U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 12, 1995

Michelle McGann

MICHELLE McGANN: It would be very fun to win this week. I think this golf course is going to take a lot of patience and whoever can get a little luck with the kicks on the greens and possibly, you know, trying to keep the ball in the right position underneath the pins, but sometimes you can't help that, and I am sure there is going to be a few 3-putts; whether we like it or not.

MICHELLE McGANN: This is my first time to the Broadmoor and I played two practice rounds Tuesday and Wednesday and it was kind of fun to finally just be able to hit your driver on every hole. I think 18 is probably the only hole that you can't hit driver on, and it is fun. I mean, it really is fun to just get up and hit it and it just keeps going and going. Everyday is a new experience; always seems to carrying a little bit further. Every time I really caught it and where I hit it yesterday, it is 20 yards by that. Hopefully, it will rub in our favor.

MICHELLE McGANN: Those two hit it a little further than I do. But yeah, I mean, I think that is going to be the advantage. We are hitting a little bit further and having short irons into pins this week, play rather than hitting 4-irons in or woods, so hopefully, that will stay to our advantage.

MICHELLE McGANN: Yeah, this is the new black and red look. Actually, my new clothing line is just coming, the new line is coming out, so all new hats came this week. Hopefully, the clothes are here today or they will show up tomorrow or I am in big trouble.

MICHELLE McGANN: I never really doubted myself. I knew it was a matter of time. I had accomplished a lot; a lot of things without a win and, you know, it just -- it kind of makes you a little more -- at least, teeing it up now, you have a little bit more confidence, a little more security about what you are doing, and hopefully, you know, usually I play well in Opens. The course is set up for longer hitters, so I am actually really looking forward to it. I am stroking the ball better this year with my putter, so that is a lot of fun and we will just take it from there, play it one day at a time.

MICHELLE McGANN: Well, you know, when I first played Oakmont, I thought these greens are tough; you are putting from one side of the green to the other side of the green and, you know, you are thinking, oh, my, gosh, now what is the, you know, probability of you hitting it there and the pin being all the way on the other side. I think they are very challenging, and, you know, only playing the course a couple of times, of course, you are not going to remember everything; you are not going to remember where certain little knobs are. Hopefully, you can, you know, have a pretty good idea. A lot of the holes -- everything slopes from the shrine or whatever up there, so a couple of shots that -- we played a little match today which was good, taking our putters out, but I think that there could be a lot of birdies made out there and there could be a lot of bogeys made out there, so just to hang in there and have patience. It's a four-day tournament and, you know, I have seen that just playing our normal courses on Tour, that aren't set up as hard as this with the rough and the greens being as fast, you know, you shoot a couple over the first day. The next thing, you know, I mean, I ended up finishing third a couple of times playing good on the weekends, so it is a matter of just being patient.

MICHELLE McGANN: Donna Andrews and I took on Dale Eggeling and Lori Garbacz. I had a little pep talk with my partner. I said we are one up. We won the front 9. Let us just get rid of them. Donna made about 4, 5 birdies. I made a couple and that was it.

MICHELLE McGANN: Hopefully. We are paired together tomorrow. We are very good friends, so she hit the ball well today. Hopefully, this can turn it around a little bit.

MICHELLE McGANN: Well, I think my game really hasn't changed that much. I have gotten a few breaks, you know. My putting average is a lot better, stroke average, so I feel that, you know, it is a matter of confidence. Once you get that first one, then the next couple of weeks were easier. I was in contention and, you know, the bottom line is short game; hitting the wedges in closer; making the putts. Last couple of years I had hit it well, and you know, would knock it 10, 15 feet and make only one or two instead of making 4 and 5; that is the difference of winning and coming in second, third, fourth, whatever. So I mean, I feel pretty good about it. I am hitting the ball well. My brother is caddying for me. He caddied for me a couple of weeks ago. We had a lot of fun, so you know, like I said, it is patience. Have a good time. It is beautiful out here, and hopefully we can play just as well.

MICHELLE McGANN: I think it helps a lot. I had -- let us see -- I think three or four really good tournaments up until that win, and then the last couple of tournaments after the win, I played well. I think it just kinds of feeds, you know -- I have been playing so well, was so close, and you know, it just finally happened, and now, it makes those putts, those three and 4-footers that you need to make to finish second or third are getting a little easier to make than when you think, oh, gosh, if I miss this it, I am going to drop down to fifth or sixth, so I think the confidence in my putting from the win has helped me a lot.

MICHELLE McGANN: Well, I mean, I had no choice but to hit -- I had 7-iron in my hand, what are you going to do, hit a wedge to lay up? - no way. I just didn't hit a good shot, and you know, it was one of those things that you learn from whether I had the club face a little hooked and didn't realize it, I paid a little bit more attention to that now, but I think that helped me a lot. I kind of got me through the, you know -- I ended up finishing third and made more than I did, you know, finishing first. But you know, you have to learn from those experiences. If you don't go through them, you know, I mean, it could have been another year before I won, who knows, but you know, it is experience; it is being in that position. I did an outing like the next week with Peter Jacobsen; I said, "geez, did you see that putt I missed" and he said, "can I tell you one thing?" I said, "yeah, because I really had putted well all week." He said, "well, it just looked like you took a little extra time; you got out of your routine." Sure enough, I go back; look at the tape. I looked at it from one side; the other side. It was a big putt; you got to stay to your routine. That is what helped me the next week when I won the Sara Lee, and the following couple of weeks when I have played well. I struck to my routine. I looked at it from one side, the other took my two strokes, whatever I do, and I hit it, and you know, that is half the battle. If you stand over it too long, then your mind starts wandering; does crazy things.

MICHELLE McGANN: Well, I don't think that my career has been that bad, you know. Everybody dwells on the fact that I hadn't won, but you know, you can't change what has already happened. And I felt like every time I teed it up, I gave it my best, and I guess that is all that any of us can ask for. Why it took so long, I have no idea. I mean, I wish I did, so I didn't have all these questions I had to answer, but you know, now I just have to keep progressing, keep working hard, and I guess it got to the point where, you know, it got frustrating that we couldn't hit our driver a lot of times; that the courses were so short what advantage, none, we hit 4-iron; somebody else would hit driver; we are in the same position. I think that we -- that I have just worked harder on my short game and my putting knowing that that is what half the battle every week is, the putting contest. So you know, I think that I didn't really have a doubt in my mind that I would win and hopefully nobody else will doubt me anymore. There are still a lot of players that still have not won yet and making a great living and enjoying what they are doing and as long as you are healthy -- my health is wonderful right now, and you know, you can't really ask for too much more.

MICHELLE McGANN: I think I have battled a lot with my diabetes being positive that way and not letting it ever bring me down. I have had a couple of bad experiences with it. The Open a couple of years ago, and, you know, I had to fight back. I had to do it because if I didn't, then I'd probably be down, you know, working in a pro shop or doing something else. I think that this game is hard enough. I think that it is very demanding and I try to never let my disease get in the way and every week I have kids come up to me and try to encourage them to play, that "it is okay," I have been working with some doctors in Florida that have helped me a lot. And I think that that brings a lot of my positive out in my golf game. I have worked with the sports psychologist a little bit, but I am only 25. I mean, I have got a lot of time left. If I was 40, I mean, you were there, you have heard me say it, I'd start to panic a little bit. I have my health which is half the battle, and I enjoy what I do. I mean, it is a great life. Coming off that green today, and there is the crowd that is unbelievable, "can you sign this, can you sign this, can you sign this." You think there was one day that nobody knew who you were and you came out here; you can walk into a restaurant and now you walk in and everybody gives you the look like "is that her?" Or "is that not her?" But that is rewarding. That makes you feel good to know that you have proven yourself, and you know, some people ask me sometimes well, are you sorry that people know you because of the way you look and not your golf game. And the way I think that is a lot of women out there that aren't golfers that are golfers now because they have seen you, or there are men that didn't play golf that are now interested in the LPGA, you know, anyway you can get them out here. I didn't do this to attract attention, believe me. First of all, my skin is going to look great when I am 20 more years older, and you know, I am fortunate enough that I have a clothing company that the clothes look great. So you know, it is -- you just have to enjoy it. You have to enjoy every day, and try not to have negative things pull me down. A lot of times you will hear people outside the ropes tell you things, oh, if she could only putt; if she could only do this. We are obviously good enough to get us here. You know, maybe it was a bad week we had. We all have bad business days. Well, that is the same thing with us. This is our job. We have to enjoy it.

MICHELLE McGANN: I don't remember.

MICHELLE McGANN: I take insulin shots twice a day. I was on an experimental drug for five years didn't take it; now I am on two shots, twice a day, which, you know, sometimes, you know, with the altitude here and -- I mean, it is a pretty good golf course to walk, so I just have to watch it a little bit that I don't take too much, burning up the insulin a lot quicker.

MICHELLE McGANN: Well, I think it is -- it kinds of evens out. I guess if we were anywhere else, we would, you know, still be 20, 30 yards ahead of the average hitter. I don't know, some of the fairways seemed a little bit softer. I don't know whether they watered them down a little bit, but, you know, the main point is you got to hit the second shot. You get it in the fairway, that is great, but then the next one is pretty challenging, and then to make the putt, you know, is even more, so, like I said, it is going to be a little bit of luck this week getting the right kicks on the greens and couple of times I hit shots today that hit it all the way in the back; they spun all the way back down to the pin. How did I know that? I mean, you can't even see where the pin is. You are going to have to have a little bit of luck, and have a little bit of feel on the greens.

MICHELLE McGANN: Well, the thing is, it is four days, and everybody likes to get a good start. I know when I won in Youngstown a couple of weeks ago, I shot 7 under the first day and my tee time was 2 something. So you know, I guess you have to look at it both ways. Everybody is going to have a morning and everybody is going to have an afternoon. And just play the best you can, and you know, somebody could shoot 6 under tomorrow and that could end up winning on Sunday. That is how, you know, crazy this course is or any course for that matter, and like the wind, we played 8 o'clock this morning and I just hit a few balls; it is blowing, you know, a club or two, at least. So we are all going to have to go through it.

MICHELLE McGANN: Hopefully. I am striking the ball well and it is fun. It is fun to hit your driver. It is fun to hear the reactions of the people when you hit it and it just goes "woosh". It goes out there it seems like it is going forever. It is going to be a little bit of luck; little bit of putting and you know, I have practiced a little bit on that. The greens are rolling really nice, so who knows, we might be in here on Sunday, I hope...

MICHELLE McGANN: I don't know. You know, it was fun to go out today to see what kind of shots -- obviously, we didn't have pin placements, so we are guessing pretty good, but who knows, The Open, it could be anything. It could be even par; maybe a couple under. I am not sure what won it last year, but was it somewhere -- couple under? Any time you play a major championship you are not going to expect scores that are 10, 15 under,, so low, I will say.

MICHELLE McGANN: I don't know, tell you the truth. I average at home 250, 260, so maybe another 20, 30 yards. I didn't really pay too much attention to that. We just kind of found sprinklers and went from there.

MICHELLE McGANN: Well, you know, like you said, any U.S. Open is awesome to be the winner of. You know, that is great that it is the 50th year, but I go -- you can't really think about that while you are out on the golf course. You know, it is probably something that whoever wins, it will stick in their mind for a long time and always be with them being the 50th anniversary, but I think anybody would be happy to win any year U.S. Open. Okay, anybody else?

MICHELLE McGANN: That is right. That is right. You can use that one.