U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 30, 1998

Annika Sorenstam

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Well, it is flattering, I must say, but I am really looking forward to this week. This is one of the highlights of the whole year. We always play super courses, the best field is here this week. So, this is really a week where you want to play well. I have been playing well the last few weeks and I have a lot of confidence about my game and so I think I am as prepared as I could be.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Well, it is much better, I must say, I don't feel the pressure at all. I don't have to hear the word three-peat anymore. I am just coming here this week with no expectation; just going to try and play my own game trying to hit one shot at a time and not to think about last year, not to think about Sunday. Just to come and enjoy myself. I learned a lot last year and I promised myself I would never do it again and so, I am just going to take one day at a time and just kind of be calm and it is probably easier said that done, but that is my goal.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Not to think too much about Sunday; think about the trophy; think about what it means to win the U.S. Open; so forth. I really wanted it badly last year and it just didn't work. So, I am here this year. I know my game is there. I just got to stay in the present and just kind of take it one day at a time.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Well, I didn't want to miss the action. It was nice to see Nancy and Alison play so well. Like I said, the Open is a special tournament and I didn't want to miss it even though I couldn't play in the weekend, I wanted to be there and just see what was happening.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: What I mean by no expectation is I am not going to think about a particular score. I am not going to think about playing in the last group on Sunday or anything like that. I just want to go out and give 100% on every shot and, you know, doesn't matter what I finish this week as long as I do that, hit one shot at a time and give 100%, that is all that matters to me. Last year it was not a fun two days for me. And, like I said, I am never going to do that again. I am going to stick to my plan. I have won the Open before and I like to do it again, but who knows if it is going to be this year or some other year. So just stay one shot at a time. That is what I am going to do. That is the only thing.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Well, what I like least -- I like the whole thing. I like the whole event. I just like to stay calm and not think too much about the tournament and look at all the people and look at all the media, you know, it is so much this particular week. I like to look at it like a normal tournament, look at the other players and I try and stick to my same routine. I had a practice round today. I will have one tomorrow. I didn't practice yesterday like a lot of the other players do because I don't do that at a normal tournament. So I sort of stick to my own routine and take it as it comes. It's a special week, but if I don't keep to my routine, then I won't play the same.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: It is so easy to get too anxious, easy to overpractice. It is easy to just get away from the normal things that I do at a normal tournament. You do things extra. You do things -- I get more nervous and I just do weird things when it comes to a major Championship, but it is just a normal tournament. I think that is why I haven't played well in the last few majors. I come here with super expectations, come there with nothing, thinking about the trophy and I haven't done really well in the last few Majors. I think I finished in the top 10 but that is about it. When I won the Open in 1995 and when I won the Open in 1996, I didn't think about the Majors. I didn't think about what it would mean. I just came with myself and my golf bag and that was it.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Like I said, I overpracticed. You come out here, you are out here for 12 hours. I don't do that in a normal tournament; why should I do it now? If I am not ready to play, I can't practice two days before and expect to play super golf. You have got to prepare for a tournament like this. Am I answering your question?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Overall, the course is a really tough golf course. Today was playing pretty long. Some long par 4s. The greens are huge. A lot of mounds on the greens. The rough is really thick. I guess it's got everything you imagine a US Open course would have. But the 18th hole is just -- it is another long hole. I was hitting driver, 5-iron, the pin was short. If the pin is long, I am probably hitting 3-wood in. We will see. I don't know how we will play it on Sunday. I am going to try to hit the fairway and then the green; that is all that matters. But it is really a challenging golf course. I like it a lot. It probably requires a lot of long accurate shots.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I believe it is. It just has so much tradition, the history of it, and just looking at the names on the trophy, the best players in the world are here and it is just a super tournament.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Probably means more.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Well, the first year I didn't just -- it just kind of hard. I didn't really know what I was doing. The second year I played probably the best golf I had ever done and I'd like to do that again.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Well, the first year I didn't know a lot about the Open. I didn't know what it would mean and this year I know what it means to win the Championship like this. I think this year my game, overall, is better. I am more consistent off the tee. I think I am even a little longer. My putting much better. I think I matured as a player.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Yeah, she was - a role model.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Well, she just had -- sportsmanship is a word that I think about when I see Nancy. She is just always smiling. She is kind of a queen out here. I have a lot of respect for Nancy, and I think also just the will to win. Sometimes when I play were her you could hear her from the fairway: "Go in." We are talking from 160 yards, so that just shows a lot what kind of player she is. She doesn't give up and for her to have the motivation that she does, at her age - she is not old, but she is older than me - I admire that.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Yeah, I'd like to her to win. I don't think anybody is going to give it to her, but it would be nice to see her win this championship. That would probably finalize her career, I think.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I am putting back to the way I did.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: In the Skins game in May.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: It just didn't work. I was trying new things. I was hoping for something else, just went back to my old style.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Yes. I tried a new putter. I just experimented for a little bit. Just looking for something new, maybe a little inspiration or something, but I went back to what works.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Pressure? What is that? (kiddingly) Well, I'd like to when I play the U.S. Open, I'd like not to think about what it would mean to win. I'd like to just play it as it is, just come and hit one shot at a time, and not think -- like I said, not think too much about it. But once you are playing in it, there is a lot at stake and the courses that we play are very tough and sometimes it is easy to get frustrated when you don't make birdies, you think that is what you got to do to win a championship. Many times the scores are very high, so I think patience is something that you need out here. I think the less you think about the consequences, the better you are going to do.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I think they could get a little faster but not too much because they are really tricky the way they are already. Like I said, there are a lot of undulations out there. It can get extremely hard to putt if they speed the greens up. They are big and, you know, they are firm and if they get much faster, I think it will be impossible to putt out here.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Pretty well, I think she has been playing really well. She finished second three weeks ago, so, I think she is just playing better and better.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Well, in the beginning of the year I felt like I was playing really well, just couldn't really put four good rounds together. I was hitting a lot of fairways, a lot of greens, and once I got to the green I was a little scared, I couldn't really see the hole. It felt like it was getting smaller and smaller. When you can't really make the putt, when you have 8-footer all day long, you start thinking: Do I need to do something else, do I need to try another weapon? And I started to look around for some ideas and I went to David Peltz and he came up with some good ideas and I worked with him for a little bit, and it helped. But I realized that I got to go back to basics what works for me and spend a lot of time working on my putting and I think what I was missing for while was just confidence. I just needed to make a few putts for it to all come back and at the Skins game, I did make quite some putts after that. It was I could do it and the hole was just getting bigger and bigger.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Thank you. Yeah, I am happy with the start.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Well, we will see. But, I have a lot of confidence. I know that I can play this golf course. I know I can hit the ball. I know I can putt. I think the only thing that will be determined if I can stay calm and just like I said, I repeat this a lot, it is just one shot at a time. If I can do that then I think it will be all right. I just can't get too much ahead of myself. But, confidence is something you need coming into the Open.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Well, it is the U.S. Open or Championship and I am sure it means a lot to the American players, but this tournament also has a reputation in Europe and all around the world. This is the Championship that everybody wants to win. I think all the players in the world are here, so, I think overall for everybody it means a lot.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Well, it is very long. The greens are huge, like I said, undulated. Those are probably the three things that I think are different than the courses that we play all year, especially coming from last week where we probably had the smallest greens all year.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: You breathe a lot, I guess, talk to your caddie a lot. Not get too anxious, not get so moody. Don't think a lot about the shots that I have played or I am going to play, just walk slowly. Try not to think too much.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: It is easier said than done, but I am just going to come here, like I said, do my own routine; not do extra things. I think I stay the way I normally do at tournaments. When you breathe, you just breathe in like just like you are doing it slowly, hang on to it and kind of slowly let go. Maybe you can show me.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I think it lowers your heart rate.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Oh, yeah.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: No. I know the difference.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Oh, yeah.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Much more than I expected. Feels like I have done much more than I have thought I could. I mean, now I just come to a tournament and just -- I just love to play. I don't think about, you know, I have got to win another one or I have got to -- I'd like to win the money list or anything. That is not on my mind anymore. I just want to come out here and have a good time and I have changed my attitude a little bit this year just to keep that in mind. It is easy to just focus too much on tournaments and winning and money list and all that, and it has been wearing me down a little bit. I am satisfied with what I have done already, so, just kind of come here and enjoy.