Q. Can you talk about the distances you hit those clubs and where you use those today?
HILARY LUNKE: Yeah, I drive it -- I probably only fly my driver about 205, maybe 210, and depending on what kind of course I'm playing, you can figure out the roll from there. I don't know what my average is this year, maybe 230 something, 240 at the max. 3-wood I can generally, off the tee, I can easily carry it 195 to 200 yards, off the ground probably 190, 195. And my 7-wood is probably 180 to 185. My 9-wood is 170 to 175. And my 11-wood is usually around 165. This week the greens are so firm and everything around the firms is so firm, I was hitting it from 170, 175, 180. I considered dropping my 9-wood a couple of times, because they're all pretty close right in there. But for me, as a short hitter, the majority of shots I hit on Tour are between 160 and 180 yards. So I'd rather have as many clubs as I can in that area as opposed to maybe in some other areas, because I don't have to hit it from 140, 150 all that often.
RHONDA GLENN: What's the longest iron that you carry.
HILARY LUNKE: 5.
Q. Your parents names have come up a few times, your father's name is Bill, and what's your mother's name?
HILARY LUNKE: My mother's name is Penny, my father is an independent insurance agent and he has an insurance agency back in Minneapolis, he's partners with John Harris, who is a USGA Amateur champion and Walker Cup player, and plays on the Senior Tour now. It's a golf insurance business. So he has a lot of time off to come and travel with me, which is nice. And my mom basically is a homemaker. She sells replica jewelry on the side.
Q. What's your dad's name?
HILARY LUNKE: Bill.
Q. People raved about your short game all week. I just want to know is it usually this good or was it even better this week than normal?
HILARY LUNKE: I'd say it was better this week than normal. The short game by far is the best part of my game, no questions asked. I don't think I necessarily chipped and pitched that much better than I normally do, it's just that almost every putt went in, that was of -- under ten feet. I made almost everything, the whole week. Maybe not the first round, I left a lot out there. But I think I missed one three footer yesterday and I felt like I hit a good putt on it, I hit it too hard and it lipped out. So that was the key difference, I think. I didn't feel like I was chipping out of my mind or anything like that, I was chipping it and pitching it and hitting bunker shots the same way I always do, it was just that I was making every single 6 and 8-footer, instead of maybe only two thirds of them the way I normally would.
Q. I guess you've just moved into the house or you're about to. Can you tell me, are you even settled and why the move?
HILARY LUNKE: We're definitely not settled, we just bought it last week, our stuff is still in a storage unit in Austin, Texas. We actually don't even close on the house until August 15th, and won't be moving in until September. We're far from settled, but it's nice now to have a little cushion, knowing that we can make all the mortgage payments this year, no problem. The move was because of Tylar. He's been accepted at the University of Texas business school, which is a great business school. He was thrilled to be accepted and was just pretty much automatic that we were going to move there once he got in.
Q. Have you picked out a course or anything like that down there?
HILARY LUNKE: No, hopefully it will be easier now, to have someone let me practice there. I was worried about finding a course that wouldn't mind if I practiced. So, no, there's tons of good golf courses in Austin, and hopefully I'll be able to have a few privileges at some of them, practice and play and prepare.
Q. How much of the prize money are you going to use for down payment on the house?
HILARY LUNKE: We haven't figured that out yet. We were talking about it last night, after we knew that I was at least going to make some money today, of a pretty good magnitude. We'll have to sit down and figure it out with our mortgage broker. It's definitely a change from the original plan, though, that's for sure.
Q. How do you spell your husband's name?
HILARY LUNKE: T-y-l-a-r.
Q. Hilary, you've known Angela for a little longer, and played with her the last few days, what were your thoughts on her game, and just her opportunity to become one of the I guess elite American players in the next 4, 5, 6, 7 years?
HILARY LUNKE: I'm extremely impressed with Angela's game, always have been. She was a four time All-American, maybe a four time first team All-American at TCU. I've always been impressed with it. I think she's a solid player. She's solid under pressure. Her ball flight is so assist tent. She always hits a solid, kind of boring draw shot. And I think when she won last week, I was sitting back in Texas with Tylar's aunt and uncle and parents watching her win. And I cried when she came up the 18th hole, I was so happy for her. And it really did stir something inside of me. I thought, you know, if she can win, I can win. And she's got a tremendous game, and maybe I don't have as great of a game as she does, but I know I have just as much tenacity. I thought if she's out here and pretty much just blew away the field, I can go out there and get myself in contention, too. I didn't think it would be this week, necessarily. But she did inspire me a lot last week. And even more so this week, because if you watch how tournament winners tend to perform the following week, it's not usually that great. It's just -- you kind of emotionally let down after that event. And to come into the Women's Open having just come off a win and to perform the way that she did is just remarkable.
Q. Do you think after she made the chip at 14 that perhaps that she had grabbed the momentum?
HILARY LUNKE: Absolutely, when she made that chip, I thought maybe it's her day, maybe this is the way it's supposed to be. And I was prepared to accept that if that was the way it was going to be, but I was going to fight it out. And I was going to make sure that I put in my best effort. And when we made the turn after No. 11 I thought if I make all pars I'll win. And I bogeyed 12, unfortunately, but after that, par go 13, par go 14, which is an extremely difficult hole, you usually don't think you're going to lose ground. And when I lost ground I thought all I can do is play my game, play it to the best of my ability, try to make everything I can, and if she comes off the winner, I can't look back on it with any regrets.
Q. I guess you're the first one that qualified for the U.S. Open and won. Do you think you'll encourage other players that have to go through qualifying?
HILARY LUNKE: I hope so. I was disappointed when I had to qualify this year. It's a long process to qualify for the championship. I think I was a little frustrated because I knew if I got in here that I could do well and I could make the cut and I could make some decent money for myself. So it was a frustrating process. But I hope I am an encouragement to people who have to qualify. I was back there at the very beginning, at the local qualifier, playing 18 holes, and just start from scratch and do the best you can. And there's a lot of people that could do the same thing, I know they can.
RHONDA GLENN: You know, you're exempt until the next ten Women's Open Championships.
Q. You looked so calm throughout the day, and it came spilling out of you, all the emotion came spilling out of you. I wonder if you could describe what the mental, emotional battle was like inside?
HILARY LUNKE: It was a battle, that's what it was. It was me fighting myself. When I hit the tee shot on 18 I was pumped and I started walking down that little wooden pathway they have there in the weeds where you're hidden from everybody. And my mind kind of started wandering a little bit, like, wow, what if I win, how much money is it again? How many -- I'm exempt for how long? And what's the deal, here? What will I do? What will we do tonight? And then I just kind of cut myself off, and said make birdie, here. You're coming in, stroke-play, you're even par for the day, you want to break par. And I was also trying to play the angle with myself, that you're playing match play, and you're playing against Angela Stanford, she's going to birdie this hole. You have to birdie it to beat her. I was fighting my with myself in my mind walking up the fairway. I was excited to be in the position I was. I was so thankful being one shot ahead going into the last hole as opposed to being tied, because I did have a huge feeling that Angela would make birdie there, knowing the player that she is. So I was mentally fighting myself all day long, just trying to trick myself into thinking I was playing a regular 18 holes of golf, and it didn't have anything to do with winning anything.
Q. You haven't gone through your card, but could you highlight what you consider the two or three key holes that won you the U.S. Open today?
HILARY LUNKE: Well, first of all on No. 5 I was trying to hit a choke down 11-wood, I didn't feel so good about trying to fly my 5-iron back there, and I under cut it a little, and I got an incredible bounce, just right on to the front fringe. It was an inch away from going in the water, probably. So that was a huge hole. That I felt like put momentum in my direction.
7, like I said before, when I was hitting that shot with the ball up above me, felt like it could have gone anywhere. And when it took off, the way I had intended, I thought that was a good sign.
I think 11 and 12, 11 I kind of had gotten myself in trouble with my tee shot and my second shot and I hit an incredible shot into the green, had a pretty standard little downhill 30-footer, and ran it 8 feet by. That could have been a huge turning point. But I tried to focus on -- my husband said, just focus and this is the 8-footer you wanted.
Q. What was the club in the fairway?
HILARY LUNKE: 11-wood.
Q. For how far?
HILARY LUNKE: It was 178 or 180, something like that. And making that putt for bogey on No. 12 was huge after Angela made that birdie putt. I didn't make a double bogey the entire championship, and I was very proud of that fact and I was not excited to be standing over a sliding 8 foot putt for bogey at that point. But when I made that, I think that was a key point, as well. You know, coming in the last couple of holes I was just kind of making, for me, routine pars. I felt like I hit a great shot into 13, 14, 15, and 16 I pulled it just a little bit and kind of hit it into the bank and it didn't come up on the green the way I anticipated. It was a pretty standard little up-and-down for me, 2-putt on 17 and then the birdie on 18.
RHONDA GLENN: What are you going to do tonight?
HILARY LUNKE: I don't know. I'm supposed to drive to Vancouver. So I don't know if I'll change my plans or not. But I'm playing in the Canadian Open this week. And I'm supposed to meet my private housing people tonight. So we'll have some fun. I don't know what we'll do.
Q. What was your distance on 18, into the green?
HILARY LUNKE: I had 51 yards total. I was a little downwind and I knew the green was firm, I was trying to play it about 45 yards in my head.
RHONDA GLENN: Ladies and gentlemen, our 2003 United States Women's Open Champion.
HILARY LUNKE: Thank you.
End of FastScripts....
