ASAHI RYOKUKEN INTERNATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP

May 17, 2002

Janice Moodie

DEBBIE EARECKSON: Let's start by going over your score card, Janice.

JANICE MOODIE: Birdied No. 2. I had a long putt, about 20-foot putt. I had driver and 8-iron, holed a 20-foot putt for birdie.

3rd, I hit a 5-iron to about 6 feet and holed that.

7, I hit a 7-iron almost holed it, almost had a hole-in-one.

And then my next birdie was on 10. I hit a 5-wood off the tee. I hit it to about 12 feet and holed it. That was a tough pin there.

16, on the green in two, two putts.

18, I hit a 5-wood that went down the slope and then I had an 8-iron up that hill. And I holed one of about 12 feet. I'm glad it hit the hole.

DEBBIE EARECKSON: Can you talk about how the course was playing today?

JANICE MOODIE: It played easier today than yesterday because of the greens. They had single cut the greens and watered them as well. It just made it a little easier with some of those ridges and stuff. It doesn't always fall down, if you just miss the putt or something. The course is in great shape. I like it.

Q. Were you sort of being patient until you got to 16? 16 is a pretty easy birdie hole. Were you being patient until you got to that hole?

JANICE MOODIE: Yeah, a little bit, because when I came on to No. 14, I had a fairly easy shot there. I could have gone for a little bit more, and I just kind of elected to hit it right a little bit and go for my par. I think it's a golf course that you've got to be patient with. There are a lot of pins that are sucker pins out there, so you're better off playing safe. If the putt goes in, it goes in. And if not, you know you're going to make par.

Q. Janice, we keep hearing from the competitors how difficult it is and how difficult this course is out there. You didn't have a bogey out there today. How come you're not having the same problems?

JANICE MOODIE: I think I missed one green out there today. I played really well. I've been striking the ball really well for the last couple of months. And I didn't have any putts fall. And now some of the putts are falling, which is nice. I just didn't make any mistakes. I stroked the ball solidly and gave myself a chance at par, if not birdie, each and every hole I was on.

Q. Is this one of these courses where you can continue like that or do you look ahead on this weekend and say there will be a stretch where I might have to struggle through a couple of things to get beyond it?

JANICE MOODIE: I think it's one of these golf courses where you mentally are challenged the whole way around, not just from the middle of the fairway. And we play a lot of golf courses where it's just driver off the tee, driver off the tee. I mean, I'm hitting 5-woods off the tee, I'm hitting 7-woods, 3-woods off the tee. I maybe hit driver -- I don't have it down here, but I'd say, I can count maybe on one hand how many times I hit driver.

So I think you just really have got to be in the right place on the fairways to give yourself the opportunity to get to the pins.

Q. You were talking out there about a parking place and the police department. Could you elaborate on that?

JANICE MOODIE: The police department have kind of taken me under their wing this week for some reason. So I joke around with them and talk to them and they're really good guys. I've been having a great time with them. They saved me a spot at the front of the row. Don't ask me why. I didn't ask for it.

Q. The chip shot on 17, was that as easy as you made it look?

JANICE MOODIE: Actually, no. But, yes, I'd actually had one on the par-5, No. 6, and I had a similar type pitch and run shot where I had to keep it short of the green, just to let the green take it to the hole. So luckily I played that on the round.

Q. Can you talk about overtaking Laura Davies? What's your relationship with her? Have you followed her game? I know you're both from Great Britain, but talk a little bit about Davies and how she has a little more stature in the game than you do, but you're ahead.

JANICE MOODIE: It's only round 2. There's four rounds to go. A lot can happen. We've got a big field. We've got Annika. We've got a bunch of players. Grace Park is also doing very well, too. It's one of those things where I like playing golf with Laura Davies. She's good fun. She's a great competitor. And I know she's going to be out there after me. We actually played in a match play event in Scotland last year, and she beat me in that. She'll be looking at me like I'm going out for revenge. It's a shot play event, and there's two more days left.

Q. Have you had the lead after 36 holes before?

JANICE MOODIE: You know what? I think maybe yeah. Good question.

Q. Is it any different being in the lead like this as far as looking for the last two rounds?

JANICE MOODIE: You know, no, I'm just going to go out there and play hopefully the way I've played the last two days. And if I can do that, I'll be happy with the way I played.

Q. When you play with Laura, she's a very aggressive player, very powerful player. Do you have to be careful not to try to match her kind of aggression or does the course keep you from doing that?

JANICE MOODIE: You know, I think Laura comes over as being a very aggressive player. But really she's not. There are some tournaments she might have the driver in the bag just for decoration. Sure, there's a lot of holes out here where she's thinking I wanted to place it here, I want to place it there. She's very aggressive, because she hits it so far, and she'll have a wedge in her hand when I have an iron in my hand. She really does think her way around the golf course.

Q. When Laura was in here earlier she talked about, as you said, the driver is in the bag a lot this week, but the fact that she can hit all her clubs so long that sometimes that's an advantage in that she can be hitting an iron where maybe you or others have to hit a driver or wood. Tomorrow when you're sort of head-to-head, even though it's still two rounds, does that play into your head at all where she's able to maybe hit the irons and not have to worry about putting it out of play?

JANICE MOODIE: Not really. She's still got to hit the shots; I still have to hit the shots. I'm a fairly long player. Most of these par-5s I'm getting on in two. I don't think if matters if I'm you hitting a wood in, and she's hitting an iron in. I'm not saying I hit it as far as she does, because I don't. But I think obviously she has the advantage with having the irons in the bag. That's where I said she has a wedge in her hand when maybe I have an 8-iron in my hand. But you have to see what happens.

Q. Janice, are you usually comfortable playing from a lead? Would you rather be in a third position, kind of just stalking people for a while, or do you like being out front?

JANICE MOODIE: I just hope that they don't put the heart monitor on me tomorrow. It will be a definite interesting one, and then you would definitely know how I feel. You may not know how I feel, but you would be able to see it on the heart monitor. I'm going to go out for fun on the weekend and play as hard as I can play.

Q. The thing about the parking place, what day did it that start?

JANICE MOODIE: Today. I had a late tee time, and I got there and there was a parking place. They had the cones up, this is your spot, this is your spot. They're having fun. They do a great job out here. I think sometimes you get intimidated by the players, and I've been talking to them all weekend. I'm about the only person going out and laughing and joking and having a good time with them. One of the guys, we call him "The Bird Man," he gave me like a good luck turkey claw, and it's in the bag this week. He's "The Bird Man," that's another story. He has a tattoo. It's on his arm.

Q. What is it?

JANICE MOODIE: It's a duck. They're just great people, really good.

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