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INTERNATIONAL CROWNJuly 26, 2014Carlota CigandaBelen MozoAzahara MunozBeatriz RecariOWINGS MILLS, MARYLAND KRAIG KANN: Thank you for being here in the media center here at the International Crown. Team Spain is here and a pretty good day. Azahara Munoz, Carlota Ciganda, Beatriz Recari and Belen Mozo. Let's start with the two players to my left. With Azahara and Carlota, 6 & 5 victory over Yani and Phoebe today. Boy, what did you have for breakfast? This is a pretty good day for you all. Start with you. AZAHARA MUNOZ: Yeah, we didn't have the best day yesterday, and we were talking the things we didn't do right or we could improve on. So we talked about it this morning and we said just from the beginning, no matter what, we're going to keep our head high and just give it our best. Whatever happens, happens. But like yesterday, we kind of had the feeling that we were a little stressed out about it. Like as soon as we miss a putt or as soon as we miss a shot, we were like getting stressed out. So today it was the opposite. We played so relaxed and right from the beginning we just kept making birdies. So it was a pretty easy day for us out there. We just had a lot of fun. KRAIG KANN: Carlota, your thoughts on the change from yesterday to today and how well you played. CARLOTA CIGANDA: Yes, as Azahara said, we were very relaxed compared to yesterday and I told her, Let's have fun today, let's be relaxed, try to hit the best shots we can, and then whatever happens, is good. We can't do anything else than just hit all the shots. It was a lot of fun because we started playing really good and, of course, making lots of birdies and we had a great time. KRAIG KANN: Get some comments from Beatriz and Belen in your match, victory over Candie Kung and Teresa Lu and the thought process you all had standing on that tee today, perhaps feeling pressure or disappointment from yesterday, although in looking at you guys you looked pretty relaxed to me. BEATRIZ RECARI: Yeah, no, I think we were so motivated from yesterday. We were really upset that we didn't get any points. And that you don't mess with us. You know, it's like we got very upset. So we just told yourselves, Okay, let's take all four and then it's in our hands. And it was unfortunate that she started incredibly strong for eagle on the first and then made birdie on 2. But we played great, so Belen made a great birdie on 3 & 2, then I made a good birdie on 4. So we got it right back to all square and it was just a very tight match. We were playing great. Teresa was playing unbelievable. She was 7‑under after 11. But that's tough, but we stayed patient. We were 2‑under after nine and so we, on the 10th fairway, we said, Okay, we have nine holes to go, let's just keep on playing the way we're playing, smart, aggressive. Belen holed two great birdies on 10 and 11 to square the match, and then we were able to get it to all square again after 14. I think that gave us a lot of momentum because we got it to all square twice on the course. Belen, she chipped in for a great eagle on 16, so that put us 1‑up and that was just an incredible boost. We were like, you know, so motivated and two holes to go and we finished it and it was fantastic out there. KRAIG KANN: One comment from Belen. Raise your hand if you've got questions. Belen, your thoughts on the day. I honestly don't think you've lacked for confidence this week. You seemed quite excited about the opportunity and you must feel great sitting here right now knowing you're in tomorrow. BELEN MOZO: I feel great. I couldn't be more blessed to be playing with this group of ladies up next to me. I love them all. I think we're a great team. Like Beatriz was saying, after yesterday's result, I guess I went to bed not feeling great about it. I was still so upset when I was sleeping. I couldn't really sleep. I woke up and I said, You know what? It's not like you played bad, so stop being negative. You have one day today next to Beatriz. She's playing amazing. So I just wanted to redeem myself, even though we didn't play bad. But I don't know why I started thinking so negatively after yesterday's result. I was so pumped up about today. And even Teresa started eagle, birdie, that was not going to bring me down. I went for it. I love being under pressure. I love walking into the last four holes being all square and having our chance to win the match. I just live for this. I was waiting for that moment to come and I embraced it and we ended up winning the match, which is great. KRAIG KANN: I've got a follow‑up for you later. But let's take questions. Q. Can you walk us through the chip in, Belen, and the putt on 18. Where were you? What were you thinking? Did you hit the shots you wanted? BELEN MOZO: Well, that chip was not the easiest chip in the whole world. I just took a deep breath and I actually was thinking about my brother, because he's a great short‑game player. He gets on my nerves every time we play because he always says, You know how to do it, stop messing around. And then I was like, You know what? Just do it like you do it in the practice rounds like he always says you can do it. And I just didn't think about my technique. I just saw the ball flying, took a big breath and went with it. It was a pretty nice shot. Oh, the birdie on 18? I don't know. I wanted to finish up cool. BEATRIZ RECARI: No, no she told me it's like, Okay, make that par so we can finish with birdie. And I said, All right. So, yeah, that's exactly what she told me. So I was like, yeah, done. BELEN MOZO: I just wanted to do it. The chances of going in were maybe not so high, but I don't know, you know, you can always believe and dream. So I dreamed about it and it went in. Q. Beatriz, you guys were such a big part of the Solheim Cup team and now playing as well as you have, can you just put in perspective how this group, your fellow golfers, how much you've elevated golf for women in your country. BEATRIZ RECARI: Well, it means a lot. I think that women's golf and Spanish golf in general is in such a good moment that we felt that it was a great first chance. We had to represent our country on a professional level. I think I speak on behalf of all of us that we thought talking about it, it was a great motivation to fight for it and put Spain up there where it belongs. KRAIG KANN: Belen, let's go back to you. You were not at the last two Solheim Cups. These players here have been there. What is this stage like for you? BELEN MOZO: Well, I think if you know me, you know that I live for these moments. I just get very excited and I love it. I just embrace those moments, because I don't know, I have so much passion that I enjoy it. The fact when I saw those girls, they were done and they were walking with us just brought so many good memories from when we were playing junior golf. We always did the same. It didn't matter who won, we were always there for each other. I just loved it. It was like in the past, you know. It was all of us again together, just enjoying and living our dreams. So I just loved it. I loved when I saw them on the par‑3. I said, Come on, let's do this. Let's do this together. And we did it. KRAIG KANN: Beatriz and Azahara, would it be fair to say that you all expected to be playing on Sunday or would that be too much of a stretch to feel you were that confident coming in here? AZAHARA MUNOZ: I don't know if you could say we were expected to, but for sure we would be very disappointed if we weren't. I think the four of us are good enough to be playing on Sunday. But every other team is really good, too. But we didn't have a great day yesterday. Thankfully we had a really good day on Thursday and today. Yeah, I think we are definitely good enough to hopefully give it a run tomorrow and get the crown. KRAIG KANN: Beatriz? BEATRIZ RECARI: Yeah, I'm just going to repeat what Azahara said. It would be a huge upset if we weren't up here. Even though we're competing against the other seven best countries in the world, we unconsciously, I don't know if the word is 'expect,' but if you were in there, I'm going to repeat what Azahara said, we would be like, what? What happened if we weren't in there. It would be a great upset for us. So that's why it is an incredible motivation for us to fight for our country and to make sure that we were tomorrow in that position to take the crown. Q. You guys all mentioned it, you were incredibly down yesterday, especially getting around 18 green. Did you get together last night, did you have dinner, and who said what to whom? BELEN MOZO: We played ping pong until very, very late. Spanish style. You know. AZAHARA MUNOZ: We all went to the team room and had a beer and lots of laughs and played ping pong and nothing. I mean, we didn't do anything out of the ordinary. Actually, everybody got the families here, so it's kind of hard to get together. Yesterday was the first day that like we all went downstairs and it was a lot of fun doing something simple, but it seemed to work. So I think we'll be playing ping pong tonight, too. KRAIG KANN: Congratulations on advancing out of your pool and best of luck tomorrow. Thanks for coming in. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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