THE NABISCO CHAMPIONSHIP

March 23, 2000

Rachel Hetherington

RACHEL HETHERINGTON: On the 4th hole, had a bogey there just missed the green left, chipped in, 2-putt. The 7th hole, I missed the green on the left side and chipped in for a birdie. And No. 9, I hit a sand wedge to about two feet and made a birdie there. No. 10, I hit a six -- 6-iron to probably 20 feet and made the putt. And No. 11, I hit a sand wedge to about 10 feet and made the putt. And there are my birdies.

RACHEL HETHERINGTON: Thank you.

RACHEL HETHERINGTON: Yeah, it was good to make that putt because it's definitely not a good feeling to finish on a bad note, bogeying the last hole, whether it's a par 5 or not. I'm still trying to sort out what to do off the tee there, because I had my 3-wood off the tee and went through into the bunker; so that kind of put me back. You know, I hit a 6-iron out of the bunker then -- I was in between clubs and just hit a little bit too hard, through to the back of the green. I really just want to keep on hitting fairways for the rest of the week. And I putted really well coming in, so to make that nice putt on the last, hopefully will continue.

RACHEL HETHERINGTON: I was just thinking, I usually haven't gone into too many media centers, but I think I was in this one after the first round.

RACHEL HETHERINGTON: Yeah, I think I'm probably a little bit more prepared than I think that might have been on the first year I played the Dinah. Yeah, I'm playing a lot more solidly than I was back then and every area of my short game has improved. So, you know, I'm looking forward to hopefully playing well for the rest of the week.

RACHEL HETHERINGTON: Yeah, it's pretty tough. I mean, I did well because I kept it in the fairway for the most part of the day. I missed a couple of fairways coming in; and I think that's really the secret, because the rough is so thick off the fairway -- you know, I had a shot today on 15. I just really took an 8-iron and tried to knock it out up by the green because there was nothing else I could hit out, to get at least a decent shot out of the rough. So it was playing a little bit more difficult than last year, I think. And the greens are nice and the fairways are good. You've just got to make sure you stay on them.

RACHEL HETHERINGTON: It was a pretty bad lie. I could see the top like -- you know, top probably third of the ball, top quarter of the ball or something and had about 140 to the pin. And I still had 40 to the pin for my third shot; so I hit about 100 yards and I hit it all right out of the rough. It was a pretty bad lie. And then around the greens, you know, you have a lot of rough as well, but I actually enjoy chipping out of the rough around the greens because you can play with many more shots; so I like that.

RACHEL HETHERINGTON: Yes. Started when I was 14 and my parents played a little bit. So I played a lot of other sports, and started to take up golf one day and kept on playing. Played a lot of golf with Karrie both with and against her. We were from the same state in Australia, Queensland. So we played a lot of junior and amateur golf together on the same teams.

RACHEL HETHERINGTON: It was mostly the guys. I never really saw any female golf on TV growing up. And I knew of Jan Stephenson; although, I had never seen her play. Well, I knew of her because she did calendars and stuff, and there was a lot of attention to her from that. For me, I pretty much watched Greg Norman and -- you know at the majors there's always a U.S. PGA or the Open, or the British Open is really popular in Australia; so I was always watching those. And I guess I really modelled most of my golf off watching men play because we just didn't get it on TV down there.

RACHEL HETHERINGTON: Yeah, actually it happened not too long ago. Played the Australian Open, went to -- probably about four weeks ago, five weeks ago maybe, and we were both in the final group. And Karrie shot 8-under and I shot 7-under and she got me by three. But yeah, it would be good to see it, you know. It's great to see any Aussies play well, and I'd be excited to be playing in the last few groups, no matter who I'm with.

RACHEL HETHERINGTON: No, not really. You know, I think it's just good to -- it's great seeing what Karrie is doing, and she probably deserves more press for what she's achieved over the last few years. And I'm happy with the way I'm playing, and I get my fair share. You know, it's just good to get press in Australia or attention in Australia for women's golf. You know, obviously, now juniors can watch us on TV. They don't have to watch the guys and try to learn off the men. So it's good to see her playing well. And last year, the Aussies had a pretty good year, Jan Stephenson played well, so it's good for Aussie golf.

RACHEL HETHERINGTON: When I was down in Australia, I got to see my coach; so it was probably three, four weeks ago. And we were just working on trying to keep my backswing pretty compact; I tend to get it long. On the golf course, I feel that's pretty simple on the way back and I'm just trying to stay with the ball -- hard to describe -- I guess on the way down, my hips turn a little -- my hips turn a lot more through the ball than my arms and shoulders; so my arms tend to get left behind. So basically what I try to think on the golf course is keep it simple on the way back and swing through together on the way through. Yeah, that's about it, really. Just hitting fairways and greens this week.

RACHEL HETHERINGTON: Does Karrie do anything different?

RACHEL HETHERINGTON: She's obviously playing better. I think she always hit it well as a junior, and she had a great short game from day one. Juniors, you don't -- well, we didn't really have too many girls with good short games; so she always had a great touch around the greens even as juniors. So I think that's what helped her when she first got on tour; got a good short game. You shoot pretty solid scores and then the confidence came with that. I guess everybody part of the game has improved, but she was always pretty solid as a junior.

RACHEL HETHERINGTON: No. I went to school in Australia.

RACHEL HETHERINGTON: Yeah, I played in Europe for three years. I played on the European Tour. Came into qualifying school at the end of '96 and got my tour card for '97.

RACHEL HETHERINGTON: Yeah, I think so. Yeah, I really enjoyed Europe because it was a good tour, but I think if you want to play all year and against the best golfers, you've sort of got to come over here.

RACHEL HETHERINGTON: You know, I can't really answer for anybody else. I've known her so long that I don't really feel intimidated by her game or the way she plays. I think if anything, it helps you, because you've got to improve your game and raise it to another level to be competitive out here now. You know, I don't know what the other girls feel, but I don't feel that intimidated by her. I think it's just exciting for women's golf to have her playing so well.