U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

May 31, 1996

Brandie Burton

BRANDIE BURTON: Thank you.

BRANDIE BURTON: Well, it was pretty much a copy cat of yesterday. I had four birdies and four pars again. Today I got a few good breaks that could have gone either way, so I was very fortunate, especially on 18. I hit two very bad shots left, and both times it kicked me out in play.

BRANDIE BURTON: Yeah, they hit trees. And it could have easily gone many different ways. And then of all things, I got it up-and-down No. 4, so that was big. I had a few adventures today, out there today. But again, I still contribute that to my patience level of if I lose one, I went ahead and got it right back. So overall it was about the same.

BRANDIE BURTON: The golf course is running a lot faster. I had a little bit of problem with my putting today. I was knocking them well by, 5, 8 feet consistently. I couldn't get the touch, and that will give you gray hair in a hurry. The greens, I think, were probably a few steps higher than yesterday. Some of the pin placements were a little on the slope side, so they got very slippery around the hole, which fooled you as far as reading the greens.

BRANDIE BURTON: I had 34 putts. I count my putts on the collar as well.

BRANDIE BURTON: Hit a sand wedge from about a hundred yards to about five feet and made a birdie. No. 4, 9-iron to about 20 feet and made that for birdie. No. 5, I hit it in the middle of the green with the 4-wood, about 50 feet away and 3-putted. My second putt was about 8 feet. Made bogey there. No. 6, I hit a 6-iron just over the green, chipped up to like 5 feet and missed that one. I had a little problem with the putt there, so I made bogey there. And then 7 I hit it on the front right and 3-putted there for bogey; so boom, boom, boom.

BRANDIE BURTON: My second putt was about five feet. No. 8 hit a pitching wedge to about 20 feet and made that for birdie. No. 10, this was kind of disappointing for me, but my second shot was about five yards short of the green and two, chipped about 10 feet behind the hole and 3-putted for bogey. That was a big swing there. And luckily I was fortunate enough to kind of throw that behind me. But I look back on it now.

BRANDIE BURTON: Especially when I hit two great shots up there, and I was well-positioned to get it up-and-down, and I guess maybe just got a little too aggressive. No. 14, hit a 5-iron to about 10 feet and made that for birdie. And that's it.

BRANDIE BURTON: Actually, I hit my tee shots pretty consistent today. And I got up on 18 and just got really quick with the driver and came really hard over the top and just went sailing in the trees, and all of a sudden you see this ball float out in the air and it ended up being on the first cut of rough. So I was pretty lucky there. And I had 198 to the front. I was a little downwind, so I pulled out a 3-iron, and same exact swing, and I went sailing over the score board on the left. And I had no clue where it was at, and I don't think anybody else did. I basically stood back there for a while thinking I was going to have to hit another ball. And our USGA official was up there saying it's right here, right in front of the bunker. I said it must be that clean life. And then I hit it about ten feet and made a putt for 4. I think I basically got away with murder there.

BRANDIE BURTON: Actually, it was working. Today was a little bit of a struggle. But the putting -- I've been very happy with my putting. That's probably the best part of my game. The ball-striking has been hurting me a little bit. Today was a little on the down side of the putter, but I also made some great putts, as well.

BRANDIE BURTON: I feel good. Like I said, I haven't hit the ball quite as well as I'd like to. But I know that it's really close, and it's just a matter of me relaxing out there and just letting it go and letting it happen, because the tension seems to get a little tightened up on the weekend. So the key is just have to go out there and relax.

BRANDIE BURTON: I think this probably is the closest I've been. But we're only halfway through, so there's a lot of golf to be played. I'm just going to take it one shot at a time, one hole at a time, and wherever it ends up, it ends up.

BRANDIE BURTON: I do. North Carolina has been very good to me through my amateur career. And even when we had the Pinewild event here last year on the tour, I think I finished third there. So this place has been pretty good to me, and I have great memories here. So that makes me a little more comfortable coming in.

BRANDIE BURTON: Yes. And I beat Vicki at the North/South at Pinehurst No. 2 the following year.

BRANDIE BURTON: It's hard to say. Coming in here I thought a target score of 8, 9 under would win the event, just because the type of pin placements that can be put on these greens are very -- you want to be aggressive. But you know that you can't, because one little awkward shot right or left, you could get in some serious trouble because the greens are crowned, because that's typical Donald Ross design. So I would have to say that I didn't expect -- I thought even par would be about top 20. That's probably what I would have expected it to be coming into this week.

BRANDIE BURTON: He basically changed me from head to toe.

BRANDIE BURTON: We started in late January, a little later than I would have liked to. It was better late than never. Obviously the change was needed. We tightened up some things with my swing to make less room for error. I've learned some new shots around the greens, and he's really helped me on my putting, and we really changed the whole putting stroke from what it was. He helped me on the course management. I'm trying to be a little more creative in my game and not hit the 9-iron draw shot when the pin is tucked five from the right, go ahead and take it to the middle of the green and cut it in. If it doesn't happen, I've still got a 20, 25 footer. So, basically, he's teaching me how to play a lot more percentage shots.

BRANDIE BURTON: David and I live pretty close together, and we both play out of the same course. He's worked with me on and off every now and then if he was in town. But he called me up in January and asked me if he could help me. And I said, well, I wasn't sure if I was ready for that type of experienced person to teach me. I wasn't sure if I was ready for that next level. But obviously I was a little out of touch with the game and needed some new insight. I was very lucky to have a person like that come to me like that. And he's been great ever since. I've been talking to him every night. He's a great guy.

BRANDIE BURTON: He said nice read on 12.

BRANDIE BURTON: Well, I was just -- I didn't have the fire in my eyes that I had in '90, '92, '93. I didn't have -- to go out there and beat the golf course, I was just kind of there. And it was just -- I wasn't really enjoying myself. I don't know, I guess I just needed that next step of -- next level of education in golf. Whoever was feeding me information came to a peak, so I needed something different to happen, and that's where Dave came in. And we've just approached the game a whole lot differently on a much higher level, which is allowing me to have a lot more fun with it and a lot more challenging.

BRANDIE BURTON: You never blame yourself.

BRANDIE BURTON: I'm very hard on myself, and that's something that I'm learning, too. I've always put a lot of heat on myself, and whatever the outside circumstances were, I still blamed myself. And that's pretty hard. You can beat yourself up pretty quick. And I think I may have done that a little bit in the last couple of years.

BRANDIE BURTON: I am refreshed. Life is grand.

BRANDIE BURTON: Like I said, a couple of days earlier, I really don't know what the exact reason was. I know that I came in very early and had a lot of success and maybe basically beat myself up. My expectations on myself were too high, and I started to force everything. I felt like if I didn't finish in the top 10 I was a failure or so on, and that's not healthy that I concluded. So I have not put my thumb on what it was, I just know that golf is a lot more fun right now.

BRANDIE BURTON: Tim Miskell, I've been with him for 15 years, and he's the pro at Arrow Country Club. He's been a long-time friend of Dave's, as well. They both help me. When I go home, Tim is there. And I send Tim home videotapes every week. We kind of get everybody on the same brainlength and just go from there. And even with Caponi out here has helped me out with the putting, I've got three little spots that I can rotate to.

BRANDIE BURTON: Miskell, M-i-s-k-e-l-l.