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U.S. AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIPAugust 22, 1999Sung Yoon KimPEBBLE BEACH, CALIFORNIA PETE KOWALSKI: Just to introduce you, this is Frank Baik. Frank is going to be serving as the interpreter for Mr. Kim. And first of all, from the USGA, and I'm sure you guys, we congratulate Mr. Kim on his runner-up finish and great playing this week. We'll entertain questions right away. Mr. Kim understands, as you know, little English. He may understand some, but Frank will provide the answers as close as possible for us. Q. How were your nerves today? SUNG YOON KIM: It was okay. I wasn't nervous. Q. You didn't hit a green, if I'm right, until -- through the first nine. What happened to your game today? SUNG YOON KIM: We talked about me having problems with early morning tee times. My body didn't feel as comfortable as it should have been, and I was having problems just a little bit, swinging the golf club the way I wanted to. And when I figured something out, by that time, I was like 5-down. And I was sort of maybe pressing a little bit, forcing shots. Q. How big were the three birdies that Gossett had on 6, 7, 8? SUNG YOON KIM: I can't remember him making three birdies on him. I remember losing the holes, but I don't remember the birdies. Q. Frank, because he had such slow starts, did you try getting him up earlier or slap him around the practice tee or anything? FRANK BAIK: I woke him up at 4:45, but he went back to bed, and then minutes later, got him up at 5:05. We were out on the range 20 minutes before David was there. We were there at six o'clock. So he was there early. Q. Did you feel like after you went 6-down through ten or nine, did you think you had any chance to realistically come back at that point? SUNG YOON KIM: Yes. And after 18 holes, I still thought I had a good chance. Q. What did you do during the break? SUNG YOON KIM: We ate lunch, and we were offered if we wanted to hit balls. But I felt like the shuttle bus was going to go at 11:30, if we got there and hit balls for five or ten minutes, I didn't want to do that. I wanted to spend time on the putting green; so I hit a few putts, and that was it. Q. What did you learn from this experience? SUNG YOON KIM: Mentally, I feel a lot stronger playing this U.S. Amateur match play. I was watching David Gossett when he had some short shots, short game. I was impressed with his short game, along with his ball-striking. I know my short game is not as good as his. So I was trying to watch the way he hit certain shots; so maybe I could learn from them, and I did. It was a very good experience this week. Q. Korea has produced some very fine players of late, here. To what do you attribute that to? SUNG YOON KIM: When Se Ri first hit the scene, and they knew how Se Ri played, and they could sort of play with them -- a lot of Koreans, I don't want to say afraid, but they respect the American players a lot more. When Se Ri went over here, and she started -- I don't want to say dominating -- but playing well, they felt: If she could do it, I can do it. And it's just confidence. Q. How tired are you? SUNG YOON KIM: I'd like to take a few days off, yes. Q. What's next, the next few weeks when you go home? SUNG YOON KIM: When I get back, I want to stay away from golf a couple of weeks. Maybe go out with my friends and sleep a little bit longer, and also like to lose a little weight. I want to maybe go train a little bit and study a little bit, a little English and some schoolwork. Q. Are you surprised at how well Gossett played today? I don't know if you'd seen him play much before? FRANK BAIK: I was surprised. SUNG YOON KIM: I felt -- I don't know if David Gossett always plays like the way he did today. If he plays the way he played today, his best will be better than my best. David Gossett's best day is better than my best day. Q. You mentioned yesterday you wanted to turn pro sooner rather than later. Does this affect, either way, that plan? SUNG YOON KIM: Nothing has changed. If there's no options, other options, then I could turn pro sooner. Q. Your Masters invitation is only if you're an amateur. FRANK BAIK: Yes. Q. Not planning to turn pro that soon? FRANK BAIK: No. Q. How big are you? How much do you weigh? SUNG YOON KIM: 178 centimeters. That's about 5'10. And I don't know what 90 kilograms are. Q. After the break and you came back out, I'm sure you wanted to get off to a good start. Maybe cut off another bit of the lead, and he came right out and took two holes. How deflating was that to start right out from going 5-down to 7 (-down)? SUNG YOON KIM: I didn't want to give up, but after the first two holes, when I was 7-down, I did realize that it's going to be real tough. But I didn't want to give up, because all these people came out for me, to watch me play, and I felt really thankful for them. I was telling Frank down the fairway: I wished I would give them a better match than what's going on. Q. How big is his run back in Korea? SUNG YOON KIM: I'd have to go there to find out, I don't know. Q. Have you had any feedback from Korea? I would imagine you're something of a national celebrity in Korea. Have you had any feedback? SUNG YOON KIM: The newspaper has been calling. I've been getting phone calls from numerous newspapers every night. Sports network, they called last night and wanted a phone interview. So I would say so, yeah. Q. This is probably a hard question, but David really used his caddy when he was lining the putts up, and these greens are very subtle. Why did he do that on -- why did you do that on your own? FRANK BAIK: He putts pretty firm and hard. I a lot more break than he does. I don't want to destroy any confidence he has. It worked. If he needs my help, I'll give him advice. But if I saw a little less break or so on, I wouldn't say that. I'd say go ahead; it's right. I wanted to give him the assurance, and that's what we did. Q. How big was the difference in experience for the two players, three years age difference, probably quite a bit of experience, how much did that play into it. SUNG YOON KIM: I didn't think experience was the factor in this match. I thought -- because I don't know who he was or what kind of tournaments he's played. But as far as I'm concerned, my experience was strong enough; so I can't really give you an answer on that. Q. Did you get any kind of support from the local Korean community since you're so far from home? FRANK BAIK: Yes, we did. There was a lot of Koreans out there today. We've been going to Korean restaurants. People have been trying to buy us dinners, and giving autographs. We've been getting a lot of support. Q. Are you from a well-to-do family? Do you belong to a country club? Where do you get to play golf in Korean? SUNG YOON KIM: Korea, they've been supporting me. I play a lot of golf -- actually, my parents have a couple of memberships; so I play here and there. Q. Where today did you start to get fatigued and tired? When did you feel that you started feeling your physical condition deteriorating? SUNG YOON KIM: The afternoon round, 3rd hole, when I was 7-down. Q. Did the fog delays bother you? SUNG YOON KIM: No. Q. How about No. 6 today, that kind of seemed to be a turn-around hole. You had the chance to get from 2-down to 1-down, and you had the advantage on the hole, and then it kind of flipped and turned around? SUNG YOON KIM: Yes, it affected me, because I thought I would win the hole. And I ended up losing that one, and the next one also. End of FastScripts.... |
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