WEETABIX WOMEN'S BRITISH OPEN

August 2, 2001

Johanna Head

JOHANNA HEAD: Second hole, I hit a 9-wood into the green. It came up short. I chipped and holed the putt. It was about six feet. The sixth hole -- the sixth hole, yeah, that was a tough hole, actually. I hit 5-iron in to six feet and holed the putt. Then on the ninth, I drove the green. Had probably a 25-footer for eagle and made birdie. Then at the 10th, I hit a 7-wood into the green and very close to eagle there, but just tapped in for birdie. The eagle putt was 25 feet. My first bogey came at the 12th. I pulled my drive into the rubbish on the left and decided that my only way to getting to the green in two was play it to the par 5; and that if I make 4, it would be a bonus, so I just played a pitching wedge out. I punched a sand iron into the green and 2-putted for a bogey. 14, I hit a very good drive and I didn't think I could get there. I had 235 to the pin. Didn't quite get there with 3-wood, so I laid up with a 7-wood and chipped -- in fact, only had about 30 yards to the front, anyway, and I chipped to six feet and holed the birdie putt. 15, I hit 3-wood into the green. I had a 35-footer and holed that. 18, I 3-putted, unfortunately.

JOHANNA HEAD: The first putt, it actually lipped out. But it went about four feet past, and it was a right-to-lefter, and I just didn't give it enough to the right, so I made bogey. So, a disappointing finish.

JOHANNA HEAD: 20 feet.

JOHANNA HEAD: I used to live here. I just moved close to Northampton. I played the course thousands of times. Sam and I played Sunningdale every year -- last year I had seven rounds in four days. I've got to know the greens quite well.

JOHANNA HEAD: Well, I think today it's helped me a lot, because there have been lots of tricky pins out there, and knowing the greens so well has helped so much. I see some breaks that I wouldn't have seen when I played here last time four years ago for the British Open. So after all of the practice I've had with Sunningdale, I do know them quite well.

JOHANNA HEAD: Jose Marino. He's from Epsom. He caddies for me full-time, yeah. This is the seventh tournament. I just took him this year.

JOHANNA HEAD: Yeah, I'll be playing in America. I played eight tournaments over there. The experience is unbelievable because what I've learned is you've got to improve your putting. I'm improved my putting so much, and also my short game, as well. The first five tournaments, I wasn't chipping and putting very well at all, but I'm gradually getting to know how to play on the greens.

JOHANNA HEAD: We crossed paths when I come back to Europe to play. This year, I've only missed two European Tour events, so it's not like I'm not playing over here at all.

JOHANNA HEAD: We've been apart since we were 18, but really in the last two years, we've spent more and more time apart, and we've been through a lot and I think she misses me a lot. We have just sort of got on with our lives and just miss each other. I speak to her when I'm in the States about three times a week.

JOHANNA HEAD: It wasn't really too bad when I was out there. It started raining out there when I was on the first and I was freezing cold. And then it was fine up until I teed off on 16, and that is when it started raining, and then.

JOHANNA HEAD: Yeah, it's my second major, yeah. I played in the U.S. Open this year. I went over and qualified for that. So, yeah, this is my best start in a major. I missed the cut by two. The cut was 6 and I was at plus 8.

JOHANNA HEAD: It's not like me to make an excuse, but I really was -- because I was coming down 15 and then we were stopped for an hour, and then I bogeyed the next two holes. And then we were stopped for another hour, and I felt asleep in the car, and then I bogeyed the next two.

JOHANNA HEAD: My game has improved a lot, but at the moment, I haven't seen the results of it. So I'm just being patient. I'm working hard on my short game and the putting. I finished 12th last week in the Welsh, so I was quite pleased with that. I'm playing a lot better than my actual scores. Basically I'm trying to learn to score, to score better.

JOHANNA HEAD: I've been reading a book called Putting Out of Your Mind by Bob Rotella, and I started reading that in May, and literally, just read it -- I've just been working on what he said.

JOHANNA HEAD: I think it's the stories that he tells. He was saying about when he had an eagle at the 18th to shoot 59 and he was saying how he felt on his putt. So it's all about -- it's just reading about the experiences of top players, and I think that -- it's that that helped. They say that if you've got a 6-footer in your hand shaking, you can still make it. He was shaking, yeah, and he just -- he thought, "This is for a 59," and he did the same routine that he does every single time, and it's basically just doing that.

JOHANNA HEAD: I haven't finished it yet. I'm going to go back and read it tonight.

JOHANNA HEAD: I'm longer than Sam on my woods, but on our irons we are quite similar, and Sam is a very, very good putter, and I think that I'm quite a good putter, but Sam just holes everything. Yes, on Tuesday, we had a match and she won a penny from me, but then I beat her at chipping and won it back. She still hasn't paid me, though.