THE MODERATOR: All right, hello and welcome everyone to the media center at the 2023 Walmart NW Arkansas Championship. I am here with first-time LPGA tour winner, Hae Ran Ryu. Congratulations first of all.
HAE RAN RYU: Thank you so much.
THE MODERATOR: I'll just start. You had an amazing week of golf here at Pinnacle Country Club. Talk about your game and what it has been looking like throughout the week.
HAE RAN RYU: I practiced a lot in Korea before coming here so I had high hopes coming in this week and I think I got a response from it. Earlier in the day today, I don’t know if it was nervousness or adrenaline, but my irons were traveling way too far so I was struggling a bit. But I was able to wrap it up in the second half.
THE MODERATOR: The course played a little shorter than in the past two rounds. How do you think that affected your score today? Were you a little bit more aggressive than usual?
HAE RAN RYU: I was looking at the leaderboard. In shorter holes, the course was becoming more narrow. I thought if I were going to win this event, my ball wouldn’t die here so I played aggressively. That led to an eagle putt and resulted in a win for me.
THE MODERATOR: There were several people behind you on the leaderboard chasing you. Were you looking at the leaderboard and paying attention while you were playing?
HAE RAN RYU: In the last three holes, I tried to not look at the leaderboard. So the leaderboard’s screen keeps changing. It’s not like my score appears on the leaderboard constantly. So when I looked at the leaderboard unintentionally, I actually didn’t see my score and saw scores of other players so i ended up not looking at the leaderboard.
THE MODERATOR: Just for everyone to know, we have someone on the Zoom helping translate Hae Ran's quotes here.
INTERPRETER: Am I supposed to translate after every answer?
THE MODERATOR: Yes, please.
THE INTERPRETER: So start from the top. I have her answers. I just wasn't sure when to chime in.
THE MODERATOR: Yes. Can we do the last question, please? Were you aware at all where you were on the leaderboard throughout the round today?
HAE RAN RYU: I knew. I saw earlier when I was looking at the leaderboard. I tried not to look at it the last three holes, but the leaderboard kept changing. It's not constantly there. When I tried to look the page of my leaderboard wasn't there, so just going back and forth.
THE MODERATOR: This is your first win on the LPGA Tour. You're an LPGA rookie this year. What does it mean to get your first win on the LPGA?
HAE RAN RYU: To be honest, I had some doubts whether I can win this year, but I trusted in my shots and kept playing, and I think that led to a good result. In Korea it's pretty early morning. I know when I was playing it was like even earlier in the morning, but with my parents and the fan clubs I think they were cheering me on and supporting me. I think thanks to them I was able to get it done this today and this week. Q. I'm going to guess this is your first time in Arkansas. This place will be pretty special for you. Talk to me about your experience here. This is definitely a place that's going to have a nice place in your heart moving forward, I'm going to guess.
HAE RAN RYU: Yeah, definitely my first time in Arkansas. I've gone back and forth between the U.S. and Korea a lot, but first time being here in the state and the city. But the city here is very clean. It felt like a newly developed city. Really enjoyed my stay here. There was a lot of good options to stay, a lot of good food places. Yeah, really enjoyed my time here.
Q. Talk to me about that back nine. That had to be a ton of fun. Eagle and four birdies. Almost had an albatross there on the approach shot on 14. Seemed like you had a lot of the fun there, especially it was kind of stress-free toward the end. Had some snacks with your caddie. Seemed like that back nine was just a fun time.
HAE RAN RYU: Yes, I found out my caddie really likes grapes, so we talked about what kind of grapes it was, where the grapes came from. Golf-wise I think they moved up the tee a little bit so there was a little bit of worry. Like I said earlier, if I were going to win the ball wasn't going to die, so I played really aggressive today. Yeah, played really aggressive today.
Q. Talk to me about your emotions of winning this. You spoke earlier that you had some doubts that you wouldn't break through this year. You had five Top 10s. Talk to me about the emotions of this, finally breaking through. You've kind of been knocking at the door of this opportunity. Emotions-wise, I guess you're just super proud of that performance.
HAE RAN RYU: Honestly I thought I would cry after the win. Adjusting to life in the States wasn't easy. I had, like you said, five Top 10s so far this year, and I think especially towards the back nine of the final round I wasn't able to get it done. Today finally in the front nine I was hitting a lot of weird shots, but I saw the leaderboard and I thought I would really be devastated and disappointed in myself if I lose it again. So just told myself on the back nine that I can do it and I can do it.
THE MODERATOR: All right, any other questions? Any questions on the Zoom? All right, one last question from me: This event is special, one of our 54-hole events out here. Seems like the Walmart community really rallies around this event. What makes this event different from the other events you played in so far this year?
HAE RAN RYU: So when I was in Korea I actually played in a lot of three-day events, so from that experience I knew I had to be a little bit more aggressive than usual. The LPGA Tour there aren't that many three-day events, so I think I divided up my stamina and physical attributes well to get it done this week.
THE MODERATOR: Awesome. Thank you so much and congratulations again.
HAE RAN RYU: Thank you so much.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports