THE SOLHEIM CUP

September 19, 1998

Judy Rankin

JUDY RANKIN: I am playing Pat Hurst first.

JUDY RANKIN: Who is Pia playing?

JUDY RANKIN: I am playing Juli Inkster, I hope, I think.

JUDY RANKIN: Donna Andrews.

JUDY RANKIN: Going to have to wait for the pairings. I believe it's Brandie Burton, but don't hold me to it.

JUDY RANKIN: Next.

JUDY RANKIN: I believe.

JUDY RANKIN: Meg.

JUDY RANKIN: Yes. I believed Laura would play first and I probably thought Annika would play 2nd and I probably -- I would have thought maybe Annika, they will Helen. But I don't think it -- I tried to put myself in Pia's position and what I thought I would have to do if I were in her position and that's what I did. It's not, you know, not rocket science, really.

JUDY RANKIN: No, I'm not. I'm trying to tell you that you think about it really hard and you try to make this spectacular lineup. But then again, it's not that complicated, in a way, you know. What I'm trying to tell you is you make a lot of it you about it is there's not that much to it.

JUDY RANKIN: Well, yeah. I mean, I certainly had a little -- a lot different situation the last time on Saturday night. But what I thought about the last time on Saturday night was: Get me some players heavy in the beginning and get me back even, you know. If I can get myself even, then, you know, maybe we can play and that worked out.

JUDY RANKIN: I think that's what she was forced to have to do. There's no point in saving it because if you can't get even, you're never going to get there.

JUDY RANKIN: I'm telling you, Liselotte Neumann hit as fine a bunker shot as you will ever see played at the 17th hole at MUIRFIELD VILLAGE. I saw one the other day that was as good as you'll ever see when de Lorenzi holed it from the back bunker. That was not a slam dunk. It goes in the hole. This was a perfect shot that dropped in the hole from the back bunker with a back, left hole placement. And then you can't -- the next hardest shot would be from the front left deep bunker in the hole back left as far as it could be away from you and she hits it 6 inches.

JUDY RANKIN: I mean, it was just stunning when the putt goes in the hole. Now I know who I lined up.

JUDY RANKIN: You know, I mean, I don't know. You watch golf as much as I do. The chemistry has been good in a number of pairings. I think that -- and I'm -- I don't say any of this in saying that the European team didn't -- but I think this team listened and learned and studied this golf course very well. I think they've managed the golf course quite well. And I mean, there's just -- a lot of emotion on the team and a lot of people playing well at the same time. I mean, if you've been at the first tee, I've seen every shot from the first tee every match and I have seen one poor shot from a player at the first tee. Just kind of stuff like spectacular, good driving from everybody.

JUDY RANKIN: I have a pretty good knowledge of the golf course from watching the best men players in the world play it for the last -- I don't know if I've worked the last eight MEMORIAL Tournaments or the last 9, but I have watched some pretty spectacular golf here. We were fortunate that Juli Inkster had played a lot of golf here. She knew this golf course pretty well. And the vast majority of our team came over here and played at least once at some point through the summer. Not as a team, but individually. And we talked about some of those places on the golf course that jump up and grab people and we talked about where you play in the middle of the green, you try to get what you can get out of it and get it going and I just think they've managed it pretty well. You know, if -- if -- we have a good day tomorrow, I'll tell you a little more on that subject.

JUDY RANKIN: You know, there are some real good friends on this team and people that are just friendly, but they've done what you ask a team to do. They have been very close this week and, you know, we've had a great time, we have. And clearly, you have a greater time if you're playing well.

JUDY RANKIN: I would have to think about that. I don't know. I try to do a few things to make my team bond together. I try to do a few things to make them believe how good they are. And -- but I always tell them that I know this is not easy, that I realize what a tough task it is. But I always try to impress upon them that it is a task that they are capable of. And, you know, I asked this team to -- try to maybe pretend like maybe they were away because I thought there was a fear like -- I guess with football teams and so on that when you're the home team, you treat it too much like a regular golf tournament and you're off with people and this and that. I asked them not to do that. I asked them to just pretend that once they got here we were here for the duration and every single player has done that.

JUDY RANKIN: Yes, sir. Yes, sir. And I hope that I can say something at dinner here in a little bit to help us avoid that.

JUDY RANKIN: It was really great of Curtis and Sarah to come. They flew in last night and stayed here for most of the day. It was -- meant a lot -- that was a special thing for the players. That was a big treat.

JUDY RANKIN: You know, people are going to come back to the depth conclusion, but I still say there are really magnificent players on both sides and it comes down to the golf you play for these 3 days. I don't think there is a conclusion that one player that won today and one player that lost today, that that is going to define their careers or their abilities. Golf is an on-a-given-day kind of thing. When you get a lot of people at a certain level.

JUDY RANKIN: It's certainly possible. I mean, certainly, certainly possible.

JUDY RANKIN: I don't have an explanation for it, but I don't have an explanation for these things like the 17th hole that we see all the time in golf now and I guess in every support -- but the as funding things people do under the most intense pressure. And I guess in a team situation like singles matches when you're watching the score board through the day and the red and the blue, there's a contagent about it. I don't have an explanation for it.

JUDY RANKIN: If I did, I'd make it work.

JUDY RANKIN: I don't think so. I don't think so. I think you have to control your emotions in this thing, but I think you also -- you have to also get wrapped up in the emotion of it, too. There's some sort of balance.

JUDY RANKIN: I wanted to put somebody out who was really playing well and I kind of thought it would be Laura. I wanted somebody who had a little length and somebody who could take it. And Pat Hurst has been all of those things. I mean, I'm happy to take it however it comes. I think Pat -- I'm real happy to see the match-up. It should be a terrific match.

JUDY RANKIN: I have not been. And I think most of the team members -- I think everybody felt that this was made for her.

JUDY RANKIN: If you are in the team room, you have a sign-up sheet for who you want to play with, everybody would be signing up to play with Pat Hurst. She is a neat personality. She is a heck of a good player. And I think people have seen her reactions under pressure. That doesn't mean you win every time, but some people just, you know, have a way of embracing it and Pat Hurst does that. Like I said, I know that doesn't mean you win every time. But Pat Hurst embraces those situations that make some people shake.

JUDY RANKIN: No, he didn't. No, he didn't even see the team other than on the golf course today. But he told me a month ago he was going to come for a day and watch. And so it was -- it was really nice thing for he and Sarah to do.

JUDY RANKIN: I think the singles are terribly important and I wanted those players who have really been horses in all of those first 3 matches, I wanted to give them the best chance that I could give them tomorrow.

JUDY RANKIN: On paper, I do. But that's another one of those things that we'll see tomorrow. I managed to rest every player one match and I did that with intention and we'll see if it pays off.

JUDY RANKIN: I'm not sure I had the luxury. I worked hard to get it done because -- I would have loved to put Pat Hurst out there again. I would have loved to put Robins out there again. But we'll just see if it works.

JUDY RANKIN: I don't get real close to it so that I don't have to be responsible. (Laughs). I think, you know, she's really not the ferocious thing she comes across as. I realize that emotion carries her away now and then and we are quite good friends, aside from this. Just every now and then, when she's really cooking, I just let her go, you know. I mean, I don't know what to tell you. I blamed it at the GREENBRIER because her hair was red.

JUDY RANKIN: I guess I was -- the minute that that match ended, I turned my card around and went back to another and I did not see whatever -- what all happened there. Maybe you could fill me in. I mean, I don't know. I guess somebody got irritated. And that is never, ever my intention or to my knowledge anyone's intention, but it's just kind of hard when -- in these matches when the emotion runs so high. Some little something always.

JUDY RANKIN: I could see that. But then, you know, that's why I played her first Friday morning. (Laughs).

JUDY RANKIN: Not to rub them the wrong way, but to use -- I have -- you have to use the tools that you have and, you know, that works -- that works both ways with some other things and I talked to my players every day about not letting little things get in the way.

JUDY RANKIN: I didn't even know it, so I sure didn't.

JUDY RANKIN: Field staffs from both tours work together. That's not the LPGA or the European LPGA. That's a combination of people. I have -- I didn't even know it, so nothing to do with me.

JUDY RANKIN: And I was going backwards when Dottie --

JUDY RANKIN: I have.

JUDY RANKIN: I heard from some players.

JUDY RANKIN: I don't think so. I don't think so. It was after the match was won.

JUDY RANKIN: You mean, after Juli's putt.

JUDY RANKIN: Well, if that's the case, you know, I mean, I would not want Dottie or anyone to do anything to be hurt in one of these situations. I really -- I wouldn't. And I don't believe that Dottie would mean that. I do know sometimes Dottie gets a little carried away, but, you know, that's part of the reason everybody likes to see Dottie play. So I apologize if something happened before a shot was played. That should not have happened, but I'm not -- are you sure that's what took place?

JUDY RANKIN: I didn't see it. And I was still watching before the chip was played. So I didn't see what it was and Dottie gets exuberant and Dottie let's you know how she feels. I'm not aware of Dottie being rude.

JUDY RANKIN: From one.

JUDY RANKIN: Let's not make a deal out of it.

JUDY RANKIN: Pretty good. Pretty good.

JUDY RANKIN: I think so. You know, because I think if you go out there and see the way the golf course is being played, they are not playing the ladies tees. This is a pretty big golf course, even with these players who hit it a long way. It's still -- this golf course is set up and it's a pretty big course. I don't know the exact yardage that they say it's playing, but I know it is right in the neighborhood of 6500 yards and 6500 yards one place is one thing, but 6500 yards on a golf course like this, that's a real golf course.

JUDY RANKIN: Well, I saw -- I got there after they were all at the green. I did not see the shots to the green. She hit a 3-iron from the tee and a 3-wood to the green?

JUDY RANKIN: I'll tell you something that has surprised me -- I better not do that.

JUDY RANKIN: It's the first match tomorrow. I can't do that.

JUDY RANKIN: Has anyone not been surprised that Laura hadn't taken her driver and bombed it over the bunkers at the first hole.

JUDY RANKIN: I don't remember her driving it the first day, but I believe -- I just remember her hitting iron, any way, so...

TIM MCNULTY: Thank you, Judy.