|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
SWINGING SKIRTS LPGA CLASSIC PRESENTED BY CTBCApril 21, 2015Paula CreamerSAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA MODERATOR: I would like to welcome Paula Creamer into the media center. Back home for this event. Feel pretty good to be back here? PAULA CREAMER: Yeah, it does. It's always great when you're able to come back home and play in front of your home crowd. I feel like I'm getting actually used to it just with having family and stuff. I think being able to go to Carlsbad for Kia is kind of a good warmup to get here to see all the family. But to be in the Bay Area, there is just nothing better than that. MODERATOR: I believe you got to play CordeValle yesterday. How was that? PAULA CREAMER: Yes, it was fun to be out there, and looking forward for the U.S. Open to be there next year. Q. How many times did you play this course as a kid? Was this a track you played a lot? PAULA CREAMER: Not too much. I didn't play it quite as much as some of the older girls that grew up in the same junior golf organization that I did. But did play a couple times. Played more of the golf courses that are around here. MODERATOR: Questions. Q. Talk a little bit about your game, how feel you're playing right now. PAULA CREAMER: My game actually is better than what my scores are showing.  I've made some serious changes in last the couple of months just in what's important to me. I was very discouraged after my Asia swing. I have changed a lot about how I practice, what I practice, what I'm doing, and kind of just reevaluated all my goals and my priorities with things. I had a couple things that happened. Basically I couldn't see when I was Asia. I thought I had vertigo but I didn't. My contacts, my prescription was way off. It was way too strong. So one thing kept leading into another. But I feel great. My coach, David, and I are very simple right now with my swing thoughts. My putting feels excellent. It's just getting four good days. My ball striking has been the thing that's been letting me down. I feel like it's much better now. It's coming back. Q. I just looked at the headline where it says Paula Creamer's call for Women's Masters. Talk about that a little bit. Did you make that statement? PAULA CREAMER: I did. Yes, I did make that statement. I feel like there is no reason why we shouldn't be able to. It's 2015. I think Augusta and the Masters and everybody with that event, they want to grow the game so badly. That's what it is, about growing the game and giving people opportunities. The Chip and Putt, all of that for the kids to be able to come out there. There is no reason we can't do that for women's golf as well. We're just as much a part of growing the game. I've been there, played there, stayed in Butler's Cabin. I had an awesome time. I think the patrons and everybody would love to have two weeks there, two tournaments. Why wouldn't you? Hopefully we will see something change and happen. Q. To follow up on that, Billy Payne was asked about that at Augusta and he kind of shut the door on it. PAULA CREAMER: Yeah, did. He did. But there is no reason why you can't revisit things and you can't look at it. You know, I think somebody's got to speak up and say something. I've never been afraid to do that, so there is no reason why I can't voice my opinion on it. The same reason why he said what he said about it, too. So like I said, it's an idea. I don't think that people should be ashamed to talk about it. I would like to know truthfully why we wouldn't be able to have a tournament there. Women's golf definitely deserves something like that. I think it would be a great place to host that. Like I said, I've played it. There is no reason why we can't play the same golf course. Q. (No microphone.) PAULA CREAMER: When they've only got one tournament a year there I think the scheduling issue is kind of strange to me. There are a lot of weeks. I understand that a lot goes into it, that one week and planning. The golf course is shut down. But I think it can handle two weeks at a time, whether it's a week apart or back to back. Last year proved that you can have two major tournaments back to back and see the same great golf. Q. I just want to get your thoughts on Sei Young Kim's playoff miracle considering you kind of had your own not that long ago. PAULA CREAMER: That was pretty awesome. I'm surprised. It's kind of a shame it's not talked about more. A chip in for par and then a hole‑out for eagle, goodness, that should be all over the place. But she's such a good player. I've watched her play a couple times before, even this year when she wasn't out on our tour. She has so much game. I truthfully wouldn't expect anything else to come from her. Q. Last year I recall talking to you just about‑‑ you just touched on the thing, you're from Pleasanton. I'm sure that your dad and family gets a lot of, Wow, you're coming to town? We want to come see you. Can we get tickets. Does that kind of craziness go on? PAULA CREAMER: Yes. I feel very bad for all the ticket people this week. I've got will call lists out all over. But it's great. It's a great thing. I think everybody is getting used to it now. This is my 11th year out on tour. If we don't know how to do the tickets properly now there is something wrong with us. Our family knows to let us know about a month in advance so we can kind of figure it all out. It's neat because they take vacation time to come out and watch. Especially on the weekends I get a really big following. We love our sports here. We love being able to support people in the Bay Area. I've always felt that love no matter what. It's always exciting to come back home. Q. Speaking of feeling the love, Swinging Skirts, second annual; first year by most accounts it was a success. Four‑year gap before that before LPGA had been here. Do you see it as vital to having this tournament here and as something that now we've planted or flag let's keep this thing going? PAULA CREAMER: No, this is an awesome venue. This golf course is just so good. You know, I mean, it plays hard. You've got to be patient and hit good golf shots. To be able to come back here, obviously I'm a huge supporter of it. There are so many good golf courses in the area. I think Lake Merced is great choice for us. Hopefully we can get more events here. But Swinging Skirts have done a phenomenal job of bringing us back here. I think that it'll do very well. It did last year. Look at our list this year of the girls that are playing. You want to come here and play this golf course and be challenged. It's a great event. We've got nails and makeup in the locker room and just different things that you want to do. There is a list and you can go to the baseball game today. There are just so many things they give us the opportunity to do, where on the other events we don't quite get that. I think that shows with our list of players who are playing. Q. Along those lines, just how important to you, again, as a Bay Area person, is it to have the Bay Area be a regular stop on the LPGA Tour? PAULA CREAMER: I mean, everybody wants to be able to go home to play a tournament. I'm very lucky that I've had that opportunity several times when it was at Black Hawk. For me, I feel ‑‑ I'm very by biased obviously because I feel like these golf courses, there is nothing better. They are tree lined and the views and the weather and the challenge of it all. So for me, it was very hard when we didn't have any tournaments here. It's kind of like I live in Florida right now, but we have one event there. These are golf mecca areas. This is where we want to play. To have this back on and just the way the hospitality is, I think it makes it even better. It's a major feel. There are grandstands everywhere. Every tee box has something neat going on. It's inviting and I think a lot of people enjoy watching it here as well. Q. (No microphone.) PAULA CREAMER: Practice, like I said, my priorities of things, of what I want to do ‑‑ like I said, this is my 11th year out here. I went through some highs and lows the last couple of years, by far the worst that I was playing was last year. I've been very lucky that I've never really experienced anything like that. It was just kind of a wake‑up call after Asia. Granted, I had some things going on. I changed all my equipment in my bag to what I have now after Asia. You know, I just kind of had to start over. It was hard when you have to look at yourself and realize that I need to work a little harder and do these things. Getting married is a huge part of anybody's life, and it's very hard for me to listen to someone say, You should enjoy that process and enjoy marrying your soulmate, your best friend. But it was hard to try to do both. Of course I'm an Alpha female who thinks she can do everything. I couldn't. I had to realize that. Q. As you travel all over the world playing competitive golf week to week, could you maybe walk us through how you size up a golf course when you first arrive? PAULA CREAMER: Well, this golf course is just about playing. You know, practice facilities are good. I don't really like left‑to‑right ranges, so for me it's more about warming up and doing my drills. I would rather practice out on the golf course. My caddie comes out and walks the course and sets up things. But for me, I like to play. So today I'm actually‑‑ I was on like the fourth hole. Well, I started on the back nine, so my 12th or 13th hole. But I'll play 18 holes; I'll play 18 holes tomorrow in the Pro‑Am just trying to pick the shots that you want. The wind is always pretty much the same here. Don't have to worry about that. This golf course you have to be very patient. Some of the fairways are pretty soft, but the greens are firm. You got to work on different shots coming into the greens. The rough isn't horrible this year. Not too bad. Around the greens it's just very dense so the ball kind of sits up. There is just so much grass underneath, so short game is important. But I love golf courses where I could just sit here and list 25 different things that you have to be great at. A lot of golf courses you can hit it anywhere off the tee, anywhere on the green, and it doesn't take a lot of skill. This place takes a lot of thinking and planning and putting yourself in the right spots. Q. How old were you and where did you first break par for 18 holes? Here in the Bay Area you think? PAULA CREAMER: My dad would probably know that better than I would. No, it was here in the Bay Area. I would say around 11 or 12 was when I did, when I broke par. More near Pleasanton, not really in this kind of area. I started to play 18 holes a lot more when I was in middle school with the boys and stuff. I think Castlewood where I lived was the first place I ever broke par. Q. You were mentioning the tree‑lined course. Outside the U.S., what's the favorite course for you? PAULA CREAMER: St. Andrews. How do you not love the home of golf? I love the weather. You go over there, and when it's sunny you're kind of upset because you want to play in the rain and the wind and the hard stuff. It's the only place you ever want that, just because of the atmosphere and the vibe that you get when you step out onto the first tee. But this golf course, this is one heck of a hard golf course. I love challenges. Q. Favorite vacation destination for you and your husband? PAULA CREAMER: Well, our honeymoon, we went to Bora Bora and New Zealand. I think New Zealand is by far one of the best places I've ever been. Q. The last answer you gave, was that because of the lore of St. Andrews or did it have to do ‑‑ because there are no trees out there? PAULA CREAMER: No. Q. So different play. PAULA CREAMER: Yeah. No, it's just because of the fact you've got fairways 200 yards wide, but then there are all these bunkers everywhere. It's hard. It's a really difficult setup off the tees, and the wind makes it such a challenge. Oakmont didn't have trees either and I liked that. I like things where you have to move the ball around and kind of dodge bullets left and right type of a feel. Whether it's a tree or high fescue, I like that. I like where there are narrow openings and things. Q. What's been one of the fondest memories you have here? PAULA CREAMER: Here? Probably the first tee. When they announce from Pleasanton, California, you just get this awesome ‑‑ just the gallery and the clap there, it's pretty cool. It's a little different here when you hear‑‑ I'm always announced Pleasanton, California on every tee at all the events, but here it's just a little bit sweeter and gets people excited as well. Walking down the 18th green you always hear a lot of people saying, Go Paula. Were from Pleasanton, we're from Danville, or we're from here. Just that pride we have from this community is so nice. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|