U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 14, 1995

Pat Bradley

PAT BRADLEY: Well, obviously it wasn't quite as strong as yesterday's round, but, you know, I teed off this morning and there was a little difference in the air and there was a little difference in the speed of the greens and it took a little bit of adjusting, but also I thought the pin placements were much tougher today than yesterday's pin placements. Having them on those front pin placements, makes it very difficult because you are guarding so much against being by the pin that things -- it doesn't flow quite as easily as if you have, you know, if you have a lot of room to work with. So a lot of times today too, I was chipping from the front of the green because, you know, you don't want to be above these pins and be putting away from the shrine because it might never stop. So in that respect, it was a little tougher day, but to lose one stroke to my score at an Open, is not the end of the world and to be under par halfway through The Open, I am very, very pleased and I look forward to two more rounds.

PAT BRADLEY: Let us see, here. I bogeyed 1. I missed -- I chipped up and I missed about a 6-foot for par there. I bogeyed 5. I chipped up and missed about a 5-footer there for bogey. Came right back with a birdie on 6. I hit a 6-iron about 5 feet and made that for birdie; then gave it right back on 7. I did not hit a good drive. I hit a terrible drive on 7. I tried to cut a little too much of the corner off and hit a tree and I pitched down some other fairway - I don't know which one it was - and then I hit a great wedge up onto the green and I had about a 6-footer for par and just missed that for bogey there. And then parred 9, so I made the turn at minus 1. And then on 11, I had about a 15-footer for birdie; which I made. I hit a 9-iron in and made a 15-footer there. Parred 12, 13, 14. Then on 15, I hit my drive in the rough, pitched out down in front of the green with a 4-iron. Again, I hit a real nice pitch about 5 feet from the hole and missed that for par. Then, parred 16 and then hit a 3-wood into 17; 2-putted for birdie. I made a great up-and-down on 18; drove it in the rough; had to pitch out over the water; hit a wedge up about 4 feet and made the 4-footer for par. So, it was a little bit of a rollercoaster day, but, you know, I am very pleased that I hung as tough as I did and stayed focused and stayed in tune and limited the damage as best I could. Some of those par putts that I missed today and I made yesterday, that is where I felt there was a change in the speed of the greens. I felt that I stroked the ball well enough for it to be made. The speed of the greens changed drastically from yesterday afternoon and this morning, so it took me a little bit of time to adjust. Some holes, I adjusted better than others.

PAT BRADLEY: I had about an 18-foot eagle putt and just tapped in for the birdie.

PAT BRADLEY: Well, if the weather, you know, we really have been blessed with pretty good weather. I know there was a storm that came in late yesterday afternoon, but we have really been pretty blessed with weather. So, if that winds come up and they start whirling on some of these elevated tees, it will play much, much tougher. If the sun dries out, these greens -- they were holding not badly this morning, but they can dry out and that can play havoc. So, I think -- yes, I think it can get tougher. We have yet to see it get as tough as it can.

PAT BRADLEY: Well, I mean, this golf course can lend itself to many, many different names. The greens are large to allow people to hit them into. If somebody has a nice fine feel which, you know, a lot of players have, they can make -- they can do some damage out there. You know, it is not as -- it is not extremely tight. It is not heavily bunkered off the fairway. It is not heavily bunkered around the greens. There are some holes, yes, that some of the short, short holes are heavily bunkered, so it is a type of golf course that allows a lot of people to be involved and I think that is good. I think that is good for The Open. I think that is good for golf. But, I do think the last couple of days, the experience and the cream will come to the top.

PAT BRADLEY: Actually I feel very good today. I have to admit, when I arrived on Monday, I had a headache. Tuesday was tough and -- but I feel that I have adjusted pretty good. I have slowed my pace down a little bit, so I am not -- I am not running the -- not running the fairways, but walking the fairways as fast as I might somewhere else because of the altitude and not wanting to lose my breath. But yet, you know, we have water and we have Gatorade. We have, you know, these drinks that are at our fingertips to replenish anything that we might lose due to the heat or something, so I think all of us are pretty well on our guard and not having, you know, dehydration from the sun.

PAT BRADLEY: I don't know if I have an advantage. I have 22 years of playing on the Tour. I have won an Open before. I finished second before, so hopefully that will help me in the next couple of days. But as I say, you know, the way the Tour and the depth of the Tour has grown, it is really hard to pinpoint any one person, but I do feel that a veteran will win when Sunday comes around.

PAT BRADLEY: No, I'd like Joanne to keep that. You know, of course, I mean, to win, you know, after 22 years on Tour and, of course, if it was the United States Women's Open, I would just be -- I would be thrilled beyond anyone's expectations or thoughts, but I know there is still two very, very difficult days to be played and I am going to try my very best to hang in there and hopefully be around Sunday afternoon. But -- it is fun that, you know, I am making a few heads turn and when they look at that leaderboard, that is always a fun thing to happen.

PAT BRADLEY: It was a little less than 5 hours, but not by a whole lot. Yesterday was very, very difficult. I think it was 5 hours and 15 minutes for my group that played at 12:30 and that is really difficult. I mean, we were backed up, three groups on the third hole; that did not happen today. But it was a slow pace. I am not sure if the altitude has that effect for the players that aren't -- because I guess we are moving a little bit slowly, I am not really sure, but -- this golf course is spread out, you know, we spend 9 holes climbing the mountain and we spend the other 9 holes coming down, so one minute we are trudging up, the other 9 we are running down. So it is really always amazing to me why it seems to take so long at this particular tournament. We need to do a survey or something. I am not really sure why. And then to start the day we only had 6 pin placements. We didn't have all the pin placements. They delivered the other 12 out on the golf course to us. So I am -- I haven't understood that either.

PAT BRADLEY: Yeah, but all 12?

PAT BRADLEY: 6. And they only gave us 6.

PAT BRADLEY: You know, Jerry, I don't think you can do a whole lot of changing. I mean, the two key things of a U.S. Open is fairways and greens. And then main the third is don't be above the pin. But other than that, I have no control and nor does anyone else have any control over another contestant or another player. I just have control of myself and just want to be in control of myself and just play fairways and greens and, hopefully, when I come upon an opportunity to make a birdie, I take advantage of it and do not let it slip by.

PAT BRADLEY: No, it is basically my normal style, but I ran out because the weather was getting bad and I wanted to be sure I got a few, you know, few minutes in before the storm hit, but that is basically what I would do.

PAT BRADLEY: Thank you all very much.