U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 19, 2014

Karrie Webb

Q. How was it out there?
KARRIE WEBB: It was good. The course is set up a little shorter than I think we would have expected. There was quite a few up tees today, kept us on our toes. But it's getting hot out there and the greens are drying up. The ball actually, for me, the last few holes, has just gone for a mile. So it was hard -- I hit a great shot into 17 and it just carried too far and went over the back. But, no, I think the course setup nicely. I think -- I mean, I expected a few up tees, but I didn't expect both par-5s to be up today. And a couple of the par-4s that were up. So I'm happy -- I mean, I think you had to shoot a good score the way the course was set up. If you didn't today, I think you'd be playing catch-up all week.

Q. How happy are you to be in the position you're in?
KARRIE WEBB: Pretty happy. Anytime you shoot even par right off the first round, I think you put yourself in a good position. And I putted really nicely out there, and made some nice saves and made a couple of birdies, three birdies out there. So I made some nice putts. Just trying to work at how far I'm hitting it, I guess, if it's this hot tomorrow.

Q. Did it change much from when you teed off to when you finished?
KARRIE WEBB: Yeah, it's quite a bit hotter. There's a bit of a breeze out there, too, even into the last for me. We felt like there was a five or six or seven yard breeze there, and the ball just went straight through it. It's heating up, the greens are going to dry out, I think even par for me today, with everyone else going out this afternoon, I think that's a great score.

Q. How difficult could it get, is it on the edge?
KARRIE WEBB: No, I don't think the course is on the edge at all. I think -- I think the USGA had to be a little bit cautious. We haven't played a tournament here with this course setup before. And it is the second week. So I think they're probably trying to see how the course is playing, there hasn't been a competitive round since Sunday, so just to see where they're at with the golf course. I think they were just sort of seeing how we handled it. And they'll make their adjustments, I think.

Q. Given your experience in the U.S. Open is this going to be a week where you're going to be able to draw on that a lot, in terms of just the difficulty and just being patient and just grinding it out, is that the --
KARRIE WEBB: Yeah, I think so. I should have that experience, but I think I have to give myself that talking to all the time. And if I listen -- and I don't normally do a good job. I did a good job through the middle. I was going along quite nicely on the front and missed my spot on 8 and missed the green left there, which is just such a bad mistake. And ended up having to get up and down for bogey. And then bogeyed 9. So I recovered nicely and birdied 10. So that gives me good feelings that I didn't get too hard on myself and too ahead of myself and just kept playing one shot at a time.

Q. Your thoughts on the winning score?
KARRIE WEBB: I try not to set a score. I think -- and it's going to depend on how the course is set up, how much the greens speed up. From Monday to now the greens are significantly faster. I'd say they're at least a foot, foot and a half faster than they were when we went and practiced on Monday. They must have put quite a bit of water on the greens Sunday night, because obviously they were quite fast for the guys on Sunday. I try not to set scores. Anytime I do that at the U.S. Open, I end up shooting myself in the foot in trying to play to that. So I just -- hopefully, my four rounds are good enough at the end of the day.

Q. You have a good history in this area. And people have compared this course to something you might play in Australia. Is that combination of things good for you?
KARRIE WEBB: I did have good feelings here. I came a couple of weeks ago ahead of -- before the men played. And I loved it as soon as I was here. It does really remind me of Sand Belt golf in Melbourne, where you don't always have a perfect lie, even in the fairway. And you have to be creative around the greens. And that's definitely a recipe to play well in Melbourne and it is here, as well.

Q. A question on Stacy, she gets the No. 1 ranking, she's right back on top of the leaderboard, does she put pressure on to chase her or is the course enough to challenge you?
KARRIE WEBB: Yeah, I think the course is enough. I don't think you can really focus on any one person until the back nine on Sunday. I think this course suits Stacy, as well. She's a really good putter when she gets it going. And I expected to see her shoot a good score today.

Q. Did you play the back nine differently because of the way the greens were getting faster?
KARRIE WEBB: Yes and no. I think it was hard to get to some of the pins, but I think for the most part the pins were set where, if you hit good shots, you could still get it close. But they're set still, if you over cook a shot and miss it on the short side, it's not staying on the green. So it's a hard course to play too aggressive. You're happy if you hit it to the center of the green pin-high and have a 20-footer most of the time.

Q. (Inaudible.)
KARRIE WEBB: Well, I think, you know, I have been there, even though the last one was quite a while ago. But I think -- I've done it before. I don't know if that means that I don't want it anymore badly than I do now. I know what it takes to do it. And, really, for me, I don't think it's really the physical part that I have to worry about, it's the mental part, and keeping my emotions under control and -- it sounds such old hat when you say one shot at a time, but really that's what you've got to do.

Q. Is that still difficult for you to do, even given how much you've played, not saying how old you are, but is it?
KARRIE WEBB: It is. That is my challenge at every U.S. Open. And even when I -- even though I have won, I still, every U.S. Open, have to take on the challenge of trying to be as patient as I can and keep check of my emotions. And some years I just don't do a good job with that. I did a good job today so hopefully another three days of that.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports