Q. Were you having -- Karrie had said earlier that she was having trouble trusting what the greens were doing out there, given the rain. Were you having trouble?
BETH DANIEL: I teed off -- I would have much preferred to tee off number 1 today just because you are looking at two fairly flat greens starting out.
Number 10, I am standing there going, okay, is it going to suck back off the green or is it going to bounce hard? You know, you don't want to be above the hole there. So what I did is I -- you know, 10, I took more club and just kind of, you know, armed it up there, took all the spin off of it, and just kind of hit a shot up there that wouldn't do anything. That turned out good on 10.
And then 11, I sucked it back all the way off the green with a sand wedge.
So, you know, then you kind of start thinking, well, maybe they are holding, and then you get to 12 and, you know, it's not really holding that well. So even though the greens were a little more receptive than yesterday, they still are -- you know, it's pretty tough.
And you have certain greens that are firmer than others; for instance, number 9 is -- it's been a brick all week, and you are hitting, like, a sand wedge in there and the ball is just bouncing straight up in the air.
Like I hit a little sand wedge in there today and it released 7 yards. I mean, and how much rain did we have last night? I mean, you just don't expect that. So every green is different, every green has its own character out there, and you have to kind of know that, remember that, and try to do the best you can.
I mean, so far Woody and I have done a really good job of when we have missed shots, we have missed them in the right place.
Q. It seems like every week, no matter where you are, you are going to get somebody who says, well, I didn't really hit the ball that well, but I managed to piece it together. Are you going to hear that this week?
BETH DANIEL: Probably not as much, although I missed a lot more greens today, but I missed most of them short just because I wasn't hitting the ball very solidly, and that's sort of the place to miss them.
Q. Beth, you had said you had a tendency to play one very good round and one not-so-good round. How did you avoid that?
BETH DANIEL: Well, you know, I don't know. It's not like every other round. It's just, kind of, I seem to throw a bad round in there. Today I thought I did a real good job of keeping it around par. It's a round -- today was a round that possibly could have gotten away from me.
You know, I made two bogeys in a row on 14 and 15, and then I didn't birdie 16, I had a chance to -- I went for that in two and, I mean, I literally missed hitting it up there with an eagle chance by -- well, it hit in the grass and kicked in the bunker, so, I mean, you are talking a yard to the right, and that ball is right up by the pin, and I don't get it up and down. So there is three holes in a row that you kind of feel like you are making three bogeys.
And then I just -- you know, I said just settle down. Then 17, I made a great saving par on 17, so I could have bogeyed 17 as well, and I didn't do it.
And then 18, I played well, I hit a real good 3-iron in there about 25 feet, so it's just kind of a -- you know, I sort of went out with the attitude that I am not going to let things bother me, I am going to go one shot at a time and just do the best that I can and not get wrapped up and, gosh, I got a horrible lie there or, boy, that was a bad kick, because a lot of stuff like that is happening out there.
Q. Or, boy, they got my score wrong again on the board?
BETH DANIEL: Yeah, or, boy, these leader boards are terrible.
Q. Given the conditions and the fact that you did a good job today of keeping it around par, if you can keep it around par the next two days, do you think you have a good shot of wing?
BETH DANIEL: Well, I don't know about -- well, yeah, I would think so. I would think on the weekend even par might be a pretty good score. I mean, it's playing -- it's tough.
Q. Total or for the day?
BETH DANIEL: Oh, no, for each day. Depends upon whether you are asking me or looking at the leader board.
Q. I wasn't talking about that. I think what I mean, though, is could you see something like -- I mean, if it gets breezy, and we don't see any more rain, could see something like --
BETH DANIEL: Yeah, if it gets breezy, but I don't think the forecast is for wind anymore. I don't know, but I haven't heard -- I heard today was the only day that's supposed to be windy, then it's supposed to be beautiful on the weekend.
And there are a lot of good players up there, I mean, you are talking Karrie Webb, you are talking Se Ri Pak, and, what did Annika shoot today? Yeah, Carin is up there.
I mean, you are talking a lot of good players up there that can shoot some pretty good low numbers on any given day, so it's going to be a battle, but I think it's going to -- I think it's one of the first times I have played this golf course where I think par is my friend, and that's sort of like what you feel like on a US Open. Anytime you walk off a hole with a par, you are thinking, all right, that's all right, let's go to the next one.
Q. Did you hit in the rough at all today and did you ever have any occasion where you couldn't find your ball right away?
BETH DANIEL: Yeah. Yes and yes. Number, 6 I hit it -- number 6 I drove it in the rough, and I don't know how -- I still don't know how it got in the rough, but it looked like it was sitting pretty good and it was not sitting good at all, and I tried to hit a shot just to the middle of the greens, and turned my club over, so I missed 6 on the short side, and I was walking up there and a friend of mine yells "Keep going up, keep going up," and then I finally saw my ball.
So it's -- I mean, think about the rough as it is kind of spotty. I mean, you can get areas where it's okay and you can advance it, and then you have other places where, I mean, you just look at it and you are like, okay, sand wedge it out. You got no shot.
So it is a little bit spotty out there. It's not -- you know, -- I mean, it's all tough but there are some areas that are like, you know, 8 inches deep instead of 4 inches deep.
Q. Do your score card quick.
BETH DANIEL: Yes. Okay. The boring part. Let's see. I birdied number 5, I hit 6-iron 10 feet, made that.
6 is where I was talking about I made a great up and down there because I missed it on the short side. The ball was in the deep rough and I managed to pop it out, just like 5 feet and made it.
Number 9, I hit a sand wedge in, 6 feet, made that for birdie.
13, I hit a really solid 4-iron there 3 feet behind the hole and made that for birdie.
14, I was in between clubs, went with less club, the ball just stopped dead on the front of the green and I 3-putted from like 40 feet. Actually, it would count as a green missed, I was just on the fringe, but --
And 15, you know, I was talking about how I was kind of shooting my irons up in the air. That hole played into the wind, and I just shot an iron straight up into the air, it came up short of the green. I hit a really bad pitch shot and left myself about 20 feet for par, missed that and made bogey.
So that was two bogeys, three birdies today.
Q. How long was your putt on 17?
BETH DANIEL: On 17? Oh, for par? I was about
10 feet.
Q. Where did you miss that off the tee?
BETH DANIEL: I missed it short, short and right.
Q. That must have been -- as many of these majors as you have played and know better about patience, I mean, if you don't make that putt, is it easy for you to lose patience?
BETH DANIEL: Yes and no, because, I mean, you got to look at that, that you are still not out of it. I mean, you know, sure, I am 2 over par, that's not out of it in this tournament, I would have been 2 over for the day, but those are the kind of putts that are great momentum builders and you are like, okay, stole one there, let's go to the next hole, let's, you know, settle down and play some golf, start finding a way to swing at it.
Q. So pretty much as soon as you got on the course today, you knew that if you stayed around par, you would be probably at the top of the leader board today?
BETH DANIEL: I mean, no one in that swing that went off this morning really did anything, so I knew the course was probably playing pretty tough or just as tough, and as it turned out, it was.
Q. Beth, thank you very much.
BETH DANIEL: Thank you.
End of FastScripts....
