U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 4, 2003

Hilary Lunke

Q. Let's start there. Your two looks even better now?

HILARY LUNKE: It looks a lot better now. I'm not happy to see her do that, she's a friend of mine. But, yeah, even better for me, I guess.

Q. But she can't be that good a friend, can she? Angela was surprised to find out that she was in second place. Are you surprised to find out you're tied for second?

HILARY LUNKE: Yeah. I would say I'm surprised. I looked up at the board a couple times out there and saw I was hovering around third or fourth place. And that's where I kind of expected I would finish at the end of the day. So, yeah, I guess I'm pleased to see that I ended up better than I thought.

Q. How was the course playing for you today?

HILARY LUNKE: It was playing tough. The course is just getting baked. I think it is definitely an advantage to have been in the morning today. Yesterday afternoon the course was so hard and I can't believe what it's going to be like this coming afternoon. So yeah, I'm definitely pleased with where I'm at and I'm glad to be off the golf course, the same way Angela said.

Q. What's going right for you so far through the first two rounds?

HILARY LUNKE: Yesterday I had a little bit better ball striking day and I just really couldn't hole all the putts that I normally would hole. Today I was making just about everything. I had a couple of bad lag putts coming in and I made one of them and missed the other one. But other than that, I made almost every makeable putt that I had today. My ball striking was a little bit off. So if I can get my ball striking from yesterday with the putting from today, that would be where I would really like to be.

Q. You and Angela talk about being glad to be off the course. Can you just describe what a day is like out there? How you feel at the end of the day?

HILARY LUNKE: You just want to chalk up one number after the other. Just par, par, just, okay, one more down. You just put it behind you and just one shot at a time. It's definitely just every hole that you complete you're thankful that you're done with that hole. There's no easy holes out there. There's no real birdie holes out there. You have to hit a good shot and a good putt and maybe get a little lucky to make a lot of the birdies that you're making. So yeah, you just want to keep chalking up those pars and take the birdies when they come and not get upset when you make bogeys. Because there's not going to be a bogeyless round out here, I don't think. And you just make sure you don't make the big numbers.

Q. That being said, were you shocked to see her at 9?

HILARY LUNKE: I wasn't shocked, because I know she can make a lot of birdies. But at the same time I know that it's tough out there and like what happened on the last hole, any hole can just all of a sudden come up and bite you. So that's what I'm saying, you got to just take the birdies as they come and if you get hot out there, you still got to know that a double or triple could be right around the corner and you've just got to stay patient through that.

Q. How good of an opportunity did you feel look you had there on your last hole?

HILARY LUNKE: I felt like I had a good opportunity, but at the same time I know it was a downhill putt and I -- not that you're going to suddenly hit it four feet by on a 12 footer, but I was looking definitely over the edge of the green there and maybe got a little too tentative. So it would have been nice to end like that, but overall I'm pleased with the way I played.

Q. Have you left the course in second place this season after two rounds?

HILARY LUNKE: Definitely not. No. I don't think I've ever left a course second in a pro event. So it's definitely, I welcome the spot that I'm in.

Q. What in particular are you thinking you got going for you this week that hasn't been there this season?

HILARY LUNKE: I don't really think my game was necessarily that different these last two days than it has been. But I just think that tough golf courses suit me better. I pretty much play the same game whatever golf course I go to and if it's a super easy golf course I still only shoot a couple under par. I play really conservative, really smart, hit a lot of fairways and try to keep my short game in good shape. And so for me the harder the golf course the better. Because I tend to kind of shoot the same scores.

Q. With that in mind have you always felt like The Open would be your tournament?

HILARY LUNKE: Definitely. I always said to my dad that if I win an LPGA event I think my best chance would come at a U.S. Open for sure. I tend to drive the ball straight, like I said. And the biggest weakness in my game is my iron play. And in a U.S. Open, as long as you're driving the ball straight and your short game is good, you can get away with your irons being a little off here and there. Because even great shots can miss the green.

Q. What's going on with the Cardinal, how come there is so many of you guys up there?

HILARY LUNKE: Yeah I was really happy to see than I looked on the board and I saw McKay, Lunke, Louden, with Stanford. You know, sandwiched in between. So I said we need to get a picture of that.

(Laughter.)

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