THE SOLHEIM CUP

October 20, 1994

JoAnne Carner

JoANNE CARNER: We are ready to go finally. Beth asked me to make a comment on were there any surprises. I have to say there is. Laura Davies is in match four. I was guessing that they would put Laura in two or three. So I was off. But that really does not make any difference. She is going against our one and two at Solheim points list, Donna Andrews and Betsy King. Other than that, I think we have just got some great matches going, really. When I look at it, I am thrilled for our side and thrilled for the European side because the way they teamed them up and what not, I think it is going to really be some fine, fine golf. When I -- everything was so hectic today. I had to run around and tell the team, the first two that I got to was Mochrie and Burton, I said you are going first and they both jointly said "Yeah." And that is the spirit of my team. I am ready, they are ready, and that is about it.

JoANNE CARNER: Not really. You know, I know they broke up a couple of teams, but I think she might have to do that due to the golf course; the second shots requiring elevation. When it is playing long, you know, some players may have to -- didn't team well for some reason. I really don't know. I am not familiar with a lot of the players. I am familiar with all the ones that play our tour, but I am not familiar with -- Dale Reid, Lora Fairclough, Annika, I have seen Catrin a little bit, you know, I am very much aware of their record. So I think -- when I look at them, I think she has done a very good job on her side.

JoANNE CARNER: Rooter. I am going to get some pom poms and just get out there. I really think both sides are fired up and ready to go. I was talking to Pam Wright's mother, of course we played Curtis Cup matches against one another, so I was talking to her just briefly and I showed her the pairings and she said they guessed that is who they would play. So it is interesting, they were trying to figure it out. Her mother said, you know, this is a totally different Solheim Cup, in fact, that it is not lop sided one way or the another abilitywise. It is really equal. Everyone has so many strong players on each side that it is really evolving into the real Solheim Cup matches.

JoANNE CARNER: Turn them loose. They know what to do. But I will kill them if they don't... No, I am only kidding. We are having a team meeting tonight and we will just go over some things; some things that I will bring up from my past playing match play and, you know, some of the stuff I have already talked about to them, and then all they got to do is just try and relax and free-wheel it tomorrow.

JoANNE CARNER: Yes. Absolutely. Pam's mother says it makes me want to play too. The golf course is so pretty and what not; all the excitement.

JoANNE CARNER: I wasn't there two years ago.

JoANNE CARNER: No. As far as I am concerned, that is past. This is a whole new team.

JoANNE CARNER: It is a love/hate relationship. It is "I'd love to play her, but I'd hate to play her." She is so dangerous that, you know, the team, they know they are playing well and they can take Laura on, but yet, you know, she still scares them.

JoANNE CARNER: I don't know. I just -- I have just started out, you know, the golf course; a lot has to do with the golf course. Secondly, I consider the games and thirdly personalities. They made it very easy when all the members said I will play with anybody, so personality was the last thing to think about.

JoANNE CARNER: I just thought they would be a good solid team. They sort of compliment one another. They are like the Beth Daniel and the Betsy King of previous matches in that they both hit about the same distance so they are just good solid-- I wanted to put Sherri who tends to get a little nervous, I wanted to put her with a good solid player like Patti who will take on anything and able too up-and-down out of any where, so will help Sherri relax; although Sherri is playing great right now, so. . .

JoANNE CARNER: Yes, and I like their attitude. I mean, they are ready and they are -- they are -- ones's aggressiveness is feeding the other out there, so I would put them against anybody.

JoANNE CARNER: Yes.

JoANNE CARNER: No, Brandie said, I will play with absolutely anybody and I said, well, is there anyone in particular and she said, not really, but I'd really like to play with Dottie, so I then went and asked Dottie-- this was in Seattle and asked her if I should pair them because at that point it was -- everything was up in the air because she had just finalized the captain's choice and solidified the 9th position, so I asked Dottie and Dottie said she'd love to play with her. So with that in the back of my mind I started theoretically putting teams together. I had many lists where they were not together, and the final list kept putting them together.

JoANNE CARNER: After this week, no. I mean, I could use a little rest, but I think at the flag raising ceremony then I will start to feel it.

JoANNE CARNER: I started out in asking them to look at individual greens and each person study a green, but it is too involved and there wasn't that much time and everybody was on a hectic schedule and so I said just, you know, take your time and then we split into two-somes so that they could spend more time and start to just communicate with their partner right now. So that worked out great and then Michelle went with various players to fill in and did a great job as alternate in that I said you have to be -- you have to think that you are going to be ready to step in at any given minute; particularly if the weather turns cold somebody might pull a muscle. So you prepare just like as if you are playing; that is what Michelle has done and she has done a great job so as our first alternate she is ready to step in. Everyone else did a lot of analyzing on their own, some of them would meet and talk together, 4, 6 or 8 players and discuss certain holes, but it comes down to certain holes are tricky in what to look for as they played it; it hurt everybody in not playing yesterday with all the rain. That really makes everybody a little more anxious on both sides, so I am sure everybody is feeling like me; they are glad it is finally here. They are glad the pairings are set and glad the batting order is in place.

JoANNE CARNER: It was interesting, I was talking to some of the players out there. I said I hadn't seen them play because I have been so busy and yesterday I couldn't, you know, because I saw Beth and Meg play two holes -- yeah, two holes, and that was it. I mean, I started down the first hole, wondering everybody is coming in saying the greens are under water. I watched them all on the practice tee and then I was out there and I had forgot about the meeting at 11:30 and I went out to really look at how everybody is playing and I only had about an hour and a half to get out there and -- so I rode a couple of holes with each group and then right in from there up to the Solheim Cup meeting at the hotel; I was putting together how I would pair them and it ended up that is the way I paired them. I think when you get rushed, you pull out of your subconscious what you have been thinking about.

JoANNE CARNER: Well, if there is animosity, I don't know why, five European members sat at my table last night. I mean, they are just -- we all know one another and the players from Europe that I don't know I have met and spent a little bit of time with them and -- Mickey and I don't want -- I have known Mickey when she played over here and I don't want that atmosphere going on and nor does Mickey, really. I had a feeling they were trying to take that clip out and get sent to fire up -- to fire up the European team and I said, just bounce it off; if it fires them up, fine, but we can't be, you know, involved in anything like that.

JoANNE CARNER: Oh, it was where they took out of context Betsy King's statement. Betsy was talking about the depth -- if you took 50 players from the European Tour and 50 players from the U.S. Tour, the U.S. Had the better players, depth-wise, that was all. So they didn't put in the clip "if you took 50 players from this side and 50 players from this side. " All they put in was the last statement, so...

JoANNE CARNER: I believe it was Ben Wright's (ph) interview.

JoANNE CARNER: Yeah, but --

JoANNE CARNER: Laura, Trish, Alison; Laura Fairclough, I believe, there is one I am not sure which one she. She looks like Pam Wright to me. Who is that?

JoANNE CARNER: Catrin.

JoANNE CARNER: Yeah, so yeah, we had a fun time.

JoANNE CARNER: It has changed her. Dottie is getting back to the old Dottie. She was mellowing there for awhile.

JoANNE CARNER: For Dottie, Dottie was mellowing. Blonds may have had more fun, but red heads are more fiery. Okay, we all got to go change and get ready for the ceremony.