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BALLANTINE'S CHAMPIONSHIP


April 26, 2013


Kyung-Tae Kim


ICHEON, SOUTH KOREA

CALVIN KOH:   Thanks for joining us, K.T.  You started the morning, you end the first round today, you were 2‑over 74 but came back with a flourish, 68.  What made the difference for you between the first and second round?
K.T. KIM:  Yes, talking about yesterday, my putter didn't do really well, and I missed several tee shots.  So overall, this gave me a difficult time yesterday.  However, today, this morning, I think that my tee shots were better, and although I missed several shots, I think that there were no major shots that I missed.
So overall, I think that I played okay.  And in the back nine holes, I think that I made some lengthy putts.  They went in pretty well, so I'm pretty much satisfied with the result of the second round.
CALVIN KOH:  Did you find the weather distractions destructive to your rhythm and your momentum?
K.T. KIM:  Yes, yesterday I started off a bit shaky, but as time went by, I think my performance became better.  However, because of that suspension, I think that I ended up making several bogeys in the end.
However, today I think that the game was suspended temporarily when I had four more holes to go but I think that overall it went okay because the waiting time didn't really affect my play.

Q.  So this is in connection with the earlier question.  So obviously there were some suspensions in the middle of the game, so for you, K.T. Kim, what did you do especially to keep that momentum and the rhythm in place?
K.T. KIM:  So I didn't do really anything special.  However, if the game gets suspended when you are doing really well and your play is good, then, yes, it does have a negative affect on your overall performance.
But in my case, I tried not to think about it, because the more that you think that it's affecting your play, then I think that the result will get worse.
So what I did today was talk to my friends regarding things that is not related to golf, and I tried to actually forget about the play itself.
And when the weather is especially cold, while waiting, I think that your body can become stiff, so the thing that I did was during the waiting time, I tried to warm up so that I won't get stiff.

Q.  So last year I remember that when the game didn't turn out the way you intended to, I could tell that you were getting impatient.  But this time around, I didn't see that happening in the round.  So did you do anything special, any special training in order to overcome that?
K.T. KIM:  So before coming for this Ballantine's Championship 2013, I played in four tournaments this season, and I failed to make the cut in two of the tournaments.  And in two others, my scores were not that good.
I think that my inability to control my feelings had some affect on those results.
So last week, for example, the play was difficult because the weather was kind of windy, and I ended up not doing my best.  So at the end of the day, I missed the cut by just one shot, and I regretted that.
Today and yesterday, I tried to make sure that I do my best at each hole, and I think that eventually those efforts paid off.

Q.  So in your group, you played with World Ranking No. 7 Louis Oosthuizen and Alex Noren who won three times on The European Tour.  So while you are playing with these major players, I think that all three players did well in terms of their shots, however I think that Mr.Oosthuizen, he ended up saving one shot while you ended up saving four shots and Noren five shots.  So now that you have played with these players for two rounds, if you are to compare yourself with these global players, how would you say you are, and is there anything that you would like to learn from them?
K.T. KIM:  Yes, I think that the two players, Noren and Oosthuizen, I think that there shots are excellent.
For Mr.Oosthuizen, I don't think that his putts worked out that well today, however yesterday for the first nine holes, I think that he made excellent putting.
So obviously there's a lot to learn from Mr.Oosthuizen.  It's my first time to play in the same group and round with him, and I have always admired his swing and play style, so obviously I learned a lot this time around.
If I may be more in detail, we, in terms of body size, I think we are quite similar.  However, I can tell that his shots are much more powerful and he looks very comfy in the round and I think that he controls his power really well.  So in terms of short game, technique and controlling his mentality and feelings on the ground, I think that there's a lot to learn from him.
And for Mr.Noren, it's always my first time to play with him, and I enjoyed it a lot.

Q.  So yesterday Mr.Louis Oosthuizen did pretty well in his first half of the round, and I think that you, relatively speaking, performed not that well, so there was a stark comparison between the two of you.  However, in contrast, I think that you did really well today.  So if you were to talk about your competition doing really well next to you, how do you feel?  Does your swing get affected by it and do you have any difficulty controlling your feelings?  How does it feel?  So for example, after seeing Louis Oosthuizen do his putting well, did you learn anything from him and catch anything that you should be doing similar?
K.T. KIM:  Yesterday I think that Louis Oosthuizen's performance was excellent, especially during the first nine holes.  Instead of making me really shaky, I think that I just realise how different I am and how different we are, and again, come to this match not primarily to win, but to recover my confidence and also to learn from other excellent players.
So in the past, when I would play next to great players, I would feel really small and lose confidence.  But nowadays, I try not to get too much affected by their reputation.  And again, yesterday I tried to learn from my fellow players and I think that recovering my rhythm was my utmost priority this time around.
And again, as I mentioned earlier, when I putt, I tend to have my head open.  So I observed how the other two players are doing in the same group.  I learned that when the putting is especially difficult, they both held their putters cross‑handed.  I learned something special, so I think that I'm going to test and practice it sometime later onto see if that also is what fits me.
CALVIN KOH:  With that, wish you the best of luck, thank you, K.T.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports




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