Q. Very pleased to be joined by Jin Young Ko after her second round here at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions. Another great day for you on the course. What went into today?
JIN YOUNG KO: Today was more like gusting when I'm playing it and it was a little hard to play. I really enjoyed it with like Hally and Blair. Yeah, so much fun.
Q. First time starting at this event. How is starting at this event to start your season different compared to when you started in other events on Tour?
JIN YOUNG KO: It's nice to play in January. I think I had struggle last year, so I think I needed to play more events in 2025.
Yeah, my parents are here. My dog are here. So it's more special than other months. Yeah, looking forward to 2025.
Q. How much time did you take off in the offseason? Did you go to a winter training?
JIN YOUNG KO: Well, after CME I took a break five or six days, and I came to Korea like 27th or 28th November. I started practice again 1st of December. I didn't much have time to rest.
Yeah, I mean, usually I go to winter training with my coach, with my players, but this -- I think I needed to change like different energy. That's why I didn't go to winter training with them.
So that's why I bringing my parents and my dog are here. Yeah, it's more special to me. It's been a while to spend time with my family since I started playing golf.
It's been like over 20 years.
Q. Wow.
JIN YOUNG KO: Spend time with my family in January. So it's more special.
Q. So you were in Texas with your family for a while?
JIN YOUNG KO: I was bringing my dog from In Chun to Texas. I had to stop by Dallas because he has to rest because of long flight he has. He has jet lag when we were in Dallas. He sleeping all day like two days in a row. Then he wake me up 3:00 a.m. He was hungry.
I give meal to him and I came here 5th of January.
Q. Where were you practicing out of in Florida?
JIN YOUNG KO: I have friends, like he working at Marriott, so he knows like a lot of golf course from JW Marriott. So he introduce other good golf courses. I played Ritz Carlton; PNC tournament there. I practice like ten minutes from here. So, yeah, was pretty good practice I think.
Q. It's early, but is this something that you think you'll probably continue to do with winter training as the years go forward?
JIN YOUNG KO: Yeah, because I'm playing golf over 20 years right now, so I always go to winter training last 20 years. I realize I'm getting old. I think I need to take time for myself. Lots of juniors, they're looking at me. If I like take a rest during the practice, I felt guilty.
So it makes me more hard, so that's why I was bringing my parents to here and I practice myself and I brought my physio and manager.
So it feels more free. I miss my coach, yeah.
Q. Speaking of feeling free, you mentioned yesterday you were trying to make things simpler.
JIN YOUNG KO: Yeah.
Q. Has that been easier for you to do these two rounds?
JIN YOUNG KO: Of course, yeah, yeah. I think all the golfers, for all the golfers has been like too much thinking on the course sometimes, so sometimes it makes more like hard to play well.
So, yeah, sometimes, yeah, I'm trying to take off like big things in my mind; just let it simple.
Q. So far so good?
JIN YOUNG KO: So far so good.
Q. I'm just curious, with injuries and ebbs and flows, being out here for a little while, how hungry are you? How excited are you to start the season?
JIN YOUNG KO: I'm still hungry, yes. Yeah, I want to win. I like to win. I like to win major especially. That's why I practice a lot since 1 December last year.
Yeah, I'm looking forward to 2025 season.
Q. Was this your dog's first time over here?
JIN YOUNG KO: In America, yes. That's why he has jet lag.
Q. What's his name again?
JIN YOUNG KO: Baebaki.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports