CPKC WOMEN'S OPEN

August 18, 2026

Lydia Ko

Royal Mayfair Golf Club

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: All right, we are pleased to be joined by three-time CPKC Women's Open winner Lydia Ko. We were chatting on the way over here. You mentioned this course felt a little bit new to you. It's been a while since you played it. Is there anything that stood out to you specifically?

LYDIA KO: Yeah, I mean, I really can't remember much of this golf course or me winning, apart from the putt that I holed on the last day on the 18th hole. But I didn't even realize the nines had flipped until I was on the ninth yesterday, so that's how much -- how little I really remember of the golf course.

As I played it I can see why I liked it and why I played well. There is a lot of holes that kind of sits a little left to right, and just having played a fade then and playing it now, it's a bit more appealing to the eye.

Yeah, always special to come back to Canada, and, yeah, so hopefully I'll be able to draw back on the subconscious memories for me here this week.

Q. Welcome back to Edmonton. You say you don't remember too much about 2013. When you look back then compared to now, did you ever envision your career would go the way that it has?

LYDIA KO: Definitely not. I wasn't even on the LPGA at the time. I got a sponsor's invite to play the event in 2012 in Vancouver, and little did I know I would win that week. Obviously that kind of gave me the opportunity to come back here in 2013.

And, you know, like then, even though we did have a lot of opportunities being the No. 1 ranked amateur and all that, I just don't think there was as many opportunities as some of the players now.

It was a really cool experience for me and I knew that I just wanted to make the cut and kind of go from there and I obviously played really well.

It wasn't -- I had really only been in the final group of an LPGA tournament one time previously, so to kind of defend my title, it was a very dream-come-true start to my career.

I think having won the second CPKC Canadian Women's Open opened up the question of maybe I should turn pro, whereas I think before then I still had the dream of playing collegiate golf and all that.

So I think winning that second time kind of felt like it was a way of like pushing me down to more of the professional career earlier.

Q. Hall of Famer now. Does that seem like just yesterday or a million years ago that you won in Edmonton?

LYDIA KO: Definitely not yesterday. My body feels -- I mean, age 29 is not old, yeah, but I think this is my 13th year on Tour, and even the year before I got on Tour in 2013 I played 11 LPGA events, so I was playing a lot.

I think over the years my body has taken a toll. I've gone through my ups and downs, and throughout my career. Did I ever imagine I'd be a Hall of Famer sitting here in the media center doing a press conference at a golf course that I won 14 years ago? Probably not.

A lot of things that you can only read about or think that would happen to other people kind of happened to me so I'm very grateful for that. I think that's why this event has been so special to me.

I think it was a really great opportunity for me to experience what the LPGA is like, what it's like playing with the best female golfers week in, week out.

And not only just those two wins, but I played in the 2024 CPKC Women's Open and I was struggling during that span of the year leading up to the Olympics. I had my first top 10 and my first kind of under-par rounds consecutively over four days, and that gave me the confidence to kind of feel like I wasn't playing that terribly leading to the Olympics.

In many different ways this tournament has meant a lot to my career, and it's one that will always be very special to my heart.

So, yeah, you know, I even have some of my like usernames are like 0825 because I think that was the date I think I won my first Canadian Open in 2012.

Q. This course has got a lot of rain in the last two month and you've been out on it. Can you just tell us what shape it's in? What's the course like now?

LYDIA KO: I mean, the course is in great shape. I did hear there was lot of rain leading up to this week, but I think the forecast for the most part looks really good, so it's just going to help firm it up a little bit.

But like if you didn't really know that it had rained you wouldn't be able to tell. Yes, there are some soft parts, but that's like not even one percent of the whole golf course.

I do think because of the rain the rough is pretty thick in parts, but I think that is also the part that makes this golf course trickier, especially on the front nine. It's not super long in distance, so that is probably the thing that is going to catch a few players out.

But, yeah, no, the course is in really good shape. I think most of the time we come to this event, no matter where we are in Canada, I think they do a really good job of putting it in pristine conditions. Yeah, the rain hasn't affected it that much.

Q. Is it buggy? Are there lots of bugs?

LYDIA KO: Bugs? Yeah, I've got to like white stains on my hat and my pants. I bought three different types of insects repellant yesterday and still try8ing to figure out which one actually works; don't know if there is one that actually works.

Yeah, I said to myself the only goal this week is to survive long sleeves and long pants and long socks, because I am not showing skin where it's like unnecessary. I'm pretty known to wear a lot of sleeveless shirts, so there will be no arms showing this week. Just trying to be as covered and not become like buffet meat for the mosquitoes.

Q. Just curious if you could assess your season to this point. Obviously some really, really good results. Of course shot 60 earlier this year. Maybe some results that you maybe are not entirely pleased with as well. At this point of the year, how would you assess your campaign?

LYDIA KO: Yeah, I mean, I started the season off pretty solid. I made a few Top 10s and I kind of -- I missed my first cut of the year at the Chevron Championship and then I followed that up with another missed cut at the U.S. Women's Open and Dow the week after, so that was kind of interesting stretch.

I don't think I've missed more than like one or two cuts at a major in a row before, so I think at KPMG I had a little bit more stress because I started off the week terribly. I was 120th-something after the first day, and you just don't want to get into the momentum of missing cuts. It doesn't matter what event.

I was really look forward U.S. Women's Open, so missing the cut there by one ultimately, that was pretty heartbreaking. You feel like playing golf for 13 years on Tour you feel like you get used to it, right, the good and the bad. But it was one that I was really excited about just because of the golf course we were at.

But that is the event that I really, really want to win. Not being able to play the weekend was kind of hard to take, but I tried to kind of reassess my game and my swing a little bit after Dow leading up to KPMG, and I think it took a little bit of time for me to kind of groove out a little bit of the bad tendencies.

I feel like I'm moving in the right direction again. I had a great time with my husband caddieing for me at Evian and another solid week at the Women's Open, so I feel like the form is coming back.

Winless so far, but overall it's been pretty consistent, and that's kind of the goal for us, right? Just really hard to set a goal of I want to win X amount of events. A lot of those are really out of your control.

But consistency has always been the No. 1 thing for me, whether it's ball striking or results or putting, and I feel like that has slowly been getting better.

So, yeah, I still have like seven more tournaments to go. You feel like after the majors you're done, but then I was counting and I'm far from done. I'm excited for this last third of the season, and hopefully -- it would be nice to finish off with a win in the next few, yeah.

Q. You have won in New Zealand before; Brooke obviously defending champion has won this tournament twice. To you, what does it mean to win a tournament in front of a home crowd and on home soil and how much extra special is that kind of moment for you?

LYDIA KO: I mean, it's huge. The national Open, you know, some people don't even have the opportunity to play a national Open. I was lucky enough to be able to win back home as an LET event. Brooke has won this event twice.

I think the first time she won it in was it like Saskatchewan or something. It was kind of like out there, too, so I think there weren't as many like people there that week. Obviously last year we had such a great crowd being closer to Toronto and being in a bigger city.

Yeah, it was super exciting. The battle that she had with Minjee, especially that final nine holes, was really impressive. I think they both played well and just Brooke finished one or two shots better ultimately.

But, yeah, you know, I think it never gets easy but I think over time you realize they're there for you and they just want to see you more so than they care about exactly what score you shoot.

So, yeah, I'm sure it's nerve-wracking and a lot of other things even off the course that she has to deal with this week, but I'm sure she loves coming here. You've got the Brooke's Brigade and a lot of people yelling, go, Brooky, and I love hearing that. Maybe we'll get paired together. Who knows? I think it's just super cool the amount of love that the local fans give her.

At the same time what she's given back to the community, her community and her country, is also very special. So being the winningest Canadian I think she deserves all of that.

THE MODERATOR: All right, thank you so much, Lydia.

LYDIA KO: Thank you.