LPGA CORNING CLASSIC

May 22, 2003

Karen Stupples

Q. Great playing out there.

KAREN STUPPLES: Thank you very much.

Q. This 64 ties your career low score?

KAREN STUPPLES: Absolutely.

Q. That's a great number to have in the first round?

KAREN STUPPLES: I have been rooting for a good round for a while. It's especially nice to do it here in Corning, especially after what happened last time. I played well in Augusta, and I had a good week with my coach and trainer. It really felt good coming in here. I always feel like I should play well here in Corning. I have great friends I stay with.

Q. What was working for you out there today?

KAREN STUPPLES: I generally hit the ball very well. I hit three of them in 2, so that helped. The other one I made a good birdie on. I didn't have a 5 on my score card today, which I was kind of pleased with. Everything was genuinely pretty good today. Very steady. There were no real surprises for me out there.

Q. What happened last year, did you miss the cut?

KAREN STUPPLES: Actually, no I got disqualified. I missed my tee time.

Q. Did you oversleep?

KAREN STUPPLES: No, actually I totally misread my tee time. I was actually quite tired. I'm not trying to make excuses, but I think I got my name mixed up with one of the other player's names. One of the ladies came running up to me and said your group has just teed off, and I made a mad dash over there, but the rules official said, "too late." I got to spend a lot of time wine-tasting and things, which is fantastic.

Q. How's the course playing?

KAREN STUPPLES: It is playing very well today. The weather was fantastic. It seems a lot warmer than 60 degrees out there. You had a perfect lie if you were on the fairway all the time, which always helps your scoring. The greens were rolling very nicely today. I think over the course of the week, they slowly speed them up. In general, I thought it played very well today.

Q. Do you find yourself double- and triple-checking your tee times this year?

KAREN STUPPLES: Absolutely. In fact, I was more paranoid about it. I think everybody who knows me was making sure I was on the right path this week. I had my husband phoning me, and everybody was checking up.

Q. Were you looking at what Annika was doing today?

KAREN STUPPLES: Oh, absolutely. I'm rooting for Annika 110 percent. I don't think anybody here in Corning is not rooting for her. It's always at the back of your mind. I was so happy to see that she's playing fantastic. It's going to be such a big part of what we do this week how she's doing over there.

Q. Nancy Scranton got off to a good start today too. Does that help you play better when your playing partners are playing well?

KAREN STUPPLES: It's always good to play with somebody who's playing good as well. You try and keep up. It's a good feeling. You don't have to watch too many shots going astray. She has good rhythm, and she's a good player to play with. I had a very enjoyable game out there today.

Q. Does shooting this score make you mentally change the way you're going to play tomorrow and the rest of the weekend?

KAREN STUPPLES: Absolutely not. It's only the first day. I've got three more rounds still to go. It's nice to be brought into the press area and have to speak in the microphone. It's great. I hope it's something that I will become accustomed to.

Q. It must be a nice feeling to get off to a good start this week.

KAREN STUPPLES: Yes, absolutely. Without any shadow of a doubt. As I said, all of two weeks ago, I was kind of all hitting the ball well and getting myself in good position, but something would always happen to get in the way. Then the last day all came good. I was able to see my coach and work on a few things that really have helped me for this week. I felt pretty good coming in here. Having had the week off too, it's quite nice to be rested.

Q. Had you ever missed a tee time before?

KAREN STUPPLES: That was the only time. Never again.

Q. What is your time tomorrow?

KAREN STUPPLES: Well, 12:40, so -- but don't worry, I will be looking at it five times before tomorrow.

Q. You've been consistent all year. Do you feel that you're an established LPGA player now?

KAREN STUPPLES: I definitely think I'm getting there. I feel like I should be able to contend every week now. I feel like my game is in a good position. I've made lots of improvements over the winter, and I really feel that I should be contending week-in and week-out. Mentally, I've got to make sure I get myself there now.

Q. What would your first win be like considering what's going on with Annika in Texas this week?

KAREN STUPPLES: You know what, a first win is going to be fantastic wherever it comes. It would make it all the more better if Annika was playing too. It's a win-win situation. It's going to be fantastic regardless of wherever it comes.

Q. The weather is supposed to get rainy and nasty later this week. Does the fact that you're from England help you deal with bad weather?

KAREN STUPPLES: Absolutely. I mean, I would being lying if I said I wasn't more comfortable with the warm weather. I live in Orlando now, however, having grown up in the UK, it's almost inbred that you would be used to those nasty conditions. I feel like I can handle whatever nature throws my way. I think you have to. You have to grin and bear it and accept whatever comes, because it's going to be the same for everybody and everybody has to play in it.

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