Q. Where did the trophy sit for you this year?
KIM MOORE: I have my TV kind of up on my wall and a TV stand right underneath, and it was right there on the TV stand.
Q. What is it like coming back here as defending champion? I'm sure it had to bring back memories.
KIM MOORE: Yeah, it's been an honor. It's exciting. Looking forward to coming back here. I can't believe it's already been a year.
But yeah, just a little nervous, too. Got a lot of pressure on you coming in here trying to hopefully repeat and do the same thing. But yeah, exciting. Looking forward to getting started today, and hopefully we can do well tomorrow and the next day.
Q. What's that reception been like in the area? I'm sure people remember you, volunteers, fans that came last year.
KIM MOORE: Yeah, I've had a couple people already that were here last year already come up and give me hugs and say how you doing, and just congratulations. That's been a pretty warm welcome.
Back at home, it was kind of the same thing. I was on two billboards, which is crazy, and just had a lot of notoriety and publicity for our school and our college at Western Michigan, and just really excited to represent them well.
Q. Billboards, did you know about it, or did someone send you a picture?
KIM MOORE: I didn't know they were going to do that, but our school kind of coordinated that. They coordinated with the city of Kalamazoo. Yeah, it was on two billboards there in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Kind of cool to see.
Q. What's changed in your life? Any changes for you since last year?
KIM MOORE: I mean, I'm always the same person, I guess. But I definitely am a little more known around the area and obviously in the golf community and adaptive golf community. To me as a person, I don't change.
Q. Does your path going back and forth anywhere, did it take you by the billboards where you saw them all the time?
KIM MOORE: Well, they ran for about a month when I came back, and the one I saw quite a bit because it was on my way home. The other one was a little out of the way, so I didn't see that one as much. But I had people sending me texts and pictures, so it was pretty neat.
Q. We talked last year about this. What have your players said heading into this week?
KIM MOORE: Just good luck and play well, and they're excited for me, and they'll be following along. They're just looking forward to hopefully me bringing it back. We'll see.
Q. How much of your story do you use in coaching or recruiting, using your success and what you've done?
KIM MOORE: I think just experience-wise it helps quite a bit. I try not to make it about me in my recruiting. I want it to be about the recruit. A lot of the recruits actually have seen me and have heard about me and kind of know some of the things that I've done, so that's always great. A lot of them do a little research, too, so they'll bring it up.
But I try not to really rub it in anybody's faces or -- if it comes up in conversation, for sure, but a lot of them already know. They're like, oh, congratulations, it's awesome. We're so excited to be here, so excited to meet you.
It's something I don't necessarily just say at the forefront, but they usually bring it up to me.
Q. When did you discover -- I would assume it's a competitive Gene, to succeed on the level you do? When did you discover that, early on?
KIM MOORE: Yeah, early on. I came from a very sports oriented family. Anything I do, honestly, I'm pretty competitive at games, board games, at cards. Just that mindset has always kind of been with me.
Ever since I started playing competitively, I've always wanted to do well.
Q. What led you to golf? Did the family play, too?
KIM MOORE: Well, my dad played for fun. But really it was more of just me wanting to be competitive in something, and I grew up being a sports-oriented person and playing all sorts of different sports, and my parents not really holding me back with anything and letting me try anything I want.
Basketball was a love of mine, and I always played that, but as I grew up and the wanted to play in high school, I'm not the fastest runner in the world, so I wanted to do something I was a little more competitive in. That's when I decided to try golf right before my high school season. I had some friends that were going to play on the team, so I decided to go ahead and try, and it kind of went from there.
Q. There's more women in the field this year. Do you feel that your win inspired the community of female adaptive golfers?
KIM MOORE: I think it was just the awareness that this event has brought on the whole. I think it's raised awareness all over the country with different tournaments that have popped up, different states, and just word of mouth. You should come to this tournament, and a lot of people have been talking about it.
Some people have definitely seen me on TV, and they were excited to say hello, but I think it's just the awareness of the event overall, I think, and just how it has been seen on a global stage.
I think that's what's bringing more people out and having them try and bringing them out for the first time. There's a lot of great golfers out there, and it's just exciting to see the growth. That's what I mentioned in my speech yesterday was how excited I was to see the women's field grow.
Hopefully it'll continue to grow.
Q. How many events do you play annually?
KIM MOORE: I don't play near enough as I should.
Q. Every golfer says that.
KIM MOORE: This summer I played in a couple events. I played in the G4D Open, which was kind of the R&A EDGA event. I played in that in May, and then I played in the inaugural Scandinavian Mixed event for the G4D Tour in Sweden, so I played in that event. It was a mixed men's and women's event, five men, five women, so I was able to be invited to that.
Those were the two tournaments I played prior to this. But typically don't get to play a ton. I try to get it in as much as I can. Yeah, I just try to get some practice in.
Q. How do you balance coaching and playing? It's not unusual; a lot of coaches are really good players.
KIM MOORE: True. I think I like to give my attention to my players, so a lot of times I'm not playing while they're playing. I'm observing and coaching. They're always like, Coach, come out and play. I'm going back and forth and I want to be able to give my attention to that. I don't play tons with them, but yeah, there's definitely opportunities there, and they always want to watch you hit shots and see different things and examples.
Yeah, it should be more probably, but I think it's just kind of my personality. I want to be able to give back to them a little bit more than me playing, because when I'm playing, unfortunately I like to do well. I guess that's a good thing. I'm focused more on myself, and so it's hard to kind of get out of that mindset, even when I'm doing something like that.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports