U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 6, 1999

Sherri Turner

SHERRI TURNER: When I WENT to the first tee, obviously, today, I was somewhat nervous. I had tried really hard not to think about the last round: U.S. Women's Open, you're in contention to win. And so I went to the tee, and I'm like: Okay, just keep doing what we've been doing. My good friend and caddie kept saying: It's going to be all right. First few holes was a struggle, kind of hitting here and there, and managed to make par first couple of holes. And finally on the 3rd hole, I hit a solid shot on the middle of the club face. I thought: I'm going to be all right. And then I doubled four out of nowhere. That was tough for me. Instead of getting down and getting impatient, I was told I needed to remain as patient as I could. And I just kept hanging and hanging and hanging, and I had no idea how anyone else was playing other than my playing partner, Lorie. And I finally looked at the board somewhere around 9, 10, or 11 -- I can't remember exactly where it was. And saw that a lot of people were struggling. And I figured, well, it's the final round of the Women's Open. A little different than the rest of the week has been. I hit a great shot on 11. I would not say it turned my round around, but it was kind of interesting, because I bogeyed the next two holes after I made my eagle on 11. I used a 7-wood. It was 216 yards, and that hole played longer today than it had all week. I didn't really hit a great drive there, but I had a good angle to come in. Obviously, it was where I needed to be. When I hit my shot into the wind, I was saying, "Get down, get down," because I hit it so pure. And it hit, and all at once we heard the pin rattle, and people stood and cheered. It was just hanging on the lip before it had gone in, and I was just trying to stay really calm through all this. But starting at 14, I got back on track. Hitting solid shots; hitting good putts. And finally paid off 2-putting 15 for birdie and birdie at 17. And I was so proud of myself for finishing with par on the last hole, because it had been such a long time since I had been where I am right now, and I just wanted to make one final good swing. And when the ball hit the green, I was ecstatic.

SHERRI TURNER: Juli played awesome this week. Juli has been playing well all year. I think all of us knew that we were in contention going into today's round, we were going to have to shoot 64 to have a chance to beat Juli. She was playing so solid, and she wanted this tournament so much. There was no way Juli was going to fall today, and we all knew that. But it was a huge victory for me. Obviously, I didn't win today; but in my mind, I got over a hump today. And this is huge for me.

SHERRI TURNER: I think it's combination of two. I'm not going to say that she's wrong, because she's right. The greens firmed up today. I hit a lot of shots that I felt should have stopped quicker than they did, and a couple shots in particular that I felt were going to spin, and they had no spin on them. When you were hitting into the greens, particularly like the hundred-yards shots, the balls weren't spinning at all. The balls were releasing a lot more. I noticed on No. 8 today, I think I had 178 to the hole. And I hit a 7-iron, and it went over the green. And I was like, whoa, my 7-iron is 150 yards. So she was right in that respect, because the course did play tougher today because the greens were firmer. They were a little quicker in spots. Although, I kept thinking they were going to be quicker than they were, and I had a difficult time getting my putts to the hole. But I think it was a combination of the two.

SHERRI TURNER: '88 and '89 were great years for me. I won three tournaments and had a chance to win some, because I lost two or three in playoffs. I had really been working hard to get there, and finally was there; and all at once, I didn't feel like I was doing anything differently, but my game kind of fell apart. But the last ten years, it has been a real struggle for me. I've had periods of time where I've played really good, and just out of nowhere, I would hit a good shot; shoot a good round. But it's been really tough. And like I said, there have been times where I've felt like giving up and quitting. But I've never been a quitter in anything I've wanted to do. And golf has always been what I wanted to do, and I knew I had the determination, and certainly the desire was still there to come back and play well. And I just decided this year that I was going to do two things differently: I was going to enjoy myself, regardless of how I played, if that is possible. And the other thing that I have done this year that's made a huge difference is my putting has improved a lot. I have worked more -- more this year than ever on my putting, and it's always been what's held me back. But this year, this week, my putting was without a doubt the best it's ever been. I don't normally look at my stats after a round, but last night I was looking at my sheets and I noticed the first three days I averaged 27 putts. I don't know what I had today -- I was going to say especially with the eagle, I would guess that it would have had to have been pretty close to the same today. So I'll say that that has helped me tremendously. There were times when I thought, man, I'm working so hard. Is it ever going to pay off?

SHERRI TURNER: Not really. The only thing that I've changed from the swing is I didn't spend as much time going to the driving range anymore. I used to be one of those players when I hit one bad shot, I would go in and go straight to the driving range. And I have finally realized as many balls as I've hit in my career, playing for 36 years, maybe that's not where I need to be anymore.

SHERRI TURNER: I said yesterday that -- you know, someone asked me if I was going to change my game plan for today, because -- but I pretty much played very aggressive all weekend. I felt like it was the kind of course where you could do that on. Obviously, the greens were a little bit firmer in spots. Basically what I did was tried to hit one less club in spots. The thing was that the difficult shots here are the ones that you have to carry onto the green. You can't say, okay, I'm going to do a 7 instead 6. Like the last hole I think I had to carry 152 to the pin, and it was like 168. I had to hit a 6, because if I hit a 7, I would not quite catch it. So that's what the difficulty is in some of these holes. 17 was the same way, where the pin was tucked left, and you had to carry the bunker you knew if you did it would not carry the bunker. You didn't always know where the ball was going to stop. But I would not necessarily say that we figured the course out as much as -- what I would like to say is that I love this golf course. And I don't think it was an easy golf course. And I'm very proud of the way that I played and very proud of the way Juli played. And to me, this, without a doubt, is one of the best golf courses I've ever played, at least for my game.

SHERRI TURNER: Happy for Juli?

SHERRI TURNER: Juli has played well in so many Opens, and she's had so many opportunities. And, you know, especially back -- I think it was '92 or '93 at Oakmont when she lost to Patty that was probably one of the biggest disappointments of her career. But she has been there so many times and she's been playing so great the last few years. She really has made a comeback herself, and I think a lot of players are just thrilled for her and happy to see her finally have won an Open.