Q. 5-under today from Christina Kim. Just take us through your round today.
CHRISTINA KIM: Oh, I'm not going to lie, I don't remember everything. (Laughter.) I made a couple of birdies back to back kind of situation. I actually struck the ball really, really well all day long and could not -- I couldn't stroke a cat for the first six holes.
So I believe I made my first birdie it was about 16 maybe. I think it was on 16. Or was it 17? I don't remember. Maybe it was 17. Yeah, I think it was 17.
But it was just a really good day of ball striking. I kept it in the fairway pretty much the entire day. Obviously being here at Pelican Golf Club it's such an incredible challenge. You know you've got -- I love golf architecture, so coming across a golf course where you've got fairway that run into the bunkers, I'm a huge, huge fan of that, as opposed to having rough-lined bunkers and things like that. It's such a spectacular golf course.
I ain't going to lie, I was stressed out all day. It's a golf course that demands your attention all day. Yeah, and then just rattled off four birdies on the back nine, which was the front nine. It was my second nine.
Yeah, I was just having fun and reading some great putts with my caddie and just having a blast playing with Isi Gabsa and Pornanong Phatlum. I couldn't have asked for a better pairing.
Q. You were sponsor's invite. I know you found that out live on a radio show. What was that reaction?
CHRISTINA KIM: Let's see, there was a lot of jumping. I was rolling around in the grass, sort of like a dog that just gets a nice warm patch of grass and just lulls around in it.
It's been an interesting sort entryway into this tournament because it's a field of 108 and I'm 98th in points, and yet I was first alternate coming into this week. Then I went all the way over to TPC Tampa Bay - shoutout to Donny and Steve; missed the qualifier by one and then was in contact with the tournament and they said, We're going to wait until an hour after the qualifier.
I was like, You know what? I'm going to go to the range. Worst case I'm first alternate. Hopefully nobody falls ill or anything and it's just someone is like, oh, man, I forgot that I entered. I'm in Bermuda right now, you know.
And so I got the phone call from Tim Aaronson and Marci Doyle and they were actually watching me from the second storey floor while I was on the driving range, so they saw me rolling around in the grass and jumping for joy.
So it was very, very special, and, you know, probably lit a little bit extra fire under my belly to make sure that I represent, because the Doyle family and everyone with Pelican Women's Championship, they could have had any number of people to come in as an invite.
So I want to do them justice and go out there and give it my everything with every single shot out there.
Q. It's been a tough year for you. A lot of missed cuts; a lot of Monday qualifiers; just missing out --
CHRISTINA KIM: Girl, I had three Monday qualifiers. That's all. Excuse me. I played in all five majors.
Q. Still, I mean --
CHRISTINA KIM: I'm coming off five missed cuts, yes.
Q. Yeah. How do you stay so upbeat? I was coming back.
CHRISTINA KIM: Don't worry. I'm just messing with you.
Q. How do you stay so upbeat, so positive?
CHRISTINA KIM: Well, considering where so many people are in this world, you know, the number of injustices taking place day in, day out, where we do live in the freest country in the world, you know, we've passed the infrastructure bill, which I think is fantastic, and it's going to provide a great future for the next generations and generations to come.
But you only get one shot at life, and I have been through a lot in my life and have been on the other end of it where I've wallowed in my own misery and ultimately got in my own way.
So if this ends up being the last tournament of my season, then great. I may as well enjoy it, and instead of thinking of a miss-hit shot, I'm now just allowing myself to have a new opportunity to have a sick up and down.
So I don't know. I'm upbeat because I have been through a lot of adversity in my life in the past. It comes with experience. I couldn't expect anyone else to have this sort of delusional positive mindset if they have never delved into those deep trenches of human emotion.
Q. Being a veteran and kind of --
CHRISTINA KIM: It's Veteran's Day.
Q. Touche. LPGA Tour veteran. Let me clarify. What motivates you to keep coming out and showing up or yourself and keep showing up playing golf every day?
CHRISTINA KIM: Golf. I mean, golf is the greatest passion in my life. It teaches you so much about yourself. You learn how to be resilient, accountable, how to be responsible, how to make mistakes, and how to learn from them and try and make up for them.
You're never -- you know, the way I see it, if I hit it into a divot -- actually this happened at the Women's Open. I hit into my own divot because I hit it into the dead middle of the fairway in a practice round; during the tournament I hit it into my own divot.
It's teaching me I'm never a victim. I'm a survivor. In a lot of the different ways. You know, it's just you're out in nature. You're getting to know your fellow players. You get to observe and really read people.
You know, you learn so much more about a person playing a round of golf with them than you would with five dinners. You can't BS your way through a round of golf.
Like who you are shows. If you miss-hit a shot, how you react to that shows your character. So there are just a myriad reasons as to why golf is the greatest.
Why wouldn't you want to wake up for that?
Q. I love it. Looking ahead to the rest of the week, a lot of positives today, so even though you were stressed out, what are you carrying with you into the next three rounds?
CHRISTINA KIM: You know, I'm just really focusing on the moment. That's been a huge thing for me these last few years really. I'm very fortunate that the pandemic really has allowed me to spend time on myself, focus on myself, and learn to truly love myself more than I had before.
So for me, it's just about enjoying the moment. You know, we're getting to see a pretty cool sunset. It's pretty amazing here. Temperature in the, I don't know, high 70s, low 80s. It's a beautiful backdrop here and I'm just drinking it all in.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports