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KRAFT NABISCO CHAMPIONSHIP

March 24, 2005

Annika Sorenstam

RANCHO MIRAGE, CALIFORNIA

PAUL ROVNAK: You're 2-under, just one back off the lead. I imagine you're pleased with your round?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Yeah, I'm pretty pleased. It got a little tough there the last 13, 14 holes with the wind picking up, the temperatures dropping a little bit, and it felt like the wind was swirling, as well, and I keep looking at the blimp up there and it kept turning and turning I could not figure out where it was coming from.

Not a bad start. I hit the ball pretty good. I thought I drove it well and I would not say easily on the greens but it wasn't my best putting display today. A pretty good start.

PAUL ROVNAK: Let's go through your round.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I hit a 4-wood to seven feet and made the putt.

Then I birdied No. 4. I hit a 9-iron to three feet.

And I bogeyed 8, I hit a 7-iron on the right side, I wasn't on the green, but I had to chip up and I 2-putted from about ten feet.

I bogeyed 12. I hit a sand wedge in the green-side bunker, hit it up and 2-putted.

13, birdie, hit a pitching wedge to 18 feet.

14, birdie, 8-iron to seven feet.

And then I bogeyed 17, 6-iron in front of the green chipped it up and 2-putted from nine feet.

Q. On 12, you 2-putted from how far?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: 14 feet.

Q. Coming down the stretch, how much tougher was it -- another club, club and a half was the tee shot on 17 the result of hitting it into the wind or did you just mis-club it?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: You know what, it was tougher the last few holes, definitely. Probably a club and a half. But like I said, I couldn't really figure out where the wind was going, especially on 17; it's supposed to be left-to-right and I hit a good 6-iron. I just couldn't get there. I don't really know what happened. I'm still a little baffled about it.

Like I said, it's just swirling, and it makes it tougher. You hit it high, it goes nowhere and the wind won't touch it. It made it a lot tougher I thought.

Q. You mentioned your putting, is there a condition with the greens you're unfamiliar with or is it just one of those days, or is it playing like it usually does?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I thought I putted well, actually. It just didn't go in. You come from last week to the speed is 13, and you come here, they are 9. You have one day to change; it's a little difficult.

I like to consider myself a great putter, but you need some time to adjust and get ready. It's not easy when it's such a big change and that's a lot of poa annua and a lot of bermuda. It seems like the greens are a little moody, and that's what happened. You've got to hit them really firm, but then again you don't want to hit them too firm and then maybe have a tough coming-backer.

You just have to hit a good stroke, hope it goes in; and if not, hit it again and hopefully you make that one.

Q. You got off to a quick start, 3-under real fast. Given that, are you disappointed that you didn't take it deeper, or did the conditions make it almost impossible to take it much deeper?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: You're right, I got off to a great start. I felt really good with my game, and I still feel really good with my game. I didn't finish as well as I would like to. However, it got more difficult. And if you look at this course, there's some tough holes on the back nine.

You cannot take anything for granted around here. If you end up in the rough or the wrong side of the flag, it's difficult. Just because you get a good start doesn't mean you can't finish. You have to play good the rest of the round. I thought I did that. I had some good holes and had some bogeys and couldn't really rebound with too many birdies.

Q. Seems like you have to get off to a good start.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Especially take advantage of the par 5s, today No. 2 was reachable, No. 11 was reachable. I couldn't go for 9 and I couldn't go for 18. You really want to take advantage of those holes. And some of the pins that are more accessible, you can take advantage there and grab a birdie and that helps. There are going to be some holes where the pins are in the back and you have to attack the pins and it's a difficult hole.

Q. The conditions that you just mentioned, when you cannot use your technique, is instinct that is only left to you, when you cannot use technique in the conditions?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I don't think I understand. What do you mean, you can't use your technique?

Q. Your short game, you cannot use it under these conditions because of the wind; do you rely upon instinct?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Sure, yeah.

Q. This is a better start than last year the first round. Isn't the objective to make sure you're around, in contention and put yourself in position to actually score and do something on Sunday; right?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Yeah, you're right. And today is an important day, even though it's probably only ten percent of the whole tournament. It gets more and more important from here, but you don't want to shoot yourself in the foot. You don't want to fall too far behind.

This is probably one of the better starts that I've had I think in this tournament. So I've got to deposit it away, three more days, and if I'm hitting the ball good, it should be all fine. But I've got to be patient and we'll see what the conditions will bring. I don't know if the wind is going to continue to blow like this. It should be quite tough later in the weekend.

Q. You seemed to be talking a lot with Grace very early in the round. Was she bothered a lot, her back; did she talk about that at all?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: We did not talk about her back. I only asked her once if she was wearing a back brace and she said yes. She just told me really briefly about her back; that it was hurting last week. Other than that, she didn't go into any detail.

PAUL ROVNAK: Thank you, Annika.

End of FastScripts.

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