MERCEDES-BENZ WOMEN'S GOLF DAY

April 28, 2003

Annika Sorenstam

MODERATOR: Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Annika Sorenstam. Thank you for joining us. We're at the Mercedes Benz Women's Golf Day at Manhattan Woods Golf Club.

You're playing in your first PGA TOUR event in May. Can you tell us a little bit about what your preparation has been like for that event?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Sure. It started in January, and when it was all said and done, I got an invitation, I've been practicing a lot more than normal. I've been practicing with some of the PGA guys. I've been playing from the tips. Just getting used what I'm going to experience in May. But once the LPGA season started, I've been focusing on my tour and try to find my game and get ready.

But time goes fast and now it is, what, three weeks or so left, so I'm practicing more and more.

MODERATOR: Are you practicing different equipment or any differences in what you would normally have in your bag for an LPGA event?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: No. When I get there, the plan is to play my game, play the way I think I need to play the golf course. I mean, I'm going to approach the game the way I normally do. This is my game and I can't change it. If I had an extra 20 yards in the bag, I would have taken it out five years ago. So, I'm just going to play what I've got.

I have a strategy for the course. It's going to be a very conservative one, but I think it's going to work out just fine.

MODERATOR: You've said that this is about challenging yourself and pushing yourself. Maybe if you can tell us a little bit about what you think this experience will do to help you on the LPGA TOUR in terms of your game?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Well, first of all, I'm going to play a really long golf course. So I will get a chance to probably hit clubs that I don't use as much on our tour and put a premium on the long irons. It's going to put a total premium on driving because the course is going to be so long that I want to make sure that I'm out as far as I can be, and also in the middle. Even though that's been on our tour, this is a little different pressure off the tee.

You know, the rough I know is going to be like U.S. Open, and I believe the more you play on tougher courses, the better you get. The challenges that I'm up for, and maybe just not the golf course, but everything around it, is a total different atmosphere, shocking the body; and I believe that the more you do that, the better I get at adjusting to different situations.

Q. How helpful are the guys that you've played with, the PGA TOUR players?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: They have been very helpful and very supportive. The guys I've talked to have welcomed me. I haven't felt any negative feelings from them at all. They are like, "Well, good luck." I've got several invitations to play -- well, I don't know if you call it invitations, but to play practice rounds with them. That's what I was a little nervous about, who wants to play with me, but I wish I had more practice rounds now because I have all these games lined up. So, it's going to be fun.

Q. Who will it be with; do you know yet?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Practice round, David Duval has contacted me and I've love to play with him.

Q. Anybody else?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Notah Begay has talked to me. I don't know. We'll see.

Q. Is there one consistent thread of advice that they give you, either on how to attack the course or how to approach the week?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Everybody has their own opinion and everybody has their thoughts on how to play.

When I had a chance to play Colonial, I played with David Frost, and he sure has his opinion on how to play it; and he has won there, so I'm sure he knows.

But I've got to play my game and that's what got me there is to play my game. You know, it's always helpful to listen, but at the end of the day, I'm the one that's got to hit the shot. I'm going to hit the ball from places where I want to hit it from. And the way the course is set up, I've got to play conservative. It's a matter of staying out of the thick rough and the hazards and playing to the front of the green; and the ball is going to bounce off, the greens are so firm. I can't be aggressive if the pins are behind any bunkers. The greens are small, and I figure if I hit them into the green, I will have 25 feet from any direction, so that's the approach.

Q. So it's a similar approach to, say, the U.S. Open?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Yes.

MODERATOR: Thank you, everyone.

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