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MCDONALD'S LPGA CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY AIG


June 20, 2001


Annika Sorenstam


WILMINGTON, DELAWARE

DEBBIE EARECKSON: We'll just welcome you back to McDonald's and let you open up and talk about how you are feeling this year, coming back for the third major, what's going on.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Well, I'm happy to be here. Obviously, this is the third major of the season and I'm really looking forward to playing tomorrow. I feel really good about my game. I love this place. I've done pretty good here in the past. Not as well, maybe as I would like, but a few Top-10 finishes. The course this year is in superb condition. I don't think I've seen it this good ever, but in really good shape. The rough is thick. The greens are fast. It's really setting up for a good Championship.

Q. Were you disappointed by your showing at the Women's Open and have you been working on anything specifically since then?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I was disappointed, you know, the way I finished. I think I did a lot of good things that week. I prepared right. I was patient all week. I tried to get the last few holes, but things just didn't go my way that week. I felt really good coming into the Open. I had high expectations, but just didn't do it for me. But I forgot about it. I'm here. This is what matters right now, and if I do really good this week, I'll forget about the Open soon.

Q. Playing as well as you did earlier in the year, is being patient one of the hardest things to do?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I think starting out the way I did this year, expectations just got higher and higher. You know, coming into a major, just because you've won a few doesn't mean you're going to win a major. There's so much to a major, it's just a lot of times, the courses are so much different. The margins are so small and expectations are so high, finishing 16th is a disappointment. I'm better than a lot of players, and that's the way you've got to look at it. You hit good shots and sometimes they turnout good and sometimes they don't. You've just got to face it. I'm still playing good golf right now. My confidence is there. You've just got to keep moving on.

Q. Is the patience thing important then again this week?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Yes, definitely. I mean, I think patience is key to good golf. It's important at major championships, but pretty much every week, you've got to hit one shot at a time and focus on what you've got to do. You can't think about Sunday, especially, you've got to think about the next shot. You've got to prepare, focus and execute it. That's patience, what it's all about.

Q. A common question that some people ask, about a rivalry between you and Karrie. Can you express to me, if there is such a rivalry, and if so, how it manifests itself?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I think there is a rivalry, a friendly one. I mean, I have a lot of respect for Karrie and her game, and the way she played the last few years have motivated me to play even better. When we see somebody like Karrie playing well, winning in the U.S. Open, it motivates me. I want to play. I want to be the best player out here. I mean, I like a challenge. I love the competition. I think it's great for the game.

Q. If you were to win a major and knew you were going to win a major and pick your runner-up, would it be Karrie?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: It really wouldn't matter.

Q. No?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: No.

Q. You don't enjoy -- you don't enjoy the head-to-head?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Oh, I enjoy the head-to-head.

Q. I know you enjoy the head-to-head, but does it make it extra satisfying if you were to beat her, as opposed to maybe anyone else?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Just knowing she's in the field. But if she finishes second or whatever, that doesn't matter. But knowing that she's in the field, she has been the best player out here -- you want the best players to be in the tournament, because if you win, then you beat them. That satisfies me, not finishing second.

Q. It would not make it more satisfying if you were to win this week and Karrie finished second, as opposed to Mardi Lunn, just to throw a name out?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: No.

Q. Do you think it is better for the Tour to have a clear top two and then pursuers as opposed to a clear top one and then pursuers?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I don't know what's better. I think it's great to see different winners. In the last five years, it's been a competition between Karrie and me. You know, I was No. 1 for a while and then she was No. 1. So, that's got to be exciting, if you watch it from the outside. I grew up watching tennis a lot and if Chris Evert, and Martina Narvatalova, that's exciting. I would not mind being a dominant player at the end of the night. For me, that would be great, obviously. I mean, I love the competition and every week, we have that out here. That's what it's all about.

Q. The way you were motivated by Karrie, do you think maybe she, too, when she saw you winning all those tournaments earlier in the year, that got her fired up to come back out and win some more?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I'm not sure. I haven't asked her about that, but maybe. We talked about expectations, I'm sure that expectations were high on her starting this year and she didn't get off to the start they wanted so. If it was that or the way I played, she played excellent at the Open.

Q. You got a note from her after the 59?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Yeah.

Q. Did that surprise you at all?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I thought it was very nice. I don't know if it surprised me, but I thought she showed a lot of class. A lot of class, just to write a note, because she had, I think an afternoon tee time that day, so I didn't kind of run into her, but the note was just -- it was very classy. And then at Nabisco, she was one of the first to congratulate me there, and I thought that was very classy, too. I think that shows a lot, what kind of person she is. She's competitive, but she also recognizes when other people do well. I think that's very nice.

Q. How much are you looking forward to the match with Tiger and David Duval?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Yeah, I am, definitely. I haven't really thought about it the last few weeks, because I'm here -- actually we've been everywhere. But I am looking forward to it. It is going to be a lot of fun. It's going to be a highlight in my career, to have a chance to play with both Tiger and David. It will be a fun format and a little relaxing, but still I want to play well. I want to show the guys that we can play, so I look forward to it.

Q. Some rivalries in golf, like Arnie and Jack, I'm told spilled over into other aspects of life, like in their case, who had the biggest airplane or things like that. Do you and Karrie have much relationship off the golf course? I know you are represented by the same company and will be in the Battle of Bighorn, but is there anything else that you do together?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: No, not really. Pretty much totally different friends. No, we don't do anything outside of course at all. I think we do a lot of -- we have a lot of things in common, but we don't really hang out together.

Q. What's in common?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Just being out here, the things that we do. The things we look at -- look at our careers and stuff like that.

Q. Would you prefer if the format for the Bighorn was you and Karrie against the two men?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: No, I kind of like this format. I want to play with Tiger. (Laughter.)

Q. You would rather have Tiger than Karrie as a partner?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: No, I didn't say that. I can play with Karrie out here. (Laughter.) That match is not set up to be to show who is the better player or anything like that. I think this is more of a fun, relaxed format. I don't think anybody has anything to win, to play against each other. So this way, I think it is best setup. We can interact and play each other and hopefully showcase some good golf.

Q. You talk about it being somewhat relaxing. Do you anticipate it being any kind of pressure in terms of representing the LPGA, a chance to put the LPGA on national TV in prime time, living up to your end of the deal, so to speak?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: A little bit, I must admit. Like I said, I want to show that I can play. I know I won't hit the ball as far and I don't expect to do that. But if he hits a good drive out there, I want to put it close to the pin and show I can play, or if I have a chance, I want to make the putt. It's just our way of showcasing the LPGA a little bit, even though we can do it every week, but this is prime time TV. We don't get the chance too often.

Q. Secondly, can you speak to the sacrifice that you and Karrie are making in light of the fact that you've got a major that week?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Yeah, we do have a major that week. We have to play on Monday night direct to London. We won't get in until Tuesday afternoon, so we kind of miss out on a practice round. But, you know, when you get a chance like this to play with Tiger and David, for me, that's not really a sacrifice. I think it's just an opportunity that I don't want to miss. We've played at Sunningdale before and I was there two weeks ago. So I'm trying it do every preparation I can to do there, too.

Q. Is there a Pro-Am there?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Yes, there is.

Q. So you won't get a practice round?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: No, I won't be there.

Q. All of the attention early in the season, did that wear you out a little bit? Are you're charged now or is it just the same all season as far as attention goes?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: The attention has gotten much more and it's been a lot of golf the last few weeks. Actually, this is my fourth week on the road. But it has been great. I mean, it's been a lot of people have paid attention to what I've done. It's been really nice that way. I'm having a week off next week and I'll relax and get ready for the rest of the summer.

Q. You said you love this place. Is it because the way the course is set up? Is it because you've won a couple Opens and won the Nabisco and now this is another major you would like to win. What goes into that?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: First of all, it's the golf course. Like old, traditional courses and this is one. I like the way it is set up. It is a little longer. It has rough. It just demands good shot. Those are the type of courses that I like. It's the it's a major. It's very well organized. They take good care of you. A lot of things like that, too. When you come here, you feel like it's a special week, and I haven't won this championship. This would mean a lot to me. So, mentally, I'm psyched to be here, too.

Q. Is there anything at this tournament that maybe you don't do at other tournaments; is that maybe at the end of the week you go: "Gee, I should have done this or done that"; is there a stumbling block here?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Not really. I think in the past when we've had this championship earlier in the year, the conditions have been so different. It's been raining, it's been cold, it's been playing really long. The greens have always been very bumpy. They redid the greens, and now we are later in the year and the course is just much better. I feel like it's better having it later in the year. The course is set up better.

Q. Those of us that are from here, a lot of us look at this place as the hub of golf activity and we think this is put together so well, so many sponsors, so many volunteers; that we just picture this being about as good as it can be. Where does it rank on the scale of what you've seen? We just think it's really special in our little community here, but how do you see it?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Oh, it's a special event in many ways. Like I said, the course, how we feel coming here. It's very well organized. That's why I see such a good field. I think everybody is here. And I think by having a good field, that's a way of showing that we like this field and we really appreciate what we've got. That's at least why I like it.

Q. When did you get back from France?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I got back Monday afternoon.

Q. So you didn't see the conclusion of the boys' Open?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: No. I missed it.

Q. See any highlights of it?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: A little.

Q. Do you know what happened?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I know what happened?

Q. I'm just curious, do you think because of that -- it's gone on for years and years, that if someone has got a 4-foot putt, and as Goosen did on Monday, he needed two putts from six feet and he's going to win. Usually, you kind of putt out and clear the stage for the obvious champion. Do you think there might be some change of thought because of the way this thing ended?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: You mean --

Q. Did I explain that very clearly?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I don't know. About having a --

Q. We had a case on Sunday where a guy had a 12-footer -- Goosen, where he had a 2-putt from 12 feet to win. Cink goes to get out of the way, misses his putt and it means everything. Next day, Brooks had a 4-footer that meant nothing, but marks it and Goosen has his 2-putt. I wonder if that's going to change the thinking, especially in majors, when you get to the 18th and even though someone looks like the apparent winner, that you still might mark out instead of putting out to clear the stage, so to speak?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I've always said it's never over until it's over. I think I proved that in L.A. when Pat Hurst had a ten-shot lead and things totally turned around. I always fight to the end and always -- you know, I try and do the best I can out there. If it's a little putt or a long shut shot, just finish the best and you can go from there. Especially at the Open or any championship like that, you see what nerves can do. These guys, they probably would have made the first putt if this was the Western Open, but this is not the Western Open; this is the U.S. Open. A lot of things happen and you think about a lot of things and nerves really play a big role. It just shows what really can change, just like that.

End of FastScripts....

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