WENDY'S CHAMPIONSHIP FOR CHILDREN

August 10, 2001

Leta Lindley

LETA LINDLEY: I don't know what I had. I had about 155 yards and I had an 11 and then parred my way in. And then turning to the front side on No. 2, the Par 3 was playing 173 yards. I hit a 9-Wood and I drained the 30-footer over a mound, through the valley, and made that for birdie. Par 5, No. 3, I had about 106 yards out of the rough. I hit a half 9-iron above the hole to 15 feet, made that. No. 4, the Par 4, I had a 163 yards. I hit 9-Wood, and I made about a 30-footer for birdie. No. 6, the Par 5, I was in front of the green, I hit a chip to about two feet, made that. No. 7, I had a 163 yards into the wind and I hit a 9-Wood I made about another 30-footer. No. 8, I had 115 yards. I hit a 9-iron to about six feet, made that. And No. 9, I had a 139 yards with an 8-iron to about six feet and made that for birdie.

LETA LINDLEY: I did. I was going about it pretty nonchalant and hitting greens and making putts. I tend, when I get in a rhythm, I feel my confidence. Sometimes I can go on and on and not make anything, and then if I can make one putt then I start getting more confident and then the others start to fall. I guess that would describe my day today.

LETA LINDLEY: My chipping and putting. I didn't hit very many greens when I started out. I had five up-and-downs on the front side and then I started hitting more greens coming in. I hit eight out of nine greens on the front side, my back side. So obviously my short game helped me hang tough in the beginning and kind of kept me in it.

LETA LINDLEY: I'm better at it. If I hit my 5-iron better I would carry my 5-iron. There are times I put it in my bag in windy conditions, but I'm more confident with an 11-Wood. I'm more aggressive with it. It comes in at a higher trajectory than my 5-iron. I don't have this huge ego or pride where I carry six woods and I'm happy to carry six woods and I hit them well. That's one of my strong suits.

LETA LINDLEY: I didn't start out this week thinking I could possibly shoot eight under. I don't look at this golf course as one that yields low score. And to be honest, I haven't looked at the score board and you say there are a lot. And maybe it's because the greens are soft and we can throw them at the pin, because I don't really think of this as an easy birdie-set golf course.

LETA LINDLEY: I don't know. A few. No, I worked really hard on my putting this year and I think this has been my best putting year so far. I've changed my routine, my practice routine a little bit and I've been doing some different drills and I think it's really helped me and made me a little bit more aggressive. And I think this is the best I've putted in a long time.

LETA LINDLEY: I think it's because it's playing soft. Even though I had some longer clubs, they didn't release like they normally would like if the course was firmer. That's definitely why the scores are low today.

LETA LINDLEY: I guess so. I think the one on the next hole was a really tough putt on the Par 5. It was downhill and really fast and I had perfect speed on that. And I think that was the difference. My speed was really good today. Some days the hole looks bigger than the other days.

LETA LINDLEY: Every time. Every time I come in here. I think people are fascinated by it, because I think most of the girls don't carry six woods. They're more of us than you think. I'm not the only one that carries an 11-Wood. There are quite a few. Carin, I think carries an 11-Wood, Carin Koch. So there are a lot of us. But every time I come in here, I have to defend it, Why do you carry six woods?"

LETA LINDLEY: No, I've been carrying it for a long time. I started carrying the 11-Wood four or five years ago.

LETA LINDLEY: I think me and Vicki were the first players to put in an 11-Wood. I even tried a prototype 13 wood they made, but it just didn't work out.

LETA LINDLEY: A 6-iron. But I need that in case I get in deep trouble.

LETA LINDLEY: It's not very big. My husband says it looks like he could hit flop shots with it. But he doesn't carry an 11-Wood. It doesn't really look like that to me, but he feels it has so much loft on it, he could hit a flop shot with it.

LETA LINDLEY: He messes around with it. Obviously he's so strong it literally goes straight up in the air when he hits it. It's perfect for me.

LETA LINDLEY: Definitely not. He's good, but not that good.

LETA LINDLEY: No, and I've never shot 29 on one side. This is my career low round and I think it's my most perfect round to date because I had no bogeys. I shot seven under at Betsy King, last year or the year before, but I had a bogey. So this is my most perfect round to date.

LETA LINDLEY: No. I was kind of happy to get through the back at one under. I think that tends to be the tougher side. I thought, Well, I have these two Par 5s that are a little easier on the front side. Maybe I can make up some ground there. I looked at the leader board a little bit. One under, I'm hanging tough, but I need to get busy.

LETA LINDLEY: I don't ever think anything. I take one side at a time. That's what I did so well today. Sometimes I have a tendency to get ahead of myself, and I did a really good job of staying in the moment. I think some people fight with their comfort zone. And obviously this being my best score, I pride myself I didn't get nervous and just stayed in the moment.

LETA LINDLEY: No. I knew I was putting for eight under, but I didn't really do the math. I wanted to make the putt on the last hole and beat my low round, and I hit it right in. I was pretty excited about that.