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SYBASE CLASSIC

May 21, 2005

Paula Creamer

NEW ROCHELLE, NEW YORK

JOEL LAMP: We have Paula Creamer here in the interview room. Paula shot an even par 71 today. She's five under par for the tournament. We'll start off with your score card first. Birdie at No. 1.

PAULA CREAMER: It was a long time ago. I had 120 to the hole and I hit a little 9 iron, landed it short and had about a 15 footer. I made that.

JOEL LAMP: Bogey on 7.

PAULA CREAMER: I hit 3 rescue, just to the front of the green and I was kind of in between clubs right there. We thought that was a safer play and then I three putted that. I should have made par.

JOEL LAMP: How far was the first putt?

PAULA CREAMER: It was off the green. It was probably about 35 feet, about two yards short of the green.

JOEL LAMP: But you closed out your front nine with back to back birdies on 8 and 9.

PAULA CREAMER: No. 8, I had 85 yards to the hole and I hit my 54 degrees, shot 15 feet.

9, I had 110 yards and I hit a wedge to about 5 feet.

JOEL LAMP: Bogey at 12.

PAULA CREAMER: I missed the fairway left and then I hit a punch shot trying to run it up on the green and I hit it in the bunker and I missed the green. I had a good bunker shot. It rolled off the green and I had to get it up and down.

JOEL LAMP: But you followed up with a birdie at 13.

PAULA CREAMER: It was 121 to the hole, and I carry my 9 iron 121, so it was a perfect club, and I hit it to about 5 feet and I made the putt.

JOEL LAMP: Bogey on 15.

PAULA CREAMER: That was awful. I had 5 iron into the green and I blocked it right and hit the tree. It came down. And then I had 58 yards to the front and then I hit over the green and over the green again and then up and down.

JOEL LAMP: Bogey on 17.

PAULA CREAMER: I three putted that from about 40 feet.

JOEL LAMP: What did you hit in there?

PAULA CREAMER: I had to hit a punch. I was blocked out by the tree. I hit a little I used a 6 iron. I practiced that shot in the practice round, but the fairways are a little firmer than they were.

JOEL LAMP: A little up and down round for you today, but you're still just one shot out of the lead. Talk about your thoughts being this close to the lead looking for your first Tour win.

PAULA CREAMER: Today just it was probably the worst of all the days I've been here for ball striking. I hit the ball terrible. I never got any momentum going and whenever I did it was caused by negative energy. A bogey, it's energy. That pumped me up. It was almost as if it was bad and I had to come back and fight. It wasn't there today, but I think I got all the bad shots out for tomorrow.

JOEL LAMP: We'll take questions.

Q. An apology for most of your round today. You seem to be completely composed. Did you feel any nerves out there or do you feel like you're in your element and you've done this before, even though you haven't done it before?

PAULA CREAMER: Yes and no. I haven't played in the lead group at an LPGA event. That was a new thing. I was anxious out there. I was excited to be in that lead group and have a chance to win this. I feel I should be five or six shots better than what I am right now, which is hard for me to sit here and say it, but it's the truth.

You know, I feel I'm trying too hard, almost, at times.

Q. What is your method when you do get anxious? What do you try to do to calm yourself down?

PAULA CREAMER: I take deep breaths and back away from the shot and then look at it and then kind of refocus. And Lance, my caddy, this is his first time, and he's learning, knowing now I'm a very anxious. Whereas Colin, he has played with me several times and he knows my tendencies. And it's new for him to try to help me. I'm not aware of when Colin does it, but I have to be aware of it now because it was normal. Because I get anxious, my tempo in my golf swing gets very fast and then that's where my ball striking goes downhill. So I always have to think of pausing and things like that.

Q. Was there a quick swing today that was kind of nervous

PAULA CREAMER: There were a lot of quick swings today. The one main that I can think of was probably 12, when I hit it left in the rough. We had a long wait there. We had been waiting for a while. And then the hole before that the 11th tee shot is very hard for me visually to see. And I did it there, too, so it was back to back drives.

Q. How much does that have to do with, "I'm in the final group. I'm in contention to win this thing"?

PAULA CREAMER: I don't think that has much to do with it. It was a very long day. I lost focus near the end. The score card even shows it. That's just mental. You can deal with physical things, but not mental.

Q. Will you call on anything from your wins in junior tournaments, being so close to the lead tonight? You'll do routines? How will you handle being so close going into the final round?

PAULA CREAMER: I'll take it like any other day coming into it. I feel very prepared. I'm going to practice afterwards and hit some balls, but it's just another round of golf. It's in anybody's hands right now. It's not like somebody is running away with it.

Q. This has proven to be a difficult course to chase on in the final round. Does that make it important to get in front tomorrow and relax a little bit?

PAULA CREAMER: I don't think so. There are people that are fast starters that finish strong, and hopefully I made had at lot of birdies out here today. I didn't make as many as I have in the past few days, so I feel very comfortable and I know that there is not a hole out there that I could not potentially birdie, so that helps me.

Q. Does 15 seem like the hole that wouldn't end?

PAULA CREAMER: Yes, over the green and back over the green. That was just losing focus and not concentrating on what I had to do. And at that moment I was trying probably to be too aggressive, not the second shot, but the third shot, the second shot to the green, I just made a bad golf swing, but I shouldn't have done what I did with a wedge into the green.

Q. Before your round today we saw you come out through the ropes and hug your parents. Talk about what it's like to be able to do that and having them be a part of your life out here on the Tour.

PAULA CREAMER: There's only one tournament I've never done that before, and that was the tournament they didn't go to in Sweden, the Junior Solheim Cup. It's just almost part of the preshot routine I think on the first tee. It's very nice to have them there, especially watching right now and always on the side lines cheering for me. That's very comforting.

Q. Nobody jumped out this afternoon. Did you think somebody would? And do you have any idea why nobody was able to take the jump out into the lead?

PAULA CREAMER: There were tough pin placements today. The ones I can think of, 12 and 7, those were two tough pin placements and there are a couple of other ones out there. This golf course can get to you. You have to keep it in the fairway. If you miss the fairway, you don't really have anything unless you get lucky with a good lie. They're getting quicker, the greens are, and you have got to hit good shots. It's a very demanding golf course.

Q. (No microphone.)

PAULA CREAMER: I don't think so. That would not be a good thing. It doesn't intimidate me. I like it. It's a good golf course, it's a good test of golf, and it shows who is going to be the best golfer out here, because it is very tough.

Q. Being a little anxious and trying too hard, the 40 foot putt up to 17, it looked like birdieable putt, birdie potential. Were you aggressively going for a birdie?

PAULA CREAMER: I'm always thinking about birdies. I knew it was going to be quick, but I never imagined it would be that a fast. I talked about it with my caddie Lance afterwards. He said, "Did you think when you hit it, it was a perfect speed?" I said, "I thought it was maybe two feet past the hole." He goes, "Because it looked like you banged it, you bombed it," like I did on 18. I think that's just losing focus and not being aware of the speed of the green.

Q. That comeback around 17, how many feet was that?

PAULA CREAMER: About 5, 5 and a half feet.

JOEL LAMP: Thanks a lot, guys.

End of FastScripts.

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