U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 2, 1998

Pat Hurst

RHONDA GLENN: Pat finished 2-under par, 69. Pat, before we begin, looking at the score card, tell us a little bit about how you felt about your game overall today.

PAT HURST: I played pretty consistent out there. Hit the ball pretty good and I made the putts when I needed to and I 2-putted a lot out there. I think I had somewhere around 30 putts today. So I hit a lot of greens - sometimes they weren't that close, but when they were close, I did make the putts.

PAT HURST: Some holes, you know, the one hole that I did 3-putt out there today was -- I didn't know it was that much downwind. It was No. 6. And, I just hit too much club and it was -- I didn't realize it was downwind. Then we get to the backside, like on 17, and the wind was kind of playing the opposite way as that hole, so it was -- my caddie and I were just discussing how the wind is kind of changing a little bit out there.

PAT HURST: I birdied No. 1. I was -- I don't know my distances. I was probably about -- just over -- I think I was like 93 yards to the pin on 1 and I hit sand wedge to about seven feet to the right of the hole, made that. Birdied No. 2, and I hit a wedge there to about, oh, ten feet. Made that putt. It was just to the right of the pin. Then I birdied 13. I hit a 9-iron there, just front of the green, which was probably about 15 feet. Then I birdied 16. Hit a little -- a lob wedge from about, I'd say, like 56 yards or so, probably to about seven feet left of the pin. Had a couple of bogeys out there which were No. 6, again, was par 3. I hit 7-iron -- no, I hit -- actually I hit 8-iron long and I had probably about -- it felt like a 100-footer. It was long ways away. And then I bogeyed No. 11 also. I tried to hit a little 9-iron from 122 yards or so and hit a bad shot; couldn't get it up-and-down.

PAT HURST: What about No. 5?

PAT HURST: No. 5, I hit driver out to the left over there and then I hit, I want to say 5-iron on the green, left and 2-putted.

PAT HURST: I think to play both 5 and 7 you just got to hit it down the middle on the green and take your 2-putts no matter where you are, you just want to get on the green; make par; get out of there. Those two holes are tough. You don't want to get too -- I guess, you don't want to chance a little bit too much because you are going to -- you can take big numbers there so if you just make pars.

PAT HURST: I know. I hope it is not going to be the next three days.

PAT HURST: I think so. It is a long hole to begin with. The further back they put the pin, the longer club you have to hit in. That hole is long enough as it is right now.

PAT HURST: I hit the ball real well, so when you hit the ball well it seems like it is an easy day. I know there are -- you can take big numbers out there and that is what I tried to avoid. If I was in any kind of trouble, I would try to play it to the safe side of the green and just make my pars out there. Any Open golf course, that is what you have to do, is just make pars and you are doing good.

PAT HURST: My length, I am probably top 15, I don't -- I don't thrive on my length so I don't know compared to other people. But I feel like I can keep it up -- out there and hit it out when I needed to. It is -- definitely it helps out here because the fairways are wide and the longer you hit it, the shorter clubs you have into these greens which are tough. The greens, getting it close to the hole is what is going to be so tough out there.

PAT HURST: I think, you know, you have to be a good lag-putter out here. And, I feel like I have done pretty well with my lag-putts. I have had the same putter for years and so I feel very comfortable over the putter. Out here you definitely have to have some good lag-putts because you are not going to be able to putt the ball that close such as number the par 3, No. 6. I was 100 feet away, it felt like, up and over mounds and stuff like that, so, I think it is important that -- my caddie and I went out and we really studied the greens a lot this week, which I don't normally do. I think that helped me out a lot out here today.

PAT HURST: I feel good after my first round. Open golf course, any time you shoot par or better, you are doing well. Last week, my caddie and I, we figured out a little bit, you know, we figured out something in my swing on the last round -- going into the last round, actually, on Saturday, after I played, and I am just feeding off that. I am hitting the ball good. So my confidence is high.

PAT HURST: It is nothing big. I am -- I was getting a little bit too long in my swing. Now I am shortening it up and trying to keep it together. It has definitely worked out a lot out there. I feel confident because I felt compact. I feel like I can hit the ball very solid out there.

PAT HURST: As you know, Se Ri, she just won McDonald's. That is another major championship. Obviously she can play. She has won - I don't know how many tournaments in Korea. She is their big star athlete; not just golfer, but athlete, in Korea. I think in order to do that she has got to have the mental capabilities to withstand all the pressures that are coming just from her country alone - not only herself, but everybody else around her at home. And, I think that, you know, out here it is so mental. I think she does have the mental toughness that it takes to play an Open golf course.

PAT HURST: Age is irrelevant, I think. You look at Karrie Webb, I mean she came out, bang, and Se Ri is doing the same thing. There is a lot of good young players out there such -- Janice Moody is really good. There is a lot -- Lisa Hackney -- well, she is not that young, but out here on this Tour, there is a lot of the younger players out there that are really good. I think they are learning early on. They have no fear. That is what it takes out here is to have confidence and no fear.

PAT HURST: I don't know. I can't -- it is tough to explain. I am just going out and playing and I have always felt like I can play even when I put the clubs down for a little bit, I didn't know how long I was going to put the clubs down for, but I did put them down. I think that helped me get more - I don't know, what -- I guess I wanted to go play. I got hungry to play and I think that out here, that is what you need. Amateur golf and junior golf, that was a lot of fun in those tournaments for the biggest tournaments of my life at that time. It is just the same thing here, but just on a different level.

PAT HURST: Yeah, definitely burned out. I was not enjoying golf. I think in order play a sport, no matter what sport it is, you should enjoy it. I am definitely having a lot of fun now. Trying to shoot as low as I can. Every day is a challenge. I enjoy tournament-play. I enjoy going out and playing tournament-golf and being in the thick of things and the competition part is a lot of fun for me.