Question: You almost birdied the 18th hole.
Answer: I was really hoping to score another one before the end of round. At one point of the round, I was two over par so, I’m glad that I was able to fight back to end my round under par.
Question: You showed us a strong come back on the final holes. What was going through your mind when you were two over par?
Answer: From the beginning, I struggled with landing my tee shots on the fairway. I was often in troubles as opposed to giving myself opportunities. My mindset was simply to stay patient.
Question: Expand on your struggles with tee shots.
Answer: I never felt comfortable with my tee shots today. Since the rough is long here, it’s essential to hit the fairways but I struggled to do so. The course felt even narrower today because I wasn’t playing well.
Question: What about the greens?
Answer: The greens are getting much firmer and gaining speed compared to the last few days.
Question: How are you playing compared to the practice days?
Answer: I didn’t really play well the last few days during practice. I’m struggling with the consistency of ball trajectory and height. The good thing is that I know what I need to work on. I’m playing faster than usual. Also, my backswing is getting too long and I’m hitting the balls late. When I caught that mid- swing, I tried to correct it which resulted in pulling some shots.
Question: Were you nervous at all to play on a big stage like the Olympics?
Answer: When my name was announced in the morning, I was very nervous. I started to calm down after few holes and was back to my usual self.
Question: During the round, were you able to make any adjustments to your game?
Answer: I struggled with a tempo of my swing today. I realized my backswing was getting too long. I was able to make adjustments on the fly by visualizing to hit half-shots rather than full swings, which worked well.
Question: Are you starting to feel more comfortable as the week progresses?
Answer: Yes. Once the competition got going, I was able to focus on my game plan.
Question: You are grouped with the superstars of the game. What are your thoughts to play alongside them?
Answer: On the final four holes, my long game started to come together and it felt good. I hope to continue that in the next three days. The heat has been a challenging factor but I will brace myself and do my best to play well.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports