Q. Having not seen your coach for three months, that's kind of a difficult thing to go through. What had you been doing without your coach for that long?

XIYU LIN: Well, we FaceTime and then he took a look of my swing. That's pretty much it.

Because last three months I only played the National Games games and the Olympics, so I didn't do a lot either. And playing in China, I mean, even in Asia it's pretty different than over in the States.

So I somehow managed to still having good score, but I definitely see myself have some, you know, tendency kind of kicks in again.

So last week for the first time he gave me like five drill in one day, which is a lot for me. So, yeah, my head is a little bit all over the place.

Q. Speaking to that, heading into the weekend how do you get yourself a little bit more in control and ready to go and contend for a title?

XIYU LIN: This course, still first you have to perform really well on the green, and I think -- because right now, I mean, I have no pressure at all. I'm just going to play my best, and then I probably going to go to the range, hit some balls, try to find the rhythm back.

And then just see what happens tomorrow.