U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 6, 2003

Annika Sorenstam

Q. The frustrating part of your day ,you made great shots, but the putts didn't fall until you got the short one to go in?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: It seemed like I had a lot of undulation on my putts, a lot of breaking putts. I thought the greens were faster on the first few holes. That scared me a little bit, and I lost the speed of the greens, and I think that's why I didn't make any today.

Q. How about the 17th hole, you could make that at least half of the time, did you think you had a good shot?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I thought I made it. It went dead straight and hit the right lip and it kind of turned. That was just my day. So sometimes there's nothing you can do about it.

Q. And of course 18, which is an unlikely situation, you do a great job, you think you're going to go home in 2, and what happened?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I felt like I had to play aggressive. I hit my 4-wood to the right, and got a bad break with the trees. And a tough shot from there. So obviously I'm very disappointed. I wish I could replay a few shots, but that's the way it goes.

Q. The chip after your drop, you were within maybe a foot or two of hitting a miraculous shot. When you hit it did you think you had hit it exactly where you wanted it?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Yeah, the lie was just hard packed. There was hardly any grass, it was dirt. I didn't expect the ball to shoot so high, and it hit the branch and then it went in the bunker. So that's the way it goes, I guess.

Q. Were you surprised that somebody didn't go under par today?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: No, not at all. This is the U.S. Open, and if you've been to the Open before, this is what you see. I never gave up. I kept on trying and trying. I think I played really good today, it just comes down to one or two shots.

Q. Take us through the emotions. I know you're very, very disappointed. But you were in it all the way, which is what you want on Sunday. Do you think if you had stayed at 1 you at least had the playoff?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I knew that. But I'm playing aggressive. That's my nature and I'm here to win. Birdie is what I needed. However, the 18th hole hasn't really been my friend this week. I think I'm 2 over par on a par-5, and that's not like me. I'm disappointed, definitely. It's going to take a while to recover from this, but at the end of the day it's just a golf tournament.

Q. You have been in the States since Colonial, and now it's coming up in Europe, what do you think you'll expect coming back to the European Tour and eventually the Solheim Cup?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Right at this time I really don't have an idea. Right now I just want to try to forget about this week and -- I'll charge my batteries, I'll be ready when I need to. But right now I feel like being grumpy.

End of FastScripts....