THE MODERATOR: Here with Minjee Lee, who's playing in her sixth Honda LPGA Thailand. Three Top 10s, including a runner-up finish in 2019. Welcome back to Thailand.
MINJEE LEE: Thank you.
Q. Just finished up your nine holes in the pro-am, some practice heading in. How does the golf course look ahead of the tournament?
MINJEE LEE: The course is a little bit softer than the other years that I remember. I think the condition's probably not as fast on the greens, but I think it's equally as challenging because definitely less roll on the fairways.
Yeah, just seems to be a little bit longer than the other years we played.
Q. How does that change your prep as you come into this? When you come in thinking, Oh, the golf course is going to be like this, and for the first time in a while it's different.
MINJEE LEE: Yeah, I think for me, I just adjust when I get here. So I kind of assess while I'm doing the practice rounds, so I don't really -- I just kind of remember the past conditions and just adjust once I get here.
It's pretty much what I'm doing. Over the course of practice rounds and the pro-am I sort of just work my around on the course and figure out what I need to do.
Q. Uh-uh. I want to take you back to Sunday in Singapore with that 63. That was an awesome round. How much does that help you and give you confidence coming into a round? Granted, it's at a different tournament and it's four days later, but the last time you played you played pretty good.
MINJEE LEE: Yeah, I think just being the first tournament back for me, just knocking off a little bit of the rust and getting back into sort of the tournament mindset, I think that was the biggest thing for me last week.
And having such a low round on Sunday was just kind of a bit of a confidence booster coming into the rest of the season.
So, yeah, I think this week I can be a little bit more aggressive and just trust that I've done all my work and just play my game.
Q. You're up to 4th in the Rolex Rankings, which is the highest you've been since 2019.
MINJEE LEE: Yep.
Q. What have you been working on and what's caused you to be playing so well and jump up in the rankings?
MINJEE LEE: Over the off-season I sort of worked on my strength and doing a lot of gym work and working on getting a little bit more speed in my swing.
I feel like my iron play has been pretty solid over the past whatever years that I've been playing, so I think that was my big focus.
And also putting.
So I think those two things have really helped me get where I am right now.
Q. You talk about your irons and everything. You lead the tour in strokes gained on approach. Does that sound about right to you? Feel good on that?
MINJEE LEE: Yeah, I feel good on that. My approach shots have always been quite good. That's kind of the strength of my game, so -- that is the strength of my game. Yeah, I'm pretty confident in that aspect of it.
Yeah, I think that sounds about right.
Q. So you've been hitting the gym. What have you been working on and what do you like to do at the gym?
MINJEE LEE: You know, I'm kind of a gym nut. I like working out, and I think it's a little bit a stress reliever as well. It's fun for me to work on these aspects of my body and see if I can get stronger in certain parts of it as well.
I think I've been doing a lot more speed exercises, just probably doing a bit more with medicine balls and throwing them around.
That's what's really fun for me, so that's what I do to myself.
Q. So yesterday was International Women's Day.
MINJEE LEE: Yep.
Q. There are so many inspirational women in the game, out of the game. Who are some of the women that have affected you in your life or some women you've always looked up to?
MINJEE LEE: I think sort of watching Webby and having been to like the Karrie Webb Scholarship that week at the U.S. Open, that really shaped what I thought about the tour and sort of what I wanted to do.
Like sort of kind of -- it made my path a little clearer to me. It was very big motivation for me to go and play the U.S. Open the next year.
She has been kind of like an inspiration to me.
And I don't know, I always really admired Serena Williams. I think I've said that a lot in the past. Just her demeanor and just the intensity, I think the way she plays.
I sort of really looked up to that as well. So, yeah.
Q. She's a good one.
MINJEE LEE: Uh-huh.
Q. Question here from the Zoom. What does this Asian swing mean to you, these opportunities to play over here? It's not Australia unfortunately, but still closer to your time zone and people at home. What does it mean to be able to play over here?
MINJEE LEE: Yeah, I always love coming back to Asia. It is closest to Australia and like my parents can watch it live and a lot of the fans can be on our time zone, which is quite hard when we are back in America.
I think it's just nice to start with these events. There is a lot -- I think there is a little bit less pressure with no cut and it's kind of you played well year before to have these spots, so I think it's kind of a reward for us to be able to play Thailand, Singapore.
So and we're always treated so well so I think the hospitality is great. I think we all really love coming back.
Q. What are some of your favorite parts of playing here in in Thailand? We're still in COVID times, but the fact that we can think about doing things now, what are some of your favorites things to do here in Thailand?
MINJEE LEE: I think my favorite thing is obviously food. Like I love trying new things, and just having the local traditional food of Thailand is really -- I mean, it's really good for me. I love it. I think that's what I look most forward to when I'm traveling to like Asia.
Q. What's your favorite thing to eat over here?
MINJEE LEE: Oh, probably mango sticky rice. So good.
Q. How do you think you set up for this course this week, and how does this course set up for you? Playing some of the best probably you've ever played. How do you feel heading into the week?
MINJEE LEE: I feel pretty good. I feel like my iron play has been good. I mean, coming off last week I'm pretty confident in my putting as well, so I feel like I sort of have everything -- like in terms of my game, I think it's all in the right place.
Just needs to all mesh together I guess. And I think just if I am in a good mental state I think I'll be okay. I'll be pretty good.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports