JAPAN AIRLINES BIG APPLE CLASSIC PRESENTED BY GOLF MAGAZINE

July 16, 2000

Annika Sorenstam

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Okay, let's see. The front nine. I would like to forget about that one. I bogeyed the third hole, par 5. I hit a sand wedge on the green, spun back, had to chip it up, 2-putt from 7 feet. Bogeyed number 5, I hit a 7-iron short of the green, chipped 2-putt. Bogeyed No. 7, 7-wood, right of the green, chipped it short, then chipped it up and made the putt from about 5 feet. Birdied No. 15, 5-iron to -- on the green, 2-putt. Then birdie on 17, 3-wood up the tee, 7-iron to 15 feet.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Don't ask me to hit it again. I had 132 to the flag, and I had this big tree in front of me and the branches were hanging down a little bit and I was in the rough and I knew that the fairway was going to be a little wet. So I had to hit something with a little power but still something low under the tree, so I decided on a 7-iron and was shooting for it to go under and then kind of roll up to the flag. I mean I don't know how I hit it. I can hit that shot. But for it to roll exactly and get to pin-high is, you know, you need a little luck and I definitely had some there.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Yeah. I mean --.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I was hanging around. And today definitely paid off. My goal or my plan today was to get off to a good start, trying to get some birdies early and put the pressure on. You know, just kind of say, "Hey, here I am, I'm going to play well today," and really get off to the opposite with three bogeys after seven. And just -- I was totally out of it. I wasn't really swinging, you know, aggressive. I wasn't executing well. It just wasn't there. But for some reason, I stepped to the 8th tee and I said, "I've had enough, let's just go for it." And Terry said, you know, there's a lot of golf left. Just keep grinding. You know, I know on this golf course a lot can happen. If you make a birdie, it's such a course that it's easy to make bogeys and it could be a 2-shot swing just like that. So I decided just to turn it around, I guess. But I'm really overwhelmed. I mean the front nine, the first two hours, there was, you know -- I felt like just going home. It wasn't my day. I don't know if I, you know, yesterday was -- you know, I didn't really do anything. Maybe that's why I started out this morning.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: In the back of my mind, I mean I know it. It's just I couldn't get myself to get going. I think that was the problem. I know that a lot of things can happen on this course, but I was like -- there was no energy in me. But I felt fine coming here. I don't really know what happened. I was trying to stay calm, maybe I just got too calm that I just couldn't get it going.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I think so a little bit. I mean I went to the range over here - what is it called - Sherry Lawn, (phonetic spelling) and I hit some balls just to kind of loosen up. It's not the same thing as playing and maybe, you know, working on your short game or anything like that. I just hit a bucket of balls to stay loose. I don't know, I saw a movie, worked out. I didn't do too much. I think when you're playing, you want to keep going. And I mean I had the momentum coming in to Saturday; I wanted to play. And so, you know, it was kind of a letdown that the weather was so bad. Then I had to wait almost 48 hours almost to go out again. So it gave me a lot of time to think about my position and, I don't know, sometimes that's not a very good thing.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Yeah, a little bit. Not too many people bring their caddies to the Sherry Lawn or their Tour bags. (Laughter.)

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: It's the driving range around the corner.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Oh, yesterday. Yeah, in the afternoon.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Yeah, I mean I was -- I saw a little break, but I think I pulled the putt a little bit. I was focusing more on the speed than maybe the line. I just kind of pulled it, and it broke much more than I thought. So, therefore, it ended up three or four feet to the left. But it was much quicker than I thought, too. I was just trying to make a nice line almost.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: It played very different. The greens were much softer than I thought. You know, you have no roll on the fairway, and the greens were slower. I mean today I think I had a lot of putts in front that just had a good line but then just kind of died in the end. I didn't have the speed figured out as much as I did in the beginning of the week. After all the rain, they were just slower. Then the first time I putt was this morning. It's tough to give yourself 15 minutes to adjust to a totally different state.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I'm sorry?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: No. No, I saw the shot. I pictured it from the beginning, it's just a matter of doing it.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I think so. I don't see a bar, you know. I just got to keep playing. I had my instructor in town and we worked on my swing a little bit, and I think it's getting better. I still have a little work to do, but I think -- give me three days of practice, I'll be as ready as I can be. You know, the confidence is obviously still there, and I mean it's going to be fine. With a victory like this on this particular golf course, this, to me, is almost like a US Open kind of course: Fast greens, thick rough, long course, you name it. It's great preparation for next week. To come off a win like this, I cannot ask for anything more.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Yeah, I just don't know -- I can't time my peaks. I take what I got. I think the more confidence you have, if you're playing well, you can peak at any time.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Yeah, I mean I knew this could be a deciding cut. I mean Rosie is one of the best putters on our Tour, and she has totally -- you know, her putt was for 20 feet, mine was for 15. If somebody was going to make it, I knew Rosie was. When hers kind of just hit the edge on the right side, I said, "Here's my chance." It's nice to have a one-shot lead coming into 18. You don't want to feel like you have to make a putt on the last hole when the pressure is on. So it was perfect.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: "The Perfect Storm." I could have just looked outside the window.