THE SOLHEIM CUP

September 20, 2002

Beth Daniel

Wendy Ward

BETH DANIEL: Wendy's first Solheim Cup win.

Q. Congratulations, Wendy. Can we just get some comments from each of you? It turned out to be a very important match, considering that was the first and only point one by the US team. Can you comment on how things were going out there?

WENDY WARD: Well, we got off to a solid start. That tee shot, I heard, on the first day is a pretty tough tee shot, and it felt great, and we just kind of ham and egged it from that point on.

We got up, what, one or two points, I believe.

BETH DANIEL: Two.

WENDY WARD: One or two holes, and then kind of let it slip back away, but we just kept pressing on. Beth said to me, she says, "We just need to enjoy it out here and enjoy every minute of it, and that's what's going to help us win this match." And that's what we did.

I told Beth, "We are two of the best ball strikers out here on the LPGA, and neither one of us brought our A game today, so I was very pleased.

Beth had hit a clutch chip shot on 16 behind the green left and put it to about 4 feet, and that was the absolute best she could have done with that lie; it was a horrendous lie.

And, I mean, I was high-fiving her. In my mind, the putt was good because the chip was so awesome, so that was a lot of fun. That was the key point of our match.

BETH DANIEL: Yeah. It was -- it was a good match. There were some good shots, there were some really bad shots. Neither team hit a lot of greens. You know, like Wendy said, for two people that, in particular, are normally very good iron players, we really missed a lot of greens, and, you know, that's disappointing to the two of us, but we just stayed in there and we fought really hard and we were determined to get it up and down and, you know, make putts.

And we actually made a lot of key putts out there for ups and downs, and, you know, we just -- we were just, basically, grinding it out to try and win that point, and that's exactly what we did.

Q. Were you two young ladies score board watching coming down the end? Did you think about we have got to win this match because you guys were in the best position of any of the teams?

WENDY WARD: Yeah, Beth and I both, I think, are board watchers, and probably encouraged not to do so much of that this week, but in a way we had to. You know, we felt like we were almost struggling in our match, and we looked up there and saw we were the only red on the board, so we knew we had to stand tall and play hard, and Beth made a comment to me walking up 18, walking to her tee shot, and she says, "Do you understand that we are the only red still standing right now?"

I said, "I got it, hear you loud and clear."

MODERATOR: Questions?

Q. I imagine it's pretty early to still stay focused, it's so early in play, but discouraging a little bit that you are down 3-1 at this point?

BETH DANIEL: Well, yes and no. Actually, I think that the entire team is encouraged by the fact that we did manage to get 1 point out of that. You know, you have to kind of look at it that way. Two years ago at Loch Lomond, we were down 0-4, so that, potentially, could have happened again.

So to get that one point up there is big, and, you know, hopefully the team is out there rallying right now in the four-ball competition.

Q. Is that where you guys are headed now?

WENDY WARD: We are headed to a little lunch and just a little rest for probably about an hour, and then we are definitely going back out there.

BETH DANIEL: We kind of have a pact with one another throughout the whole team that, you know, you go do your routine and what's going to make it best for the team for you to play your best golf, and, I mean, even though there were times out there on the last hole, there were players out there that weren't going out in the afternoon, which is great to see the support, but I don't think either one of us ever felt that our team wasn't supporting us out there at any point in time.

So we are a pretty close-knit team, and I am enjoying this team a lot. It's a great team. So I know they are all cheering for me every step of the way.

MODERATOR: Anything else? Congratulations, thanks, guys.

End of FastScripts....