THE SOLHEIM CUP

October 23, 1994

Dottie Mochrie

DOTTIE MOCHRIE: I don't know what happened today. I really don't. That was the best I played all year. And you know, it -- I think it started around the first hole when, you know, I had it uphill and into the wind and I wanted to hit 5 and Ralph said, no, I think it is too much; you need to hit 6. Staked it at one; lipped it out, and just finally realized that I was so pumped I needed to back off and just keep swinging hard and everything was just at it all day long.

DOTTIE MOCHRIE: In what terms?

DOTTIE MOCHRIE: No.

DOTTIE MOCHRIE: I am out here to do my job represent my country; I had to do everything to win that first hole. Which I never did all week, but still came out okay.

DOTTIE MOCHRIE: It was pretty bad. I think I said earlier in the week probably one of the longest flights I have ever had back, and it definitely was a factor. I know everybody that was on that team at Dalmahoy two years ago that was first and foremost on their mind when they started accumulateing points was to have the chance to get it back. I mean, you can't do too much if you are sitting outside the ropes and can't even come to The Greenbrier and play. There are so many people that were on that team and even those who weren't, I know Deb Richard tried her heart out to get here and, you know, it meant so much to her just to have the chance to come back to play. I mean, it is probably a warn out cliche, but you never know what you had until you lost something.

DOTTIE MOCHRIE: I don't know. I mean I know I had a great partner the first two days and we kind of cheered each other on and the sooner we could get off the golf course, and get back out to root everybody else on, I thought it was very important to get back out there and let everybody else know that we want them to win their matches as much as we wanted to win ours. And if I happen to inspire somebody, so be it. I mean, that is great. I would hope that is what would have happened.

JOANNE CARNER: I think their fieriness; their aggressiveness was catchy; that is why I put them off first. I knew they were ready. I knew -- I knew they were ready. And I knew once, as I said before, one's aggressiveness feeds on the other and if I could bring them out winning, they would fire up everybody else.

DOTTIE MOCHRIE: Starting out we were both really nervous, and you know, we mentioned this to each other on Thursday night and the word "sorry" was not to come out of either of our mouths no matter what we did; just dig it out whereever your partner put it. Fortunate, when -- we only missed one fairway so there wasn't much digging going on. There would be no apologies and you just go play golf.

DOTTIE MOCHRIE: Well, we made -- first of all, we started out the week by making her sell us how she and Don met; how she talked him into shanking the shots; we thought we could do it to anybody. And to me, I mean, I have always been one that didn't love match play, but I think I have gained a new appreciation from it from her point of view. I mean, I know, for me, the first day was really crucial because we had a match that never had any movement in it at all for the first 8 holes. But when we got one down, we felt like it was no big deal. We came right back. And got it back at 12 and she just said, just hang in there as long as you can because the tide of the play match can change so quickly. We ran off 3 out of the next 4; I think in the past, I would have gotten a little antsy and tried to force too many things to happen and when Brandie and I both realized we were just a little too "tried to make it happenish" (sic), if you want to force the issue after 11, things just started to go in from every where from 12 on in. I think we both sat there at dinner Thursday night; had we not done that we may not have come to the conclusion we did after 11 holes on Friday. So that you know, that is priceless.

DOTTIE MOCHRIE: This was a team. Even though she sequestered us, she did, and it was good. We had a round table on Thursday night and you know, everybody was just totally comfortable with everybody; there was no -- there was just no one dominent person all week; nobody was grumpy, nobody was down, nobody was anything but 100% behind the them and it was just great.

DOTTIE MOCHRIE: There just wasn't the unity that there was here. We all laugh when Betsy King's caddy walked out on the street when we were walking in Wednesday when it poured and a car came down and splashed it and covered him with mud and he said I took a bullet for the team and we said we probably all would have done that. It was a team effort from day one.

DOTTIE MOCHRIE: I came real close to making two ones and I made -- that is scary. One of them was with a 2-iron. It was just, you know, it was just great. The irons were just all over. And I think the longest putt I made was about 15 feet.

DOTTIE MOCHRIE: I putted off the back fringe on -- well I was on the fringe at 2 and back fringe at 3. Those were the only 2.

DOTTIE MOCHRIE: 7, yeah, that is where I hit 2-iron to about 2 feet from the hole.

DOTTIE MOCHRIE: Until it was all over and she said it was just the best she had ever seen anybody play and I kind of -- I kept saying, just don't -- I didn't even know how many I had made. I knew after -- I guessed after I made the birdie at 9, I thought I made 3 in a row. As it turns out, I made 4, so I just never really had a recollection of what was going on and I think that, again, I have to credit it to JoAnne because she really made it a point of telling us that every hole is over; it is a match in itself; just go on and it doesn't matter if you have made 10 or 2, it is over. And that was just really important, so I never never even looked back; just kept firing forward.

DOTTIE MOCHRIE: I had a conceded birdie at 6. That was about four feet there. Made the birdie at 7. Holed it for 12 feet at 8; holed it from 12 feet at 9. Had a conceded birdie from 2 feet at 11. And made it from about 12 feet at 13.

DOTTIE MOCHRIE: 11. It jumped right over the top of the hole.

DOTTIE MOCHRIE: 8-iron.

DOTTIE MOCHRIE: What would you say to him?

DOTTIE MOCHRIE: Well, I am not -- this is my job and I love my job. And I mean, I know you guys write with a passion for what you do. And this is the way I take my job.

DOTTIE MOCHRIE: I think the way, especially the last two matches came out yesterday not just because we beat Laura, but because we played so well when we did win it and had such a tough match. I just felt going into today and even though I didn't hit it great on the range this morning, I just felt great on the first tee and I hope -- and just any self doubts there were about firing it at a pin and just keep going and trying to make as many as you can instead of getting -- I think sometimes in mental play you get real conservative and start to wonder where you are against the field and start staring at the leader board too much. Hopefully that is gone.

DOTTIE MOCHRIE: I sure hope that it will start next week and keep on going.

DOTTIE MOCHRIE: I hope so. I hope. I know I watched Betsy in front of me struggling; hitting it really good and just missing a bunch of short putts and I thought if I can just putting low numbers on the board and watch the up column keep going up and up, I hope they realize there is a lot of birdies to be made out there, and you know, if one person can do it we have such a talented team that everyone could.

DOTTIE MOCHRIE: I really don't care. I know what it takes for me to play well and I know I am professional about it; I don't get in anybody's way, and I have to be happy with myself, first and foremost.

DOTTIE MOCHRIE: I have to be totally professional in talking about it. If I am happy with myself, I can't apologize to anyone else, I could apologize, but I can learn from experience, but I am still happy with what I have done because I don't just fly off the cuff. I mean, I am certainly not going to make a 40 footer and go "thanks." You know, if it's a crucial situation, I am certainly not going to apologize about making a great shot or trying to win a match.