U.S. WOMEN'S AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

August 12, 2000

Laura Myerscough

LAURA MYERSCOUGH: I actually did. I was keeping my head up. I knew I was six back. I couldn't have played worse that first 18, so I knew I couldn't do anything but get better. I knew there's a lot of putts out there to be made. I birdied the 1st hole. I was feeling good. You know, Marcy, she didn't give up. I mean, she played solid golf the whole way. You know, she hit her driver dead straight like every shot. When you're hitting the fairways, hitting the greens, she made me work to beat her. She did.

LAURA MYERSCOUGH: Really, my timing wasn't there. I was a little tight. I was warmed up but just wasn't feeling my rhythm very well. I think more than anything, it was just a combination of all shots that gave me troubles. I really didn't hit my driver very well. My fairway woods were absolutely horrible today. I wasn't really making as many putts as I wanted to. Just the combination of all that stuff, you're not going to end up with very good rounds. I came back, though. I played much better, I felt, that last 11 holes. I tried, you know. I wasn't going to give up. That's all I can say.

LAURA MYERSCOUGH: Oh, it's been a great week. That was my main goal, to come out this week and, you know, win or get to the finals, and I did. I had a lot of great matches. I played a lot of great players. I beat a lot of great players. But I did lose to a great player, you know. Overall, it was a great week. I mean, I didn't have the best qualifying scores, but I got into matchplay. Once I did, I played some good golf. Today was a little up-and-down, but overall I'm disappointed I lost, but I can't be disappointed in the overall aspect of things. It was a great week.

LAURA MYERSCOUGH: It really wasn't nerves. On the first tee, sometimes you're so nervous, you're shaking. It's hard to breathe. Pretty much I had to tell myself, "Take some deep breaths. You're okay." In my swing, I could tell myself that I wasn't nervous or tight, but really you are. I mean, it's like your body doesn't turn, therefore your arms are going to go, you're going to get some ugly shots. That's what happened to me all the first 18. I just wasn't trusting, in other words. I didn't trust my swing. That's what you've got to do under the gun.

LAURA MYERSCOUGH: Yes.

LAURA MYERSCOUGH: It's very easy to do that. Mike knows my game just as well as I do. He's to the point where we're out playing golf, we're hitting shots. We're not working on mechanics, we're not learning how to hit certain shots. We're playing the game. You pick your target, see the shot you want to hit, you try and execute. That's the one great thing about Mike is that Mike keeps it in the game of golf aspect. Mechanics, all that stuff, it's for the range. When we're on the golf course, we're playing the game. He was great. He was incredible because no matter what, if I had just completely lost the hole, he was trying to get me to laugh, just loosen up. I couldn't have been here without him. He was awesome. It was great having my dad here, my friend Derrick in the crowd. I could look over at them and still smile. Even though it was bad at times, I could still smile. That was a good feeling.

LAURA MYERSCOUGH: I shouldn't say (laughter). If you know my dad, he's a big funny guy. Gee, just stuff back in the hotel room that my dad would do. We would just laugh about it. I can't tell you about it because my dad would kill me. Just little things. Mike, he tried to make it easy on me by saying, "We're back home playing golf. How many rounds of golf have you played in your life? We're back home playing with the boys, hitting shots." He tried to just relax me. It was hard. It was really hard for him to get me to loosen up a little bit. I don't know. It was okay.

LAURA MYERSCOUGH: It had a lot. I know if I would have gone out and played well, I could have easily won or beat Marcy. She's been here. She played against Grace Park, lost in the semis a couple years ago, won the Junior. She's had this. Mike and I were talking. It's like we've learned so much in these last two days of golf, unbelievable amount. I can't do anything but just grow from that. I'm starting at Arizona next week. I have school starting, whole new season, new coach. My new coach Greg Allen came to watch me today. Him showing up today was awesome. That just shows that he cares. Him coming today meant so much (tearing up).

LAURA MYERSCOUGH: He said, "Hey, go get them." It made me feel like he believed in me. It was great.

LAURA MYERSCOUGH: Oh, yeah. I fought that the whole last two years. I mean, you have to have a coach that believes in you, believes in your game. It really felt so awesome to have Greg here. I don't think he knows how much it meant to me that he was here (tearing up).

LAURA MYERSCOUGH: Thank you.