ADT CHAMPIONSHIP

November 24, 2002

Rachel Teske

RACHEL TESKE: Got quite an exciting little cheat sheet here. Up and down. Okay. Number one. Missed the fairway left. Missed it short and had two putts from about 15 feet.

Number 3 hit a 4-wood on. 2-putted from about 35 feet.

Number 6 hit a pitching wedge and 3-putted from probably about 35 feet. It was a short, I guess maybe about four or five feet putt there. Five feet.

8, missed the green short, two putts from 15 feet.

Number 9 hit a 4-wood on, two putts from 30 feet for birdie.

Number 10, I holed an 8-iron for an eagle.

NEAL REID: How far out were you?

RACHEL TESKE: 130.

Number 13 I missed the fairway right, missed it short. Had two putts from five feet.

Number 14 hit an 8-iron and made the putt from 25 feet.

Number 16, what I did do there? Hit a little 9-iron and made the putt from about 15 feet for birdie.

And 17 I missed the green right with a 5-iron and had three putts from, oh, about 35, 40 feet, I guess.

NEAL REID: I'm sure you were disappointed on the finish. Can you maybe just talk about how you feel and on number 17 in particular.

RACHEL TESKE: Well, I'm disappointed, really with the way I played all day, really. I was just up-and-down. I just really couldn't get a rhythm at all. And I actually on the first six or seven holes I actually hit the ball solid. I wasn't unhappy with the way I played.

And 8 I hit a really poor shot and it made me so angry I hit a great drive down nine and hit a 4-wood on. Which is pretty huge. And so I kind of, the angrier I got, the better I played. And then I got fortunate on 10. I kind of hit a good shot in and when I saw it land, I thought it was right where I wanted to land it. And I was looking down and then the crowd went wild. So that was a nice surprise there.

And then just drove on 15. Disappointed with my drive there. And then I hung in there and birdied 16.

And then 17 I really just didn't hit a good shot. I hit it a little skinny right. I knew there was plenty of space between, I was either going to win it or not, so I got into a hazard there and had a pretty decent little chip. I was just way steep and everything. But the lie was all right. And it just sort of popped up. And it just went so far past on the first putt. And how many shots is that? Two shots later I got it in the hole. So on the whole I'm just really disappointed that I didn't concentrate very well today. But I hung from there and tried to be as aggressive as I could and hang in there.

NEAL REID: Questions?

Q. At 17 were you aware of your position of where Annika was?

RACHEL TESKE: I knew I was up there, I didn't really take a look. I guess I didn't know where the score board is. I think there's a score board left of 18. I'm not sure. But I knew it must have been close. And I felt pretty good. I, the back nine I was just trying to keep my back swing nice and smooth. And I did that. I didn't release on that. Which is one reason why I fade the ball. And yeah, I just hit it on that hole and there you go.

Q. Were you trying to make birdie on 17 to catch her, or did you know where she was?

RACHEL TESKE: I didn't know, so I just really wanted to put a good shot on it. I had a 5-iron in there. It felt very comfortable over the ball. So I just leaked it out there. Didn't release through it.

Q. What did you think about picking up three strokes on nine and 10 after being so far behind?

RACHEL TESKE: God knows. Look at my scorecard. What do you mean? After I eagled 10 what was going through my mind? Well I felt pretty good on the back nine. And I hit two great shots down nine. Which really gave me a lot of confidence after number 8. And I felt pretty good, really. So I didn't really know where I was. Where anybody was on the leaderboard or anything. I just kept plugging away and working on every shot. Because obviously I wasn't hitting the ball very well. So I really just wanted to work on every shot as much as I could. Because number 8 was a perfect example of not working on it and hitting a poor shot. So I really didn't feel very confident. I felt confident that I was playing well but my swing didn't, I just didn't feel great with the way I was timing the ball. So I just kept hanging in there on every shot and doing better on every shot and do a little bit better on every shot and see what came of it.

Q. What was the poor shot on eight?

RACHEL TESKE: I hit it fat there. 9-iron. I don't know what it was. Trying to think. I think it was a 9-iron. Just fat. Short of the green.

Q. You didn't look at a leader board at all?

RACHEL TESKE: I didn't look at the leaderboard until I think at 11 I saw like 10 or 116789 but I didn't take much notice of it. Get a feel, double digits, single digits. Especially when I'm struggling like that, the leaderboard or even winning isn't a priority it's really just getting a little bit of timing back and trying to create something. So I just tried to hang in there.

Q. Do you feel like you lost to someone who was just better today, or do you feel disappointed because you beat yourself?

RACHEL TESKE: Yeah, I feel disappointed. Because I did beat myself. I obviously, I hit the ball well at times and just really didn't concentrate well today. So that's what's disappointing. Because mentally it should be there, it should be, it's not, it's more difficult. You can kind of understand hitting a bad shot technically but mentally you should be on the job all the time. And I didn't do a good job today at all. So that's what's disappointing. But on the other hand I know what it is. And then the shot on 17, it's just kind of typical of my swing pattern. And it's something that we have been knocking down probably the last year or two. So I can definitely improve on it. It's something that happens consistently.

Q. Do you know why your concentration wasn't there today?

RACHEL TESKE: No, not really. I kind of always struggled just seeing the ball or watching the ball and probably just with a little bit more attention today, just really struggled with it.

Q. (Inaudible.)

RACHEL TESKE: Fourth hole? I just parred it.

Q. (Inaudible.)

RACHEL TESKE: Third hole? Oh, hit a 4-wood on the green and 3-putted from about 35 feet for birdie.

Q. Does the fact that it's Annika you're battling with change your approach at all?

RACHEL TESKE: No, not really. Because when I, Karrie was right up there too. You could shoot six, seven, eight under with this field. If you're on your day, any one of these players can do that. So it's not really, it's more just, when you're hitting the ball well and you have confidence you just got out there and do your thing and make it happen and you see how it goes.

Q. Does it raise your game to be playing with someone who might be considered one of the best players of all time?

RACHEL TESKE: Yeah, I think it's raising your game. I think you definitely got to look at all areas of your game. It's making everybody look at all areas of their game and it's certainly making me do that. And seeing what I can improve and seeing how much I can get better.

Q. Is it exciting, or is it intimidating?

RACHEL TESKE: No, it's exciting. It's always exciting getting better. It's really a challenge to give your self. Because there's no, you don't know how much better you can get. So it's kind of unlimited what you can do if you work at all areas of your game and get everything as good as it has to be.

Q. Did you get put on the clock at all or warned out there for slow play?

RACHEL TESKE: I don't know. I thought we might have been on number 8, but I wasn't sure. I wasn't sure. Sometimes the officials just come along for the ride and other times they're timing you. So you never really are sure.

Q. Did it affect you at all?

RACHEL TESKE: I did try to kind of pick up the pace a little bit on 8. But it was just a bad shot.

Q. Can you give us your thoughts on Annika's year? It was pretty impressive.

RACHEL TESKE: Yeah, that's true. That's true. It's an incredible year. Yeah. Obviously she's played great. To keep playing as well as she has over the period of time, because it's not just one year, it's the years prior as well. Which that's fantastic to watch and learn from.

Q. Did you think that it would be tough for Annika to have a better season this year than she did last year?

RACHEL TESKE: No, I don't really give much thought to Annika in the off season. I guess.

(Laughter.)

Q. (Inaudible.)

RACHEL TESKE: Oh. But obviously she pushes herself and challenges herself so much that anything is possible, really, for her. And she obviously believes it, so it's not surprising, the issue of going after Mickey Wright's record, and so she kind of challenges herself. She's very motivated that she just keeps pushing herself.

Q. Is it surprising how well she played since she played so much late in the year?

RACHEL TESKE: I don't think. So I don't know how much she played, really. But obviously with the, knowing she has the ability to break Mickey's record and that's one of the reasons she played so much. So I wasn't, I would have been surprised not to see her try.

NEAL REID: Anything else? All right. Thanks, Rachel.

RACHEL TESKE: All right. Thank you.

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