DU MAURIER CLASSIC

July 30, 1999

Dawn Coe-Jones

DAWN COE-JONES: I haven't been in here in about three years. I can't remember the last time I was in a media room. So what do I do? I am having a lousy year, so. . .

DAWN COE-JONES: I come in to get magazines. (laughter). Okay. Let's see. I started this morning on 10, I hit pitching wedge in about five feet; made that putt for birdie. Up-and-downs too?

DAWN COE-JONES: 13, hit 7-iron a little bit through the green and chipped up about two feet; made that for par. 14, same thing. Just had a little chip there. 15, the par 3, I hit 8-iron in about seven feet, made that for birdie. 17, I hit pitching wedge in about 15 feet; made that for birdie. 18, hit it short of the green and chipped up to two rolls of an eagle; so made that for birdie. 2, I hit 8-iron in there behind the pin about 15 feet; made that putt for birdie. 3, I hit pitching wedge in about 20 feet; made that for birdie. 4, I hit it short of the green and chipped up, made about a 3-footer for par there. 7, I hit a 9-iron in, about seven, eight feet. I made that for birdie: And overall, it was wonderful day. It has been a day I have been waiting for all year. I have been playing well, hitting it well, making nothing. So to come out today and finally make it was -- really, it was good. I have been very patient and just been trying my darnedest. And my husband kept saying: Keep plugging, keep plugging. It will happen. And so to see them, you know -- I made some good putts yesterday. And then to see them going in today, it was really fun.

DAWN COE-JONES: Sure. No, yeah, it does. I have got friends and family here. It is always nice to come home. I have learned over the years how to enjoy it, make the most of it, and have fun with it. It is fun to have the people yell your name when you come up to the green and walk onto the tees. It is fun.

DAWN COE-JONES: Really? Well, I like it. (laughter).

DAWN COE-JONES: Well, on the back 9, my front 9, I had a lot of really good numbers, you know, where I could go ahead and be aggressive. It was just fun. You don't hear the distractions; you don't hear the noises around you. You are just really focused. You see the line on the putts. And it doesn't happen often. But when it does, it is just really fun. You don't worry about hitting a bad shot. Sometimes, as a result of that, you don't hit them bad, and even the bad ones aren't that bad.

DAWN COE-JONES: Just happens, I think. You just have to, you know, keep playing and, you know, try not to get down on yourself. You need to see some putts going in. I mean, you look at Juli's year and the year she is having, Juli is not worried about missing a putt. That is why she is making so many putts. She is just seeing the ball go in the hole.

DAWN COE-JONES: And yeah. It is almost like autopilot, you know. I read where she said you have got to just ride the wave. That is what she has been doing.

DAWN COE-JONES: Is she?

DAWN COE-JONES: Me too, next year --

DAWN COE-JONES: Very. Extremely difficult. Fortunately, this week I have got friends that are helping me out, which has been really nice. That I don't have to get him up at 6 o'clock this morning and try to get him organized, get him to daycare, get here. And it has been nice to be able to leave the house, feel confident that my friend's husband will get him there. And, you know, and I can focus on what I need to do. But I won't have it any other way. I don't go home to an empty hotel room and have to watch TV all night. And that is the fun part.

DAWN COE-JONES: I did. I had a putt -- I think I made about a 15-footer for par yesterday on 8, which really for me was a very important putt. As difficult as that 8th hole is, I mean, getting it back there on top of that big shelf and everything, you know, to have 3-putted would have been disheartening. But I made that putt and just lifted my spirits a bit. Then I just -- I made some good putts on the back side as well.

DAWN COE-JONES: No, 9 was close. 9 was like six feet.

DAWN COE-JONES: But I did make one other long one, somewhere, you are right. That has just been something I have been trying and trying and trying all year. Been trying different putters, different grips, different everything, and getting a lot of advice. And then last week, Sandra Post came down and gave me a little kick in the pants, or -- you know. She basically told me like Jimmy did, that you are a good putter and, you know, putt how you putt; don't putt how maybe somebody has been telling you to putt. See the line, feel it, hit it. It has worked for two days anyways.

DAWN COE-JONES: I have been hitting the ball well off the tee, been driving the ball well. And I think if you put it in this rough out here, it is pretty hard to get the ball on the green sometimes. Sometimes you just have to wedge it back out, just all depends on your lie. So I have been driving the ball well. And I am hitting my irons probably as well as I have hit them. I feel confident with them and then to have the putter working, you know, that is encouraging.

DAWN COE-JONES: Just kidding. I say I am retiring every other day. But, no, seriously I don't see myself playing a whole lot longer. Certainly as soon as Jimmy starts school, I am toast. Waiting for that senior thing to come. I am not far off.

DAWN COE-JONES: He will be four in October. I have been out -- this is 16 -- this is year 16. Sandra and I had some good conversations last week, and she was in 16 and she just said year 16, she said, I am done, gone. I have had enough. And it is a grind. But I still enjoy it. There is still a little part of me that still thinks I can win so that is why I am still out here otherwise I would be home already.

DAWN COE-JONES: This is very encouraging, I mean, every week you hope you get yourself into position on Sunday. You hope you play yourself in a position where you can have an opportunity to win. So who knows what the weather will bring tomorrow. I have no idea, anything like that. But it will be fun getting to sleep in and have a later tee time than I have been getting on the weekends, so I will take advantage of that.

DAWN COE-JONES: I mean, it may or may not. Lorie has just been playing great all year, Gale has been playing well as of late. A.J. unfortunately is injured, she is playing hurt. I know she is heart broken about that. Nancy Harvey, Nancy has got potential to play really well as well. She played well at Nations Cup. Yeah.

DAWN COE-JONES: I shot 64 in London; 63 in Seattle last year. It is certainly in the Top-10, for ball-striking and the overall round, yeah.

DAWN COE-JONES: Well, it is extremely important for a few aspects. We are not sure past next year where we are going to be. This tournament is always important to me. But just that it is important, it still is just another event and we come here, we try our best, hope your game is on and for some reason I seem to have played well at this event. I think I just -- I don't know what it is that elevates my game a little bit more when I come here, but maybe it is just being around friends and family.

DAWN COE-JONES: A burden?

DAWN COE-JONES: No, why should I? What do you mean?

DAWN COE-JONES: Well, this is my 16th one; this is Lorie's third. She told me yesterday she could have vomited on the first tee, she was -- she said, I told my family they can't come. I thought I had it all under control and all of a sudden she said, I stepped on the first tee and I about lost it. I says, oh, no you have got to get up there and just wave and laugh and have fun with it all. She said, oh, God, it just wasn't in my plan. But that is how I was too probably on my second and third one. No, it is fun. It is not a burden at all.

DAWN COE-JONES: I have a brother and his girlfriend and then I have friends that I am staying with and a couple of friends from home. So there is probably 8 or 10 that are very close to me in the gallery.

DAWN COE-JONES: I just saw her walking around out there with her little cast on. I am really crushed because now she won't be able to come over and paint my laundry room next week. But, you know, that has been such a huge disappointment after the year she had last year. I know she was looking forward to, you know, having a good year this year and then, you know, to have this happen and I actually missed her out here. She has been a big help with my son in the last three and a half years and now she is not out here, I could kill her. (laughs). No, but, I hope this last surgery -- I don't know if you know she has had two surgeries now. Hopefully this last one will have done the trick and she will be back out next year healthy and strong. Her husband has said, dear, you have not been put together well and it is really sad because to see the year she had last year, then nothing this year, it has been tough.

DAWN COE-JONES: Actually she tossed a ball in Se Ri's caddie's pocket of his jumpsuit on the 4th hole and we kind of laughed and she did it again. I am like, any takers on three in a row? Her brother is like don't push your luck. That is about as far as we got on the betting was to see if she can throw it in the guy's pocket.