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NORTH TEXAS LPGA SHOOTOUTApril 23, 2013Inbee ParkIRVING, TEXAS MODERATOR: We'd like to welcome Rolex Rankings No 1, Inbee Park, into the interview room. First off, still must be pretty good to hear the No. 1 ranked player in the world in front of your name. INBEE PARK: Yeah, I'm still not used to it. It's only been two weeks. Yeah, for sure I'm really happy with that. I'm very happy with the way I played last week with the pressure. Yeah, I had a great week last week with family. I had a great time. MODERATOR: Just take me through, I mean, been No. 1 in the world, Stacy had been No. 1 and we knew it was a close battle coming into the last few weeks. You became No. 1 following an off week and were a little surprised by the news, and then last week knowing there was kind of a 3‑player race between and you Stacy and Yani to see who could be No. 1 at the end of the week. Is it something that you think about when you go out there and play when you've got that No. 1 ranking within reach, or is it something that just kind of happens and you're more focused on what you can do playing‑wise in the tournament? INBEE PARK: Well, I mean, I am concerned about No. 1 just because I could lose No. 1 spot in one week or two weeks. I mean, I try not to think about it too much, but it's in my mind for sure. That's something I play for every week. I'm just very honored that I can play for No. 1 every week. Just happy to be one of the players that plays for No. 1. Yeah, that's very good and something very special. MODERATOR: A five‑time winner on the LPGA Tour, two wins already this year. Since last summer really, at the beginning of the summer, you really have been putting together a fantastic stretch of golf, so consistent. What has changed in your game over the past year, and what has led to the ability to put together these stretches? INBEE PARK: I think the most thing that was changed was how I approach the game of golf. I didn't enjoy the traveling and the golfing that much. After winning U.S. Open I was struggling a lot, and it was kind of tough traveling everywhere with my game struggling. I start to travel with my fiance two years ago, and that made me travel a lot easier. That made me a lot more happy. I started to enjoy golf again. I think that was the main change. My game and my putting was everything getting better. My biking skills, short game, putting. Everything was just going in a positive way. MODERATOR: And your fiance is also your swing coach, correct? INBEE PARK: Yeah. He help me a lot with the swings, too. MODERATOR: What's it like having him travel with you? Is it something else to concentrate off the golf course as well? It's sometimes hard not to take what happens on the golf course that day home, but does that change how you approach things? INBEE PARK: Yeah, I just try to enjoy things every week, not just on the golf course but off the golf course. Go somewhere nice to eat or sightseeing. That's something I never done before for four or five years on the road. Never done that. Really enjoying myself the last couple years. MODERATOR: This is your first time in the Dallas area, at least on the LPGA Tour, since we haven't been here in about 20 years. What does it mean to have events come to new places like this, and how great is it to be in Dallas this week? INBEE PARK: It's a very good golf town, Texas. I came here when I was younger, very younger to play junior tournaments. I know a lot of good LPGA players are from Texas. You know, this is very great golfing town. Just fun to come here again and just play. Great memories when I was younger. It's a great place to be. It's very close to Koreatown in Dallas, so there is always good to eat. I'm enjoying myself, yes. MODERATOR: Questions for Inbee? Q. You just touched on it, but I was going to ask you about Koreatown. That's pretty impressive, isn't it, all the stuff that's out there? INBEE PARK: Yeah, I was actually really surprised in how the golf course is that close from the Koreatown and also from the airport. It's very comfortable and a lot to see. Yesterday I went first time and got myself is new laptop UltraBook. I'm fooling around with that this week, so it's fun. Q. There have been very few players that have claimed the No. 1 spot in the Rolex Rankings. Have you identified something consistent among the No. 1 players that you hope to kind of continue? INBEE PARK: I mean, it would be nice if I could continue for a long time in the No. 1 spot, but No. 1 spot is some spot that you got to come down at some point. You can't be No. 1 forever. So what I'm trying to do is just try to do my best every week and just, like I said, happy that I could actually play for No. 1 every week. I'm very honored that I'm one of the five, six players fighting for No. 1 every week. That's a very special place to be. Q. Is there a part of your game that you're trying to improve on or that you've identified that will keep you at No. 1? INBEE PARK: Yeah, my weakest part of my game is ball‑striking skills. I think my short game, putting, is much better than ball‑striking skills. That's been the part of my game that I've always been working on. That's been something that I always want to improve. Yeah, that's something that I always work to get better and better. Q. Have you been able to see the course at all? INBEE PARK: Yeah. I played yesterday and nine holes today. Yeah, opposite wind from yesterday to today. Yesterday course was playing a lot shorter, and today it's playing a lot longer. I only played the back nine today, and I was hitting like 5‑irons on pretty much every hole. With the wind and cold it was playing very tough on the back nine. I think it's all going to be depending on the weather and the wind this week. Q. (Question regarding a winning score prediction.) INBEE PARK: If the conditions are good, I think somewhere around like 12‑, 13‑under. If the weather is staying this way, I think like 7 to 8 I think, yeah. It played quite tough for me today. Q. You said 12‑ or 13‑under. Is there a fair score that identifies the champion from the standpoint of excitement? Suzann was I think 20‑under last week. How important is that to play a course that you can make a lot of birdies on? INBEE PARK: I mean, it is very good for the fans that they could see a lot of birdies out there a lot of reachable par‑5s. To my standpoint, I like the courses that are like 12‑, 13‑under par instead of like 20‑, 25‑under pars. It's tough to make seven, eight birdies every day, even you're really good professional. I like little bit of challenge on the golf course, which this golf course has. Fairways, you have to really position yourself good and pick a really good target. It has its good part and challenging part of the course here. Q. Given the conditions that can be out there sometimes, are you going to be challenging a lot of pins this week? INBEE PARK: Well, greens are fairly soft at the moment, so if you're in fairway I think you can attack the pins here. But if you're in the rough, there is a lot really tough fairways that lead you into the trees and into the rough. So it's going to be I think up to really hitting the fairways out here. MODERATOR: Inbee, as we talked about you being in the group players that can be at No. 1, what do you think that does for the tour in terms having a number of players out there competing for the top spot? Yani was No. 1 for so long. To see so many players playing well, is it fun to be a part of challenge and see such great golf being played? INBEE PARK: Yeah, I think so, because every week is unexpected. Anybody can become No. 1. Not anybody, but a lot of different player can become No. 1. A lot of different player can be No. 1 in this time of period. A lot of player, it makes a lot of players happy and a lot of fans happy. They can't expect only this person to win and she's going to run away with the win. You can't really expect that in this kind of situation. I think this makes us interesting and the fans interesting also, I think. MODERATOR: Any more questions for Inbee? Thank you very much for joining us, and best of luck this week. INBEE PARK: Thanks. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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