U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 3, 1998

Hollis Stacy

HOLLIS STACY: I felt better today for some reason. I just didn't -- I was flat yesterday. And I didn't have any coffee yesterday, so my caddie goes: I am bringing out a six-pack of diet Coke tomorrow. No, he was teasing. I felt better today. And, I think the fact that it is the first round of the Open and when we teed off late with the conditions as tough as they were, I was defensive in the beginning and I just didn't swing at it as well as I would have liked to. And, after the round yesterday, I went on the practice tee and worked out a couple of things and, you know, just birdied the first couple of holes and, thank God, got that "Cut" thing out of my brain. You always want to play the weekend, especially since I have missed the last two cuts. Since I birdied the first couple of holes, I felt more like I could just play golf and not sweat bullets about the cut. So I just went out and played golf, got that out of my brain. I felt very relaxed after I birdied the first couple of holes.

HOLLIS STACY: Well, it played a lot different. It was softer. The greens held and, you know, just was -- I think yesterday's round, too, the tees were moved up a little forward and so that was -- I was a little surprised and maybe I was playing the course a little defensively the first few holes. But, I felt more into a rhythm today after I -- of course after I birdied the first couple of holes.

HOLLIS STACY: They were moved back a little further today, yeah.

HOLLIS STACY: First hole I hit 8-iron to two feet. Second hole, I hit 7-iron to three feet. 10th hole, I hit 7-iron to about five feet. The 13th hole I hit a 9-iron to about 15 feet. So my longest putt was 15 feet.

HOLLIS STACY: I 3-putted No. 17. I hit -- we waited for them to fix the deer prints.

HOLLIS STACY: A deer ran across the green.

HOLLIS STACY: No, it happened two holes in front of -- two groups in front of us. I asked Beth Daniel -- I said: "Obviously he (referring to the deer) wasn't wearing spikeless." So they fixed that and there was a little jam and the beginning green was -- it was kind of in a tough place and it was one of those putts where I didn't want to leave the putt short because it was sloped and fast all that stuff so knocked it by about eight feet, missed it coming back.

HOLLIS STACY: Very good. That is very good.

HOLLIS STACY: Yes. I hit -- I drove it better today and my iron-play was excellent.

HOLLIS STACY: Everything was much better.

HOLLIS STACY: Well, probably the catalyst, it started when, I think my set of clubs, I think I am playing with a much more -- with a better set of clubs. A friend of mine built this set for me Ed Montgomerie (ph) built it for me. He has worked with players like Watson and Payne Stewart for years and I have known him for years. For five years he has been saying: Hollis, why don't you come into the shop, I will build a set for you. Finally I said: Okay. Coupled with that and hurting my back this year, I started doing stretches and basically started firing up muscles that hadn't been used in a while. Just that -- just a combination of things. Not one-in-particular-thing, but just a couple of things. I have been shooting in the 60s much more.

HOLLIS STACY: Well, my equipment is better and I am stretching and at this age of 44, I am not 24 anymore, where I would walk out onto the tee and just hit balls, one ball and then go to the first tee. I have to stretch for 15 minutes and then I have to hit a bucket of balls, or two buckets and, you know --

HOLLIS STACY: This body has been playing for a while, so...

HOLLIS STACY: Yes.

HOLLIS STACY: It is. My first one was the year 1970, the year Donna Caponi won a her second at Muskogee. 70?

HOLLIS STACY: 29 in a row. I'm exhausted. Can I take a nap now?

HOLLIS STACY: I think it will play -- it gives me confidence and I still have to swing and make the putts and all that stuff. But I think it will be a factor. But the girls are playing such great golf. You have got Laura up there and all you need to do is just get her in contention then she focuses and there are so many other great players. I try not to get too excited because I don't want to lose that one-shot-at-a-time-deal. Everybody wants to win so badly and it takes away from what you are trying to do.

HOLLIS STACY: No, not really. I just do one day at a time and I really have no routine. I just -- because every day is so different. I think maybe, you know, I grew up in chaos, I grew up in a large family and I think that has been a distinct advantage because everyday is different, every hole is different, every feeling is different. How can anyone be relaxed playing at the Open, I don't understand. I have won three of them. First one I didn't sleep at all and, you know, you just are -- you are excited and you are nervous.

HOLLIS STACY: Second one I was having such a bad year that I think maybe I had a couple -- just a couple of interviews and no one expected anything. Then the third year, I had no interviews. It was in 1984 and I remember -- I saw Jerry Potter and I think the fact that we were just crossing paths, he felt like he had asked me a question. So he did ask me -- he did interview me. In fact, Jaime Diaz wrote an article for Sports Illustrated and I never talked to him. No, it was one of those things where in Salem it was unfortunate for Amy because the witch kept following her and I made a come-from-behind victory.

HOLLIS STACY: It was kind of like ham bone connected to this thing. I had knee surgery in November of 1995 and it is amazing how just one little part of your body, if it is out, it affects your entire body. So my right side got really tight and, consequently, my left shoulder got weak and da, da, da, da, da, so it was just from hitting lots of golf balls with my new equipment and playing in cold weather and six-hour lovely flight to Hawaii and lifting up a 40-pound golf bag, so that is how I hurt my back.

HOLLIS STACY: No, it was February. February. I got that nice appetizer of back pain, so, I am pretty religious about doing my stretches every morning.

HOLLIS STACY: I like the course. It is difficult because the fact that the greens are so severe it puts pressure on every aspect of your game. You have to drive the ball well. You have to hit your irons in the spot where, you know, you can make a putt or two putts. So even though everybody says that: "Oh, you have to putt well" - you have to drive the ball well and you have to hit your irons in the right spots. So, fortunately, I did that today.

HOLLIS STACY: My game, you know, I think -- I was talking to Jan Stephenson, she laughed. She is still mad at me for beating her at Hazeltine, but she says -- she told me that I am -- when I was swinging -- maybe my swing was a little better in Salem than it was in Hazeltine, but it seems like my swing is more solid and the whole golf swing has changed, the theory. I have done the Inverted-K.. We have lived through that. Pick-it-up and pull-it-down, so I think that -- right, you have done that.

HOLLIS STACY: The shaft into the -- we have all done that. The golf swing has changed and possibly I am a little bit more flatter and, you know, I think grips have gotten a little bit stronger and I think I am swinging at it more solidly like everyone else is swinging at it a little bit more rounder now. So I think I am swinging at it better than -- or same, probably the same, or if not -- I don't know. All I look at those clips and I look at what I am wearing, I go: Oh God, oh God. Don't look at the swing.

HOLLIS STACY: It is?

HOLLIS STACY: I shot 68 at Salem last round, didn't I?

HOLLIS STACY: I should retire. (laughter). No, I feel great. I feel great. It helped, too, that par was 71, so I was squeezing in that last putt in the last hole. I am like -- but, yeah, I feel good. I hit the ball well and was solid and all that stuff.

HOLLIS STACY: I think they are not. I think that -- I think last years and the years before, I think the speed was pretty much right around 10. You really can't have them too fast because they are so slopey. When you have this downhill putt and all you see is white, it is like that shine going that way, you are like -- it, is, you know, that is about a 12 or a 13 right there. So you can't really --

HOLLIS STACY: The shot, if it's on a downslope. I think they are a good speed. They are 10, 11. Yesterday they were around 11.

HOLLIS STACY: I don't know. I -- I sure would love to, but I know there is a hell of a lot of golf between now and Sunday. So I would love it. But, you know, right now I am just happy just to be here making the cut and being in contention, so, I think four -- I think Annika is young enough that she will be winning four and she is such a great player. I think it is possible.

HOLLIS STACY: My fast ball, what is that?