THE MODERATOR: Please welcome from the United States of America, World No. 1 Lilia Vu. (Applause.)
From France, Celine Boutier. (Applause.)
From China Ruoning Yin. (Applause.)
LPGA Blue Bay defending champion from Mexico, Gaby Lopez. (Applause.)
Welcome back to the Blue Bay LPGA for the sixth edition of this championship here at the Jian Lake Blue Bay Golf Course in the People's Republic of China. I'll ask one question. If each of you could answer it, then we'll open it up.
How excited are you for the week and what are you looking forward to most? Start with you, Lilia.
LILIA VU: Yeah, super excited to be here. I heard a lot of great things about this golf course. First impression is it's beautiful here. They put the us up in a great room, great hotel. Everybody is being so nice.
I'm excited to play this course. I've heard it's challenging at times so excited to look forward to that.
THE MODERATOR: Gaby?
GABY LOPEZ: Yeah, super excited to be back. This golf course obviously reminds me of good memories. Having that first win here, it's always very special. You know the people, the staff, volunteers, the Blue Bay Golf Course, Westin Hotel, everyone does a great job for us to have an amazing week. I'm looking forward to playing alongside these amazing women sitting by me.
Yeah, thank you so much for presenting and showcasing women's golf here.
THE MODERATOR: Ronni?
RUONING YIN: I feel like always good to be back home and play in front of home crowd, and just Blue Bay is just like beautiful as always, and I just feel like good here.
THE MODERATOR: And then Celine?
CELINE BOUTIER: Very happy to be here for the first time in like five or six years. I remember a little bit about the course, but not really because it's been a while. I heard they made some changes, too, so I'm very excited to go back out there and refresh my memory and hopefully have a solid week here in China.
(Applause.)
Q. Lilia, so how is your body prepared for this week?
LILIA VU: Yeah, last week my body wasn't feeling great overall physically, and it was just you Sunday that I couldn't handle. So I took the whole day off yesterday and hopefully I can regroup and have a good week this week.
Q. Celine, this is not the first time you have come to Blue Bay to participate in the competition. You achieve a good third place here in 2018. Could you please share what is the impression of this course? What change do you see here compared to five years ago?
CELINE BOUTIER: I haven't played the course yet so I'm looking forward to refreshing my memories on some of the holes. I remember that the course was very hilly around the greens, a lot of undulations.
I remember that you have to be pretty smart about placement on the approach shots.
I remember it being pretty windy as well. So you really have to control your distances and flight trajectories. And then I think they changed maybe a few holes at the end, maybe like 16 through 18.
So I'm not sure what to expect on these holes, but that's what I remember from last time I played.
Q. So Gaby, as defending champion five years ago, it's a long ways defense to come back. Any expectation? Any goal for this week?
GABY LOPEZ: Yeah, I think that every single time you're in a place where you've played good and you have performed well, there is this kind of sort of calmness that comes with good memories, good feedback, just great I think just picturing yourself out there.
So, yeah, I'm actually really happy to be back. I get nostalgic because having your first win and coming back to this place is always good. So, yeah, I'm looking forward to a great week. You know, kind of repeating it, defending champion, it's always a hard test, but I'm really just in a position where I'm going to just do my best, enjoy my golf out here, and put myself in a position where I probably could, but I can't control the result. You can do your best and that's all you can really expect.
Q. Celine, this question goes to you. You had very good performance last week in Singapore. How do you compare yourself last week and expectation for this week?
CELINE BOUTIER: No expectations really. Just trying to build off a solid week last week. I think it was great for confidence, for my game to be in contention again, so that was a fun week to build on.
Hopefully this week just going to try to focus on one round at a time and try to put four solid rounds together.
Q. You return to the Blue Bay as a major winner after finishing second at the Blue Bay Junior Open in 2019. What are the differences between these two competitions? Can you share your feelings with us?
RUONING YIN: When I played in here, it's actually like a Blue Bay Junior Open in 2019, and had a very good solid last season (2024). I also heard there is some course changes. I haven’t seen the course yet, but looking forward to seeing the course this afternoon. Also looking forward to a good result in China.
Q. So how do you look forward to (regarding no cut)? How do you look forward to that first time?
LILIA VU: Oh, do you mean like there is a cut this tournament?
Q. Yeah. It's first time.
LILIA VU: Oh, yeah, so I mean, I can only speak for myself, but I don't really think about the cut line. I feel like when I show up to a tournament I kind of just stay in my own lane, try to play my best, and hopefully try to win the tournament.
Usually when you think about the cut line you end up missing the cut. If you think about winning you're kind of well above it.
GABY LOPEZ: I think it's a good opportunity for the rest of the LPGA players and more Chinese players to come. It's a bigger field, so I think it gives opportunity to more girls to kind of get into the shuffle for Chevron and some other big events we have coming up.
So I think it's a good opportunity, and I'm really happy at the tournament is including and it's a bigger showcase.
But, yeah, regarding to the cut line, yeah, I think we all just don't really think of making the cut. Probably just when you do your best, when you're concentrating on your routine and shot by shot, it shows up by itself.
We're going to miss cuts, but the goal is not making the cut. At the end of the day just be consist, give your best every single shot, eventually gets you further in your career.
RUONING YIN: Like Lilia and Gaby said, we came here to win a tournament and not to just try to make the cut. But I think it is good to have a cut line. I think it’s good for those CLPGA players to play on the highest-level Tour. They can also learn from the LPGA players, and it is good for China golf.
So probably for all the CLPGA player who can attack this course, they're going to witness what is deceptively (indiscernible) for LPGA competition. This is very good defense for them, and they are going to (indiscernible.)
CELINE BOUTIER: And I, yeah, I kind of agree with Gaby in the fact that it's just going to be able to include more players and have a bigger field and more opportunity for everyone. It's positive for the tournament.
Yeah, personally just trying to focus on putting two solid rounds together and putting myself in good position for the weekend.
Q. You accomplished a lot last year, including winning a major and being world No. 1. You are playing in your home country this week in front of Chinese fans. Do you believe this is pressure or motivation? Can you share with us your tips on dealing with pressure?
RUONING YIN: I’ve always wanted to play in front of a home crowd. Last week in Singapore, after the last hole, I heard people in the crowd cheering for me in Chinese. It was heart-warming to see.
LILIA VU: First impression is it's beautiful here. I've yet to play the course until today after this. I am really looking forward to it. I heard it's challenging in different ways but super excited for it.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports