THE SOLHEIM CUP

September 18, 1998

Judy Rankin

LAURA NEAL: Good evening. We'll go ahead and get started. The pairings are not out yet. We're still waiting. We'll just field questions about today's match-ups.

JUDY RANKIN: Good surprise, I thought, this afternoon. Even though it was a 1/2 match, for me, was Chris Johnson. I thought she was -- I mean, I talked to her out on the golf course, you know, and I get to look at players eyeball to eyeball and she was very together. She was really in control. And I don't know how much of that match any of you might have seen, but that was one heck of a match, all four players. I know they had their -- a couple of mini-explosions, but it was a spectacular match and so I -- I was really pleased that Chris Johnson -- I know how fine a player she is, but it was her first time to do this and she was together.

JUDY RANKIN: That didn't surprise me. You said "surprises". I've always felt that Pat would be terrific here.

JUDY RANKIN: Well, when I hugged her after the 13th green when she finished the afternoon match, I said: So, how do you like this so far? (Laughs).

JUDY RANKIN: I don't really remember what she said. She just laughed. You know, she is a perfect personality to work with. She is a perfect personality for this. If you have somebody on your team that people are trying to sign up to play with, it's Pat Hurst. Just because she is easy going, she is a fierce competitor. She is a really fine player. She is long and strong. Nice to have people like that. I just -- I know she is a rookie in this setting, but I just always felt that this would suit her.

JUDY RANKIN: That's one of those minute explosions we have now and then. This is on explosive team, Kelly Robbins and Pat Hurst. Every now and then the explosion goes the wrong way. But most of the time, it goes in a good way.

JUDY RANKIN: Yeah. They enjoy playing together. First out is Annika Sorenstam with Catriona Matthew. They're playing Donna Andrews and Sherri Steinhauer. Next out is Laura Davies and Charlotta Sorenstam playing Meg Mallon and Brandie Burton. Next out is Helen Alfredsson and Marie-Laure de Lorenzi playing Dottie Pepper and Juli Inkster. And the final match is Liselotte Neumann and Catrin Nilsmark playing Kelly Robbins and Pat Hurst.

JUDY RANKIN: No, I've talked to her before the matches started. I've talked to her -- I talked to her last week on the telephone; I talked to her coming in here. Just really trying to help to rebuild her confidence. Kelly is not one who is very candid and will tell you that she's fighting it. But I've gotten to know her pretty well over the last few years and I also am familiar with fighting it myself; so I just -- I felt that her game was better coming in here than she was, maybe, confidence-wise and -- I think she proved that today.

JUDY RANKIN: Well, I mean, it was a good start. I'm -- I'm really afraid to get too happy about it. I'm pleased they've had a good day, pleased they were really playing well. But I am -- I just -- you know, I know how quick this thing turns around on you and I know that the other side is pretty loaded with good players, too. So the most I want to be is pleased that we've had a good day.

JUDY RANKIN: We've skipped celebrations this time. You know, the happiness about a good match is over after about six minutes. And we realize that it's much like playing a round of golf. Each match is like a hole and when this whole thing is finished, they'll be plenty of time to be happy.

JUDY RANKIN: Liselotte and Kelly and Pat were involved in that barn-burner of a match today. So I thought that it's interesting that they end up doing that again. Donna Andrews and Annika Sorenstam and Catriona were in a match this morning. So they match up again. It's just kind of -- always interesting how it works out and I'm always kind of surprised at fans and in these kinds of matches -- RYDER CUP, whatever -- really still don't understand that this is a random thing. Of course, you do try to guess what someone might do. I think you do more of that in the singles and maybe more of that -- I can tell you I do more of that -- today than I do tomorrow because tomorrow, I'm more concerned about my players' stamina and their legs and how I can balance it so I have 12 people really ready for Sunday.

JUDY RANKIN: Well, the sun was so warm and it was so still hot today that the greens were firming up anyway. But then the conditions -- I mean, they were just getting firmer and faster, kind of, by the hour. The -- 17 was kind of back left, which is a hole placement that I've seen before here and it's always difficult. It's always kind of firm. For these last matches this afternoon, it was really firm. And I warned one player -- you know, that's something you kind of stand out there in the fairway and -- in the role where you can give advice, and you really question whether I should tell them, it's harder than a brick, I shouldn't tell them. Fortunately, I know one player and her caddie so well that I felt confident to go to Brandie Burton's caddie and I said: You know, at the hole or anyplace past the hole, it's harder than a brick. And Brandie hit a wonderful shot at 17, taking that into consideration, and still jumped it this far over the back of the green. So I believe I did the right thing telling her. There are players I would not tell. There are players that I don't -- I think you feed them too much information and everything that -- their process gets messed up. But knowing when to and when not to and all that can be a nervous thing.

JUDY RANKIN: You think?

JUDY RANKIN: You tell Seve I did more on foot in the morning matches than he did in the cart last year. And I learned because I got in that cart this afternoon and my legs were dying.

JUDY RANKIN: I don't think so. To be as honest as I can be, Tammie didn't play very well this morning and I don't think -- Tammie doesn't give -- she refuses to give much consideration to the fact that, you know, a lot of things are a lot different when you're six months pregnant. And it's -- she does play extraordinary golf, even in this physical circumstance, but I just -- I think that she wasn't quite herself, I didn't think, a lot of the match today, and I would say that maybe there's been so much made of it that maybe she kind of felt that she needed to prove that she could play like this. You know, it wasn't the best day for her. Neither she nor Donna in that match played the kind of golf that we're used to seeing them play. They would tell you that they were over the mark.

JUDY RANKIN: Yeah, they've played together before and played together well in Diner's Club matches and so on. When their games are right, their games are very similar. But two people who hit fairways and greens like machines didn't hit a green until Number 8. So that is not their normal style of play.