U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 10, 1997

Deb Richard

DEB RICHARD: Well, it was -- I was happy with the day. I played very solid. I absolutely love this golf course. It's spectacular. For 18 holes there's not a letup hole out there, and I like that about it. For 18 holes it's really asking the best of you. And I played solid. I had some really good practice rounds on Tuesday and Wednesday, hit a lot of good, long iron shots, which for me, I'm going to hit a lot of them out on this golf course, a lot of 4-irons. And it's some really difficult holes. So I felt good going into today. I'm probably a pretty unlikely person to be here, having missed three out of my last four cuts. But I haven't been playing bad, I just haven't been making putts. Today I hit it left off the tee, had to punch it back out short of the green, made bogey. I stood up on 10 and hit a great 5-iron into about ten feet. It hit the spike mark on the putt and lips out. And I thought, "I don't want to go down this road again." I get up on 3, it's pouring down rain. I hit the fairway, but I didn't hit it very long, blocked an iron into the right bunker and made a very key up-and-down for me. I hit a good bunker shot. There's really no stopping it down the hill. I hit an 8-footer coming back, left-to-righter, those are the putts I've not been making, and made it center cut, and it put me in a good frame of mind. I played extremely solid from there out. I didn't do anything flashy, nothing outstanding, just hit a lot of good shots out there today and took advantage of a couple of close ones and left quite a few 15-, 18-footers out there, but I'm excited with the day.

DEB RICHARD: No. 5, I hit 5-iron there to a foot. I feel pretty 100 percent about making all those. That got my round back to even. I hit a lot of good shots the first few holes, but it wasn't clicking and I think that shot really set me going. And played a lot of good, solid shots through those stretch of holes. No. 8, I hit driver, 7-iron to 12 feet, made a very nice left-to-right putt there and had it pin-high left. It's funny. It's one of the shorter holes out there and you're standing there, and if you miss your iron shot pin-high on the wrong side of one of those ridges, that is one of the nastiest greens I've putted in a long time. So I felt really good getting off the green. Because both of the people I played with, there's a ridge just to the left of the pin today and they hit the left side of the ridge and stayed over there and they had nasty putts and made great 2-putts. And I kept it between the ridge and the hole and was fortunate. But the difference is six feet on the fly, but on the putt it's tremendous. That's what you get for 18 holes out here. So that was -- I think that's indicative of really the golf course. Like I said I played solid. A lot of fairways, greens, a lot of good opportunities. On 13, this is where we had the hardest rain we had during the day, where we went through -- when we got on 12 green it started raining. We played in a downpour on 13 and 14. And on 13 I grabbed a little 6-iron, which I thought was absolutely perfect. I thought I'd knocked it in the hole, pitch marks a foot from the hole. But the hole is in a little hollow and released just through the green. And I spent probably 60 percent of my practice times working on the bump and runs. I played a little challenge game for with my caddy and right now I'm three up on him, so I'm doing okay, and I have to make them in order to win. It was a shot I was trying to make, and I made the pitch shot coming back. It was a 20-footer and it went right in. That got me to 2-under. Like I said on 14 it was pouring. 14, I think, is the most difficult hole out there. It's designed to be a par-5. The green's designed for wedges and sand wedges, and today I hit my drive out the right side in the rain, and I'm in the right center of the fairway. I've got a downhill hook lie. I have 177 to the pin. It's pouring down rain. You've got water left and a hook lie and you're thinking, just stay with it. And I hit a great 4-iron, and had an 18-footer. I didn't make it. But it's those kind of shots that you hit that really give you energy, that keep you going through the day. And I hit a lot of those today. And then played 15, 16, 17 very solid, had good birdie opportunities on every hole and just didn't make them. And then 18 I was playing with Sherrin Smyers today, and she cut it a little too close coming off the tee, and we didn't know if her ball was up or not. I hit the drive more up the right side than what I originally wanted to. I said, "We're going to make it a three-shot hole today." I hit 5-wood across the stuff (laughter). I left myself with a perfect sand wedge yardage, 75 yards to the flag, which is perfect to me. I hit it to 3 feet and made the putt for birdie to shoot the 3-under.

DEB RICHARD: My year has been very so-so. I haven't been hitting the ball bad, but nothing's been happening. I haven't been making putts. In fact, I've been struggling with my putter just to the point of wanting to go crazy. I have been spending an awful lot of time working on it, trying to get into the mode. I've played some rounds where I have hit it so good and I've shot 1 over. I've hit 16 greens and shot 1-over. And that kind of wears on you. But I knew coming in here I wasn't playing bad. And like I said, I played well in the practice rounds and I probably came into this open calmer than I ever have because I haven't been playing well or I haven't been scoring well. And I think for me that's probably good. I usually come into the open, I've been playing well, I'm pumped up, I'm psyched to play. You go out with too much energy, and that's a bad thing to have in the open. I think you play better in the open when you can play calm and you can play pretty boring. It's exciting when you're out there and you're hitting the shots, but it's a boring way of playing. And you really have to convince yourself of that, because you're not going to go out there and shoot 262, 63, 64. I like that. I wish we could play open style golf courses every week, obviously, because I don't go out there and make 20- and 30-footers all day long. This is something I enjoy. I enjoy USGA events, and hopefully this will be a turnaround to really kickstart the rest of my year.

DEB RICHARD: I didn't know what she shot. I asked Rhonda what she shot when we sat down. I asked what she ended up shooting. When I got to the golf course they had her posted at five over for 9. It caught my attention. What Annika has done is phenomenal. She's an incredible player. I don't think you can set up a golf course that doesn't suit her game. She's solid. She's a solid ball striker. She's an excellent putter. And I think she probably has really one of the best mental games on Tour, and that's a pretty formidable player. I think probably all of the players are shocked at Annika's round today. I expect her to come back and shoot a really good round tomorrow.

DEB RICHARD: I think it's what you expect from an open. Like I said, if somebody were to go out there and shoot 5, 6, 7 under, let me tell you something, they have played the round of their lives. This golf course, in my mind, really doesn't have a hole where you stand on the tee and go, "This is an automatic birdie hole." Some of the par-5s might be that way for Laura and Kelly and a couple of the long-hitters where maybe 4 -- they can reach 4 in two. Some holes like that. But I'm a little bit longer than the average ball striker on Tour. And I can't reach any of these other par-5s. There's 560 par-5, 530 par-5, those are long par-5s, so you're still having to hit shots. There's nothing automatic out there on this golf course. You're having to earn every birdie you make out there.

DEB RICHARD: They are in my book, I tell you that. They are three-shotters all the way around for me.