Q. Here with Lydia Ko after her third round to the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions. 36 holes bogey-free. What's working so well in your game right now?
LYDIA KO: Everything has been pretty solid. Even the first day I hit the ball decent. Really struggled on the greens. I think that part of my game has improved the most the past couple days.
Golf is strange. I feel like I technically played better yesterday and even the 5-under, 7-under, they're both really good rounds. I shot a lower score today.
Yeah, you know, it's definitely some good momentum going into tomorrow. No matter how I finish tomorrow, it's been so much fun getting to see some familiar faces that I've seen over the past few years and meeting new people.
Yeah, this is such a great event and I'm grateful to be here at the Tournament of Champions for our season opener.
Q. How much are you thinking about defending versus this is the first tournament of the season, you want to still workshop what you've been working on in the offseason?
LYDIA KO: Considering how I felt coming off Thursday, I feel a lot better with my game. Because I knew I wasn't that far off it was easier to kind of transition. It was just a few putts here and there and could have been a much better round.
You know, it's a long season ahead. I said earlier in the week that I'm planning to play a lot more than what I first anticipated. But it's going to be a long day of golf tomorrow and I'm not really sure how many shots behind I'm going to finish behind A Lim at the end the today.
I'm just going to focus on my golf which is what I've been doing the past two days, see where that lands me. Never did I know that after Thursday I might be in the final group and in contention, so it's definitely a good position to be in and I'm just going to focus on me.
I think that's what I did really well last year. If I'm the one hoisting the trophy at the end of tomorrow that'd be great.
But it's my home club and technically I should know it better than maybe the same level as Leona and Mo, better than anybody else. I'm just going to enjoy it and make my share of birdies and see where at that puts me.
Q. Understanding you haven't had a chance to see or hit a shot, A Lim at 16-under with a couple holes to play, how good is that score on this golf course?
LYDIA KO: Yeah, I think her first day she shot 7-under and the next best score was 3- or 4-under. She's obviously playing great golf. This course, if you do hit it long it can be advantageous. Not to say somebody like me with my distance, I won around here, too. But golf is golf. You just got to find the best way around the golf courses that suits you.
It's going to be fun and I know she has a lot of great energy, and I personally haven't played that many competitive rounds with her. That's going to different.
But I just got to focus on me. Yeah, she's played unbelievable. 16-under around this golf course for three rounds pretty much is very impressive.
Q. You say golf is golf and you've probably gone through this at some other points before. You shot 7-under today. If things stay the way you are you only picked up one shot on A Lim. How frustrating is that when you play that well and you don't make up a lot of ground?
LYDIA KO: I don't think it's frustrating because I played good golf and she has been playing better golf than me. You know, all I can focus on is me. I could have the round of my life but somebody has the round of their life and it's better than mine.
That doesn't take anything from my golf. I'm just focusing on my round and I'm sure she's only -- she's in her zone and just focusing on hers. That's all you can do.
I always said I want to win because I'm playing better, not because somebody played worse. I think that's always a good mindset to be in.
Q. There has been a lot of talk about the putter change and going bogey-free since then. It hasn't all been putter, has it?
LYDIA KO: My ball striking has been really solid. A lot of good looks for birdies. Yesterday I felt like I gave myself a lot of chances and there was a span on the back nine where I wasn't able to capitalize on the good iron shots.
But I knew that I was stroking it really well. Even though I missed the putts it was kind of easy to shrug it off and move onto the next one.
I know as long as my stroke is good, I am rolling it well, all I can do is commit to the line I see. That's it.
Some are going to fall and some are not. You hope that you make more putts than you don't, but it's -- it was a good change but it's not all the putter obviously. Everything kind of needs to be working well together.
Q. When you are behind the leader like you are today, do you wake up this morning with a number in your head trying to say okay I got to go out and shoot 65 today?
LYDIA KO: Yesterday I had a number, I think 5-under would be good momentum. Not sure where that's going to put me on the leaderboard.
But today I kind of didn't have a number to be honest. I think as I was playing I was like, you know what? Shooting 66 would be good. Obviously one-upping that is really nice.
But, yeah, most of the time I come in with a number and especially because you can see how the other players are playing and you know the conditions. Maybe because it is a golf course that I play quite often I'm out here kind of like any other day. I think that's the perk of playing at your home club, is that I've kind I have kind of seen it and done it all. Had bad starts and good starts and vice versa.
So I know it's in there, are and I just got to focus on me and just commit to my shots and hopefully have another good one tomorrow.
Q. How were conditions today compared to the last two days in your mind?
LYDIA KO: You know, the wind was a lot calmer than the past couple days. You know, was a bit windier. Not that it was ultra windy. Was a bit windier yesterday than I thought it was going to be. Yeah, it was calm so when the pins were more gettable and the situations are like that, you're trying to capitalize on that kind of environment.
But, yeah, I don't think the course has changed that much. When you play this tournament for a long time you kind of know where the pin positions are going to be, so it's a little bit easier to kind of manage your way around the golf course.
Q. What would you say your best shot was today?
LYDIA KO: My best shot today was -- oh, I hit a driver off the deck on No. 9.
It went to the front edge of the green. My caddie, Paul, said, oh, it was a good shot but I'm disappointed that it's taken you two and a half rounds to hit a driver off the deck because I hit it quite often.
That was a nice one.
Q. You walked in with you're four legged friend. What is her name and how old?
LYDIA KO: His name is Kai. He's got his official credential. He's almost one and he's a handful. As many legs as he has he has this many to run away from me and already went for it earlier this week. So Megan Khang and Minjee and I were running after the guy, so, yeah, I'm hoping -- he's doing a lot of training and I'm hoping he stays a little bit close.
It's obviously great to have that kind of company.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports