LINCOLN FINANCIAL GROUP BATTLE AT BIGHORN

July 30, 2001

David Duval

Annika Sorenstam

Karrie Webb

Tiger Woods

DAVID DUVAL: Hot and dusty; and we lost; and that combination of those three things is not good. But we had a nice time. It was fun. You know, it was just a great day. We kind of caught a nice rhythm in the middle there and was doing really well and turned it around, and then just the beauty of match play showed itself on the last few holes, and all of the sudden it flipped again and we lost. The excitement of the night.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: It was a thrill to come here today and play with the best players in the world. I had a lot of fun from start to finish. Maybe I didn't play as well as I would have liked, but that's the way it goes sometimes. I had a good partner that picked me up when I needed to. Hit a lot of different shots, left-handed and all kind of shots (Tiger raises hand.)

DAVID DUVAL: Were you in here?

DAVID DUVAL: It was blowing, I don't know how hard, 30.

DAVID DUVAL: It was tough. There was a lot of crosswinds and made for some very difficult golf.

TIGER WOODS: As David said, there were crosswinds up there, and especially at the attitudes off these tees, the fairways are elevated and the fairways are down at the bottom, so it takes a long time for the ball to get down to the fairway and spends a lot more time in the air. If you watched our tee shots from the tee, you would notice that the balls would go out there for a while without being affected and all of the sudden get slammed by the wind, and it would just drift for a long period of time just because of the elevation.

TIGER WOODS: Well, Anni put me in some spots today. Left-handed shot, and I gave it right back to her and made her hit a left-handed shot the next hole. But you could tell all the players here that I played with today are all great players. It was just tough conditions out there. When you play in this type of format under tough conditions, it's really tough to get your rhythm, and I think all of us were struggling with trying to find the rhythm, and also grind it out and not put the ball in a bad spot and keep yourself in the ballgame. Overall, it was just a really tough day.

KARRIE WEBB: Well, I really enjoyed it. I was looking forward to just playing this foursome. I played with three of the best players in the world, and that match-up doesn't happen too often, so I really enjoyed it. I didn't play very well at all, and I agree with Tiger. I played not too bad the first few holes, and then hit a couple of really poor shots and then never found my rhythm from there. Just in the end, I didn't know where it was going, so it was just one of those days that I was glad that I had a partner to get me out of trouble.

TIGER WOODS: Yeah, I would. It would be -- we all had a great time today. It's just unfortunate for all of us, it was a tough day. Under these conditions, try to find your rhythm and then once you get going bad, in these conditions and this format, it's really hard to try and get it back. I thoroughly enjoyed playing with Annika, and David and Karrie. I think we all enjoyed competing against one another and pairing up against each other. Would I like to do it again? Yes, I would like to do it again. Hopefully, we can play a little bit better next time.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Yeah, you're right. It was a great day for women's golf, and for Karrie and me to have a chance to play with these guys. It would have been maybe a little better if we would hit some more fairways and stuff like that, but like Tiger and David were saying, it was very difficult out there. And this format, you only hit a few shots. It's tough to find a rhythm, and that made it very difficult. The greens were great. They were much quicker than what I'm used to and much firmer, too. But the opportunity was wonderful and hopefully we can get it again and conditions will be easier and we can display some better golf. But we did what we could.

KARRIE WEBB: I think that the fact that the respect was given to us to play with these two guys in prime time TV, you know, showed that there's respect there for the LPGA and that we can play the game. Like Annika said, we would liked to have been able to show the world that a little bit more tonight, but just the fact that we were invited and it's the first of hopefully many invitations that players from the LPGA get, to participate in prime time TV with some of the best guys in the world.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Oh, I've love to. I love playing with the guys. You know, I played with the JCPenney. I played the Wendy's. I love playing with the guys and this is really fun when you've got a guy as a partner and to see how they play and maybe learn a little about from their game and maybe share some experience. Therefore; it was a great time and I would like to see it more times. In this format, it was great. I think the setup was perfect and you didn't have to worry about who was hitting the furthest or not. It was just a matter of playing good golf.

KARRIE WEBB: Well, I think the hole that you're talking about is the ninth hole, and you can't really hit it much better than that anyway because it bottlenecks in there. So where Tiger and David hit it was just in the fat part of the fairway. It's just the way the hole sets up.

DAVID DUVAL: The conditions, again, it was that different and would be expected. I forget the hole, but maybe back around 14, I had 130 yards and hit 8-iron short out of the bunker. That's how hard the wind was blowing. I think that kind of magnified, if you want to call it, the problem that you're talking about. When you are playing 430-yard holes into 30-mile-an-hour headwind it makes the hole real long.

TIGER WOODS: I hit a couple shots today from -- I had two shots from 122, 123 yards and I hit 8-iron. So it was blowing out there.

DAVID DUVAL: That's a 30 -, 35-yard wind. That's pretty strong. That's what made it seem so difficult.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Yeah, Tiger hit a great shot in. It was a little difficult to read the greens with this light, so I needed some help. We were discussing back and forth, but in the end, we decided it was a little more, and I'm glad I did. Kind of made up for the putt on 17 where I had another chance to make it. I hit one of those good putts and it was in all the way.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I forgot about that one. (Laughter.) Yeah, we discussed the line there, too.

TIGER WOODS: I had a great uphill little pitch. It was -- I took dead aim at the pitch. (Smiles).

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I was just trying to lag it and I hit it pure.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I had 20 feet, but about 30 feet of break.

TIGER WOODS: She hit it sideways.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I almost putted up, trying to get the break.

TIGER WOODS: To be honest with you, I grew up playing under the lights, to be honest with you. I grew up in Heartwell Park in Long Beach and it's a par-3 golf course. It's lit and we could play it until midnight. I used to play until about this time before I would go home. We never had it this lit, though. It was really hard to see it. Plus, back then, I guess the fashion at the time was the orange ball, and it was really hard to see. But, you know, I enjoy playing. It's just really different, because you have four different shadows on the ball and it's really hard to see your lines and get a feel for what the break is. The tee shots are all right. The second shots are all right. Just seeing what the ball is going to do on the ground.

KARRIE WEBB: Exactly.

KARRIE WEBB: I figure I hit enough bad shots today so I don't have any left for the rest of the week, so I should be all right. (Laughter.)

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I think, on the contrary, this is great. I didn't hit the shots maybe that I wanted, but just to be here and see these guys play, it's such an opportunity. I mean, I didn't want it to end. I was on 18 and I wanted to play some more.

TIGER WOODS: We did. (Laughter.)

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Yeah, but we're going to get in late to the British Open, but to have a tournament like this, and it's such a great opportunity and I didn't want to miss it. I don't see it as a sacrifice; I see it as a great opportunity.

TIGER WOODS: I watch a lot of golf. That's just me. I enjoy watching Annika play, Karrie play, as well, because obviously they have a wonderful rivalry going on. The way they play and the way they performed over the past four or five years has been pretty remarkable, actually. I watch Annika play a lot, just because of the fact that we have the same agent. We tend to needle each other through Mark, and it has been a lot of fun.

DAVID DUVAL: I don't know if I would watch it any more because I watch it anyway. I've said it many times: I'm a big fan of the game. I watch it when I'm at home, whatever is on. I don't really watch the celebrity tournaments, though. (Laughter.) I stick to the pros.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Yeah, I was very impressed with their chipping, their distance wedges, from 50 yards and in. The shot that Tiger hit, in putting off the green, that was a difficult shot and he just hit it to about four feet. The way that David hit some of his chip shots on the back nine, I mean, two gimmees, from being off the green. It's just something I need to work on, and it's just nice to see how to do it and kind of learn a little bit. I mean, he sure hit it a long ways. I know I can't improve that overnight. It's just fun to see how they approach the game.

DAVID DUVAL: You know, unfortunately, that's not my decision. I guess, you know, I could play and then you could write what you want about it, whether I'm a rival or not. It's not up to me; it's up to you, to decide that. I was over and done with the last two years, and then Phil was the true rival. And then after he didn't do it, it was Sergio after he won a tournament finally over here at Colonial. You know, it's just flavor of the month. Depends how I play. Next, at the PGA I'll be the rival. If I don't play great and Tiger wins, then I'm done again. I just go with it now.

DAVID DUVAL: Like I said, it's up to you.

TIGER WOODS: You know, I've said this before. I don't think they are going to be -- the way our game is now, there are going to be two guys that stand out. I think there's going to be just a handful of guys. You see the same guys over and over and over again winning tournaments around the world. You have, obviously, David, Phil, myself. Sergio is starting to play well. I mean, Darren Clarke, Lee Westwood, and we are all about the same age, about five or six years apart. It's just really hard to say that we are all -- just two guys are going to go ahead and take it to each other for a long period of time. I think the game is situated right now where there is going to be the same set of guys bucking heads. May not be two of the same guys, but maybe just a group of them going at it for the next ten or 15 years.

DAVID DUVAL: I would have, but then, I like watching it. I'm a fan of the game. You know, I think that a thing that would be interesting to watch is the different approaches that Tiger and I might take to the game, as opposed to Annika and Karrie. You know, I think we tend to kind of try to overpower a golf course, just kind of knock it over. I think they are better at moving it around the golf course, and I think that's one of the big differences.