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UL INTERNATIONAL CROWN

July 23, 2016

Chicago, Illinois

KRAIG KANN: Welcome into the media center here at the 2016 UL International Crown. Great pleasure to have Team England in here. They are a Pool B qualifier, and obviously now headed to singles. Let me get some thoughts on the first match and the importance of it today. Holly, you first.

HOLLY CLYBURN: Yeah, it was a massive point. We knew what we wanted to do, and me and Jodi went out there and got plenty of birdies and an eagle dropped in there, and it was just great.

KRAIG KANN: For you two to win a match 7 & 5 as you did today, that really set a tone. It set a tone for your team and it seemed to send a message to everybody else that's out there. Thoughts on that?

HOLLY CLYBURN: Yeah, it definitely did send a message out, and everybody would have seen that on the scoreboards. We're not just here to make the numbers up, we're here to win at the end of the day, and that point today was massive, and Mel and Charley fought that match out and got another point for us, and we couldn't have asked for much of a better day than we got today.

KRAIG KANN: Jodi, some thoughts on the match today and why it seemed so easy?

JODI EWART SHADOFF: It wasn't easy. We knew that we needed at least a point coming into today to play tomorrow. Me and Holly just concentrated on our own game, and I think finally the putts started to drop for us, which were lacking yesterday. It was really fun to be a part of.

KRAIG KANN: Mel and Charley, let me get some thoughts from you overall in the match. A 2 & 1 win. Charley, just great to be back out there? How did you feel on the first tee today and how would you assess your game and the match?

CHARLEY HULL: Well I felt fresher today from the first tee, my asthma wasn't as bad, but no, I felt good, and I felt like we played really well. I think I had an eagle today, that made it feel better. But me and Mel both played awesome, so it was fun.

KRAIG KANN: Mel, you walked out there to the Spice Girls and you had somebody to walk along with you today. What are your thoughts on today's victory?

MEL REID: Yeah, it's easier than yesterday's, so it was nice to have Charley back today and we combined really, really well today. We were 10-under I think or we birdied a couple holes the same, as well. It was a great match against two players which are already in form this year and two fierce competitors, so we're really, really happy to get the job done.

KRAIG KANN: You guys have nine points. Mel, when you came in here this week, did you all believe that that was possible to perhaps end today with more points than any other team in this competition?

MEL REID: I mean, why not? Like we've said time and time again, yes, we are the underdogs, but we have a really good team atmosphere, and I think from my experience, that's sometimes more important than maybe the ranking of the players.

You've seen this in Solheim Cups, you've seen it in Ryder Cups. It's the camaraderie between the team, and I think that's something that we do have very, very special between us.

KRAIG KANN: Jodi, yesterday we sat in here and you guys talked about even though Charley wasn't there, the way the day played out, it felt like a victory. Now you've got nine points and you're definitely going to play again tomorrow. How do you feel about your overall team and how you're playing?

JODI EWART SHADOFF: Extremely happy. I mean, I couldn't ask to be part of a better team. These girls are great, and I think we're all very excited to play tomorrow. We've all got to concentrate on playing our own game and getting our own point. The job is not done yet.

Q. Yesterday afternoon when you guys were in here, we asked you how much motivation you would take tomorrow from Mel being out there playing on her own, and you said there would be some. Was there, and what was the feeling going out there today based on what you had happen yesterday?
JODI EWART SHADOFF: We came out fighting. Overall I think there was a different atmosphere in our group at least. We were a lot looser going out there on the first tee --

HOLLY CLYBURN: Always happy when you have a dance-off with your caddie on the first tee, so you're always going to play well when you're loosened up.

JODI EWART SHADOFF: So yeah, it was much different to yesterday, I think.

Q. Charley, did you watch any of the match yesterday, and what kind of motivation did you have going out and seeing what had happened?
CHARLEY HULL: Yeah, I watched the back nine. I thought Mel played great, especially holing that shot on the 13th hole. But you know, I was gutted not to be out there, but I thought it would be the best thing for me today to rest because I really didn't feel well. But I felt like it was kind of a good mood going into today, as well, because obviously they fought out so well, so I thought, if she can play like that by herself, imagine how we're going to play today, and we played great.

Q. Charley, can you take us through when you showed up yesterday how bad you felt, and what they did? I heard you alluding to the television that you took some oxygen and stuff to help you turn around. How bad did you feel when you got up and how did you get better in time to play today?
CHARLEY HULL: Well, usually in these northern States, I think it was in Detroit last time I felt really bad because of the allergies. That really affects my asthma, and I felt bad then but this time I felt a lot worse. I woke up actually in the middle of the night because I couldn't actually breathe. I took my inhaler, the one that kind of helps me if I have an attack, and it wasn't really working, and then I went back to sleep, I woke up, and I just really didn't feel well. I felt weak and wobbly. I came down here and talked to the doctor, they gave me free --

MEL REID: She told my friend she had an IVF. She meant IV. I said they're great for hangovers, but I actually went IV, not an IVF, just to confirm that. She had an IV.

CHARLEY HULL: Yeah, had three IV's as well, because apparently I was dehydrated because I was coughing so much during the night. Anything that I would swallow, I would just wanted to cough back up because I was just really sickly. So, yeah, they gave me that and I relaxed because my blood pressure was low, but yeah, basically I feel a lot better today.

Q. At what point were you sure you were going to be able to play today?
CHARLEY HULL: Kind of like when I sat in the -- with the doctor for a little while, they kind of said, look, your blood pressure is coming up slowly, and that heat would have not been good for me, as well, because it's hard, because say the tube you breathe in is that big, mine felt about that big. Especially with the heat, as well, my face was burning, my nose, my ears. It was really weird.

Q. You all got pedicures last night. Do you have matching toenails now?
MEL REID: I think three of them had to do with mine, but yeah, it was really nice, my first pedicure, wasn't it. Lovely. Thank you to Barbara from UL for sorting that out for us. We had a lovely old team bonding session. Unfortunately I just got Charley a packet of pretzels and thought she'd be all right with that. That was the alternative for her, unfortunately.

Q. With playing so well right now, all of you, can you just speak to your confidence going into tomorrow with the format of match play?
HOLLY CLYBURN: The confidence levels? Yeah, like playing with Jodi all week has been great, and she's been playing so well. Being able to watch her, my confidence boost has just been getting higher each day. After today's round, it's pretty high at the moment, and hopefully we can take that momentum into tomorrow's singles, each one of us, and we'll probably be able to see you at the end of tomorrow evening.

JODI EWART SHADOFF: Yeah, I mean, we've both been playing really steady all week. I've been striking the ball great for the last few months. I think today was huge for my confidence with the putts dropping finally. I'm really excited to get out there and play tomorrow.

MEL REID: Yeah, I mean, these are the best countries in the world, some of the best players in the world, and a lot of major champions in there, and we are top of our pool. We should all be very proud of ourselves and we should be taking a lot of confidence in the fact that we've beaten some very high-class players this week.

CHARLEY HULL: Yeah, I'm buzzing to go out there tomorrow. I can't wait.

Q. Could you guys speak to what it would mean to England women's golf to win this?
JODI EWART SHADOFF: It would be huge.

HOLLY CLYBURN: Massive, really.

JODI EWART SHADOFF: We are such a small nation of so little golfers that I think it would just be great for the younger girls' golf especially to see that this can be done.

MEL REID: Yeah, I think English golf is deteriorating, unfortunately, especially in the women's game, especially with juniors. When I was growing up, there was 90 of us I think on junior day whereas now they're struggling to even fill that, which is a shame. I think it's because of the expense. I think it's because of the time it takes, and hopefully something like this, which is a fun event, it's obviously exceptionally well run, but it's a match play scenario. You know, if we did win, hopefully it would inspire not only girls but women and men and some young guys and boys and stuff to want to take up the club and think that it's fun and want to learn how to play this game.

KRAIG KANN: Going into tomorrow, I've spent a little time around the three of you leading up to this event, and I'm not going to put it on a scale of who enjoyed the opportunity more coming in, but I clearly got the impression that you guys were really looking forward to this. This wasn't just, yes, we qualified, we're going to Chicago. You came in here loose, excited. Is that fair? Are you guys enjoying this perhaps more than anybody else?

MEL REID: You know, I think that we get brought up in a team environment very much in the sense that we've all played English golf, and it's a pretty busy schedule when you're younger so you spend a lot of time with each other, and I think that's probably -- when I saw the team, I was very excited about that because I love each one of these girls a lot and care about them as a person outside of -- all of them outside of golf anyway.

For me, it was an exciting opportunity for us. It was another team event, another match play situation, and it was also an opportunity to prove people wrong, and I think no matter what happens tomorrow, obviously we're going to give it the best shot that we have. But we've proved a lot of people wrong already, and I'm extremely proud of how we've done so far.

KRAIG KANN: Jodi, you worked really hard to get on this team.

JODI EWART SHADOFF: I did. At the start of the season I didn't think it was possible where I was on the World Rankings, but after seeing the event happen a couple years ago, it was definitely No. 1 in my goals for this year, and after every event, I would check the rankings and I was getting closer and closer, and I just worked so hard to get on this team because I knew everybody else on the team, and I just wanted to be a part of this because I knew we had such a great opportunity to win.

KRAIG KANN: Holly, you've had a permanent smile going for a couple of months now.

HOLLY CLYBURN: Absolutely, yeah. As soon as I found out that we're in the line, obviously with the tournament's building up and the qualification, once I knew the final team, I just knew that we could do something special this week, and we're doing a pretty good job of it at the moment, but we've still got a big day ahead of us tomorrow, and if we come out like we did today, then I'm sure we'll be four happy ladies.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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UL INTERNATIONAL CROWN

July 23, 2016

Holly Clyburn

Jodi Ewart Shadoff

Charley Hull

Mel Reid