Q. All right, here with UCLA grad Alison Lee. Back in your old neck of the woods. How are you feeling after coming off day one in a place that feels familiar to you?
ALISON LEE: It feels really good. You know, in the past I always couldn't really quite figure out this golf course, so it felt good to go out there and shoot a low number on the first round.
Definitely playing in the morning helped. Not a lot of wind. Greens are a little more smooth, so that definitely helped.
But, yeah, feels good. I had a lot of nerves coming into this week for sure. Even though we're kind of well into the season I've only played one tournament so far this season coming off a hand injury, but, yeah, feels good to come back, shoot a low number out there.
Giving myself a little bit of confidence, and thankfully all the hard work I put in is paying off.
Q. How does it feel? I know you had the prolonged break due to the injury with the dog bite. Overall how are you feeling about your game going into this week and what did today prove to you?
ALISON LEE: Honestly, I didn't -- I had no clue. I took a little bit of time off in the off-season. I usually like to take a couple weeks off and you kind of got to start all over again with your game when it comes to practice. If I don't hit balls I lose speed and distance. Got to get in tune with my numbers again, you know, getting the feel around the golf course, playing competition.
And so I was ready to go, and then when I got that dog bite I had to take like another two weeks off without touching my clubs. I felt like I had to start all over again at the time, too. That's when the season had already started. I did feel really rushed to try and get my game back into form.
Playing in Singapore was really disappointing for me. I only had a couple weeks of practice going into that week, but I didn't play as well as I wanted to.
Yeah, over the last two weeks, I had two weeks off, you know, you just kind of start overthinking a lot of the time and you can very easily get negative about your own game, especially after the week I had.
But I spent a lot of time with my putting coach. I saw my swing coach. Did the best I could to try and prep for this week and try and catch up almost, to get my game prepped and ready for this week.
So, yeah, shooting a low number that first round, it feels good, yeah.
Q. Aside from the swing coach and the putting coach, did you reach out to Fred Couples again?
ALISON LEE: Yeah, we chatted a little bit. I don't think he knew I was -- I had to pull out of a few events, so I had to update him on everything that happened. I did chitchat with him a little bit the last two weeks.
Yeah, he's just great. He's really become a mentor to me and almost like a personal hype man, too. Just always had so many nice things to say. It's really nice to hear because sometimes -- I mean, anyone can tell you that.
My boyfriend can go on and on and tell me how great I am. Doesn't mean anything because I'm like, you're supposed to say that. Yeah, when you have someone like him who's a legend who says all these nice things -- he doesn't have to say any of that -- for him to put some time aside and give me a little bit of confidence and tell me things that sometimes I don't believe myself is a lot. It means a lot to me.
Q. How have you maintained the mental fortitude I think you found late last year as you rolled into this year with some of those challenges?
ALISON LEE: Yeah, it's been tough. Quite honestly, I feel like I've been on ice for a long time. You know, my biggest fear, too, is losing it, right? Like I had such a great end of the year last year. Golf is such an unpredictable game. Anything can happen. I can have a really good stretch of events and then the next week you can play terribly.
That's what your mind always goes to even though you shouldn't. Yeah, that's where my mind went to after Singapore, but I really, really had to dig deep and tell myself, like, hey, I haven't practiced before as well and I wasn't prepared as well as I normally am for events.
So, yeah, I just kind of tried to put that out of my mind and tell myself I'm going to do everything I can to get ready for this week.
Yeah, it feels good to shoot a low number on the first day.
Q. Feel like when we get out to California we talk about poana. That's just the way it goes. For you, from here, you know this grass. How much of an advantage is that, and even with the kikuyu grass, too?
ALISON LEE: I don't know if it's necessarily an advantage in terms of improving my putting stats for the week. I would say it definitely helps from a mental perspective. Like I'm used to growing up putting on greens like this where you might hit a good stroke, read it perfectly, but sometimes it's just not going to go in.
And I just had to tune back into that and remind myself, I mean, some putts aren't going to go in and it's not always your fault all the time. You just got it kind of trust that. That's the hardest part, right, is just believing that, hey, I hit a good stroke and I just have to trust that and move on to the next hole.
Thankfully today I hit a lot of good pretty much shots so I gave myself a lot of good birdie opportunity from a closer distance. Definitely when you get outside of 20 feet or if you're within the three to five foot range you start to sweat a little bit.
But, yeah, I would say the on advantage I really have is to just -- understanding that I know putts aren't going to drop all the time and that's okay.
Q. Singapore aside, how much fun are you having on the golf course right now?
ALISON LEE: Yeah, feels good right now. Obviously when you're playing good you feel good. So, yeah, I'm just trying to enjoy every moment. Like I said, I feel like I worked pretty hard and prepped for this week.
That's honestly all you can do. Even if I don't play well, I just have to do everything I can to move on and try and do better the next day.
That's what I felt like I did really well at in Singapore. I had a really bad first round and I just was beside myself. Then I managed to have a really good second round and a really good final round.
So having a few glimpses like that of shooting under par and making birdies definitely helps. You know, I mean, it's tough to just feel good and be positive when you're hitting bad shots.
You know, it's nice to see all the hard work I put in really come to fruition and hitting those shots on the course, making birdies, I mean, being in contention, that's why we work so hard.
So it's been nice.
Q. Just one more from me. We have now The ANNIKA in the fall and now the Seri Pak Championship here in the spring. Overall, what has she meant to your career and is she someone that you may have looked up to growing up?
ALISON LEE: Yeah, for sure. Seri Pak and Annika have been huge movers of the game of women's golf. I grew up when I was young playing with both -- or I'm sorry, grew up watching both as a young girl. Definitely Seri Pak had a huge impact on me playing golf.
You know, my parents are both born in South Korea, so I mean, she was huge. When she was playing really well, especially my dad, he saw that on TV and saw a little bit of me in her, too. That's why he introduced me to the game.
Actually played with Seri when I was 14 when I qualified for the U.S. Open. I played in a practice round with her. This is more towards the end of her career, but I just remember like being so starstruck and that was the coolest experience.
Same with Annika. You know, giving back to junior golf, I played in her golf tournament when I was young, AJGA, too.
So, yeah, I think it's cool to still see their names out there. I think for me, too, it's cool to see all the these younger girls know who they are. Because they were probably too young to watch them on TV, so to see their name recognized and, I mean, I think that's the biggest thing.
Hopefully we have more people like Seri and Annika moving forward who become big names in women's golf and super recognizable, giving back, and, you know, more girls like that little girls can look up to like myself.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports