BMW LADIES CHAMPIONSHIP

October 19, 2025

Sei Young Kim

Pine Valley Golf Links

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We joined by our winner Sei Young Kim here at the BMW Ladies Championship. Our the 27th different winner this season on the LPGA Tour, which I don't know if you know, breaks a record on the LPGA Tour. What does that mean to hear that and to be part of such an historic season?

SEI YOUNG KIM: I think it shows how strong the LPGA Tour is at the moment. In the past, we normally had winners coming from top five tore top 10 now but in a ace did you never know where we're going to have the winner. It's becoming like the PGA TOUR, where we have so many strong, competent players on the planet.

THE MODERATOR: And winning in your home country, what does that mean to you, and what has the fan support meant?

SEI YOUNG KIM: I think it took me more than ten years to win a victory in front of my family and friends. It means so much so me. It is a tournament that I really wanted to win, and I find that I can't express my words to all of it. I really had good energy from all the fans, and really appreciate and thankful to that.

Q. Walk us through the play today, you missed a birdie chance on the first hole, and also you had a bogey and three-putt on the third hole and then you made consecutive birdies. Can you please walk us through all that?

SEI YOUNG KIM: Yes, I was very nervous from the very beginning, since it has been a while since I played in the last group, I wasn't sure whether this was real. So I really was questioning myself.

I did miss birdie chance on the first hole and made a bogey. And A Lim was really chasing me by one shot, she's a very aggressive player, so I thought I should play aggressively, as well. That attitude continued until the end of the round and my father always told me when I'm nervous, don't back off and I tried to remember that mindset.

Q. So the score today was under par and seems on the front nine you are getting momentum at the later stage of play. I wanted to hear what was your thought after the third hole?

SEI YOUNG KIM: So a lot of thoughts went through my head, and won one problem solved, another popped up and that continued to happen. I was leading by four shots, and I was thinking to myself, oh, my God, what if I lose, this would be very embarrassing, maybe all the fans and galleries will tell me off, with all the support I'm getting. So I think I was getting very energetic power to really believe in me and push myself. At the end it really was a fight against me, and I think that attitude continued throughout play all day, and I tried to solve problem by problem.

Q. So you had a champagne shower at the ceremony, how did that feel and you have so many fans, especially from your parents' hometown. I wanted to hear what are your thoughts, and what did you say to your father?

SEI YOUNG KIM: It's always a pleasure to get the champagne shower from my colleagues. I think I'm a little tipsy now but I have so many friends family members from my hometown, I think my family was the loudest out there on the field. My grandpa and grandparents, I'm very happy that I made them happy and gave them a little energy.

Q. So I have a couple of questions. Your last win in 2015, you were starting from behind, and finally won the victory and today your 13th victory, it's a wire-to-wire, a very different story line here. I wanted to hear, how did you make that happen, especially for the past three or four events, you weren't in the winning competition but you couldn't really go through that very hard hurdle. What was the difference that made you win this time? And the follow-up question, except the first round, you started bogey to start off three rounds. I'm sure that wasn't on purpose but what was your mentality to resolve such a difficult start that you made with.

SEI YOUNG, KIM: So there were many chances where I could have won, so I thought very hard why I couldn't get the chances. But in the past I was trying to set a particular way to resolve that, but I realize that that wasn't really working.

From the China event, I tried to reset the whole thing and not just stick with one method, just doing impromptu and just facing the challenge and trying to push it way through. I realize that that's actually my style, and this is something that I have finally realized, and I think this is something more meaningful than the victory I made; that realization that I made.

Regarding the bogey start, I think I probably started with too much excitement starting off the round. So I tried to calm that tone and tried to just push myself throughout the play and make the right balance.

Q. You've been working with your caddie, and you've never changed your caddie. What is the reason why you've been working so well with your caddie, and today, what advice did he give you?

SEI YOUNG KIM: I'm ever grateful, there are so many great players on the LPGA and I was afraid he was actually going to leave me. But Paul I think is one of the great caddies out there. I wanted to make a good performance so that it's worthy that he stays with me. I'm really thankful that he's been working all the way here with me. He's a veteran caddie with more than 30 ears of experience. Today's play it was very stable. It was actually me who had lots of up-and-downs, and I think Paul by the No. 4 hole, he said something in Korean, something like, "You can do it" in Korean. I can't remember it but that really cheered me up.

Q. Congratulations again. You didn't have a victory for a while because there that you kind of had a victory every year. How did you overcome that difficult times? And this is your 13th win in your career. Is there any memorable moment you can think of for today's event?

SEI YOUNG KIM: There wasn't any victory for the past five years. I was worried that this was going to get longer. I just wanted to try hard, whether it takes five years or ten years. I think it's very important that you find the momentum and keep on that track, and keeping on the right track is I think one of the biggest lessons that I have learned.

I want to take this momentum to have more wins in my career going forward.

Q. The significance of this victory, of course you didn't have the win for the past five years, I'm sure it was difficult times and now with this win it's almost like a new second chapter in your career life. So I want to hear about your opinions on that, and also there are many players on the Tour who haven't had a win for a while, and for that you can be a role model. I just want to hear the significance of this victory.

SEI YOUNG KIM: I think the players who have been doing well will eventually find their way back to pick up their momentum, and it can take a while, and I don't think you can find that out by yourself. You always need help from others. That's also what I have been doing, getting help from others. When I'm going off the track, there's always people telling me and putting me back to the right track. I think that's how to overcome it.

And obviously not every day can be a good day. There can be bad days and good days, and it's very important to appreciate the people you have around you and be nice to them, and also, the players who are doing well, they have to just keep remind themselves about the good days that they had.

Q. Looking at the remaining events on the LPGA, I know you are going to Malaysia, but we have not sewn your name at the entry list of Toto Japan, and if so, why are you not joining that event?

SEI YOUNG KIM: So I'll be going to Malaysia. Because the quite distance is flight long, I'll probably go back to the U.S. after that for two weeks to Dallas, and then I will just join the CME.

Q. What was your thought in the morning, putting those trousers back off? And you're now officially over prize money $15 million, almost in the top 10, becoming a legend. What is your thoughts on that?

SEI YOUNG KIM: So my trousers, I was thinking I have so many chances before, and if I don't win, I'm never going to wear this again, that was my thought. But now with this win, I'll probably have to wear that again and again.

In the past, my standard was to earn a lot of money; that was also part of my goal as a player but I don't think that really held. So from this year, my actual goal is to pull up my World Ranking, and I think that ranking tells a value of player in the world. I will do my best to pull up my ranking.

Q. Yesterday and today you made four birdies in the middle holes, whereas you made bogeys on the holes and the par 5 you made eagle and with the bogeys and birdies, it seems that you are a very strong bounce back player. I want to hear, you did short putting practice yesterday, and did you have a nice meal last night?

SEI YOUNG KIM: Yes, I had a nice meal with my family, we ordered in, some meat, but I was too nervous to eat and finish my dinner. My family members, I didn't finish everything because they say they need a lot of energy to cheer my on today.

Regarding the play style, when I made a bogey on the par 5, the gap with the other players were getting shorter, so I wanted to make the birdie chances as much as possible. By the time I got to 17, I was leading by a few shots, so rather than going aggressive, I wanted to be stable..

THE MODERATOR: I just have a couple more.

You mentioned yesterday having a good mindset coming into this week, how do you think you did with that today? How would you kind of rate yourself?

SEI YOUNG KIM: Yeah, I think that really helped having that rookie mindset, as in showing my real me. As I get more experience on the tour, I tend to find more leeways, other methods to do well. Now I try to take all of that and be more of a rookie just to show the real, natural me, and I think that came out well today.

THE MODERATOR: Can you talk about the red pants?

SEI YOUNG KIM: So when I turned pro, I wanted people to remember me, and I thought of Tiger Woods always red shirts. So I was looking for, why not go for the red trousers. By wearing that, I got my first win. So I stuck with that.

THE MODERATOR: And can you talk about how you started working with Paul, how that kind of came about?

SEI YOUNG KIM: Paul actually worked with any young and when I saw him on the course, I realized he was very detailed in tracking the course, and he looked very trustworthy with his good physique and I actually reached out to him first. Back then, he was in charge of another player and he was taking a rest, and he actually helped me for the 2014 qualifying round, and that was going to just be a one-time-off. But I asked him again to do several more, and then I got the second win, and since then we started working together.

THE MODERATOR: Lastly, how you do you plan to celebrate? Is there any way you would like to celebrate?

SEI YOUNG KIM: No plan yet. I have to now start to think about how to celebrate. Many fans have told me to have some nice food.