U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 20, 2000

Kellee Booth

KELLEE BOOTH: Well, I'm thrilled about the way I played today. You know, I got off to a little shaky start. I think that was mostly nerves. But I birdied 11, which gave me hope that I could make some birdies out there today, after bogeying 10, and then I hit it in the rough on 12 and made bogey there, unfortunately. The rough got me. I hit my second shot about 20 yards and ended up getting up-and-down for bogey. So after I got off to that start, I birdied 16 to get me back even, and that really got me going into the -- well, the front nine, my last nine holes. And it was tough out there in the wind. I was really lucky I got to play on Monday for A practice round with the wind blowing this way, because the last two days, obviously it has not blown out of the west; it blew out of the northwest. It was a little different today, but I'm real pleased with the way I played.

KELLEE BOOTH: I definitely think it is. Always, getting off to a good start in the afternoon round is important, because the next morning you get to putt on greens that don't have nearly as many spike marks on them. And, you know, the greens will be a little softer, as well, just the overnight conditions. If we get down to the dew point, that will soften up the greens a little bit and that's an advantage. Hopefully, we'll get the benign wind conditions in the morning like the players did this morning.

KELLEE BOOTH: My mom was very successful in this championship. Rhonda probably has that information in the archives. She's a wonderful player, and she just came off winning the Curtis Cup as a captain and retaining the Cup for us, which was wonderful, after we won it in Minneapolis in '98. And she's actually coming in tonight; so she'll be here for tomorrow's round, which is nice. I'd like to have the support. And having my dad on the bag is just a real comfort zone for me. This is the sixth Open that he's caddied for me in. Only the first one did I have somebody else caddie for me. So, I feel really comfortable with him out there, and it's just a lot of moral support.

KELLEE BOOTH: They were very firm this afternoon. I found that a lot of shots you almost had to land short to keep it close to the front hole locations, and there were quite a few spike marks out there. They get you if you got behind them. I got behind them on No. 5 and ended up 3-putting. But other than that, you know, they were rolling pretty smooth, and I think they are in real good condition.

KELLEE BOOTH: Well, she won almost every Amateur event, other than the Women's Amateur, two to three times. So, I had a tough act to follow when it came to Amateur golf. And finally, my last year, which was 1999, playing Amateur golf, I think I captured three of the events that she had won, and got one that she didn't, and that was the "SALLY," the beginning of -- well, middle of January. And she's played so wonderfully in this tournament. I think she finished third and fifth once or twice in this event. And to be able to get off to a good start really gives me hope that I can hopefully match her record there.

KELLEE BOOTH: I don't think so. Obviously this is a new experience, to play in an Open and actually play for money, finally; so, that's all new to me. But I think I approach it the same way, the way I did when I was an amateur. There was always an incentive that if you finished high enough in the tournament, you got to play the next year; so being exempt and not having to qualify. Unfortunately, that didn't happen for me last year. I just finished being in the Top-20, the bad last hole, but being able to qualify this year and being able to get back to the Championship really means a lot to me.

KELLEE BOOTH: You know, I really can't answer for all of the younger players. I can answer for myself; that I went out and played the best that I could out there. And obviously, I have quite a bit of experience in this event, having played as many times as I have. And I know it's tough for somebody to walk out onto the first tee, and I have the same problem with jitters on the first tee. I probably will if I'm playing in this event when I'm 50, I'll probably still get nervous. But I think experience does a lot for the leaderboard. You know, the players that are up there know how to play in these conditions, out of the tough rough and the wind, and the fast greens. They have all been there. They know what it's like, and they seem to play well in those conditions.

KELLEE BOOTH: I hit the drive down to the left. It was playing really long, 410 into the wind today, and I hit my drive down the left side and hit a 3-iron that landed just short and bounced to the right in the rough. I hit a pretty good shot out of the rough and missed about an 8-footer for par. And then No. 11, I hit a 4-iron to about six feet and rolled that in for birdie. And then, as I spoke about on No. 12, I hit my drive in the left rough and advanced my second shot about 20 yards. And then hit a 4-wood out to the fairway. I hit a 6-iron just to the right of the hole on the green and chipped on and made my putt for bogey. The birdie at 16, I hit a 6-iron to a foot and a half; so that was pretty routine. We like those tap-ins for birdies. No. 2, I hit a 5-iron to about 10 feet and rolled that in. I was really -- got it rolling on the par 3s at that point. And No. 4, hit a 6-iron to about 20 feet and rolled that in. I slam-dunked it, actually, watched everybody in front of me leave it short; so, I figured I had to hit it a little harder. And then on No. 5, I hit a 9-iron just on the front, left side of the green and had a big swinger putt from about 20 feet and left it about three feet short. Hit a couple spike marks along the way and I think that slowed it down. And then I missed the par putt. It was about three feet long. Just missed it a little low and left. It broke to the left and didn't quite hit it hard enough to hold the line. And then No. 8, I hit a really good drive. I think -- I don't know what the stat was, but it was somewhere in the range of 290, which was pretty nice. It was downwind, I'll say that; so it wasn't really 290. And I hit a 4-wood just to the left of the green. I had, I think, 233 to the hole and hit it about pin-high with my 4-wood. And then got up-and-down, made about a 6-footer for birdie there.

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