THE MODERATOR: We are welcomed by 2022 champion Minjee Lee. Talk us through your round a little bit.
MINJEE LEE: Yeah, I felt pretty good out there. Obviously if you missed the fairway a little bit, you were in quite a bit of trouble. It's quite detrimental. Yeah, pretty much the bogeys I was off the fairway. My second shot put a little bit more pressure on that.
Q. Definitely a day where par is a good score. How were you able to keep -- after a lot of your bogeys you came back with birdies.
MINJEE LEE: Yeah, I think I still gave myself really great opportunities for birdie. The birdies that I had were, a couple of them were short, like four or five feet, and some were maybe like 12 to 15 feet. Yeah, I still had good looks when I had birdies, so I was kind of back and forth with my bogeys and my birdies.
Q. A lot of people have been talking about the wind. How were you doing out there with that?
MINJEE LEE: Yeah, we had one of the days practice rounds it was a little bit more windier. I'm not sure if it's the same direction, but it was kind of the same feel. I think just -- it's a U.S. Open. You're just going to take every shot as it comes, and you're going to assess it shot by shot. I think that's what I've been doing.
Q. They call this course "The Beast." Did it live up to its name?
MINJEE LEE: Yeah, I remember it from nine years ago. It was my rookie year, and it was like, oh, my God. But now that I come back, it is hilly, but it's the same for everyone. It is a monster of a walk, and it's just going to be good recovery, and -- it'll be good recovery at nights and just come back and try and beat the course again.
Q. There was not a lot of birdies out there with many of the players. There was five birdies in your round and you managed to have an even round.
MINJEE LEE: Yeah, I think when I made bogey, I was like, oh, I really want to make birdie to get it back. I feel like I went back and forth kind of with being motivated after having a bogey. Obviously you don't want to make bogeys, but they're going to happen regardless because very tough conditions. So much slope on the greens, too, and the rough is up, as per U.S. Opens should be.
I think I just tried to play to the best of my ability, and that is what I can do.
Q. You know Yuka well. Looks like she's going to shoot 3-under. Talk about what that score is like out here today.
MINJEE LEE: I mean, she was playing right behind me, and they've been breathing up our butts. Seems like she's getting a lot of claps, so she must be hitting it good and putting it well. I'm really happy for her that she's doing well. She's like a little sister. Yeah, always you want to see them do well, so yeah.
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