Read a transcript of the pre-tournament interview with Jason Day and Lydia Ko.
Read a transcript of the pre-tournament interview with Jason Day and Lydia Ko.
MODERATOR: Welcome, everyone, here to the media center at the Grant Thornton Invitational. Pleased to be joined by our defending champions, Lydia Ko and Jason Day.
For each of you, just like to kick us off by asking what are some of the best memories you have from last year winning here at Tiburon and lifting the trophy?
LYDIA KO: I think one of my one of the things that I remember most was when, was it Arrow?
JASON DAY: Oh, yeah.
LYDIA KO: He ran onto the prize ceremony on the 18th hole, which was really cool. Obviously I don’t have kids, so to see that kind of special moment with family was really memorable.
Just all week it was great to be able to play alongside Jason, pick his brain a little bit. It was so much fun and it’s honestly hard to choose one specific memory but the highlight was Arrow.
JASON DAY: Thank you, appreciate it. Well, my highlight of the week, my best memory was Lydia’s 3wood into 17, definitely made the walk down 18 a lot easier. It’s just amazing for her to stand out there and hit it to 8, 10 feet away from that distance, especially with a 3wood. She’s obviously had huge success here at this golf course, been a great player for a very long time, but to see it under the pump was pretty special.
We always practice for shots like that. It’s nice to be able to see it in realtime because at the end of the day at sports at least it’s not rehearsed, it happens in real time. So what you see is what you get. To be able to watch someone under the pump handle it the way they did was pretty special.
Q. I know last year at this event you two were just meeting in person for the first time. Now having that goround under your belt, how different is the experience this time just being more comfortable and knowing each other?
JASON DAY: It was great. Obviously meeting Lydia for the first time last year, she makes it so easy, so welcoming. Obviously the way that her demeanor is out on the golf course is very much what she is off the golf course.
I’ve heard numerous actually, a lot of stories about how she’s one of the nicest people on the LPGA and obviously I think a lot of people know that by now. Pure class on and off the golf course.
It’s nice to be able to come back to somewhere that we’ve had success with and hopefully we can kick it off again this week, it would be nice to be able to back that up.
Q. Lydia, I know you were quite nervous last year. How is it different this time just knowing Jason and being in this experience again?
JASON DAY: I don’t understand how you’re nervous.
LYDIA KO: It was actually quite embarrassing because honestly I don’t think I hit a single fairway on the front nine and I remember duffing a driver and I was like oh, man, I feel so bad he has to play with me. It’s like there’s no choice, right?
Jason was great. He asked me questions about what I was working on in my game and we were talking about pitching and all that. As much as it is familiar, it’s different. I haven’t had that much experience playing with other like male Tour pros and especially somebody that I’ve looked up to and seen on TV for a really long time.
It was a very new experience, but by Friday, mid Friday I think I was able to get rid of the nerves and focus on what I was doing. But our whole team with our caddies, we just had a great dynamic and just a good time out there and I think that just helped with, you know, just not thinking about the results and we were getting more excited and just pumping each other up. At the end I think that was one of the biggest things on why we were able to have such success last year.
Q. Lydia, since we saw you at the CME Group Tour Championship, the LPGA announced that Commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan will step down next month. Can we just get your reaction to that news?
LYDIA KO: Yeah, it’s never easy seeing somebody that you’ve worked with and seen a lot step down. I feel like she had one of the hardest roles, jobs in the whole entire world, not only just in sports.
She was following also another great commissioner. In ways it’s hard to follow the steps of somebody that a lot of people thought made a huge difference in women’s golf. Mollie’s been great, I feel like we’ve had a good relationship outside of just her being the commissioner and me playing on the LPGA.
As much as we’re sad to see her go, we’ve had a lot of growth on the LPGA these last few years. I truly believe that there’s going to be more growth in the years to come.
I’m excited to meet whoever the next commissioner is going to be. For now Liz is going to be the interim commissioner. Just keep growing.
And this is kind of the second half of, you know, chapter of my golf career, so as much as while I’m playing on Tour, I would continuously like to help and see it grow for the future generations. I think it’s an exciting time. With any loss, there’s wins. So it’s hard, but I wish Mollie all the best in everything that’s coming ahead for her, too.
Q. What’s something that each of you have learned about each other since teaming up for this event?
JASON DAY: I don’t know if there’s something that I learned. I mean, I feel like everything that I thought that Lydia was going to be kind of fulfilled that for me actually, to be honest.
I always knew that she was great at wedges, she was a great putter. Just trying to think. Not much other than, you know, just talking about family, obviously she doesn’t have kids yet yet but at some point she will. Meeting her husband for the first time and, when was that?
LYDIA KO: At the Genesis.
JASON DAY: Yeah, at the Genesis, I met him at the Genesis. You played the proam there, right?
LYDIA KO: Yeah.
JASON DAY: There’s nothing too new. I think when it comes to playing a tournament, especially a tournament like this, it’s really difficult when you haven’t met someone for the first time and you’re trying to make things gel pretty quick. I feel like we did a really, really good job of that last year.
I hope nothing stuck out too much to you about me.
LYDIA KO: Yeah, like Jason said, nothing new. It’s just more confirmation of the things that I had heard and seen. I remember Jessica Korda was like, oh, you’re playing with Jason, right? She was like, you’re playing with the nicest person in the world, you guys are going to be the nicest team. I was like, I don’t know about me. But then like, man, Jason is so nice, his game was I don’t think like one like everything was so good.
JASON DAY: She’s talking me up.
LYDIA KO: That actually when I played the Tour Championship a few weeks ago, I was like, man, it would be nice if I had a partner like Jason, it would just make my life a lot easier.
It was kind of weird to come back to the same golf course and not have someone like Jason out there. You just get used to things really quick. You know, nothing was like stand out, but I was like he’s just unbelievable. I said I was like drooling out there.
Q. Lydia, just following up on Amy’s question, if you were on the search committee, what are the most important qualities you would like to see in the next commissioner?
LYDIA KO: I was one of the player directors, I was on the board when we were transitioning from Mike to Mollie. I think the hardest thing about that is that we’re such a big tour, we go to all these different places. The LPGA is made up of players from here, there to everywhere.
It’s hard and it’s a balance of things. You can’t only have somebody that is just good at sales and marketing. Has to be a peoples person at the same time and be somewhat OK with being in New York one day and then LA the next day and then coming home to family for a day. Just there is a lot. I think with every commissioner it’s going to be different. It’s hard to say, oh, I would like something like this or completely new from the next commissioner.
I believe that with the help of our board and the player directors and the whole search committee, we’re going to find the right commissioner for us right now. I think who is the commissioner really depends on where golf is in general. We’re at a very different place on the LPGA now in 2024 to when we were during COVID and even the time when Mike came along. It just has to be somebody that fits the situation for right now.
I think not only golf but women’s sport is in such a good spot that I feel like we don’t need a lot of push, it’s kind of trending on its own. So somebody that just really understands the complexities of it. And I mean, I’ve never been the commissioner so I can’t speak entirely for one, but it seems like almost an impossible job really.
Q. Jason, I was just wondering if you found yourself looking for Lydia on the leaderboard or following her season.
JASON DAY: Oh, yeah, the whole season. I mean, I think what’s impressive about Lydia. She obviously needed that one point, the Olympics got her over that. I’m not sure if you were thinking about getting into the Hall of Fame or you were right there, but as soon as that happened at the Olympics and you got that extra point that was needed, then she went on a tear again winning the Women’s British Open Championship and finishing strong for the year as well.
I definitely sent her a text message after she won that extra point that was needed at the Olympics saying what an amazing job getting into the Hall of Fame. I mean, not many people can say that. She’s in a class with a very few amount of women that have joined her there.
It’s amazing to watch. Obviously it’s amazing to be a fan of her and watch that unfold. I’m hoping that I can some day do the same, that’s my goal is to get into the Hall of Fame. I’m sitting next to one, so it’s extra it’s motivating for me to kind of sit here and watch her do it this year. And then obviously I feel like I’ve still got a lot of years left for me. I’m trying to push as hard as I can just because I know she’s worked so very hard for this moment.
LYDIA KO: It’s kind of weird to listen to.
JASON DAY: I’m a huge fan of Lydia.
LYDIA KO: Someone get some earplugs.
Q. Jason, I know you just spoke to it, but to think about the fact that you have to get 27 points to get into the Hall of Fame, can you just put into words like how difficult that seems from an outsider’s perspective?
JASON DAY: Extremely difficult. Talking about Lydia, who I believe you won two professional events as an amateur, correct? Yeah. And I think she was like 13th something in the world at 15, 16, something like that?
I’m not stalking her too much. Her furniture from the front lawn looks great, though.
It really is difficult, to be able to put that into like words is very, very difficult. It’s very easy to say, oh, she’s great, she’s in the Hall of Fame, but to do it over a career, from a career when she started at 15 all the way to how old she is now, 27. To have that much success very, very quickly.
For guys it’s hard. I mean, it takes a whole lifetime to be able to do that. Some guys make it look easier like Rory and Scottie Scheffler and those guys, but we’re talking about Lydia, who’s in a different level here. It’s very, very difficult to be able to have a whole career and then finally get there, and she’s done it in a very short period of time.
I think if you speak to her, that was one thing that she probably didn’t want to stay in golf for a long time. For most women I think they potentially want to start a family or explore other avenues as well. To be able to do that in a short period of time, because for guys we could just go and play golf until we’re 50 if we want to. There’s just a different aspect that we have to view it from. I mean, like the high level of success, the consistency. I know that she’s had some ups and down, but that’s just every career. She’s had a lot more ups than downs, which is fantastic.
Like I said before, I’m a massive fan of Lydia and her game. More so as a person as well, she’s tremendous.
Q. For both of you, I know obviously game recognizes game across both organizations, but if each of you can just speak to how big of a fan you are of each other one’s golf tour or even golf game. I know Jason
JASON DAY: Yeah, I just
Q. From like an overarcing PGA TOUR, LPGA perspective. Lydia, you can go first.
LYDIA KO: Yeah, Jason’s results in the past and everything, it really speaks for itself. When you see it in person you realize, wow, this is why he is who he is. I actually told multiple people this, of all the players I’ve played with, Jason’s game, whether it was ballstriking, with the driver, iron, wedges and putting overall was actually the best player I’ve seen.
All of us, we have strengths, right? Like putting could be a strength or making upanddowns, but what I saw last year, I was like wow, this is why he’s so good. And he’s had tremendous amount of success and he’s been doing it for like a gazillion years.
JASON DAY: Yeah, I feel like.
LYDIA KO: A gazillion years and he’s still like at such a high point in his career. And I’m sure he’s only going to be more upwards.
I just got a lot of good energy, and when I won the Tournament of Champions Jason like sent me a text and I said it’s honestly thanks to you because I learned a lot. When you’re around the person that is so competitive and at the same time just so genuine but an elite class of player, it’s different. I felt like just his whole game and just him like was so different that it honestly was very inspiring and motivating.
So I literally couldn’t come off a single shot or a moment from last year and was like, wow, that was OK. Like everything was just awesome. And to be that close and see it is such a different feeling to just seeing it on TV or just tracking.
So I’m excited to be able to kind of see that in person again. I was always a fan, but I’m always going to be an even bigger fan and just root for him no matter what.
MODERATOR: Thanks, guys.
