Christina Kim

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So that's Riomarshoes dot com. And the promo code is TFE for fifteen percent off. All right. Today's guest is Christina Kim. Christina Kim is an LPGA star. She's been out there for almost twenty years now. She's played on a couple Solheim Cup teams. She's also one a few times. So we talked to Christina about her love of architecture and golf courses. Uh and then also her career. So long winding conversation. And you know, Christina is full of energy.

She's she's awesome, awesome person. And uh, hope you guys enjoy this interview.

right now this week we would be in Hawaii. So I would much rather be in Hawaii obviously.

So I think, you know, when you're even though you're in that more sensitive age range, that could be you know more, you know, the complications of getting COVID nineteen could be worse. All they want to do is play golf. So I've been playing twenty seven holes a day minimum this last week. My golf course is a private course

here in Orlando. They close down the driving range, so it's been a lot of fun just basically just pulling up out of the car grabbing like I leave my golf cart here at the cart barn, grabbing your cart and then taking a couple of swings, doing a couple of stretches, and then it's just like crack like five times. And you know, because we're playing five sums a bit. We play in like three and our three three and a half hours or something like that for eighteen holes

because everyone's got their own cart. But it's just it's a lot of grunting throughout the throughout the day for the first few holds.

feel like I'm working on something. And I also have a tendency to I mean, like some of my Caddie's least favorite words, or let me try something here, like in the middle of a tournament, and you know, like most of the time because I'm just like, you know, I'll try something and I'm confident with it, so it's going to be okay, you know. So I do like to play around with shots, but I like to balance a bit of both. And when I say balance, I mean hip balls for an hour, putt for like thirty minutes,

and then play twenty seven. For me, golf is golf is everything I did however last week, or I have no concept of what day of the week it is right now. It might have been earlier this week.

most likely Thursday. And then you know, if I'm you know, once I know the cutspan made, I'm like, okay, it's Saturday. And then when you you know it's I have not had to worry about what day of the week it is for a very long time, so it's, uh, you know, this is the I guess you know, I mean first first not even first world problems, these are first class world problems. And so I'm just like, I think it's Friday.

let's try and figure out what is happening. Yeah, it's it's for so many reasons, a crazy, crazy world we're in right now, Like these are the smallest of problems that any of us are having to deal with.

did this When did this practice start? When did you start really exploring courses that you weren't playing on a given week on tour.

I was a stupid kid. I knew nothing. I was just like very just like the play golf and be like, oh that put was fast, and oh this course is pretty and all of that stuff. So I would say, really sickly, this has probably been something that's kind of been ruined for the last five to seven years or so.

I don't I was always the kind of person where was like, well, if I'm on tour, I'm always going to find something wonderful about the tournament, because you know, we could be on a golf course that some players will say it's crap or whatever, but I'll be like, Okay, but you know, the food's great in the city, or our fans are awesome, or you know we've got one or two really tough holes that I can really appreciate

things like that. But in the last few years, Duncan's really gotten me into architecture, and we've gotten to know Michael Clayton really well, and he's just he's he's a legend. He's an absolute legend. I love that guy so much.

I love him to death. And although I have yet to meet Tom Duncan, Duncan's been a fan obviously of history years and you know, a couple of years ago we had the opportunity to go play tarat Et and

that was just that place just blew my mind. Although no, to be fair, I would say my my real appreciate the very, the very, the tiniest seedling of appreciation of golf architecture kind of came about when we were at the two thousand and ten US Women's Open, because it was we were over at Oakmont and the fact that I was able to go and see the church pews and just be able to really grasp the idea of just such a big golf course and how amazing and

miraculous the rolls of the hills were, how natural it felt while you're you know, playing the ball along the ground because it's firm, ash shit, and so you have to you know, you can't. It was a little different when the guys were there a couple of years ago. But you you know, especially with being the ladies, you don't have as much clubhead speed. You're having to you're being required to hit different shots. We only play from you know, like three hundred yards shorter than the guys do.

So these guys will be hitting driver and hitting a wedge whereas we're going to be hitting driver and then so they're sixty yards past us anyway, and then they're usually two clubs longer than us as well. So it's like, okay, well you've got a wedge and I'm going to hit a five iron and you're going to land it past the flag and spin it back. I'm going to have to actually utilize the ground and chase something up so to be able to be at a golf course at it.

For some reason, something just clicked and it just really showcased how remarkable the structure of the ground was. So that's probably where the seedling was really start, where it really started to flourish. I think my first encounter with like true links golf was at my very first Women's British Open, which was at Royal Livem in Saint Anne's and for me is still my favorite golf course in

the UK. I've not been fortunate enough to play all of the greats yet, but there's just something so remarkable about you know, Like I as soon as I started playing that course, I was like I fell in love immediately, played like absolute dog shit the very first time, but I was hooked to links golf because you know, it's not just bomb and gouge. You have to use angles.

You have to be able to know when to play the ball up, when to play the ball down, understand how you know the natural contours of just everything within nature, whether it's you know the wind where it's coming from, and there's a difference between a one o'clock wind or a win that's at one point thirty and how much

that can affect your ball. It's just it's I don't know, it's just that was there was there was a brief lull in time when when I think began, I was stupid as a kid, like my brain just kind of shut off. But partly with getting to know Duncan and starting to date him and just you know, the network that he's got and all the people we've spoken to, and you know, we've got a really good friend who funnily enough, his name is tom Watson. His dad is his dad's a golf nerd. I think his sister's name

is it's either Augusta or Azalea. One of those is her first name and one of those is her middle name. And so Tommy would go and he like when we're in the UK. He would call up during the tournament week and be like, hey, you know I'm here with you know, you know now presently Dame Laura Davies and I'm Tom Watson. We want to come out and play. And the story where he came he came to this

one golf course. I forget the name of it. I'll have to ask Duncan later, where like the president of the club, they're like greens keeper and everybody came to watch them play at dawn. And so Laura shows up and Tommy's there and he's like this like he might he's like five eight five nine, but he must weig one hundred and twenty pounds soaking way, and he found hers up to the golf course and they're like, who is this scrub And he's like, I'm the Tom Watson

you spoke to. It's not my fault if you thought I was, you know, one of them was ever And so he's he's been a huge impact on me as well in terms of understanding and appreciating golf architecture. And he's he's a lot like Michael where he just says it how it is and he has very like I will say. He's got very very colorful language. You know.

eighty and it just blew my mind. And obviously since Suncan's from New Zealand, I am very partial to it. I will say, if you know, if anyone's everythinking, oh, you know, I'd love to go do a golf trip down in Australia, this that whatever, and I might do like a quick layover stop over in New Zealand. Two things, because I absolutely and I mean stand built golf and

just golf in Australia is just it's so good. There's something about just really good, rich, nutritious soil that you can just there's there's it just changes the way that golf is played and so I would say, if you're really thinking that you should do one or the other, you can't get anything done in New Zealand that you would want to in a couple of days you need.

You know, the last time I was there, well not the last time I was there, but the previous time, I was there for about twenty days, and I don't know, I got to do about five percent of what I wanted to. It is. It is the most spectacular place on earth.

they're truly among the best in the world. The people are incredible, and like when it comes to Australia, which is you know, so for me it's probably that you know, Australasian, you know, down under kind of golf would probably be

my overall favorite. There's so much that I appreciate about appreciate about golf in the UK as well, But there's it's so cold sometimes that it's nice to be able to have, you know, a day when it's like seventy eighty ninety one hundred degrees and then yeah, if you wanted to go in the fall and play when it's

like fifty degrees or something like that, that's great. But you're just sitting there and just like if you're going to like be like, oh, okay, I'm gonna go ploy Hoylake or I want to go over and play Hesscat or something like that, it's like you got to You can't just book your flight two months in advance. You gotta like look at the fourteen day forecast. You're like, oh my god, it says that they're going to be into a heat wave. It's going to be ninety four

degrees in six days. I'm buying my ticket now so I can play on that day. You know, if you wanted to have like that enjoyable, warm experience, like obviously when we go for the Scottish open and the Women's British open. You know, that's you anticipate having that, the slashing down rain, the gale force wins all of that stuff.

And that's one of the things I really love whenever I do go over there and I and I expect it like it's it's one thing that I look forward to because I love when conditions get not just tough, but like it gets to the point where you sit there and you're like, you know a lot of people are like, I don't even know what to do here,

Like I'm one fifty out. You know. I would normally hit like a strong eight or a little seven or something like that, and I'm like, all right, dude, like you go ahead and take your seven iron and just watch it just wafted up into the wind and come forty yards short. I'm gonna chip a little five iron and just kind of run it up into the green and hit it to like ten feet Like it's that's

It just requires so much creativity. But it's also nice to be able to have the option be like, but a few months later you can go and play when it's like one hundred degrees, and then you know, six months later you can go back and it'll be like you're at the British Open and things like that. Again, that being said, everything in Australia is trying to kill you.

That's the only thing. I think that's one of the things that makes me want to do New Zealand more than Australia because literally everything is trying to kill you from the smallest bug you can get, like your heart punched out by a kangaroo, like obviously, saltwater crocs, bull sharks. I love love Australia and then love the culture. I love their like, you know, not not care free, but they're just so like chilled out and relaxed, and you know they do also love to drink and it's it's awesome.

And New Zealand is very very similar. But nobody's trying. Nothing's trying to hurt you over there.

Although you know, I love fast greens, I don't think that putters, like the best putters, necessarily showcase themselves when greens are fast. I think that a lot of times, like green complexities and things like that are are sort of taken away when greens are too fast. So I don't know, it's just it's just American golf is just

very different these days. Unless you go to somewhere like a you know, like the Loop or if you were to go to you know, like I played the Sandbox and Mamasoons when we were over in Wisconsin and things like that, And so I think that in a perfect way.

And also, I mean, like we've been in like a national drought for ever, so you would think that people would want to appreciate the idea of brown as beautiful for if nothing else, just so that we can have water accessible to everybody and not have random wildfires just scourging the entire earth. But that's something else altogether. But I would I would put it a little bit closer towards the UK than to the US, in my opinion.

here on tour as well. The ladies obviously, you know, they've always for the most part, they've always been relatively fit, but there's been a huge explosion in terms of fitness, a huge explosion in terms of understanding nutrition, and it's gotten it's gotten a bit more business like for sure. Again, I was so stupid when I first got out on tour.

I was oblivious to everything, so I can only talk about the things that I like know, so I don't And again I don't also know if it's different because I am those girls now, because like you said, I mean, I'm entering my nineteenth year as a professional, my eighteenth

season on the LPGA tour, and I've seen everything. So now I'm at the age where I'm looking at these kids that are the age that I was when I first, you know, got my tour card and I was like, I mean, I was stupid, but some of y'all are stupid.

there for my first win. He helped me gain my first Soulheim Cup point, which was awesome, and you know, I so we would have like you know, sat and things like that, but that was also just because you know, we we are identical in so many ways. So when you're basically trying to get your point across to a mirror that's voicing the opposite thing, it's really hard to get anyone to back down.

It's so funny because like after my dad stopped chatting for me, I you know, and started working with other caddies, It's like it got to the point where i'd hit a bad shot and like I would instead of just being like, oh, you gave me a bad club, I'd be like, oh, I'm an idiot because I decided to go against my own personal thoughts and took your advice, which you're only trying to provide me with assistance. But

I should have stuck to my guns. Whereas nowadays, like even if I you know, I don't ask my caddies for much like I have my own yardage book, I'm already calculating stuff, Like basically, from the moment I make impact with my t shot, I have an idea of one to three clubs I'm going to hit into the green. As soon as I make contact with my approach shot, I already know what kind of put I'm going to have,

you know, And so nowadays it's like I don't. I'll ask for you know, I'll ask for a number, but it's more like I got this, do you like something around that number? And if I miss agreeen, like I walk back and I like hand my club back moment, I'm sorry I missed the green, Like I just like, it's amazing how much you can change as as a as a player and just as a human being, and the way you see things and the way you see other people.

like in golfers hands. These days, I've lost yardage, and I don't know if it's because the golf club is so big, or if it's because, like I like, if you look at my driver, it's like the war spot's dead in the middle every single time. And it's always been that way. But I was much longer back in the day, and so I kind of like, I sit

there and I'm just like, OK, I'm not. I don't you know, I'm starting to get some distance back, but I'm not, you know, one of those kids that's hitting at fifteen yards further now with all this technology or whatever. But I know, I know myself as a player now, Like I sit there and I'm like, I'm you know, I've always been a phenomenal ball striker, gotten to stand my putting a little bit better and more than anything.

So much of golf, like truly is mental because you sit there and it's like, you know, it's it's funny, like I've got a couple of kids out here that I sort of I wouldn't really say mentor because I teach you a lot, but you know, a kid Brendan Baldeesk, who's just a remarkable golf where he signed with Auburn as a freshman in high school. He just has these un like he'll play like thirty yard draws and forty yard cuts, and he'll play it high, he'll play it low.

He'll you know, take his sixty four degree and throw it out one twenty and have it come back to like ninety eight or something like that. It's it's unbelievable some of the shots that he has, which provides me with hope for the future of golf in a lot of ways. But like I sit there and I just kind of watch him, and I'm like, you're so impressive. But you know, when you when you get angry, I'm just like, Okay, you didn't hit that shot perfect, Like

that doesn't mean you're not in the water. Like kay, Let's say you you ripped it back too far and it took the false front and ended up rolling thirty five yards where you carried it like one. Maybe you could have thought of clubbing up one and just kind of chipping something up there running it up, or you could sit there and think, okay, like my ball is here, now I can still make Birdie like doesn't have to be because you know, lip out for eagle or something

like that. So I think a lot of it is just like my mentality and my just understanding of it's not just that nothing is perfect because as a golfer, like we have that psychosis where we're always thinking, no, it's never been proven that perfect can happen. But I maybe I'm the one. Maybe I'm the one that can prove it is it is possible. But nowadays, you know, instead of getting really angry at shots, I'm just like, this is gonna be the sickest up and down anyone's

ever seen. Or you know, man, I didn't see that coming or something like that. But that's not to say that I'm going to immediately walk away with a bogie or you know, I can still make birdie like this year at when we were over at Royal Adelaide, which oh love that place so much. Like that it's so,

I mean, I'm not gonna lie. And I did feel a little bad because after the tournament was over that night, the entire grounds crew, which they had an unbelievable number of people that were there that would basically be up at three o'clock in the morning, get the course in christine condition, and then as soon as the last putt dropped at seven o'clock, they were back out there doing everything they got to keep the course perfect and do

it just you know, day in day out. So my uh Duncan and I would kind of crash their after party a little bit, and you know, because we just wanted, like one their their head their head. Pro Tony invited us, but we just wanted to, you know, just go and hang out with the guys and just be like, just you guys did such a great job, and I'm so sorry you guys got so little sleep for so long. But let's chug a few beers, let's dance to a little music, and let's just like have a rager and

celebrate everything that happened. And I was just like, I'm really sorry, Burh. But if I had to critique one thing, because you know, and I was praising it the whole week because I love that golf course altogether, I was like, I'm not gonna lie, it was a little too green for my liking.

It was it was so much fun. Like those two weeks in Australia were great, Like I think it was. We had like the long the strongest dust there in the two weeks while we were playing was like seventy miles an hour or something like that. But because the greens weren't rolling at twelve, the balls were not oscillating and they were rolling away, so we were able to keep playing. And I don't think, like I think there's something so great because golf is an outdoor sport, like

weather happens, good draws happen. You play in the rain, you play, someone else plays in the sunshine, whatever, like stuff like that happens all the time. But you know, there's no better metaphor for life other than golf in my opinion, because you sit there and you're like, boom, pipe a drive down the middle of the fairway, Boom, you know, hit it to eight feet and then boom, hit a perfect put with perfect speed going right dead

in the center of the cup. And then there was one blade of graph that you didn't see that just veers it offline or something like that. You do everything right and you could still get screwed.

alive and I. You know, that's I think what every course, especially in America, should be striving towards is like, how do we get conditions where we're playing front edge golf for sure?

let go, Like I was so excited. So played the Cradle, played number two, and it's just you sit there and it's like, Okay, you've got this massive, massive green that realistically only sixty percent of it at the very most

is something you could actually play with. And within that sixty percent of the green, there's probably only thirty or forty percent that you can actually play with in order to give yourself a viable option at Verdie Like, I think there's just something just so remarkable at just being able to just I don't know, like you know, utilize the false fronts or you know, chase something up or

I don't know. I think it's just there's just something so cool about, you know, utilizing the ground because there's it's like that's that's the thing that we're connected to as human beings. You know, we're always connected to the ground. And you know, it's just there's so much of golf and you know, even out here, like obviously there's a lot of reasons why we play in carts. You know, one is just to continue with pace of play, and

I do understand that. But at the same time, like there's so much more you can appreciate about a golf course when you're walking it, you know, like that, and that's one thing I love about you know, when like I last night I was going through Tom dok had sent me, uh personalized coffees for Duncan and me the you know, four of his five h you know the comment yeah yeah, and so just and just knowing that he's like, you know, I walk these golf courses and that in theory was enough to be able to grasp

the concept of the golf course, whereas a lot of times, you know, like I know, there are some architects that had come to a certain golf course that's you know in the midst of construction right now for their renovation that they just did a helicopter flyby it, or they legitimately opened up Google Earth and thought, this is how I'm going to change the golf course just based off

of the topography alone. Whereas like, you know, a friend of mine that I know, he was the only group that went out and actually walked the grounds and was able to truly get, you know, a feel of the golf course as opposed to just a you know, quote unquote three dimensional you know view of it.

And like even without playing, like I've recognize so much more stuff because I'm not just going around wherever my ball is, Like I'm just walking and I've I've you know, you get singularly focused on your ball, you know, when you're playing, it's like, okay, I'm going here, Like just like you were talking about, like you hit a shot, you already are thinking about what am I going to do on the next one, or what my putt's gonna be like? Or how am I going to get up

and down here? And you miss all the stuff that's going on anywhere away. You almost get tunnel vision. Something I was curious about. So something Tom dok has talked about on my podcast is designing a designing a course

specifically for women. And if you were going to design a championship course for like the LPGA Tour, like like a TPC sawgrass is for the PGA Tour, how would it be different than the traditional championship golf that you guys play week in week out if it was specific for the women's game.

Lakes region. I have yet to play ballyt Neal or sand Hills, although Duncan did, and so he did the two of them back to back day. So I didn't talk to him for a week. I was not able to go because someone had to play a golf tournament and so I can't say anything to to the land over there. But there would be I don't know, I mean, because the thing is you, it would it would be a call of course that you would want to challenge

the PGA players. So to one end, you would almost think, okay, well, if you look at the stats, and a lot of it has to do with technique obviously, but a lot of it also just has to do with a lack of speed in comparison to the men. You know, the Fairway's hit percentage is so much higher on the ladies'

tour than it is to the men's tour. And then you kind of get into the battle of well, if we're going to make it, you know, a women's golf tournament course, do we want to have the tips pulled back all the way to like eight thousand yards, which is where technology is basically forcing us to go these days, and then have like our tournament tea boxes like way further up, or.

bowl would be great. I don't have. I've only ever played one course really that I can think of that have like a thumbprint green, So I don't know if I would toss one of those in, but it would be firm, ash shit, it would be all rescue and again, like you sit there and you're like, okay, Well, in theory, if you want to really battle against the golf course, of battle against the LPGA players, because they're such straight drivers of the golf ball, Like you'd want to have

like twenty one yard fairways. But I don't believe that narrow fairways should be what determines a course's difficulty, because it's all about you know, I would want to make sure that you know, you would have you would have to play angles because you would have to think like in order to get here, like I would, I would hope that if I created a golf course, I would get the players that were smart enough to think, Okay, i'm gonna hit my drive, I'm gonna do this, I'm

gonna do that, I'm gonna get onto the green, and then based on where I think they're gonna put the whole locations, I'm gonna turn around and then see where I have to drive the ball to in order to access this kind of pin. So there wouldn't be like you know, it wouldn't be like crazy undulations to the greens, but there would be a few like subtle slopes that would you know, prevent you know it would it would be very focused on making sure you hit your t

shots to the correct side of the green. You would have bunkers with no rough between the fairway and the and the bunkers. I'd want put fairways to run out into the bunkers. I sound really, I mean, I'm I'm very I'm not. I you make it sound like I know what I'm talking about when it comes to architecture, whereas I'm more like, that's pretty I like that.

But it's it's an interesting because like I've always thought, like you know, for you guys, what she hit on like you, you need it to be more narrow than what you know, a standard golf courses.

side or down the left side. And when I played it, you know, like it's a pretty severe slope on the far left side, and it's it visually looks flatter and

more wide on the right. But again, like it's like you go out there, you play your practice round, and it's like you sit there and you're like, okay, well, but there's like a fair there's a there's a bunker on the front right and then a hill before you get to the green, and there's like there's a bunker way left, and there's some like a bunker you know over here and there in that, but there's this like beautiful trough coming from the left side of the fairway.

Wouldn't you want to hit it down the left side of the fairway that so that you'd be able to utilize that left side and just kind of have it chased down there. And like, I don't know if it was like eighty percent of the girls went down the right and I'm looking. I like, went down the right side,

and I'm like, where the hell is the green? Like all basically all you see are bunkers, and like the ability to hit into said bunkers because you're going to have to play such a massive cut and then hope for the terrain to take the ball in towards the fairway, towards the green so you can maybe kind of nestle it up to the front of the green. And I'm like, it's like, it looks almost dead straight if you go down the left side, and everyone's like, but it's so narrow.

I'm like, but you got this huge slope on the left, so you could take it basically left in the rough and you're going to almost guarantee that your ball's going to come back into the fairway onto the flat fot And Duncan was talking with Clayt's afterwards or during the week. He told me afterwards he was like, clay You're supposed to hit down the left side right on number seventeen, and you know, clayt'son his you know, klays Basher was like,

you know, fucking course you do. I mean, what kind of idiot would ever think that if you want to actually give yourself a chance at you know, eagle although it's a part four when the men normally play it, like why would you ever go down the right side like you're you know, and so I sit there and I'm like, it basically showcases your your your weakness or your fears if you're going to take it down the right side because you think that t shot is a

safe play. I'm like, you can't hit it like you you can't hit it into the fairy bunker from the left side.

There's no there's basically no conceivable way for me to hit it into those fairly bunkers if I go down the left, because if the wind's coming off the left, I'll just aim further left and then it'll you know, like it's it's it's just it's hysterical like that you should be down the right side.

fairway and we play the practice round. To me and my buddies are just like, I mean, I guess you just aim right at it, you know, because like the left, the left is where you wanted to go, but there's ob and like, you know, I'm not going to try and hit it, so I just like I'll just say aim at it, Like what are the chances to be hitting in this two yard bunker, so fast forward, I'm

like on the bubble of masch play. Sure enough, hit it right into the bunk, like hit her best drive of the day, lance right into it, and like it's just like, but I was too chicken to make a decision. So like, and if I was, if I was smarter, I would have just you know, said hey, I'm hitting it up the left, I'm playing well, I can hit the shot. But I didn't, and I got penalized because of that. But everybody will say, oh, that's unfair because I hit it right down the middle of the fairway.

they decided to drive. We were in a like a nineteen ninety five Dodge van that like a what are those things called a conversion van, So it's had like wood paneling, TV like in the thing. We had like some of the seats taken down, and like I was napping in the back whenever we'd be driving and all that stuff. I had gotten my license at seventeen, so I was still very new to driving. So the idea of being in this like big ass white van driving

was an absolute real for me. And like we were so like it was such a nice band that back in the day we had like a six disc CD changer attached to the sound system, including the speakers in the back. So I was like I had like Lincoln Parks, Hybrid Theory, God Smack Fungus among us, by Inky of this, those those three see those three albums are still every time I iconic, Iconic, those they always bring me back. And so that that as a fall was coming in. My dad was like, hey, you know, I think, uh,

you know, you've played a lot of great golf. You know, it's about to get cold, you know, and by cold if like fifty degrees as a high in San Jose where I grew up, like I could play three sixty five.

And so he was like, I have an idea, and I'm like, all right, again, I'm a stupid kid, like I'm just like okay, like you know, and obviously being daddy's little girl, I was always like okay, Daddy, like basically, you know, whatever you want, like even though we're going to fight about it, because I'm just you know, combative like that when I was young, and I don't know if those hormones or some shit. I was like, well,

we'll pretty much end up doing whatever you wanted. And he was like, I think we should go and try and play as many of the golf courses because remember you were rookie, so you're coming into these tournaments with a lot less experience on these golf courses. And I'm like okay. So he's like, so I called up. We're going to go play over in California, like two or

three courses. We're going to go play in Arizona. And I'm like okay, cool, Like West Coast Wing like, that's that's cool, you know, and we at twenty one golf courses we played in. It was something like in a month or in like forty days or something like that. It was so long ago, I honestly don't remember. And so we drove and I remember I think it was November of that year, because we must have started in

like September or late September or sometime in October. I was playing at Waikogyo Country Club in Westchester, New York. I was the only person on the golf course because there was like an inch and a half of snow on the ground, and they let me play for some ungodly reason. And I was just like, They're like, do you want to use a yellow golf ball suit? You can see it. I'm like, no, it's fine, I'll just keep it in the fairway. And then I'd be like, so let me know where is the fairway so I

can keep it within it. But yeah, I played, like went to Ohio, played at Tartan Field over in Land. Like just like I just you.

new golf course. My Dad's like, well, you're technically providing yourself with an opportunity to get a practice round in and I'm like, there's eighteen ten back seven eighteen green, Like I was just like, you know, I just probably one reason why I still play twenty seven holds a day out here.

you know. So for me knowing you know, what took place in the past, Like I sit there and I'm just like, yeah, I can sit here and say, yeah, I was stupid, Like, you know, I'm still stupid, but it's I am aware that I'm stupid now. I was just oblivious back then. But I think that a lot of you know, it was. It's hard to compare yourself to anything other than what you are because it's all you know. And so at the time, I didn't see myself as like a celebrity. I still think it's weird

that people would consider me one at all. At any point in my life, I'm like, dude, I'm just some dude. Like just give me a golf club and let me just go swing and like make putts and like have fun and things like that, you know, like I never really thought, you know. And again, to an extent, it's the very nature of being a golfer. You have to be able to be selfish when you need to. Like

I I'm very compassionate, I'm very empathetic. I care a lot about people, care about you know, the few friends I have, they are like my bloodline, and I would, you know, die for them pretty much anybody that I know. If they called me and said, dude, I've been like hauled into jail, can you come in and bail me out, you know, depending on what the charges are, Like absolutely doesn't,

you know. But you know, at at then I was able to be selfish enough to not think about what other people were doing because everyone's like, you're so different, and I'm like, I'm just some dude, Like I don't understand what you mean. Like, you know, whenever, if I were to come into a room and have everybody laughing, I'm like, everybody's laughing, So why are you making it seem like I'm any different from anyone else. We're all just having a good time. So that's where I think

some of the oblivion is. But I don't know. I'm again, to this day, I'm just some dudes.

to face pressure to do to conform to what the way it's always been, especially in a sport like golf.

every color of the rainbow. I have like a cheet of print going on when I was thirteen or something that you know, it wasn't I wouldn't say it was a mistake, but it was a look. And you know I remember I was like, no, I'm done my hair. We were in Phoenix and I went dyed my hair and I was like, all right, like this is like a vibrant red, like dude, let's go after I after I washed it out, I was like, huh, do you remember the Britney Spears music video for the song Toxic.

even for me. But like growing up, like you know, the the Korean media, they you know, some of them found me very very very polarizing, and they had such a head start on the whole not reporting the news

when you're supposed to be reporting the news thing. It was very very much like, hey, you know, we're gonna like, instead of taking in facts, We're just going to do an entire newspaper based on op eds because people apparently think that my opinion matters and that I'm going to educate you based off of what my opinion is, whereas I'm sitting here and like where's like I need tom brocall, like just tell me what's going on so I can come to my own conclusion and not be hold what

I'm supposed to think. Allow me to make my own decision. And so there were, you know, there were a couple of opportunities where I was told, if you're willing to, you know, chill the hell out a little bit, like you know, we can talk about sponsorships or if you wanted to, you know, grow your Korean fan base, then you know you're gonna have to, you know, like and this was like you know, maybe during a skinny year, they'd be like maybe you know, like put on some

more clues or you know, do whatever. And I'm just like, Okay, well I wouldn't. I wouldn't want to be friends with someone that I later found out wasn't being themselves. So why would I want someone to be my friend based off me not being myself? That's that's bullshit. Like oh so I was like okay, bye. So I mean, I guess I've been presented with a couple of opportunities, but I don't think there's we only get this one life

in which none of us actually asked for. We just kind of happened, you know, as a result of you know, certain actions that were taken prior to us coming to earth. But you know, we're only given this one life as far as we're aware, So why wouldn't to want to live it to the fullest. And by the fullest, I mean live your own truth, like let be you. Yeah, And and there's there are plenty of people who their authentic self is being more you know, conservative or more

toned down or whatever that is. And as long as they're living their truth, I'm like, dude, more power to you. Like that is so strong, Like I think that's beautiful.

Like I love the fact that you're living you. And if someone were saying, you know, I don't want to be who I am anymore because I you know, I've lived my whole life being like this and now I want to be like who I really am that I sit there and I'm like, you know, like a friend came out to me a little over a year ago, and I mean I cried when he when he told me, because I was like, you were the bravest human being because I would not be strong enough to be anything

other than who I am and to be here to this day and you've lived almost thirty years not being who you wanted to be, Like you are the strongest person that I've ever met. Like this is just incredible. And so it was like, you know, obviously a huge celebration because it was like you're living your truth, Like that is that is you know when for me, I think because all I've ever known is just being who

I am. But when you go from being able to finally live who you are, I think that is just that is so remarkable because it's different from what I've done, and it shows how strong you are to be able to make it this far and contain yourself. That shows incredible strength, I think in many ways.

of advice. If you're just yourself all the time, you're probably very rarely going to get yourself in trouble, you.

just be crazy about how good was Loreino Show. Like put it in perspective somebody that competed against her for you know a number of years.

be like a Frank Lorena. And she just had this unbelievable imagination, this incredible strength, a fearlessness, determination, fire, compassion. I mean, it was just some of the shots she hit were just unbelievable and then at the feat time

so profoundly human. Because when Birdie Kim won the US Women's Open when we were at was at Cherry Hills, if I'm not mistaken, so that must have been oh five or oh six, oh five, oh five, Yes, I'm pretty sure Lorena hit two or three balls into the water on the seventy second hole, and it was like, but don't dun't drop kick, but don't dunk drop kick, but don dunk drop kick, And she wanted that her first major so so badly, and it in so many ways. You could see something like that and think that it

would completely it has. It definitely has the ability if you allow it to completely destroy you as a golfer and the fact that she was able to rise above that become number one in the world, and you know, she was the fastest to get, in essence, qualified for the LPGA Hall of Fame. The only reason why she's not on the LPGA Hall of Fame is because she did not finish one requirement, which was stay on tour

for ten consecutive years. She didn't need to, yeah, but that was the one stipulation she needed in order to qualify for the LPGA Golf Hall of Fame.

children that I've ever seen. But like, one thing that a lot of people don't know about her is she would you know, because she hails from Mexico, born and raised in Guadalajara, and almost every week she would go visit with the superintendents, the greens keepers, the grounds crew, and she would talk to them, you know, because a lot of them, you know, especially here in America were are you know, Mexican and descent, and she wanted to go in and connect with them, and she had this

it was like when you go to Mexico and play in a tournament with Lorena and I've been fortunate enough to be paired with Lorena, it's it's it's not comical because it is completely they're they're completely founded in the reasoning of like you're there, it's like twenty deep on every single hole, and the crowd just get bigger and bigger and bigger. You've got mothers hanging at the ropes holding their children up in the hopes that Lorena would

touch the babies. You have people of all ages. She she transcended golf and she she's I mean, I get chills just talking about her, Like she is the most the most remarkable person on the planet and so funny, so quick witted, like just everything about her is just remarkable.

And it was, it was, it was It showed how strong she was that she allowed her desire to want to get married and start a family and not have her family have to travel on the road with her, that she was willing to give up and sacrifice potentially one of the greatest careers that we will ever have seen in the history of golf.

It's the only thing you should be doing. But no, she'll she'll sit there and she will go after a pin and then will let's say, if she gets the bad balance or something happens, or she you know, overhits it a little bit, she will short fight herself and have seven feet from the fringe to the flag nine ten feet above her head and have a nineteen yard

uh pitched because it'll run down the hill. And she's like, instead of just being like, Okay, you know what, I messed up this shot, I'm just gonna, you know, make sure that I hit it out there and try and see if I can make a twenty footer, She's like, nah, there's seven feet from the fringe to the flag of plenty of room. I'm going to do this and she and she would do it the vast majority of the time. Whereas onica as I've gotten older, I started to realize

just how important boring ass golf could be. And I say that as a person that for the majority of my career could not do boring. I was paired with Onnica in her final victory in Kingsmill, Virginia. I forget what year it was. Maybe it was twenty ten, eleven or twelve. I don't remember what year it was, maybe thirteen. And I mean I was, you know, doing my thing, because you know, the best thing to do when you're playing golf is let alone. Life is just be yourself.

If you're chatty, go ahead and talk. Just don't do it when other people are hitting, you know, just be be conscientious and be aware and be respectful of other people, you know, or you know, if you have to do something, keep yourself occupied anyway, do that, you know. And so I was just doing the thing, and I was chatting with my caddie, you know, having a really good day.

I started the day a few strokes back of her, and we're on the fifteenth hole at the river course in uh sixteen, excuse me, sixteen at kings at the kings Mill Resort. I look at the leaderboard. Then's something albsurd like. I don't remember if it was like twenty one sixteen, or it might have been twenty four seventeen or something like that, and I'm like, I'm playing some really good golf. And so I look at Anaka and I'm like, we're waiting on the green. I yell at her.

I'm like hey, Anka, She's like, yeah, what's going on. I'm like, you only have a few strokes ahead of me at the beginning of the round, right, She's like yeah. I'm like, I'm playing really well today. I thought. She's like, no, you're playing great year as you. And I'm like five under on the day and I'm like, are you seven under? And she's like yeah. I'm like I'm so sorry, but how And she's like, well, I mean, just you hit every faraway, you hit every green, you hit every put

that in theory you should make. You know, it's like fifteen twenty feet and inside then you know you're seven under. And I'm like, it's just like who under the radar? Like it was not and it's not to be said in any way disparaging or a criticism whatsoever, but it was just her golf was so simple.

something that I am. I do cherish because it was a very very very cool thing. But yeah, it's there that, in a nutshell, would be the difference between the two, the big nutshell obviously.

do you checking winging it in your back swing? It's kind of hard to you know, come in with you know, without a shut face at impact and things like that, you know, just really just sort of narrowing my focus a little bit more and coming to the realization that like I'm you know, it's not I don't work with any of the guys out here like you know, but I've got a bunch of friends that I play with that they're just like, I'm doing this, and I'm just like, Okay, well,

if you're doing this, have you ever thought that it could be a result of you doing this? And so it's like sometimes just finding out where the cause of a problem really stems from. And you know, it's just been working on my game really hard, and you know, obviously, I mean it's I don't see it, but there's clearly an elephant in the room. And I've like I've dropped like a little over fifty pounds at this point. You know, I wasn't on this like quest to lose weight and

be sexy or prettier any of that shit. Like I just wanted to stop consuming as much sugar and as many carbs as I have been and started living the keto lifestyle because I hate the word diet like.

consume carbohydrates. This is how you know, for the most part, is how we're designed to consume carbohydrates in whatever form, whether it's through foods, fruits, vegetables, you know, if you want you breads, rice, things like that, and then your body will consume them and then all that magical chemistry that we have going on in ways that we can't even see, your carbohydrates get converted into energy, and then that energy is what sustains you and keeps you alive,

keeps you moving. And so the keto lifestyle, the ketogenic diet, which was I think it was founded in like the twenties or the forties to actually help combat seizures and epilepsy in a lot of children and adults. It was one of those like, you know, you just kind of just throw this in the tank, see what happens kind of thing, and they came to find out that, you know, there were several cases of children with really severe epilepsy

where the epilepsy had greatly been reduced. And this version is so you basically remove a vast majority of the carbohydrates that your body is processing, and you instead replenish the the source that you need to convert into energy from carbohydrates into fat and what I mean fats, I mean like like avocados, olive oils, olives, nuts, like this is a This was a kicker for me because I love a good RIBI so like, you know, good fatty

cuts of meat. You don't have to sit there and be like, I'll have filet mignon like once every month or something like that, like salmon, mackerel, things like that. Eggs are great for it. And so for me, it's I and I'm not obsessive about it. I don't do the actual numbers, but I am. I've gotten to a point where I, for the most part, know which foods I like which foods I don't. So you know, I try and keep my car count under thirty gram's net, which for me is really hard to reach because that's

a lot. That's a lot of car excuse me, a lot of carbs.

because I used to be a sugar monster. I would, you know, every time I go to the grocery store, like I'd be like, yeah, I might have a Snickers today, or you know, I'd be like, ah, you know what, maybe I'll have a sun kissed or something like that, you know, non spawn obviously, and like nowadays, like I sit there and I'm just like, if I have strawberries that are like not fully ripe, there's still just a bit of green or white at the top of the strawberry,

I'm like, that's so sweet. Like I don't, I can't. I can't do it now, Like I crave fat, like I love avocado, I love like good cheeses, meats, things like that. So for me, it's about seventy percent of my daily consumption. I try and keep in in terms of fats of some sort, and then about twenty percent I do protein now, whether that's you know, like mackerel, salmon, beef,

dark meat, chicken, things like that. And then the remaining ten percent I do with carbs, whether that's you know, like cauliflower, Spinach is like my jam, So I'll have spinach all the time, cauliflower, like I said, broccoli, green beans. I also really started getting into dehydrating food because of this current situation in which we are living. I was a lot of people were terrified of toilet paper. I was terrified at the prospect of not being able to

get like nutritious food. So I've been like taking zucchinis and like dice, slicing them in a mandolin, sprinkling them with like tomato powder, bas regano, salt, pepper, some sprinkle, some truffle on a little bit of olive oil, parmesan cheese, and I've got these like pizza flavored zucchini chips, so like I been doing that. Just did some radish chip.

love eating dude like that. That's one thing that I've been really happy about all of this is even though you know, I've been able to lose some weight, like I don't feel I never feel like hungry. I always feel satisfied, like I'm always I'm always if I need

to nibble on something, I nibble on something. So it's been super cool and like my I feel like my mental clarity has gone up, which I think has been a big part of One reason why I played well in Australia was because you know, I could think, and I don't know if old me would have just been like, oh, just hit it down the ride on seventeen. It's wider, it's lazy. I can do that, whereas like right, you know, like when I played it, I was like, there's that

should all be like chest high grass. Why is there even fairway over there? I don't understand why they even bother putting a fairway over there. This is the only place you should be. This is this is the only thing that matters here, you know. And and so you know, I guess, you know, obviously I'm lighter. I guess I don't. I don't know, like I always joke that I have like shallow house syndrome, or you know I have I

used to always have like body image dysmorphia. But in the opposite way where I was always i'd look in the mirror and I'd be like, you got a good heart because I look down.

I mean, maybe just because at times, financially speaking, people would compare the Ladies European Tour to the Semetra Tour, which for me I was I was always just agast at the concept of it because I did play on the Futures Tour obviously this was back in the Mesozoic era, and have played on the Ladies' European Tour, and there's there's so many stark differences, Like you get girls that are so passionate about golf, like Megan McLaren is. You know, she's one of my girls, and I think she is

just so remarkable. She's on this not war path, but she is. She's determined for people to understand the concept of, hey, maybe women could be compensated, you know, period. And you know you've got some you know, you've got some great talents on the on the Ladies European Tour, and it's

just a little bit sad. There were some things that took place within the infrastructure of the Ladies' European Tour a number of years ago that had that combined with like economic crises around Europe, and around the globe kind of stunted the growth in which they were supposed to be trajector the trajectory was supposed to be on because like when I when I was a member of the Ladies's European Tour, I would play eleven events a year and keep a full schedule on the LPGA, like again,

because I'm like, I'm going back to Florida, Like at least now I have friends, so I have people that I want to hang out with. But I would be like, you want me on the road forty five weeks by the year, right, let's do it. And so there are a number of things that took place at that kind of negatively impacted the Ladies' European Tour. But it's fun. The girls are so they're so smart, they're so funny, they're so vibrant. I feel like some the girls on the Ladies that I feel like you.

is a different style of golf. Like. That's one reason why the Loop is one of my favorite courses on the planet, because it is just it's just it's natural, it's real, it's authentic, and it's i mean, it's fescue, so I'm obviously going to love it immediately, but it's there's there's something just really, I don't know, it tugs more at my heart strings on the Ladies European Tour, whereas I feel like it's a little bit more business like on the LPGA. And neither again, neither of those

is better than the other. They're just completely different in terms of entities.

best female golfers in the world. And you know, there's there's something to be said about the entertainment factor of the PGA Tour where you know, like Lebron who can dunk like you know, like like Niggi Cabrero can hit home runs, like Aaron Rodgers who can throw a hail Mary on a dime. There is something to be said about Brooks Koepka who can vomit. You know, you got

Cameron Champ who is just obscenely long. Yeah, Like these are basically inhuman things that I think that's maybe one of the reasons why the numbers in the ratings get so big is because it's something that is in essence unattainable. Whereas the women we provide a very unique product because compare it to ninety percent of the average golfers, you know, average good it's it's relatable.

got a bunker at and you like stopped them. Was like, mate, real quick, if it's less than three hundred yards in the air, I don't need to know about it.

as opposed to just really having the nests. And you know, again when it comes to that entertainment factor, you know the fact that the PGA Tour has the same sand every single week, like sand from the same manufacturer, brought to every golf course a certain amount of time prior

to a tournament taking place. Like I'll sit there and I'll be like, I don't know if the sand is the same on this side of the bunker versus that side of the bunker like eight feet away, because Heaven forbid, a bunker used to be deemed an actual hazard, you know, so there is, you know, I mean, and like on tour,

I never sit there rarely. I mean, there might be some times when I'm like, get in the bunker, you know if the rough is nine inches deep, Whereas you know, the guys are always like getting the bunker, getting the bunker's missing the green getting the bunker, and I'm like, why would you wanted to get in the bunker. You're supposed to stay on the grass. I don't.

to reintroduce that. Like the one of the most compelling stories I think is the is Jack Nicholas when he went to the furrowed rake times in the two thousand and six memorial and people went nuts, but Carl Petterson won. He only hit it in two bunkers all week, and he talked about He's like, oh, yeah, I changed the way I played this golf course because I wanted to avoid bunkers at all costs. That's the way it.

it comes to the PGA Tour. Again, not a criticism, it's just there has been an evolution of the game in many regards.

I mean, I'm in a very happy relationship obviously, and I just remember on like Saturday, I like walked up to Morgan Pressel, I'd be like, and she's very happily

married and I'm like what psire? Like I felt like a kid because it's like, you know, I remember I saw Jeff Ogilvy for the first time last year, and I saw him again this year, and it was still like I had the same reaction of just like, you know, like a four year old girl that meets like a very handsome man and I'm like, I can't speak, like I I'm just completely starstruck and just mesmerized by this man,

you know. And and then you know, in practice rounds you're able to go play with the guys, and it's so funny because I'd be there and I like this year, I played with Brett Rumford, who has one of Rumsford who has one of the best short games you will ever see, like follow him on Instagram. He he's it's

just stupid. And Aaron Pike, who's a buddy of mine that I met last year actually, and it's just so funny because it's like whenever i'd be talking to any of the guys, like I met I met Sean Croker Crocker, and then I've known Sam Horsefield since he was like fourteenth, I've known him forever, and they were both over there.

It just came back, I believe, from the tournament in Saudi Arabia and just sit there and I'm just like, you guys hate it so far, and they're like, but you guys hate it so straight, and so we're like in awe of each other and like you can gain an appreciation for the other gender's game styles. And so they we have two golf courses and they stagger it where the tea times are male female male female male female.

So as a spectator, you can watch the best men and then immediate or previously to that, watch the best women and be able to see like the different ways in which people can and do play golf. Like it's it's just so cool, and there was this sense of community. The ropes were taken down and that's how the tournament had always been been held. And so all the spectators

that came out to watch are very respectful. Like you'd walk down the fairway with the spectators, and you know, they have a great sense of reading people's personalities and people's moods and things like that, and you know, I would strike up a conversation with someone or something like that, or you know, if they if I was playing with someone who might have been a little bit more introverted, you know, they could tell her I'm not going to

chat someone up, just becaush. She's there, you know, And so it was. It was just really cool. It was. It's truly one of my favorite tournaments. And Simon brook House of Golf Australia formerly Golf Victoria, he had this idea that came into Fruition years ago. That is just for me. It's a perfect I mean, it's it's a template for so many tournaments. I'm hoping that come in the future.