ARAMCO SAUDI LADIES INTERNATIONAL PRESENTED BY PUBLIC INVESTMENT FUND

February 17, 2023

Lydia Ko

Royal Greens Golf & Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Lydia, is it windy out there?

LYDIA KO: Yeah, I think it's pretty windy when I just saw the birdies go sideways. I felt like on a few shots the ball just took the blinkers, and with any sort of spin going with the wind it was gone.

So it's pretty safe to say that the Red Sea plus the wind makes it extra difficult for us golfers out there trying to get the ball in the hole in the shortest amount of shots.

Q. It was insane watching. We saw you widen your stance on the putts. You nearly had to do the splits out there.

LYDIA KO: I was like, man, I normally have a pretty wide stance for I think the width of my shoulders, but it was just getting wider and wider. I still couldn't keep my putter stable enough.

I think on 16 I ended up making the putt, but hit it so far off the middle of the club face there is probably no like control in that area. It's just one of those days that you know it's going to be tough. It's tough for everyone.

Luckily for us, we were one of the early few groups in the afternoon, so we had to bear with this wind a little shorter than maybe some of the other players.

Yeah, it's something that we were forecasted. I knew it was going to be difficult. But all in all, I thought I played pretty solid in the stretch where it did get pretty windy.

Q. You're very much in control of your game because you're right in contention going into the weekend. Life is great. You just got married. You won CME last year. You're world No. 1. Do you have to pinch yourself sometimes how well it's going right now?

LYDIA KO: I think for me, especially at the end of last year as I was getting closer to the D-Day of getting married, I was like, man, I literally have found my best friend. I'm going to get married to the person I love the most and everything else was going to be a bonus.

So I think that mindset really helped when I was playing, because no matter if I shot 85, 75, 65, or 55, I knew that the man of my dreams was going to be there and support me. I think that was such a like easier mindset to go out there and play and just focus on my game and just have fun and not let golf dictate who I am and how I perceive myself.

So it's kind of the mindset right now. I think I'm very grateful about the things that have happened in the last few months on and off the golf course, so I'm trying to ride the good rhythm. It's been so long since CME. I wasn't sure how it was going to be. Playing really solid yesterday helped with the nerves, and I'm excited for a fun maybe just as breezy weekend.