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UL INTERNATIONAL CROWNJuly 20, 2016Karrie WebbMinjee LeeSu Hyun OhRebecca ArtisChicago, Illinois KRAIG KANN: Good afternoon, everybody. Welcome to the UL International Crown 2016. Pleased to be joined by Team Australia making their second appearance in this event. They finished eighth in 2014 in the inaugural Crown, three points, but they are back and some new members on the team, as well. Minjee Lee is here, Rebecca Artis, Karrie Webb and Su Oh. Thanks for coming in. Let's start with some thoughts on the golf course. You've been here a few extra days and your press conference is on the end of the couple of days of press conferences so you've had a little more prep time to see the golf course. Minjee, what are your thoughts on the golf course and preparations for your team? MINJEE LEE: Well, I think the greens are in perfect condition. I mean, they're really pure and rolling really nice, and I think from the start of week to now the greens have gone a little firmer and the fairways have dried out because of the wind, so it's playing a little more bouncier today in the pro-am. I think overall the course is in great shape, in great condition, and hopefully we'll make a lot of birdies. KRAIG KANN: Two new members of the team. I'm going to go to Rebecca, being a part of this team and seeing this golf course for the first time in this event. What's the first impression for you? REBECCA ARTIS: I think it's a fantastic golf course. I think it's at the moment set up perfectly for match play. There's some reachable par-5s, drivable par-4. The course is in fantastic condition. It's got a little bit bouncier, like Minjee said. I noticed it a lot today compared to even yesterday and Monday. So it's starting to firm up. But it's a perfect golf course for this event, perfect match play. KRAIG KANN: What about you, Su? What are your thoughts on being a part of this team? SU OH: Yeah, I didn't get to play in it two years ago, but since then I've really wanted to be part of the team. The golf course is great. Like Beck and Minjee said, it's a great -- some of the par-5s are short and the par-4s you can drive it on, so I think especially in the four-ball, we can see what the other partners are doing, and then maybe a different strategy if needed. But we're playing in team, so I think we can figure it out. KRAIG KANN: Karrie, I've saved you for last on purpose because I think you -- I wanted to hear some thoughts on them on the first experience at the course, but you've got experience here. Everyone talks about the win at the U.S. Women's Open. How has this place changed and what's it like to walk back on campus and see this all over again? KARRIE WEBB: Well, it's great to be back here. I haven't been back to the Merit Club since 2000, so it's been a nice trip down memory lane for me. Just remembering that week of the U.S. Open in 2000, and obviously the course is not set up U.S. Open style, which I think we're all pleased about. This event should have a lot of low scores being shot in the best-ball format and lots of birdies, and that's how it's set up. For me I think I'm going to struggle all week with the routing change from 9 through 18. The way it's playing this week is routed differently to the way we played it. Like today when I got to what we're playing as our 12th hole, that was the 14th hole, so in the pro-am I was thinking we're almost done, but we still had six holes to go. KRAIG KANN: Follow-up for you on the experience of this event. I remember two years ago, even before that, when the event was announced that it was going to be. Of all the players you might have been one of the most excited to be able to take part in a team event like this and represent Australia. What do you remember about that first experience in 2014 at Caves Valley, and perhaps how this might be different in a second go-around for Team Australia, aside from new members on the team and whatnot? KARRIE WEBB: Yeah. Well, I think both times we were happy to qualify. I think we qualified easier two years ago than we did this year. We just scraped in. But obviously we went up through the rankings with how Su and Minjee have been playing. It's nice to come in here as a stronger team than we did two years ago, but two years ago I was looking forward to it. I'd been to a few Solheim Cups. I didn't expect it to be like the Solheim Cup, and I actually didn't really want it to be like the Solheim Cup, I wanted it to be perhaps a little friendlier than the Solheim Cup is and less stressful than the Solheim Cup is, which it definitely was, and it was fun to play, represent Australia, play with three of my fellow countrymen that I'd played a lot of golf with over the years. And to have Minjee on the team as an amateur was cool. But the whole week itself ended up being better than I had imagined. KRAIG KANN: Why so? KARRIE WEBB: I just thought that the way the format was and that it was -- that we were -- because there's always been talk about having a Presidents Cup-style format on the LPGA, and you know, I don't know if I was ever up for that as much as I would be for something like this where I'm actually playing under my flag and not under a region. I think playing under a region, even the Europeans, it's got to be hard because there's different cultures and different backgrounds. Australians are a different breed, and I think when we're together as a team, there's a lot of -- it's nice to hang out with Aussies and have the banter back and forth that we do. You don't get that as often as I would like on Tour. It's a fun week, and we had fun two years ago, but I think we'll have an even better time this year. KRAIG KANN: Minjee, you were here the last time around as an amateur and got to play with Karrie Webb and experience that. Now you're back as a really highly ranked player on this Tour with victories under your belt and a veteran, if you will. How is it different for you? How do you feel walking around here representing your country this time? MINJEE LEE: I'm equally as excited. It comes around every two years, so it's really nice to be able to represent my country again, play under my own flag, obviously. But yeah, I feel -- I don't feel that much different. I still feel like I still need to play my best, just one shot at a time, how I was like last time. KARRIE WEBB: Minjee said, though, she's going to do what she did two years ago and just let the three of us split the prize money. REBECCA ARTIS: That sounds pretty good to me. Cheers, mate. Q. Karrie, you're the elder stateswoman on the team. With three of your teammates in their 20s, what kind of wisdom are you sharing this week? KARRIE WEBB: I don't know if I'm sharing wisdom or they're giving me a hard time about being old. I said last night at the dinner that Minjee and Su were four years old when I won the U.S. Open here in 2000, so that kind of puts things into perspective. No, I'm just looking forward to having a fun week with everyone. This is the future. These three players are the future of Australian women's golf, and I just hope us playing together as a team, the experience they get from that helps them grow as players and takes them into the future with more experience and become better players and represent Australia for many years to come. KRAIG KANN: Su and Rebecca, what is it like to partner, play with, be on the same team with Karrie Webb? SU OH: Well, I'm actually paired with Karrie tomorrow, and I really can't wait. I'm kind of -- I can lean on Karrie a little bit. KARRIE WEBB: No way, I'm leaning on you. I'm the older player. SU OH: She won the U.S. Open here in 2000, so we have a winner in the group already. I'm just trying to see what she does. I've always wanted to play in a team with Karrie, and she's just a really amazing role model. I think she's amazing. I can't wait to go out there and play really well and see how we go. KRAIG KANN: How about you, Rebecca, sitting next to Karrie on this stage, playing with her, what she's meant for women's golf? REBECCA ARTIS: Well, firstly for me, it was a huge goal to get in this team this year, just to be able to play alongside someone like Webby. She's to me one of the best golfers to ever come out of Australia, men and women combined. To be able to be in a team with Webby, it's a fantastic experience, and I'm just trying to learn as much as I can from her, pick her brain about anything. You know, yesterday out in the practice round I asked her a couple of things about a few chip shots, just different ways she'd play it compared to how I'd play it. Yeah, so it's an amazing experience for me. I can't wait. Really looking forward to the week. KRAIG KANN: Karrie said you all are a different breed, Aussies are a different breed. What does that mean, Minjee? What's different about you all than maybe these -- REBECCA ARTIS: I can answer that. MINJEE LEE: She's as country as they come, right? REBECCA ARTIS: Yeah, I'm country, definitely. I just think we're very passionate about our country. I don't think you can get more passionate people about the country we come from. We love it. I think we think it's the best country in the world. The Americans might -- MINJEE LEE: Because it is. REBECCA ARTIS: The Americans might disagree, but yeah, our passion, to be able to play for our country under our flag, I think all four of us will represent our flag with pride. KRAIG KANN: Karrie, I was just in a partner summit meeting with Katherine Kirk who was on the team the last go-around for Australia, and she said she feels super confident about Team Australia this time, wishes she could be on the team and felt badly how it worked out last time, finishing eighth and not getting where you wanted to go on Sunday. How do you wipe that away, and what's different this time? Is it the experience of players? What would it be? KARRIE WEBB: Well, you know, I didn't look at it -- honestly, when you said we finished eighth, I knew we didn't play on Sunday, but I didn't know where we finished after that. To me it didn't matter. We wanted to play on Sunday and have a chance to win on Sunday. But to me the goal -- the first goal this week is that we all have fun, and that if someone doesn't play well or none of us play well, that's just what's meant to be, but we need to be out there having fun and enjoy this team format because we don't get the opportunity to do it very often. You know, if we play well and we have a chance to win, that's just going to be awesome. I hope we really do make it through to Sunday and really have a great shot on Sunday to win. Obviously I think we all want to do that, and I think we all believe we can do that, but if we don't have a good time Thursday through Saturday, I don't think we'll be there on Sunday. Q. Karrie, saying that you really want to have fun this week, what has this year been like for you because you've accomplished everything you can in golf, but there's one thing you wanted to get that you couldn't. Has this been a tough year for you, and now coming here is it a chance to kind of reset things? KARRIE WEBB: Yeah, it hasn't been the most fun year. You know, the bottom line, obviously I wanted to play in the Olympics, something I stated back in 2009 when it was first announced. But I think the thing I'm most disappointed about is that I just haven't played well. I've really worked my butt off for two years, and I'm just not really seeing the rewards to that good play. It could be a good reset button, like you said. I'm hoping that's the case, that the weight of the Olympics is off now; I don't have to think about that. I don't have that in my schedule. I'm not playing a ton of events between now and the end of the year, but hopefully I can have a good finish to the year and see where that puts me at the end of the year. Q. I had asked you last night about this, but you've devoted yourself to nurturing the next generation of Australian women's golf. What is it like for you to see these players on the rise, that you've helped nurture? KARRIE WEBB: Since the start of the Karrie Webb Series and the scholarships and the girls coming over to the U.S. Open, it's been going since 2008, and I've enjoyed every minute of it, and I've enjoyed not only Minjee and Su sitting up here, Floody -- I should say Rebecca. No one knows why we call you Floody. Wasn't a winner, but I think it started just as you were turning pro or did you play one or two years in the Karrie Webb Series? REBECCA ARTIS: No, I missed the Karrie Webb Series. I was a little bit too old. KARRIE WEBB: I think she just turned pro. But through being involved with that and working with Golf Australia, I played a few practice rounds with Rebecca when she first turned pro, so I've known her since she was in her early 20s, as well. You know, I watch all the girls, I watch all their scores every week to see how they're doing, and you know, it's -- like Rebecca asked me about some chip shots yesterday, I'm always willing to -- a phone call away if I'm not there in person. I want to see more than just the three of these girls representing Australia in the years to come. I want there to be a competition of five, six, seven, eight girls inside the top 100, or even more, competing to get into this team and to represent Australia at the Olympics. And then also winning golf tournaments on the LPGA and majors and what have you. If I can help in any way, you know, that's part of my future going forward. Q. Minjee and Su, could you comment on what it was like to be Karrie Webb Scholarship winners and what that weekend was like being mentored by her at a U.S. Women's Open at Sebonack, I believe, what that was like and what it meant to you? SU OH: Yeah, that was my very first experience of the U.S. Women's Open. I didn't know what to expect, I was just happy that I got to spend a week -- so we spent a week with Karrie at her house. We just kind of do everything with her, like go inside the ropes in the practice rounds with her and just be with her the entire week so we get the full experience of the U.S. Open. After that I was just like, wow, I want to play in this and I want to be part of this, and that's just another motivation that I got after the week. And not just -- not just that week. She's always there. I had a tough year last year, and I would have one good round and she would message me, first person to message me to say, great round, Su, and just keep it up. When I have a question on my mind, I just email her and call her, and she's always -- she gets back to you really quickly. Just everybody, like a friend of ours, she got engaged recently, and one of the very first people that she called was Karrie. Just that relationship, the ability to have that relationship is just incredible. MINJEE LEE: Yeah, well, that was my first year, as well, spending the week with Webby at a U.S. Open. No, it was just a great experience. Pretty much what Su said, we got to do everything that Webby would do at a U.S. Open, and we were inside the ropes so we could see all the types of shots she would play, and just sort of like that on-course experience, so that was really cool. It just gave me the experience that I really wanted to play at the U.S. Open, as well, and the next year I got to play, so it was really cool. Yeah, just -- it was just a great experience. KRAIG KANN: Karrie, you took part in some of the pre-promotional efforts of this in Chicago by coming here to take the Crown around town, so to speak. Over the last couple of years, how have you seen this event grow? That's been a common question amongst some of the media members. Mike Whan was in here earlier with Keith Williams from UL talking about the growth of it and the future of it. We announced today we're going to play in 2018 at the Jack Nicklaus Club in Korea. What have you noticed about this event and how it's ramped up? KARRIE WEBB: Well, I think the difference obviously is that UL is on board, and getting to meet Keith and the other higher ups at UL at the media day in April, I could see how passionate they were to be involved in this event. You know, I think it's great for their business that we're such a multicultural tour and that the eight different teams here are from all over the world and represent a lot of where their business are. I think it's always exciting to see that we have a partner in a new event like this that is as excited about the event as we are. I think now that I think that seems like that relationship is cemented in that it's only going to grow bigger and better from here because I think they believe in this event as much as we do. KRAIG KANN: Word of mouth marketing from players, too, about the experience of being here, more pressure to qualify, et cetera, did you notice that, players talking about that? KARRIE WEBB: Well, I know for us we were the ones on the hot seat on the Sunday of ANA, and if Pernilla Lindberg had had two shots better in the tournament, we wouldn't be sitting here today. I had to stop watching live scoring because I didn't want to cheer against Pernilla, so I just waited until she was done and waited to see where the dust settled at the end, and luckily we still finished eighth, and we're here today. KRAIG KANN: You open against Chinese Taipei. Among the teams or countries that have been in here thus far, England, very loose, joking around as you can imagine; Chinese Taipei was the same exact way. That's an interesting draw tomorrow. The thoughts on getting off to a good start in an event like this where you have three days to make a difference? How important is it to play well on day one tomorrow? MINJEE LEE: I mean, obviously it would be nice to have a fast start and have wins on the board early, but like Webby said, it doesn't matter if you're not having a good time. Yeah, let's have a good time and play well, as well. KRAIG KANN: Team Australia, thank you so much for being here today, and good luck this week at the UL International Crown. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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