HSBC Women's World Match Play Championship Wykagyl Country Club New Rochelle, N.Y. July 22, 2007 Final round quotes: Seon Hwa Lee | Ai Miyazato | Mi Hyun Kim | Maria Hjorth Seon Hwa Lee goes 6-0 for HSBC Women's World Match Play Championship title Second-career victory guarantees a spot in ADT Championship Two members of the 2006 rookie class outlasted the field of 64 at the HSBC Women's World Match Play Championship, but it was reigning Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year Seon Hwa Lee (22nd seed) who completed the weekend with a 6-0 record. Lee, of South Korea, posted a 2 and 1 victory over 12th-seed Ai Miyazato, of Japan. “My putter was working really well this week, all week. I think in match play, putting is really important,” said Lee, whose $500,000 paycheck comes with a spot in the 32-player field at the ADT Championship via the second half of the LPGA Playoffs 2007. “I know that Ai is a really good player and that she has a lot of supporters in Japan. I know she's a really good putter and she's going to be tough.” Lee jumped out to an early lead when Miyazato bogeyed the first hole, but the pair was back to all square after the second hole. Lee appeared to put the match away by winning the third and fourth holes to go 2 up, which is where the match stayed until Miyazato won the 11th hole. Lee capitalized on a Miyazato bogey on the 12th hole to take the match back to 2 up. Miyazato made a comeback using her 58-degree wedge to stick her approach on the 14th hole to five feet and take the hole. On 15, though, her six-foot birdie putt skimmed the edge of the hole shortly after Lee made birdie to make the final move to 2 up. “It was a very important putt. But even if I were to make that putt, we would still be all square,” said Miyazato, whose $300,000 check is the largest of her LPGA career and propels her to the top of the ADT Points standings with 366,177 ADT Points. “I'm disappointed but I feel satisfied because it's my best finish on the LPGA Tour, and the experience this week will lead to a better finish next time around.” The duo matched birdies on holes 16 and 17, where the match ended and Lee emerged the victor 2 and 1. It was her second-career LPGA victory after she won the 2006 ShopRite LPGA Classic during her rookie year. She has recorded four top-10 finishes this season and is fifth on the LPGA Official Money List with $810,499 in season earnings, just behind third-place finisher Mi Hyun Kim with $948,104. In the consolation match, 10th-seed Kim—who lost her semi-final match 2 down to Lee—battled through a sore back to hold off 40th-seed Maria Hjorth, of Sweden, 2 up. “I woke up in the morning, sore in my back, I don't know what happened. After the morning, my shots were a little bit funny. So I didn't play good in the morning,” said Kim, who won the SemGroup Championship Presented by John Q. Hammons earlier this season. “I'm very happy to play for my place right now, third. I'm happy to get that and actually a lot of good players played here this week, and to finish in the top-three is good.” Two-time Tour winner, Hjorth had an impressive 4-0 start to her tournament leading into Sunday. In Thursday's first-round match with 25th-seed Catriona Matthew, Hjorth advanced with a 23-hole victory and set a tournament record for longest match. Over the course of four days and six matches, Hjorth played 109 holes, at one point on Saturday having less than 30 minutes between her third-round and quarter-final matches. She defeated 33rd-seed and Port Chester, N.Y., native Francella 4 and 3 to advance into the semi finals, but fell to Miyazato 3 and 2, before the consolation match with Kim. As the 10th-seed, Kim was the highest-seeded player in the tournament after Lindsey Wright (35th seed) defeated third-seed Annika Sorenstam in the second round 3 and 2. The second round also saw the elimination of top-seed Lorena Ochoa by 33rd-seed Meaghan Francella, 1 up; fifth-seed Se Ri Pak lose to 37th-seed Christina Kim 4 and 2; and eighth-seed Paula Creamer lose to 40th-seed Maria Hjorth, 1 up. Lee is the highest-ranked player in tournament history to win the event after Marisa Baena (60th seed) and Brittany Lincicome (39th seed) each became Rolex First-Time Winners in 2005 and 2006, respectively. Final round quotes: Seon Hwa Lee | Ai Miyazato | Mi Hyun Kim | Maria Hjorth Final-round notes Lee earns second career victory, qualifies for ADT Championship. Reigning Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year Seon Hwa Lee captured her second career victory at the HSBC Women's World Match Play Championship with a 2 and 1 victory over Ai Miyazato. Lee (22nd seed) went 6-0 during the week with victories over 43rd-seed Diana D'Alessio; 54th-seed Janice Moodie; 27th-seed and European Solheim Cup veteran Laura Davies; 35th-seed Lindsey Wright; 10th-seed Mi Hyun Kim; and 12th-seed Miyazato in the finals. Lee earned a $500,000 paycheck for her victory and also qualified for the season-ending ADT Championship in West Palm Beach, Fl. She has banked $810,499 on the year and now has more than $1.7 million in career earnings. Lee owns a 7-1 (0.875 winning percentage) at the HSBC Women's World Match Play Championship in her two years at the event. She was also one of two players for Team Asia to go 3-0 at the Lexus Cup last December in Singapore. Hjorth, Miyazato reach career-earnings milestones. HSBC Women's World Match Play runner-up Ai Miyazato and fourth-place finisher Maria Hjorth each crossed million-dollar milestones with their $300,000 and $150,000 paychecks. Miyazato was the 12th-seeded player in the event and went 5-1 for her week after falling to the reigning 2006 Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year Seon Hwa Lee, 2 and 1. For her efforts, she earned a career-best finish and crossed the $1 million mark in career earnings with $1,245,599. Hjorth entered the event as the 40th seed, with only one match to her credit: a loss to Paula Creamer in the 2005 event. She finished this week 4-2 after defeating 25th-seed Catriona Matthew; eighth-seed Creamer; 24th-seed Angela Stanford; and 33rd-seed and Port Chester native Meaghan Francella. Her $150,000 paycheck, which put her over the $3 million mark in career earnings with $3,124,953, is the third-highest paycheck of her career behind back-to-back runner-up finishes at the 2001 and 2002 Evian Masters – $210,125 (2nd, 2001); $177,912 (T2, 2002). Upsets abound at Wykagyl Country Club. Of the 64 matches in the 2007 HSBC Women's World Match Play Championship, 24 were upsets. Rolex Rankings number one Lorena Ochoa was knocked out in the second round by 33rd-seed Meaghan Francella, 1 up. After the third round of play, no single digit seeds were alive. Tenth-seed Mi Hyun Kim was the highest-ranked player in the field, but she was upset in the semi-finals by eventual champion Seon Hwa Lee (22nd seed). Other major upsets included: A tournament-record upset in 63rd-seed Charlotte Mayorkas over second-seed Karrie Webb, 1 up in the first round; and 35th-seed Lindsey Wright over third-seed Annika Sorenstam, 3 and 2 in the second round. Fourth-seed Cristie Kerr, sixth-seed Morgan Pressel and seventh-seed Suzann Pettersen—all LPGA major championship winners this season—were upset by their opponents. Miyazato gains valuable ADT Points. Japan's Ai Miyazato entered the HSBC Women;s World Match Play Championship in a tie for seventh with 66,177 ADT Points. With her runner-up finish, Miyazato moved into first place with 366,177 second-half ADT Points. Ten players will qualify for the season-ending ADT Championship based on their second-half ADT Points. Lee earns stay at Canyon Ranch. With her victory at the HSBC Women's World Match Play Championship, Seon Hwa Lee earned an all-inclusive stay for two at a Canyon Ranch resort. In a combined effort to promote health and overall well-being among Tour players, Canyon Ranch will provide every winner of an LPGA event with one all-inclusive stay at one of Canyon Ranch's two destination resorts. Final round quotes: Seon Hwa Lee | Ai Miyazato | Mi Hyun Kim | Maria Hjorth Championship Match: Seon Hwa Lee (22) def. Ai Miyazato (12), 2 and 1 SEON HWA LEE DANA GROSS-RHODE: This is your second year on Tour, and currently you are the Rookie of the Year, winning the Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year last year, you won the 2006 ShopRite LPGA Classic, and now you've won the HSBC Women's World Match Play and you've qualified for the ADT Championship. While you've won $500,000 here, you also have a chance to earn a million dollars later on down the road. You have a big smile on your face. Can you talk about how you're feeling? SEON HWA LEE: I mean, I feel really great. This is my first win this year and second win in my career. I feel really great and I really enjoyed match play this week, and I qualified for the ADT. I was really worried about the ADT points before last week, and I won this week, so I don't worry about that anymore. I feel really great. Q. What were the things you did well this week that led you to victory each step of the way? SEON HWA LEE: My putter was working really well this week, all week. I missed a couple of fairways, a couple of greens, and then I really -- my putting was really well. I think in match play, putting is really important. My putting was really well this week. Q. Your victory has further underlined the growing stature of Korean golf; what is the secret of your success, and what do you think is the secret of Korean golf and reaching this level of success? SEON HWA LEE: A lot of Korean players are playing well on the LPGA Tour. I think the Korean players work really hard and they practice a lot. They have a lot of confidence from their practice. I mean, that's why the Korean players really play well on the LPGA Tour. Q. After getting through your first match, 19 holes again D'Alessio, did you feel like you started to gain momentum? SEON HWA LEE: After the very first match, yeah. The first match was very hard to me because I was 3-down the last four holes. I mean, yeah, that helped a lot because I won the first match and it was really hard and I won. That helps and I had a lot of confidence for the next matches. Q. Just from coming back? SEON HWA LEE: Yes. Q. How important did you think in this match, the last match, to get an early lead to maybe let you control things, how important was that to get ahead of Ai? SEON HWA LEE: I know that Ai is a really good player and that she has a lot of supporters in Japan. I think we have a really good friendship. I played with her last year and this is the first time I've played with her this year. But then I really enjoy playing with Ai. I know she's a really good putter and she's going to be tough. I really tried my best this week. Q. Your caddie said that you're very focused on the golf course to the point where sometimes he'll try to talk to you to kind of get you to stop thinking about golf; is that a strength of yours, and is that part of your training from growing up? SEON HWA LEE: No, I think that's I mean, that's not a strength. DANA GROSS-RHODE: Have you always played not talking very much? SEON HWA LEE: I think that's just my personality. He likes to talk a lot because his personality is very different than me. (Laughing). Yeah, it's just the personality I think. Q. When different Korean players win on Tour, does that push everybody else to try to win more? Like Se Ri wins last week, you want to win more; Young Kim wins earlier this year and other people want to win more. Does that push you? SEON HWA LEE: I don't think so. I know the other Korean players really play well, and Se Ri won last week and I've won this week and we have the same sponsors. I think it's really good for the Korean players, but it's not a push to me. Just everybody plays really well. Q. This afternoon, you got to 2-up very fast. Did you feel in control after that; that you were very much in control? SEON HWA LEE: I had played against Mi Hyun Kim this morning, and she is one of the toughest players this week, and she beat a lot of the good players. Yeah, I think that helped a lot. Q. You played very well in the Lexus Cup last year; is that correct? How much did that experience prepare you for this week in terms of match play? SEON HWA LEE: Yeah, I played good in the Lexus Cup last year. I won three matches last year, too. I think it helps a lot. It's different format and the last round is single match like this. I played well last year here and then I played well in the Lexus Cup. Q. Are you at all surprised to have had so much success on this tour so quickly, to win last year and now there's a lot of players, it takes them three, four, five years before they finally pull through? SEON HWA LEE: Yeah, a little surprised. I won last year and was Rookie of the Year. It was such a great year for me, and now I have won again this year. Yeah, I feel really great and hope I win every year. (Smiling). Q. Just wondering what you might spend your winnings on? SEON HWA LEE: I spend money sometimes shopping and sometimes actually, I bought a house last year. So sometimes spend to the caddie, sometimes. (Laughter). AI MIYAZATO DANA GROSS-RHODE: I know it's tough being runner-up, but it's your best finish on the LPGA Tour. You had a great round out there. Can you talk a little about it, what you're feeling getting this close, and knowing you could possibly get your first win very soon. AI MIYAZATO: Well, I think I really played well today, and then, you know, just missed a shot and some putts on the first couple of holes. I tried to play aggressive after that and I played well, really played well after that on the back nine. So I'm disappointed but I feel like satisfied because it's my best finish on the LPGA Tour, and the experience this week will lead to a better finish next time around. Q. From your point of view, do you put pressure on yourself to try and win in the United States and on the LPGA? Do you feel like that comes from yourself or do you feel for your country you want to win? Where does the pressure come from? AI MIYAZATO: Actually I didn't feel the pressure. I wanted to play here when I was young. I was dreaming about this tournament, like these tournaments, like U.S. Women's Open and the other tournaments. I'm still here and chasing my dreams, and I'm very happy that a lot of people are cheering for me. But that does not make me feel any pressure. Q. Was it difficult to get back in the match because your opponent was so steady all day and rarely made any major mistakes? AI MIYAZATO: I didn't feel any frustration. She played well but I also think that I played well, too, and I still had very many chances to overcome. And I played with the same kind of emotion, no roller coaster, just steady emotions, as well. Q. Can you talk about 15, I think you missed -- it was a 6-foot putt on 15. It seemed like if you had gotten that, maybe you would have had certainly a better footing for the last few holes. Can you talk about that putt and where that was a crucial moment in the match for you? AI MIYAZATO: That's true, it was a very important putt. But even if I were to make that putt, we would still be all-square. But I was satisfied with the way I putted. I have no regrets, and maybe I need to practice putting. Consolation Match: Mi Hyun Kim (10) def. Maria Hjorth (40), 2 up MI HYUN KIM Q. How did you hurt your back? MI HYUN KIM: I woke up in the morning, sore in my back, I don't know what happened. After the morning, my shots were a little bit funny. So I didn't play good in the morning match play. Then after that, after lunchtime, I take some kind of pill and that's helping a little bit. Q. Is it hurting now? MI HYUN KIM: Yeah, a little bit. Because after the match, you know, three or four hours. Q. Is it tight? MI HYUN KIM: Sore, I don't know. Q. Which part of your game did it hurt the most or what was most difficult? MI HYUN KIM: The swing. I couldn't hit it very clean in the morning. In the afternoon match play, I was like 5-under. So Maria is tough. My shots were good and short game was good. Q. So you played well this afternoon? MI HYUN KIM: Yeah. Q. Isn't it hard after you've played 18 in the morning and you lose that match and you have no chance of lifting the trophy at the end to get yourself ready to go back out and play another match? MI HYUN KIM: No, not really. I'm very happy to play for my place right now, third. I'm happy to get that and actually a lot of good players played here this week, and to finish in the top-three is good. So I'm happy to play the last match. Q. Is it hard to go out in the afternoon and play as well as you did and pretty much lead the whole way? MI HYUN KIM: Maybe, maybe not. Q. How about the fact that you had your own little cheering section, even though it was a consolation match, you had plenty of people following you around. Does that help? MI HYUN KIM: Yeah, because a lot of people came here and were cheering me, and I thought we would follow Seon Hwa Lee, because she has the chance for a win. But many people, many more can people were following me and cheering me and that helped a lot. Q. Did you ever think of not playing because of your back? MI HYUN KIM: No. I never give up. Q. The prize money, is that also a motivating thing? MI HYUN KIM: No, not really. Just I don't want to give up. I don't want to give up. This is kind of an invitational tournament, so I don't want to upset the sponsor or the Korean people here watching us play. So, I want to play. Q. Are you planning to have any treatment done to your back? MI HYUN KIM: No. Q. Will you have somebody look at your back? MI HYUN KIM: My mom. Q. Will you be able to play this week in France? MI HYUN KIM: Yes, definitely. MARIA HJORTH Q. Talk about playing this afternoon. MARIA HJORTH: What can you do, I shot 3- or 4-under this afternoon. That's match play for you. Q. Took you a while to get going early on? MARIA HJORTH: No, I feel pretty good already from the start. It wasn't too bad at all. She is a very solid player and she doesn't make many mistakes, so you just have to keep on grinding and I did, but it wasn't enough. Q. This isn't a situation where you see too much, playing without a chance to hold up a trophy; is it hard to get yourself back in there after the morning round? MARIA HJORTH: No, I don't think so. You're still playing for third or fourth. Of course, it's always nice to walk away with a win rather than a loss, but you're still out there fighting. Q. Is that what you rely on, your competitive spirit just to push you through the round? MARIA HJORTH: Absolutely. Q. Did your caddie give you a pep talk going out there? MARIA HJORTH: Of course. We're both going out there to win it and you just have to kick it into gear. I tried, but she had a lot of birdies. Q. On 17, to short-side yourself like that, and to almost hole it out, is that indicative of the way you're playing, the save and recovery shots? MARIA HJORTH: I think a bit. But I actually have been very unlucky with a lot of lies this week. Even here on 18, instead of being flat in the bunker, you're up against the back with a downhill lie when you have to hit a high bunker shot and it's almost impossible. I've had a lot of those lies this week, which has been one of them weeks. I guess you get some bad breaks every now and then, and that's what happens. Overall, I'm very happy with the way I've been playing.