SOLHEIM CUP

September 20, 2023

Andrea Lee

Lilia Vu

Rose Zhang

Finca Cortesin

Team USA

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Good afternoon. Welcome to the media center here at the Solheim Cup. I'm joined by Andrea Lee, Rose Zhang, and Lilia Vu here to my left. If you have any questions, there is a floating mic around here and if you have questions on the chat, please type them in and I will ask them of the ladies.

Andrea, you've told me a bunch of times how big of a dream it is for you to play on the Solheim Cup. This will be your first playing. Is it living up to your expectations? Are you living the dream right now?

ANDREA LEE: Yes, it is. Super excited to be here in Spain, along with our teammates. It's just been an awesome experience so far with all the fans and the grandstands and just seeing everything come together. It's pretty surreal and it's definitely a dream come true for me and I know it is for all the rest of us rookies on the team.

THE MODERATOR: Rose, this is just, I think, your eighth event on the LPGA Tour this season. After you won Mizuho and became a LPGA team member, did you even think it would be possible to get here all on your own?

ROSE ZHANG: No, a hundred percent not. I think when I played Mizuho, it was only with the intentions of starting off my career and playing the best I could, trying to make the cut. Obviously the results turned out differently and I've been super grateful for all the experiences that I've gained thus far on tour.

But being in the Solheim Cup this year was certainly not one of the goals in mind, but the fact that it happened, I'm just super blessed to be alongside players that I've grown up watching and playing alongside them representing the red, white, and blue.

THE MODERATOR: Lilia, you have represented Team USA in a lot of aspects, Ryder Cup, Curtis Cup. How does this compare, your first Solheim Cup, to maybe some of your past Team USA experiences?

LILIA VU: Yeah, it's been really fun with all the practice rounds and team bonding stuff. Honestly, it kind of feels like college golf again, so it's been really fun for me.

THE MODERATOR: Amazing.

If there are any questions here in the room, I'd like to open it up now.

Q. For Rose, you just talked about how you didn't think it was possible to be able to be on this Solheim Cup team. Where does that rank in all of your long list of accomplishments that you've had so early in your career so far?

ROSE ZHANG: It's so hard to rank every single one of the accomplishments. I feel like every experience that I've gained has been so unique in its own right. This is definitely up there. Being able to play the Solheim Cup is truly a dream come true. I've played two Junior Solheim Cup's before, one in Des Moines and one in Gleneagles. But I watched and witnessed all these professional players represent Europe and the U.S. on that first tee, but that was the experience and adrenaline that I've seen before and to be a part of it now is really cool.

Q. Are you still taking any classes at Stanford, and if so, how much work do you have to do this week?

ROSE ZHANG: So I am currently on a leave of absence. I decided not to torture myself in fall quarter. But when I go back, it will be winter quarter, most likely January.

Q. Welcome to your first Solheim Cup. Andrea, I don't know if you could comment on playing -- you're playing alongside with Rose, just both Stanford Cardinals. How kind of a cool experience is that for the two of you to have that shared history at Stanford and to be able to share this moment as well?

ANDREA LEE: Yeah, it's a really special experience to share this with Rose. We didn't play in college together, and I actually haven't played a tournament round of golf with her until Cincinnati last week, but she's an incredible player, so the fact that she qualified on her own this year is pretty amazing. It's really cool to be able to share this week with her. We have great support in our Cardinal family back at Stanford, so it's pretty awesome to be able to share that.

Q. Lilia, looking back a couple years ago, you were out on the Epson Tour winning away, got back to the LPGA last season, and then have done what you've done this year, now sitting at your first Solheim Cup. If you would have told yourself two years ago everything that was going to happen in 2023, would you have believed it and what would you have said?

LILIA VU: No, I wouldn't have believed it. I was almost done with golf at -- like, when I was on Epson. This has always been a dream of mine to play here and it's been really surreal to be here. I thought I would be more nervous being here, but I don't know why I feel so calm. I think because I have 11 of the best teammates, and I just feel like they have my back no matter what.

Q. Andrea, you had a wonderfully consistent run on the LPGA in the last month leading up to this week that secured your spot. What is it that you found in your game that helped you there?

ANDREA LEE: Yeah, I feel like the first half of the year I struggled a little bit, short game, with putting, and just mentally, I felt like maybe I was a little bit anxious to try and do really well off the bat, especially after having a good year last year with my first win on tour.

I had so many goals that I wanted to accomplish, Solheim Cup being one of them. I feel like I just kind of had to take a pause and press the reset button five months into the year and just mentally regroup myself. So I stayed just super patient. I didn't expect anything to happen. Solheim Cup was kind of even out of my mind at the point. I just wanted to focus on myself and my game first, and I knew that the hard work would pay off eventually.

Thankfully, I've had a good run in Europe and the last few weeks. It was an awesome feeling being able to qualify automatically for the Solheim Cup team this week. Hopefully, I can represent our team really well.

THE MODERATOR: I have a follow-up for Lilia or Rose. Seeing Andrea just get the finish right on the number in Canada, how impressed were either of you with that and how great is it just to have her around the team, a player that I know you both are somewhat familiar with?

LILIA VU: I would say I'm pretty good friends with Andrea, and it was really baller to see her play her way in in Canada, so I'm really happy for her and happy that she's here with us.

Q. For each of you, with being rookies on the team, I'm curious what piece of advice or nugget you received about competing this week that's really stood out to you, if you could share.

ANDREA LEE: I think we've all gotten a lot of pieces of advice from veterans and our captain, Stacy, especially about, you know, on the first tee that we're definitely going to feel nerves like we've never experienced before. I think we're all kind of anticipating that, that moment when our names are announced, you know, representing the United States of America.

Someone said -- I forgot who, in a practice round earlier this week, that they had received a piece of advice saying that you should take two really hard practice swings on the first tee to kind of like get the adrenaline out, to like get those nerves out, before you actually tee up the ball. So I thought that was pretty helpful.

ROSE ZHANG: I have to second that. All the advice that we've received was just how to deal with the crowds and how to deal with the adrenaline that we're going to get on the golf course, especially Angela, she talked to me yesterday on the 17th green and she was talking about how basically everyone who has played the Solheim Cup before has always felt nerves, and the nerves, the first tee nerves, just the overall adrenaline that we get is not a cap in any sense. So it's really cool to be able to know that there were people ahead of us and people who are on the team who are going to be experiencing the same emotions and the same feelings, but we're all in it together.

LILIA VU: Yeah, some of the other veterans also talked about the first tee to me and how the adrenaline and the nerves, and I haven't felt it yet, but I'm sure the adrenaline will kick in eventually. But, yeah, it's just super exciting to be here.

Q. For each of you, getting to do this for the first time, has it been what you expected so far?

ANDREA LEE: I feel like it will hit us on the first tee. I feel like the crowds aren't really there yet. There are definitely a lot of fans out that have been watching us the last couple of days, but I feel like the crowds are what really make the Solheim cups, and I think we're kind of waiting for that on the first tee on Friday.

But in every way it's surpassed my expectations of being on a Solheim Cup team. It's been really amazing being able to be surrounded by some of the best players in the world and also my teammates. So it's been pretty special.

ROSE ZHANG: I would say it's everything I kind of expected, but more. Like Andrea said, there's not as many crowds right now, but once we're playing and once we continue with the event there's going to be more and more people watching. Spain is beautiful. This is my first time here. To be able to be in such an incredible venue, with great weather, it's going to be just a really nice experience to share with not only our loved ones who are coming to watch but also with my teammates.

LILIA VU: Yeah, I mean, this is obviously everything we've dreamed of since we were little girls. Honestly, my first impression coming here, it kind of felt like San Diego California, so kind of like home to me, despite how hilly it is. But, yeah, honestly, I think that's why I haven't been nervous because it kind of just feels like home and that I'm playing another tournament with some of my best friends. It's just been really fun.

Q. Lilia specifically but certainly would open it up to Andrea and Rose. Have you guys talked about adopting an underdog mentality at all this week? We've heard Captain Pettersen talk about Europe having their, she thinks, they're strongest team ever. They have won two straight cups. Do you consider yourselves underdogs and if so how much do you enjoy being able to come here on European soil to try to bring back the cup to Team USA?

LILIA VU: I wouldn't consider ourselves underdogs, but I think we can come in here with nothing to lose because there's really nothing to lose. I think we're a pretty young team, but I think we're going to come out really strong and we're going to have fun and our game will show on the course.

Q. Rose, what's your expectations on how much you'll play this week and do you expect that because being the youngest one that you may not be able to play as many matches as some of the other players?

ROSE ZHANG: In my opinion, I think it's quite all right. I think whatever my place, whatever I should do is for the team. Regardless of how much I'm playing, I'm going to be fighting out there every single event or every single match that I participate in. So no hard feelings there. I feel like I love being on the sidelines cheering for my teammates, if that's what I'm going to do. That's basically what being part of a team is.

Q. Lilia, you said after you won the British that you thought those two early wins might be flukes. How has your confidence changed since then?

LILIA VU: I honestly haven't really thought about it much. I think I've been thinking about this tournament for the past two months. So not much has changed. I still feel the same, to be honest. And, yeah.

THE MODERATOR: Okay. Thank you ladies. Good luck this week.