U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 4, 2004

Annika Sorenstam

CRAIG SMITH: Annika Sorenstam, finished the championship minus 8.

RHONDA GLENN: How disappointed are you?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I'm disappointed, but I can get over it, because I played so well and I gave it all. You've got to give all the credit to Meg, she played so well, and to shoot 6-under on Sunday at the U.S. Open, it doesn't get much better than that. I'm proud with 4-under, it just wasn't enough this year.

RHONDA GLENN: The last two holes, how did you generate that much gumption to birdie 17 and 18, when you were so far behind, what were you thinking?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I kept doing that on the whole backside, it just didn't work on all of them. But I've hit some really good shots all week. I think I've hit really good putts all week, but it's just sometimes they went in, sometimes they didn't. They did on the last two, and it kind of kept my spirits up a little bit. Because I felt I played well all week.

Q. You said yesterday that you do a little bit of score board watching. After the first hole when you dropped one, and you saw that Rosales got to 8-under, what were you thinking?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: On the first hole?

Q. Yes.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: The first hole, it was so early on, I didn't pay too much attention, I looked early on, there was a long way to go, I felt good about my game all week. I was patient. It wasn't until the back 9 that I started to go low, and I played more aggressive, I was trying to play birdie on every hole, because that's what Meg was doing. I was trying to follow her.

Q. Looked like you pretty much tee-to-green played about as well as you'd like to, it was a matter of a couple of putts early that didn't go, that forced you to be more aggressive?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Yeah, probably. I think I putted pretty good, it's just I've hit every lip I think on this golf course. It's just the way it is sometimes, and sometimes you try harder and harder and it doesn't always work. I was patient and in the end they did roll in. And maybe you can look that it was too late. I'm very proud of the way I played. I thought I played excellent the whole week.

Q. Kelly talked about the noise behind you most of the day, and did you ever see any of what Meg was doing?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: No, I didn't see anything.

Q. Did that make you concentrate harder?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: No, I was playing my own game all day.

Q. (Inaudible).

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Do you want to hear how I played it today? Well, it's just a really tough hole. I hit 4 off the tee, and 7-iron in, and it was really dry in front, and my ball landed somewhere -- I thought I made a good putt there, it just didn't go in there. And I came back and made some good putts, and that's what the Open is all about, is rebounding as quick as possible.

Q. Your impression of the course, itself?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I liked it a lot. I think it's a course that I enjoyed more, the more I played it. It played very differently, I mean, especially after the rain. It was much longer and you could be more aggressive.

Today it was a total different golf course. A lot of roll off the fairways, you have to do more bump-and-run type of golf. It's fun to see a course change so much throughout four days, which I think good golf courses can do for you.

Q. Take us through the last few holes.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I had 6-iron on 17 and my putt was probably 11 feet.

And then on 18 I hit 8-iron to 7 feet.

Q. How far were you out on 18?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: 18, I had 157.

End of FastScripts.