U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 13, 1995

Pat Hurst

PAT HURST: Half.

PAT HURST: What do you want to know?

PAT HURST: 1st hole I started out, I hit a little bit left and I was underneath some trees. Hit it out; knocked it up there; 2-putted for bogey. I came back with a birdie on 2. It was tap birdie. Then on 3 again --

PAT HURST: I don't remember.

PAT HURST: If I would remember how far, I think I would remember what club was used. It was a tap in. Then on 3 again, I hit it in the right trees this time instead of the left and I knocked it out next to the green and didn't get it up-and-down. Had another 2-putt for another bogey. Then my next birdie came on 5 with another tap. Since I don't know how far, I am not used to the golf course yet so I don't know which holes are what, so it is very difficult to remember. On 8, I think I hit an 8-iron on 8, par 3; knocked it up there about 10 feet, and made birdie. Everything else after that was all pars.

PAT HURST: I had a couple. Oh, on 9, par 5, I was going for the green in 2; hit my second shot in the water; dropped it; hit sand wedge up there 'til about 10 feet; made the putt for par. So that was a good save right there. 10, I was short in two, chipped up; saved my par right there; and then I hit all the greens all the way up until 18. Again, then I chipped up and 1-putted again.

PAT HURST: I came in on Tuesday, so I went right out as soon as I got in. I got in about 2 o'clock and teed off about 2:30, so that was a quick 18 there and then I also played on Wednesday; played 15 holes. I skipped the first three holes and then I have never played in the Broadmoor before so that was the first two times I have played it.

PAT HURST: The greens are definitely fast going down grain and away from -- with the monument up on the hill, but going against that, it does not slow you, but it is a good pace, but you definitely want to be below the hole.

PAT HURST: A little bit of wind on the backside. I want to say it started probably around 4 or 5. I am not sure what hole it started on, but probably about a club difference, you know, half a club. I wouldn't say a full club.

PAT HURST: I have been hitting the ball real well. Last couple of tournaments, I have been hitting the ball really well, hadn't been putting as well, so I knew I was going to hit the ball well. I didn't know how the putting was going to be. If you are on the right side of the hole, par is your friend out here.

PAT HURST: I hope so. It is hard to say what is going to be good out there. Anybody can get hot out there and throw in a good round. Like I said, if you are on the right side of the hole, the putts are rolling pretty good, so it is hard to say what is going to be a good score out here.

PAT HURST: After winning the amateur, that was -- I won the amateur after I one the N.C.A.A.s. I felt that was a lot of pressure going into it. As I turned pro, I felt a lot of pressure and it wasn't -- it was just outside pressures that, I guess, I was putting on myself. So, I wasn't enjoying golf as much, and kind of put the clubs away for about a year; didn't touch them at all and then got a teaching pro job at a country club and started playing a little bit more there and got interest in the game again and getting a little itch and that is what made me go to qualifying school and start playing again.

PAT HURST: You know, making the LPGA was probably one of my biggest accomplishments that I have ever done. I think playing every week really helps me out a lot and it gives you a lot of confidence. When I first started, I just wanted to make the cuts and came out the first tournament, tied for 9th. That kind of boosted my confidence up. So I felt real confident out here now. It is not more of making cuts; it is more of how well can I do out there.

PAT HURST: No, you know, like I said, I was happy putting the clubs down so I wasn't frustrated. I knew that it was the right thing for me, so I was -- it wasn't frustrating at all for me.

PAT HURST: At first there was, but, you know, after -- I guess after so many months, people just kind of -- I wouldn't say forget about you, but they don't bother you anymore because they know that no matter what they say, they are not going to change your decision; that I made a decision that I didn't want to play at that time and they respected me for that; respected me for standing up for myself.

PAT HURST: I actually went and hung out with my fiancee and he was going to school at the time, so I was kind of being, I guess, the housewife, even though I wasn't a wife yet, and I am still not, but, you know, I felt like I was being the housewife and was really enjoying it.

PAT HURST: There was times when I knew that I can compete with everybody out here, so, I don't know, you know, I don't know how to put it, but I knew I could compete out here. It was just a matter of getting out on the LPGA. USGA -- we only have one tournament for the USGA for The Open now, so my goal, you know, was to make the LPGA and I knew that I could compete with them. It was just a matter of getting out there and that was the hardest part.

PAT HURST: At that point, I didn't know whether I was going to give it up or not, that is why I went to teaching. I wanted to stay in golf. I have been in golf all my life, so I wanted to stay in golf and if I wanted to get back into it, I was at a good club and I know it had good practice facilities and people were real good around there, so I didn't know which way I was going to go and it was still up in the air.

PAT HURST: The itch came about last year during, actually, The Open qualifier. I went out. I did have a little problem with my stomach. They diagnosed it as a nervous stomach, so I was having problems with that. I went out for The Open qualifier last year and shot 80, but I felt good. So, I knew before all the pressure that was on me and now I am going back out because I want to go back out; not because of everybody putting the pressure on me, so it made a big difference.

PAT HURST: That was probably about a year and a half ago, you know, up until last year.

PAT HURST: I went to qualifying school twice and then was supposed to go back. I was supposed to go back the third time and I sent in my money and everything and, like I said, my stomach wasn't feeling good, I just said, you know, the doctor told me it would be best if, you know, over time it will go away if you just let it, but I needed to take time off; that is why I didn't go back to the third qualifying school so that was -- it is not last year but --

PAT HURST: -- the year before.

PAT HURST: Right.

PAT HURST: 1 was probably about a 30-footer. 3 was probably about a 10-footer downhill.

PAT HURST: 17 I lipped out. I was about seven feet or so; lipped out there. There was, you know, a couple other that was probably about 15 feet.

PAT HURST: That was probably about 3 feet.

PAT HURST: Yeah, what we tried to do everyone was saying 10%, so basically what we were trying to do is you know, we take the full yardage and then take off 10%, then you kind of eye it and look at it and say, do you think I can hit it, and, you know, my caddie knows my game pretty good, so it really helps out a lot.

PAT HURST: Pretty much, yes, it did. ?

PAT HURST: Yes.

PAT HURST: It was great.

PAT HURST: Not -- I didn't have feelings like that. Like I said, I made it on the LPGA, so this is my 12th event, so I mean, it wasn't something of that sort. It was more like "this is great." We are out there. We are the first group, nobody is out here; we are going to play in about 3 and a half hours, you know, the greens -- no one has been on the greens except for us, so that is the best part about the whole deal about being the first group out.

PAT HURST: Three hours and 40 minutes.

PAT HURST: The golf course is playing a lot different today than it did in the practice rounds. I went out yesterday pretty early. I got here about 7:30 and teed off on number 4 about 7:40 or so and it was still a little hard, the greens were hard and seemed like today the greens were a little bit softer, so you can fly it there. I backed up a couple. I backed up one, I think, on 15 and you know, couple of different holes I was backing them up, and during the practice rounds it wasn't like that.

PAT HURST: It is always good to start out with a good score, you know, it is -- it does take off a little pressure and it feels good.

PAT HURST: Like I said earlier, I was trying to put the ball below the pin or away from the shrine and that really helped out a lot.