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U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 7, 2016

Cristie Kerr

San Martin, California

Q. Everything works when you shoot 5-under, doesn't it?
CRISTIE KERR: Yeah. Yeah, I played very well. I was very one-shot-at-a-time out there, which is kind of my motto for this week. And I played great. I had two three-putts, even, from long distance.

I hit a great shot into my first hole, 10, and had a very downhill, difficult two-putt. And it was just so quick. It was like almost the quickest of the day, and it went ten feet and lipped out.

And then I misjudged the 8th hole a touch. But made a lot of birdies. And the shots where I ended up 3-putting, I hit great shots, but I was in between clubs and got far away from the hole. But I did very well today.

Q. Most of the talk this week is about how this has not your typical U.S. Open golf course and setup, little bit softer, and a little more generous in the landing area. Do you like that or do you expect it to change between now and Sunday?
CRISTIE KERR: I mean I liked it today. I mean, we played in the morning and took advantage of it, obviously. Mirim had almost a career round today.

I definitely expect it to change. I don't think the USGA likes when we shoot 8-under on their golf course. You have to expect it to change, and if it doesn't, then you'll have opportunities to score.

Yeah, it's a very straightforward course. The rough is not great. I hit it on 9 and could only get 8-iron out of it, and had to hit 7-iron into the green. If you're hitting the fairways, you can certainly score.

Q. The one-shot-at-a-time attitude, was that different from earlier this year, when you had not had such great results?
CRISTIE KERR: Definitely. I struggled with my driver a bunch until I found the driver I have this week. And it's been a process, ongoing process to find this driver, but I've got it now, it's in the bag for The Open. I hit it great today. I'm looking forward to the rest of the week.

Q. What's its specs, what's different about it?
CRISTIE KERR: It's the new PXG, Elite 11 X head and it's got the same shaft that I used to play on my Ping. What's weird is we tried so many different shafts and just didn't find the right combination. This is the fifth driver that I've used this year. I knew the head was really good. I knew I just needed to find that combination. I tried the shaft that I have on this driver on the other head and it didn't work, so we didn't try immediately. I just knew in my gut, the fairway wood felt so good, I didn't find the right combo yet. I'm thankful that we were able to find it going into this week.

Q. All the screws the same as you had before?
CRISTIE KERR: Everything is standard, it's just -- sometimes it just takes a while to find the right combination.

Q. How much of (inaudible)?
CRISTIE KERR: Definitely. When you're struggling to hit fairways, I can't blame everything on the club, obviously, but when you're struggling to hit fairways, it makes the game a lot harder. And then the mental game gets off of it, it's a whole process like that.

But I knew when I found the driver this week that it just felt so much like my old driver and we found the right combination and even if I missed a little bit I could feel what I did wrong, I could feel the difference. Like I said, I'm just happy that we worked it out.

I had a great driver in San Francisco, as well, but something changed with kind of growing out of that shaft. And sometimes it just happens. It was frustrating, but like I said, I have the right combination now, and I'm making like ten backups (laughter).

Q. Given how well you finished last season, was the first half, slow start this year, a surprise to you?
CRISTIE KERR: Well, like I said I was struggling with my driver, and that makes everything harder. It kind of messed with my confidence a bit. Now that I have the right combination I know that if I make a free swing and free wheel it it's going to go where I need it to. It's nobody's fault obviously. We all work very hard, everyone at PXG and me, and sometimes it just takes a while to find the right combination.

Q. Playing in a group like you were today, does that help?
CRISTIE KERR: Yeah, it definitely helps. And it was fun. I don't know if you looked at Mirim's card and my card, we might have shot 59 best ball, or close to it. I think maybe she birdied a couple of holes that I didn't. And the same way the other way.

So I think that -- I think you would expect the USGA is not too happy with that score. So it will be interesting what they come up with for the rest of the week.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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