SYBASE BIG APPLE CLASSIC PRESENTED BY GOLF MAGAZINE

July 19, 2001

Nancy Scranton

NANCY SCRANTON: It was really solid today. 18 was great. I hit a very good drive there. I have to hit it really well to be able to reach that green. And I had about 240 to the pin and hit a 3-wood and then just a guess kind of where you're aiming, and the bounces it gets down there. And it was a nice surprise to get down to the green and it was about 10 feet from the pin. And it was nice and I hit a very good putt.

NANCY SCRANTON: Yeah I was really solid. I hit it in the right place. I made one bogey today and hit it over a green. It just went further than I thought it would. And I just did a lot of things the way I had planned to. And you always have a plan, but you can't always do it. I hit it very solid today. Drove it well. And hit a lot of greens.

NANCY SCRANTON: It was about 10 feet left of the pin. I hit 3-wood. And I was in pretty much the center of the fairway, left center of the fairway off my tee shot. I think it was about 230 to the front.

NANCY SCRANTON: I think part of it is. I think there are a lot of places out here that we know what happens when your ball goes there or where to hit it. There are places you can't miss your second shots into greens. There are places -- I hit it over one today and I knew that you can't hit it over the green on 12. So hopefully we can eliminate a lot of those errors. I think so. I think it's a course that you get better with every time you come here. I've always really liked this course. I don't think I've ever had a great tournament, but I've always really felt good here and felt like I should play well here. I don't think I've ever had a great tournament here. I like small greens and very well defined targets.

NANCY SCRANTON: It was. It was breezy this morning. In fact it was cool. I had a vest on when I started. It was kind of a surprise. It was quite breezy when we started, so it helped on 7 because it didn't play quite as long. It was downwind. It was definitely something that you had to take into consideration.

NANCY SCRANTON: Consistency is probably the best. I just haven't been making as many mistakes. I've been putting decent. The last few weeks I haven't made a lot of putts. Last week I started playing really well on the weekend and shot even par, but was really encouraged about this week because I felt really solid, I felt solid with my ball striking and with my putting I just, you know, nothing was going in. And sometimes that's the way it goes. It's hard to be patient that way. But I made some today and that's good for the confidence to see the ball go in the hole.

NANCY SCRANTON: Not really, because coming into this week I felt really good, and kind of like I said last week, the first round I shot 3-under and I had made some changes. My teacher Hank Johnson was there and we had made some changes early in the week. Strengthened my right hand quite a bit on my grip. I tend to get really weak with my right hand. And it causes some problems with my right shoulder. And I have had some shoulder problems with my left one, I had surgery on that. So it was something that needed to be done for my shoulder and for my golf game. So it took a little getting used to. But the first round last week I was just very patient and I could tell it was going to be good. I just didn't know exactly when it was going to. And by the end of the week I was really excited about playing. I think it was one of those things where I know I'm going to play pretty well, just don't know how well. I felt good coming in here. And it just depends. When you make a few putts here and there.

NANCY SCRANTON: The front nine was, I had quite a few chances on the front nine. I made about a 12-footer on 4. And then made it from about two feet on 9. So that was pretty normal. And then number 10 I made it from about 20 feet. And then 11 was a long one. I missed my drive a little bit right and it was way below my feet, the ball was. It didn't go into the bunker, but it was in the rough by that bunker there. And I had a really tough shot and hit it just on the front left fringe and had about probably 50 feet. And I made it from the fringe. So that was a nice birdie. But then I made a bogey on 12. And then I made it from about a 20-footer on 14. So I did make some putts there in the middle of the round. And then 3-putted for birdie on 15. Had a tap in. And then 18 I had it about 10 feet for eagle.

NANCY SCRANTON: Yeah. Pretty much.

NANCY SCRANTON: I had 202 to the pin and I hit 4-wood and I had it about 30 feet.

NANCY SCRANTON: I went to dinner last night. My goal was to be very consistent this year. Last year I was up-and-down a lot. I had a good year, a very good year. It's well documented that I had shoulder surgery. And it's been nice this year not really having to talk about it. So I've worked really hard with my teacher, Hank Johnson, and he has gotten me here. It's taken a lot of work. If I didn't have that direction I wouldn't be this successful. So my goal this year was to come out and lower my scoring average, have a lot of top-10s, be in contention a lot and be very consistent and. And I'm very pleased because that's what I've done. And a lot of times to win a tournament just takes some luck and the right thing happening at the right time. It feels really good and an accomplishment to put yourself in that position. Not necessarily going to win, because I've had a lot of top-10s it's not always that I was close to winning, but you're not that far out if you're in the top-10. But that's the goal out here, to give yourself a chance. And that's what I'm real happy with.

NANCY SCRANTON: Well, aren't all us old Americans winning? I just became one of those old Americans this year. Oh, it's great.

NANCY SCRANTON: Well it's the thing about 40 and over now. That's kind of the thing. There is a lot of press talking about that. But it would be very special. And I feel like I can and I will. I'm playing better than I ever did before I was hurt. I'm a much better player. That's why I play every week. I'm not out here to make a living. I want to win every time I tee it up. But you know that's not going to happen. So you just try to do the best you can and give yourself some patience. And things happen that you have no control over and all of a sudden it might be right there. You just have to try to do the best you can every day and see what happens.

NANCY SCRANTON: I had to have my shoulder reconstructed completely. That was in April of '96. It was my left shoulder. I played hurt for two years. Didn't really know what was wrong and played really poorly, started playing really bad and couldn't figure out that my shoulder was slipping in and out of the socket. So I have looseness in both shoulders. And I have to really strengthen them. And it was getting some pain, and this one scared me. And I saw my doctor. There is nothing really major, I just have to make sure I keep strengthening and keep it there. And so then I didn't swing a club for about nine months and was out for an entire year. And I had to completely rebuild the golf swing. That was the beginning of '97. And it was tough. I mean, my swing is a lot different than it was when I was playing well in the early '90's. It's a lot better, but I was successful then and it worked. But I couldn't swing like that any more, I would tear my shoulder up again. So we started from scratch basically.

NANCY SCRANTON: Hank Johnson. Yes.

NANCY SCRANTON: No, I met him through HealthSouth. I was rehabbing with HealthSouth and he is affiliated with HealthSouth. He does a lot of biomechanic studies. He is also a master professional, but he does a lot of studies of injuries. So I went to see him. And it was one of those things where he's going to build a golf swing that works and wouldn't re-injure my shoulder. And that's what we have done. And I'm so thankful. If I didn't have the surgery I wouldn't have met him, I wouldn't be here right now. It's a lot of hard work. But I am much more confident and I'm a much better player right now than I was then. I was just kind of a good athlete then. But now I'm a player.

NANCY SCRANTON: Birmingham.

NANCY SCRANTON: I mean it was so bad for awhile, but that was something I had to play through. Like '97 and early '98 it just wasn't pretty. But you can't go from A to C, you have to go in between there. And so it was ugly and I wasn't hitting it very far and it was crooked and it was just frustrating. But it all had to happen to get there. And he still he tells me now, it's not an accident.

NANCY SCRANTON: It was wear and tear. I have some physical pain and my shoulders are loose, I was born with loose joints in my shoulders and then I was a swimmer when I was younger and started playing golf and the way I was swinging at it and it just wore out basically.

NANCY SCRANTON: I won last year, so I'm not that much older than I was last year. In fact I'm the same age. I'm still 39. (Laughter.) 29. Whatever.

NANCY SCRANTON: It was tough. Will I ever get it. It was funny, it was about probably early summer of '98 where I thought I think I might be able to do this again. And it's just gotten to the point where it's better. And my most gratifying was making the Solheim Cup last year. Definitely. That was something that really, when I was rehabbing, that was something that never occurred to me, because you don't make that by one win. It's something that you have to play well for two years. And so that was really gratifying playing in the Solheim Cup. That's another goal for next year.

NANCY SCRANTON: A little bit of both, probably. I understand the golf swing better. Before I kind of just played. I really didn't understand it that much. And I think I know enough, but I don't know too much. (Laughter.) I don't like, I'm not technical and I don't like to get into it a lot. But I do understand it better now. I make a better swing at it now. Mechanically.

NANCY SCRANTON: I played basketball and ran track and volleyball and softball. Probably softball was my favorite. But pretty much all of the above.

NANCY SCRANTON: I didn't start playing until I was about 15, so it was one of those, okay, I'll go out, dad. But I kind of started and it was one of those things like if I have time I'll do that in between the other stuff. But then I played a little bit and played on our high school team a little bit. And then Lopez got out on tour and got so much publicity and I said, I should do this. I'm not going to be playing softball for a living, that's for sure. And I would have thrown my arm out. I'm sure I would have thrown my shoulder out. Thinking back now on it.

NANCY SCRANTON: No, no, no. Who? Good thing.