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SOLHEIM CUP

September 16, 2015

Carin Koch

St. Leon-Rot, Germany

MODERATOR: It's my pleasure to introduce the 2015 European Solheim Cup captain, Carin Koch. Carin, thanks for joining us again. Second day of practice today. Obviously you've had quite a little rain. How are preparations going?

CARIN KOCH: I think they are going well. We had a good round yesterday. We had a good round today.

Obviously it's nicer to play in sunshine, but everyone has still got a smile on their face and had a good time playing today.

MODERATOR: Being on a home course, does that benefit team over another?

CARIN KOCH: I think when it's long and the rough is going to be wet, it's about hitting it in the fairway. I think all these 24 players are quite good at that.

MODERATOR: It looks as though your team has been having a great time in the team room, having some games, some fun. Can you tell us a bit more about that?

CARIN KOCH: Yeah, we are borderline having too much fun, I think. We had a quiz night last night, which is a tradition for the team. We had some winners and some losers, and some people had to dress up. Yeah, if it hadn't been for the rain this morning, I think a few would have shown up maybe in their costumes on the first tee. But we let them off because they had to put their rain clothes on. Just having a lot of fun together like we always do, really.

Q. I'm sure you've studied captains and leaders in the last couple of years. Could you just highlight a couple of people who have most influenced you, perhaps a couple of lessons you've taken from them?
CARIN KOCH: Being vice-captain to Liselotte last time was a great learning experience. I think she did really well as a captain. And someone I've always looked up to as a player and been an influence in my life.

And I've also been lucky to have a few discussions with Paul McGinley, and just learning how he worked with his team and his preparation. Yeah, it's just been good having the help of the past captains like that.

MODERATOR: What do you see is the main role for you as a captain at this stage in the meet now?

CARIN KOCH: To keep them all in order, so they don't get too crazy. Just to create that atmosphere in the team room that we've always had and just to have fun together and make sure they focus on the job that needs to be done, but also just have a lot of fun together. They pace themselves and it's a long week with a lot of functions. It's a lot of fun things going around. We get our hair and makeup done every day, which we all enjoy. But just to keep it fun and make sure everyone is rested when the tournament starts.

Q. Could you say a few words about how the event has changed from when you first played, yourself? I'm thinking specifically of how the team dynamics, seems like a younger group of players now?
CARIN KOCH: Yeah, now they're all superstars that are playing. It's such a big event and it's about the 12 players. It was big back when I first started, but there's so much more around it now with media coverage and social media and TV. It's just much, much bigger, I think.

MODERATOR: It's early days, but have you come to any conclusions about your pairings? Where are you with that?

CARIN KOCH: I'm doing pretty good with that, actually. It's very easy on our team, we have 12 players that are quite happy, most of them, to play together.

We have a lot of combination where we sit and write them down. Yeah, it's more of narrowing it down, because we have so many people that are happy to play together. But I have a great back-room team with my vice-captains. Yeah, we're doing pretty good on that, I think.

Q. With that in mind, following up that question --
CARIN KOCH: I'm not going to give you the pairings.

Q. Are you thinking more of the fact that having had a team that's been quite constant after their third match, you've had quite a lot of experience seeing how they've played together, has that played a part in your preparation?
CARIN KOCH: Well, we actually had six rookies last time in Colorado, so we did have a lot of rookies. We have quite a few players that are now playing their first home soil match, which is a little bit different.

But the fun thing for me is when I look back at Colorado and I look at the pairings there, most of them say play together, won; play together, won. I don't have too many losses in there. That makes it really fun to go back in. You know, there were good dynamics back then and also new players. The players that are new, compared to Colorado, played in '11, so they also have played with some people. So it's good to go back and see all the positives.

Q. With your experience as a player, as a vice-captain, and now captain, was there anything that you were surprised -- was there anything that surprised you, where you said I never expected that to happen, but here it is?
CARIN KOCH: The rain. I thought it was always sunny in Germany. I think just being captain, how much goes around -- how much preparation it is, how much administrative work it is, really, to be captain, how many hours I spend on the computer answering emails and reading emails. That's probably been my biggest surprise as a captain.

I think vice-captain was a perfect role. You don't have to do so much. You just show up for the week and give your opinion, but don't have to take any bad press or anything. That was really the best job, I think.

I've really enjoyed all the different parts. I loved playing the Solheim Cup. That was my favorite parts of my career. And I played some of my best golf then. There were a few Solheim Cups where I wasn't really involved.

I was junior captain in '09, which I loved. I thought that was so much fun to be with the young girls. And to be back and be involved last time and this time, it's so much fun. It's hard to be outside the ropes when it's something that you care so much about.

Q. Carin, you guys have won it for the last two matches. Do you think that means that you go in as favorites?
CARIN KOCH: Well, I mean, if you look at the rankings, the Americans have such a strong team. They're so much higher ranked than we are.

I think they have a great captain in Juli. I have a lot of respect for her. I know she's worked very hard in getting this team together, and coming back strong to beat us. And obviously we have those two wins, so that's nice to have.

But more than anything this is Solheim Cup 2015 and we start from scratch on Friday.

Q. Do you basically think it's too close to call?
CARIN KOCH: It will be a challenge. It will be a tough match. I think, like I said, the Americans have a very strong team. They have 12 really good players. It will be tough for us. But we'll give them as good of a match as we can.

Q. You talked about your playing career in the Solheim Cup and you played really well for a long time. Do you have one memory that stands out above others during your entire playing career on the Solheim Cup?
CARIN KOCH: It's hard to be making the winning putt in my rookie Solheim Cup at Loch Lomond, one of the best courses, best places I've been. I would have to mention that.

Also, to play in Sweden, in '03, was really, really special. And there's not that many others that have gotten to play on home soil. And it's quite a special thing to do. In Sweden, you have friends and family. We had a lot of the biggest companies in Sweden were sponsors. It was fabulous weather. Everything was really perfect. And it was a very special week. Both those memories, it's hard to pick one.

Q. What are the chances that we would see Anna and Caroline playing together?
CARIN KOCH: You want a percentage? I'm not going to give away any of my pairings, sorry. But they've done well in the past.

MODERATOR: Carin is on a very tight schedule. There won't be an opportunity for any questions afterwards. If you have a question, please raise your hand now.

Okay. Thank you for joining us. Thanks, Carin, and enjoy your week.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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