MCDONALD'S LPGA CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY AIG

June 22, 2001

Karrie Webb

KARRIE WEBB: I started on 10. I missed the fairway right and chipped out and hit a wedge onto the green and 2-putted from about 50 feet, I guess. 11, I hit a sand wedge to about five feet. 15, missed the fairway right. Was just short of the green and 3-putted from the fringe. I hit an 8-iron. The second putt was about six feet. 16, I hit a sand wedge to six or seven feet and made that. 18, I hit a 7-iron to about five feet. 1, I hit a wedge to about 18 feet. 3, I hit an 8-iron to about five feet. 4, I hit a 9-iron to a couple inches. 5, I hit a 7-iron to two feet. 7, I hit 53-degree wedge to about two feet, three feet. 9, I was just short of the green in two with a 3-wood and chipped it to about five or six feet and made that.

KARRIE WEBB: 2 was about seven feet and 6 was about five feet.

KARRIE WEBB: Mm-hmm.

KARRIE WEBB: Yeah. Not too many long ones.

KARRIE WEBB: Not really. I think that, you know, all of the things that I worked on leading up to the Open all peaked at the right time. It's sort of just the continuation, I guess. Last week in Evian, I hit the ball really well and just really didn't manage to make too many putts on those greens. But I knew if I got my putter going this week, I was still swinging it just as good as I was at the Open.

KARRIE WEBB: Yeah a couple times I heard that. One or two times.

KARRIE WEBB: I think anyone that makes that comment doesn't have any idea about golf.

KARRIE WEBB: No. It's just sort of a little irritating and it's a little funny, because you know the people that were making those comments are supposed to be writing about golf, so you're supposed to have a little comment about it. I think the people that make that comment don't obviously -- and you know, fair play to them, most writers that write about golf have never been in my situation. You can see how some people might call that a slump.

KARRIE WEBB: No, I played quite a bit at the beginning of the year. I just think the difference is that I am swinging -- the things that I did work on throughout the beginning of the year have all pieced themselves together. I didn't really feel like I was hitting the ball that bad, just not exactly the way I wanted to. You know, I just -- a little bit of momentum. Like today, I made a seven-footer on 2 for a par after I had just birdied 18 and 1. The start of the year, I would miss that putt, and just a different momentum change. I make that putt and then I birdie the next three holes. If I miss that putt, I'm not saying I would not birdie the next three holes, but it's just a momentum change.

KARRIE WEBB: Well, I've never been at 11-under after two rounds.

KARRIE WEBB: I've never really felt bad about it. I've just -- I don't know. I've never had any answers to why I've never played that well here. I've played okay. I've never played really badly here. I've just never had a lot of momentum here, I guess. The last couple days, I think I've only made three bogeys in the last couple days. And when I have faced some fairly testy par putts, I've made most of people, bar 3.

KARRIE WEBB: I think that the greens are in really good shape, the best that I've ever seen them. You know, when they are in that good of shape, it is easy to get -- you know, if you are putting well, you've just got to get them going on the right line and they are going to go in. I think that since we have moved the tournament to June -- I mean, I was shocked that 3-under won last year. But, you know, would I not have seen that tournament being more than 6-under or 7-under winning. I don't really think the course is set up much differently to last year as far as toughness. I think the rough is just as high as I have ever seen it. The only thing is that moving it from May to June, the course is a lot drier. You know, it is playing a little bit shorter than, obviously, it did in May because it was always underwater when we were here in May. I don't know if that has anything to do with it, because two out of the three -- well this tournament isn't over, but the first year we played in June, 16-under won. Looking at the course, there's not many places where you can push the tees back. We're nearly on the back of every tee. I am surprised to see the scores as low as they are, because you still have to be on the fairways, and the greens are certainly getting pretty firm. So you still have to be hitting good shots in there, because they are not -- they are not -- you know, you have to think about where you want to land them and execute those shots. Because otherwise, you're going to have not very good birdie chances.

KARRIE WEBB: I did, for the most part drive the ball pretty well today. The 53-degree wedge I hit into 7, normally on that hole -- the wind was blowing downwind. Normally on that hole you are hitting a 7- or an 8-iron in there. Just played -- I was obviously a little pumped up, and with it being downwind, you know, I've never done that before. Obviously to answer your question, it does help to have short irons into the holes.

KARRIE WEBB: Well, it's the lowest -- I have shot 29 before, but obviously not at a major championship. So it probably ranks up there as one of the best.

KARRIE WEBB: A tournament or a major?

KARRIE WEBB: I can't really remember. Definitely for a major. It's all variable. I was 5-under after 36 at the Open and that, to me, that was an extremely good start, as well. It's all the way you judge things. I think it's definitely -- I wouldn't know. I think I've been lower than that for two rounds before. I'm not quite sure.

KARRIE WEBB: In a major, it definitely ranks up there as a great 36 holes.

KARRIE WEBB: About two and a half years ago, I made a couple of pretty big changes and sort of maintained that through the last two years, 1999 and 2000. At the end of last year, I crept into some bad habits and tried to get out of those, and also, even improve from where I was swinging it. And I think that my swing is in good of shape as it ever has been, as far as the positions in the golf swing that I want to see.

KARRIE WEBB: I know definitely once. I'm not sure if it is anymore than that.

KARRIE WEBB: It was in my rookie year at the Sprint Titleholders. But, I don't know since then. I may have, but I can't quite remember.

KARRIE WEBB: No, I haven't.

KARRIE WEBB: Well, it's just the only way it's ever been for me. So, I don't know if it would be any easier if my coach was out here all the time. You know, I know that at certain stages, there are certain things, even these changes that I've been making, if I would have had him out for three or four weeks in a row, that they would have probably come out a little bit quicker than what they did than when I was doing it all by myself, talking to him on the phone and sending swings over the, Internet because you are only sending one or two swings, not every swing. But it's the only way I've known. I think the advantage of all of that is I've only ever had win coach. My understanding of my swing is exactly the same as his.

KARRIE WEBB: Just having one coach is, I think. I've only had the same few swing thoughts for my whole life rather than -- you know, we might not necessarily have the most technical terms for it, but we both know, as far as what they mean. I can talk to someone, another player on what I'm working on and they might not understand what I'm working on just because of the way I explain it and the way he explains it. I think that if I was to change coaches now, I would have to learn a whole new way of thinking.

KARRIE WEBB: It does, because I have know what's gone on in my swing as well. I don't rely solely on, you know, the fact that my coach might be there every second week, or I can call him up and he would be there. When I'm out on the course -- some days it doesn't work. I can think of -- try and think of everything that I've ever worked on and it's just not going to happen. But for the most part, I always -- I always can feel what's wrong, and whether or not I can fix it, you know, that day or in a week's time, that just takes a little bit of practice and putting it on video and stuff like that.

KARRIE WEBB: Not really, no. I only know when I'm explaining it to someone else what I'm working on that I can look at them and they know -- I know they have no idea -- I can tell that they have no idea what I'm talking about.

KARRIE WEBB: No, it was still quite a bit. Kelvin's father passed away while I was down there. Obviously, it probably wasn't as much as normal, but under the circumstances -- really, I just -- what happened was I just worked harder at the Australian Masters the next week when he was there, rather than going -- rather than not going over to the range and working really hard after I played. I did that this year.