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LPGA CORNING CLASSIC

May 28, 2004

Annika Sorenstam

CORNING, NEW YORK

PAUL ROVNAK: Thanks for coming in and joining us again, two straight rounds in the 60s, you have a sizable lead. Tell us about your day and we'll take questions after that.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I'm quite pleased with my round today. Maybe not as solid as yesterday, but I thought the wind was quite tricky at times it was gusting both directions, and I had a good feel for where the wind was coming, but it was more crosswind on certain holes. When you play holes where the green was elevated or you play down it makes it tougher. I hit some good shots and good putts, good second day.

Q. You started to pick things up on your back nine yesterday. How much more comfortable were you with the course and everything today?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Well, much more comfortable. I mean I know now where to hit it, know what it looks like. And some of the greens, you know when you come in here you don't really know how severe they are, you don't think about those things, but today I was more familiar with that, and I knew where the pins were going to be. It makes you think a bit, and sometimes that is good, and sometimes not so good. I think I was playing pretty smart. I didn't hit the driver off the tee so much. I hit the fairway and the greens, and tried for birdie opportunities.

Q. So yesterday was a practice round?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: It was a good practice round, yes.

Q. The other day Juli Inkster said of you that when you're putting well you dominate. When you're struggling with your putter, then you're only top five. How would you -- I saw you out there, your putts went both ways, overall how would you say your putting was this week?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I think I've putted pretty good. But it's a nice compliment from Juli. I kind of feel the same way. But then again putting is a big part of golf. Once you start making putts early on, you get the confidence and I seem to go for a lot of putts. If I start missing, I get more tentative and that's tough on these greens. I do feel I practiced a lot on my putting the last two weeks, and I feel pretty good. Seems like I got the speed here.

Q. You had a 3-putt on No. 8, you turned around and sank a nice birdie putt on No. 9. What was going through your mind then, on No. 8 did you feel you had to come back with a birdie to keep the momentum going?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Of course I wanted to come back with a birdie. It was a mistake of mine on No. 8 to step in Sherri's line, I felt stupid and paid the price right away. I got fired up on 9 and had 159 to the hole and hit a 9-iron, which is a big 9-iron, but that's how fired up I was. To make a putt on that makes me happy and get ready for tomorrow.

Q. You were one of the longer hitters on the Tour. I noticed on more than one hole you were well beyond the other players with your tee shot. Does that give you a psychological advantage as well as a physical advantage of being close to the hole, does that make a difference at all?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Well, I'm used to the way I'm hitting it and I don't really stand on the tee and compare my tee shots with all the other players. I try to play my game. If I can hit it good and straight, yes, this course is going to set up really good for me. And the course has an advantage if you hit it straight. This course is more about putting it in the fairways than anything.

Q. Talk about the conditions, it rained pretty heavily this morning, but it's been dry since then. You mentioned it was windy, how does that affect your game?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I think it affects it in the sense that you have to pay more attention to what clubs you're hitting. I thought it was gusting at times. The wind was swirling. It made it tricky, and especially when you hit shorter irons into the greens, because the ball gets up in the air and stays longer in the air and it will affect it more. I tried to do more bump-and-run type of shots and not let the wind affect it.

Q. My last check I think it was four shots ahead of Carin, your thoughts on the lead going into the third round. Are you comfortable with where you stand?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I've been in this situation before, this is what I love. This is why I'm here. I love to play. But any lead early on doesn't really matter, it's how you play in the weekends, tomorrow is what they call moving day. Hopefully I can move higher on the leader board, but the other players can, as well. I'm happy with the way I'm playing, I have to continue playing like this and we'll see what happens.

Q. A year ago this weekend you were in a totally different venue, at the Colonial. How do you feel about being at Corning this week, aside from the fact that you've got a four-stroke lead?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I get to play this weekend, I didn't get to do that last year. That's a good thing. It's totally different to be here, but this is where I want to be, the Colonial was a great experience, I learned a lot. But it's been a whole year since, and I've learned a lot. Hopefully I can take advantage of that and move on from here.

Q. Is there a different approach if you're in the lead, say one stoke as opposed to a four stroke lead going into the weekend?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I would say if it was Sunday on the back nine it would be a different approach, but we have 36 holes to play, anything is possible, there are a lot of birdies out here. I'm going to try to play my game, play aggressive when I can, play smart when I need to. I'll be looking at the leaderboard. I love to do that, and then we'll see how things go.

Q. A lot of players will go into a tournament and say I'll be happy to come out of here with a top-10, top-15 finish, do you go into every tournament with the expectation to win?

REPLACE NAME: I feel like if I play well, I hope to have a chance to win on Sunday. But you've got to play well, the competition is getting tougher and tougher every year, if you don't play your best you're not going to win. I have high expectations of myself and I push myself pretty hard. That's really what I shoot for every week.

Q. Are you intending to play in Rochester this year?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I will make my decision a week before, or two weeks before, how I feel. I said I have an intention to play, most likely, but I have not entered. But they wanted to know what my plans were.

Q. Since it's a week before the U.S. Open does that enhance your possibility of playing?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Probably, that's why I intend to play. And I like it there. I've always liked that golf course. It's a tough, narrow golf course, it's probably a really good preparation for the Open.

Q. As you can tell from my line of questioning, I'm not trying to berate you, but do you feel pressure to go to Rochester?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Are you from Rochester or something? I don't feel pressure, but, you know, Rochester has been good to me in the past, and I've played good there in the past. I like the golf course. If you add all those things up, there's a chance I'll be there, yes.

Q. I know you're no stranger to large galleries, but we're seeing crowds here we usually see on Sunday on Thursday and Friday. Your comments on the crowd following you around here?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: It's wonderful to see so many people early in the week, especially on a Friday early morning, you think people would be out working and they're watching golf. It's a very nice thing. I love to play in front of crowds. It makes a good atmosphere, and I think all the ladies like it. I think for the weekend if the weather is nice, it might turn out to be a super week.

PAUL ROVNAK: Let's go over your score card.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I bogeyed the first hole, I hit my tee shot to the left and had to hit the ball out and hit it on the green and 2-putted. I 2-putted from about 18 feet.

Birdied No. 2. I hit a 9-iron, and then 2-putted, that was about eight feet.

Birdied No. 5, I hit 4-wood -- sorry, 4-iron to 14 feet and made an eagle putt.

No. 8 I bogeyed. I hit pitching wedge and 3-putted from 12 feet my par putt was 3 feet.

Birdied 9, 9-iron to five feet.

Birdied 10, pitching wedge to nine feet.

No. 12, I hit 7-wood, long left over the green, and chipped it up to three feet.

Birdied 15, pitching wedge to eight feet.

Q. Could you describe the eagle putt?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Nothing is easy. It was downhill. I had to put over a ridge and I believe it was 14 feet and I played it about a foot and a half on the left side and just broke in nicely.

End of FastScripts.

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