![\"Lydia](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/buffalogolfer.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/Lydia-Ko-16-tee-done-Small.jpg?resize=749%2C480\")
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KELLY THESIER:\u00a0 Good afternoon, everyone.\u00a0 We’d like to welcome Rolex Rankings No. 2, Lydia Ko into the interview room.\u00a0 Congratulations, a great 3?under par round today, 5?under par overall on this golf course.\u00a0 You’re not one of the longest hitters on Tour.\u00a0 We kept talking all week about how this golf course is suited for long hitters.\u00a0 What have you been able to do on this golf course that’s helped you to succeed so far over the first two days?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n LYDIA KO:\u00a0 Yeah, coming into this week I knew that this course had a little bit of an advantage for the long hitters, but especially holes at 18 where I had like 210 yards to the pin.\u00a0 It kind of makes me feel like it’s a reachable par?5.\u00a0 But actually I hit the ball steady, and I’ve been pretty confident with the long game, and I just gave myself as many opportunities as I could.<\/span> Thanks to the\u00a0LPGA Tour<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0ASAP Sports<\/a>\u00a0for the text, and Alex Fisher of\u00a0Alex Fisher Photo<\/a>\u00a0for the photographs<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" KELLY THESIER:\u00a0 Good afternoon, everyone.\u00a0 We’d like to welcome Rolex Rankings No. 2, Lydia Ko into the interview room.\u00a0 Congratulations, a great 3?under par round today, 5?under par overall on this golf course.\u00a0 You’re not one of the longest hitters on Tour.\u00a0 We kept talking all week about how this golf course is suited for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10727,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7],"tags":[332,995,991,992],"class_list":["post-10826","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mo-golf","tag-lpga","tag-lydia-ko","tag-monroe-golf-club","tag-wegmans"],"yoast_head":"\n
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Q.\u00a0 We’ve noticed your first win on the LPGA Tour came while you were playing with Stacy Lewis.\u00a0 You won your first LPGA Tour as a member in San Francisco while playing with Stacy Lewis.\u00a0 Now you are playing well again playing with Stacy.\u00a0 You two talked about you like playing with one another, but is there something about playing with her that brings out the best in your game?\u00a0<\/b>
LYDIA KO:\u00a0 Whenever I play with her she’s playing great also, so like for example in San Francisco we were feeding off each other and making birdie?birdie, and that’s kind of what happens out there.\u00a0 She puts herself in a really good position and makes a lot of birdies.\u00a0 So when I go out there or see my name next to her name on the pairing sheet, I’m pretty excited to play with her because I learn a few things playing alongside her.\u00a0 She’s just a great person to play with.<\/span>
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Q.\u00a0 As the day went along it seemed there was some wind at times.\u00a0 Were conditions a little tougher today than they were yesterday?\u00a0<\/b>
LYDIA KO:\u00a0 I mean, you think that playing in the morning there would be less wind, but we had wind from just the first hole and it kind of continued.\u00a0 But I think it was kind of forecasted to be like this all day anyways, but I guess everybody’s playing in the same conditions.\u00a0 I mean, wind definitely makes it a little tougher.<\/span>
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Q.\u00a0 Just 17 years old, but do you feel like you’re a role model for girls that are just two or three years younger than you?\u00a0 Do you see it that way?\u00a0<\/b>
LYDIA KO:\u00a0 No, I don’t really see it that way, but there are some times when the girls come up to me and say, Lydia, you’re my role model.\u00a0 It kind of makes me feel a little special to, I guess, be a role model when I’m still in high school and I’m only 17.\u00a0 I mean, for them to think of me as a role model, it kind of makes me feel like I need to play better, perform good, and I guess be that role model that they think I am.<\/span><\/p>\n![\"Lydia](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/buffalogolfer.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/Lydia-Ko-1-tee-DONE-Small.jpg?resize=721%2C480\")
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Q.\u00a0 I understand your wrists were hurting yesterday on the range when you were warming up, and I know you went to get treatment after the round last night.\u00a0 Can you just give us an update on what’s going on there?\u00a0<\/b>
LYDIA KO:\u00a0 It definitely feels much better today.\u00a0 I mean, it felt much less pain than when I was on the range, because I got it taped up, and that’s been supporting my wrist so it’s not been going anywhere.\u00a0 But it feels better compared to yesterday, so that’s good news that it’s not getting worse.<\/span>
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Q.\u00a0 Is it something you’ve had an issue with in the past that is flaring up again?\u00a0<\/b>
LYDIA KO:\u00a0 No, I haven’t really had a wrist problem for a while.\u00a0 But to kind of feel it on the range yesterday when I was hitting my driver, it was quite different and I couldn’t really hold the club at one point.\u00a0 But it felt okay during my round yesterday and I think if it stays like this I’m definitely playable with it.<\/span>
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Q.\u00a0 There were talking about you being 17.\u00a0 You do have the opportunity this week if you were to win this event to become the youngest major winner in history.\u00a0 Do you think about those milestones as you hit them?\u00a0 I know we were talking about youngest ever to reach a million dollars on the LPGA Tour.\u00a0 When you have the opportunity for something like that, do you think about that at all?\u00a0 Is there pressure when you have those sorts of things as a possibility?\u00a0<\/b>
LYDIA KO:\u00a0 For me I think about winning at the end of the week.\u00a0 I know especially like Toledo I realized I became a millionaire after that.\u00a0 I mean, to kind of have those accomplishments is really cool, but I’m really going out there and trying to play the best I can.\u00a0 It’s hard to control what I do, but to control what other people are doing is pretty much impossible.\u00a0<\/span>
I’m going to go out there and just have some fun.\u00a0 I’ll have to see.\u00a0 There are still two more days of golf for myself and still half the field is playing right now.<\/span>
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Q.\u00a0 When you get on a golf course that seems obviously suited for the big hitters, what do you tell yourself so that you don’t put yourself in a hole right from the start?\u00a0<\/b>
LYDIA KO:\u00a0 I think the majority of the par?5s are reachable for the majority of the players.\u00a0 So I think that’s where I try to think, okay, you need to birdie on holes like 3 and 14 and go from there, just give myself as many opportunities as I can.\u00a0 I wish I was a really long hitter where I can hit the ball like 290 yards, but that’s not the case.\u00a0 So I’m just trying to play to my strength and my game.<\/span>
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Q.\u00a0 When you went to Universal and took some time off, was that a five?day stretch of not touching the golf club that I heard about?\u00a0<\/b>
LYDIA KO:\u00a0 Yeah, I didn’t touch the golf club for five days.\u00a0 I was actually going to take the whole week off, but David said, okay, let’s have a lesson on Saturday.\u00a0 So I said, okay, I better get back into it.\u00a0 So I wasn’t hitting the ball really well last week so we were talking about my swing was still on holiday until Sunday.<\/span>
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Q.\u00a0 Is that the longest stretch you’ve gone without hitting a club in years?\u00a0<\/b>
LYDIA KO:\u00a0 No, not really.\u00a0 I’ve had times where I kind of took two months off or one and a half months off because of exams during the end of the year.\u00a0 I’ve done that a couple of times over the last couple of years.<\/span>
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Q.\u00a0 This would be the longest stretch since you’ve started the season though, right?\u00a0<\/b>
LYDIA KO:\u00a0 Yeah.<\/span>
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Q.\u00a0 You said playing with Stacy you liked the idea that you could learn something from her.\u00a0 What have you observed from her or learned from her?\u00a0<\/b>
LYDIA KO:\u00a0 Especially in putting she just seems so relaxed on any putt.\u00a0 She kind of just strips the ball and makes it happen, and the majority of the time it goes in the hole.\u00a0 So for me, I’m kind of jealous that she’s so relaxed, and those are the things that I kind of want to learn from her, kind of her mental aspect.<\/span>
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Q.\u00a0 I know you had six birdies.\u00a0 Can you remember what you hit in on some of them?\u00a0<\/b>
LYDIA KO:\u00a0 On the first hole I hit my 6?iron a little short, like a 30?footer and I holed that.\u00a0 On 2, I three?putted 3, and I was on the green for two, so I had a two?putt for birdie.\u00a0 4, I kind of short sided myself to the right and was going to make up?and?down for bogey.\u00a0 Then I made pars along the way and made another birdie on 8.\u00a0 I hit it to about 8, 9 feet and holed that.\u00a0 10, I hit my hybrid, but it ended up being pin high, and I had a 15, 16?footer for a birdie and holed that.\u00a0 Then I had like two three?footers for birdie on 12, and then bogeyed 13 because I went past into the rough, then birdied 14.\u00a0 I made up?and?down from the front of the green, and I think that’s about it.<\/span><\/p>\n![\"Lydia](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/buffalogolfer.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/Lydia-Ko-2-tee-done-Small.jpg?resize=721%2C480\")
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