NEW ALBANY GOLF CLASSIC

September 29, 2000

Wendy Ward

WENDY WARD: Hit a big drive to start out with. That hole usually plays pretty long, and I only had 117 to the pin, hitting a pitching wedge to about 18 feet. Made the putt. Then No. 11, the par 3, we had 157 to the hole, 7-iron, another 18-footer. I figure that had was going to be my range for the day. And then 13, par 5. Just good drive and a good solid second shot. That's kind of -- that's one of the crucial hole, I feel like. I had a 62-yard L-wedge to the hole to about 15 feet. Made that. Then I hit a shot on the par 3, 14. Hit it just left of the hole, but 15 feet, and it was a slick downhill putt. Lipped out the putt and had about a one-and-a-half footer coming back, close to a 2-footer maybe. Just didn't hit it -- I didn't have good concentration there. So I 3-putted for bogey. Came back on 15. 9-iron from 129; 30-footer. And then 18, great approach shot. 8-iron. Slightly into the wind. 135 yards to about three feet. Then we went to No. 1 and I hit my poorest drive of the day, left into those bunkers, which is not the place to be. And then hit it out to the front of the green and just didn't get up-and-down. Missed a 10-footer there. Made a great 2-putt on No. 2 for par. No. 3, par 5, a great drive, great second shot. Just ended up in the green-side bunker and got up-and-down for birdie there. Just a tap-in putt there. And then another 3-putt on No. 4 for bogey. Just didn't hit a good first putt. We putted through a lot of shadows today. It seemed like the sun was always in the wrong spot for me. A lot of my short putts -- actually all of the short putts I missed, I was putting through my shadow. Felt like bogey on 6, the par 5. Hit driver, 4-iron. 4-iron I think was 191 to the hole. We were trying to play just past the front back to the back fringe and didn't get up-and-down. Missed a 4-footer there. Another one through the shadows. Then bogeyed 9. Hit a bad tee shot -- I was in between 3-wood and driver off the tee. Went with a 3-wood and then didn't swing aggressively. So I hit it out right into the hazard and just had to pitch back to the fairway. And then hit a 9-iron to about 15 feet, but didn't make it.

WENDY WARD: It was about three, 3 1/2 feet.

WENDY WARD: Oh, yeah, that was about 30 feet. I actually thought that putt was downhill, and apparently it wasn't, because it didn't get to the hole.

WENDY WARD: I'm hitting the ball more consistently. I like that. I only missed three fairways and two greens today. So just got to get a few more putts to drop. With 36 holes left, I think there's a good possibility of that.

WENDY WARD: Well, I would have loved to have slept being 7-under or even 8-under; I was there at one point today. Yeah, you don't want to lose sight of Annika, let's put it that way, when she shot 19-under last year. But there's still a lot of good opportunity out there, and a lot of good names on the leaderboard. It's good to see -- I played with Donna the last two days, and it's good to see her playing well, too. She's been working hard.

WENDY WARD: No. I think it's just where the sun was coming -- it was my shadow. No. 9, I putted through the trees, shadow of the trees. That's usually not a big deal. Especially in the afternoon when the greens kind of get a little crunchy.

WENDY WARD: That's okay. I'll take the crunchy greens with the late tee time. That's okay.

WENDY WARD: Well, I tell you this: I would be nervous if I had never shot 23-under before, and I don't say that cocky, but if you've never done it, you know, you would think that's an uphill battle to chase Annika, knowing that she's shot 19-under or what -- now she'd been 25-under through six rounds. But Annika is a great competitor. We played a lot in college together against each other. You've still got to play the golf course. It goes back to that cliche, but it's very true. Got to make putts; give yourself a lot of opportunities.

WENDY WARD: Well, I mentioned the 23-under because it reminds me a lot of the course I won on in Charlotte. The fairways are generous, which that favors me. I've never been a super accurate driver of the ball, but I can get it in play when I need to and get it back in play when I need to. But this course is a little bit more forgiving than, say, last week in Portland. And I have a good feel on the greens. I didn't quite convert like I would have liked to today, but overall, I have a good feeling out here. Very comfortable.

WENDY WARD: I've never really understood that, because I work really, really hard on my driving and I tend to miss a lot of fairways by three yards, four yards, those sort of things. But I was telling somebody yesterday -- I was telling Jerry, actually, with the Golf Channel, that a lot of times, I don't intend to miss a fairway, but if I'm trying to create an angle, I'm not going to, you know, give up the angle for the statistic, if I've got a better chance at getting at a pin. But it's something that I continue to improve on and something that I'll continue to work on, because I would like to see that ball in the short grass more often.

WENDY WARD: Oh, yeah. Definitely. Very generous fairways.

WENDY WARD: You know, that was the only drive out of 14 drives today that I didn't swing aggressively at; and whether it was maybe the 18th hole, being out there for five hours, that might have been a little bit of it. I swung, you know, a lot of aggressive swings. The par 5, No. 6, I took 4-iron right at that hole and it was tucked left. So I'm not afraid to go at the pin if I need to, and I'll probably have to go at it quite often.

WENDY WARD: There was a little more roll today. I didn't have any drives backed up like I did yesterday. So, slowly but surely, it is drying out, and there was a little bit of wind this afternoon which continues to help that.

WENDY WARD: I don't think so. I don't think it really makes a big difference. Hopefully it will just put me a little bit closer to the green.