WOMEN'S AMATEUR ASIA-PACIFIC CHAMPIONSHIP

February 15, 2026

Yunseo Yang

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Ladies and gentlemen, I am delighted to introduce our 2026 Women's Amateur Asia Pacific champion, Yunseo Yang, of the Republic of Korea. Congratulations.

YUNSEO YANG: Thank you.

Q. Can you tell us how you're feeling, please?

YUNSEO YANG: A little bit nervous, but it was really nice to play with my Korean (indiscernible.) At the beginning I had some bad shots, but I was happy I could move on.

Q. Yunseo, Korea has always played so strongly in the WAAP; has never had a champion. How proud are you to finally be the first Korean to win this championship?

YUNSEO YANG: My first WAAP was last year and I did well, so it was a very memorable competition for me. And for this year the champion's group was all three Koreans and we Koreans did very well, and very happy about that.

Q. It was a very close fight with you and Soomin. Talk to us about hole 13 and 14 particularly, what happened there.

YUNSEO YANG: On the third tee, my first shot wasn't very good. I managed to get my second shot well, and that led to a par which I was aiming for.

Only the 14th it wasn't intentional but the first shot hit really well and I was able to score an eagle. Thanks to the competition with Soomin I was able to have a really memorable game today.

Q. Just to follow up on that, how far was your drive on 14? What was the distance you hit that?

YUNSEO YANG: So 14th was 230 yards by my calculation and I hit with a wood and there was wind from the back, which helped the shot, and it bounced once well onto the green.

Q. Can I just ask you as well to you tell us about your relationship with Soomin, how close you are, and if there was much talk between the two of you today and with Kim?

YUNSEO YANG: So Soomin, close from our first appearance in WAAP, and also Gyu Been. They're both on international team and we had some good time together training in Thailand. Very close with both teammates.

Q. Golf in South Korea has always been very strong. Strongest in Asia. Do you think this title is a bit overdue? What's your comment?

YUNSEO YANG: Even though I'm not professional yet, my senior pro golf players in Korea, they're doing very well. I think Korea is still strong in women's golf in Asia.

Q. How excited are you by the opportunities that this win provides, three majors, including the AIG Women's Open later this year?

YUNSEO YANG: I'm very honored to have opportunity to participate in the three major tournaments, especially as I grew up watching the other golfers do well, especially AIG. I'm very honored to have this opportunity.

Q. Are there any golfers in particular you're excited to be playing within those majors?

YUNSEO YANG: I was always amazed of how well Lydia Ko plays and I am really looking forward to playing with her.

Q. Just one more. (Indiscernible) how were you able to sort of maintain your focus and not get carried away by the excitement?

YUNSEO YANG: Obviously LPGA tournaments are going to be different to the environment that I was used to so I'm going practice very hard until I go to the tournaments.

And I'm going to be more in a learning stance and try it gain a lot of experience at those tournaments.

Q. Can you tell us a little bit how confident you were at the start of the week. You had a 64 in round one. Also how do you feel about the Royal Wellington course? What was it that suited your game?

YUNSEO YANG: The 64 on the first day gave me a boost in confidence. And for the course Wellington, I took a look on the first two practice rounds I had. I tried to be more stable rather than aggressive to know the course better and as I played I got to know the course better over the days.

Q. Just one final one from me. Had you planned to turn professional if you hadn't won today, and what are your immediate plans for the rest of the year apart from the three majors? I think you're going Augusta as well. Any thoughts about that?

YUNSEO YANG: So for the first question, I was planning to turn pro this summer but by winning this tournament there might be slight changes in my plan. So I will keep you updated.

I was looking forward to participate in Augusta National since last winter so I've been practicing hard trying to get my rank up to participate.

Q. Congratulations. Final round here, very tricky. Can you talk about how tough it was out here and also on the final three, (regarding her Korean compatriots.)

YUNSEO YANG: The bad weather today was anticipated from the first day, and also the winds started getting stronger from yesterday, so I was getting prepared for that.

And I was playing a bit defensively, not trying to be too aggressive, aiming for pars rather than birdies to protect my score.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you very much. Congratulations. (Applause.)