JOHN Q. HAMMONS HOTEL CLASSIC

September 8, 2006

Diana D'Alessio

THE MODERATOR: Diana, thank you for joining us today. Great round, 5 under. You're two shots off the lead. Just want to talk about today?

DIANA D'ALESSIO: Yeah. I hit the ball very well, very solidly. Didn't miss too many fairways. And when I did, it wasn't too bad.

Hit 15 greens, so I can't really complain about that. Putted the ball great.

THE MODERATOR: You finished last year with a 3rd place finish. Talk about this course. Does this course suit your game?

DIANA D'ALESSIO: I don't know if it suits my game. The greens are really good here. What you see is what you get usually. I have very good speed on these greens, and that's the key to me playing well here, is the putting.

THE MODERATOR: Can we go over your scorecard?

DIANA D'ALESSIO: Sure.

THE MODERATOR: Birdied on 2.

DIANA D'ALESSIO: Yeah. I hit probably to about 12 feet.

THE MODERATOR: What did you hit to?

DIANA D'ALESSIO: I hit 7 iron, yeah, grip 7 iron to about 15 feet; made the putt there.

Birdied 9 and hit 8 iron to about 5 feet; made that.

And then 15 I birdied, and that was probably like I hit grip 4 iron there to about 30 feet behind the pin. I think it's 30 feet.

17, I birdied. I hit grip 6 iron to probably about 30, 35 feet; made that.

And then 18, I hit 8 iron to probably about 15 feet, 15, 20 feet.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you. Questions?

Q. Last year you got into the tournament by playing the Monday qualifier. Probably was just glad to be there. After the way you played the last year, how confident were you coming in this year?

DIANA D'ALESSIO: It gave me a fair amount of confidence to know that I could break par out here. I did do the Monday qualifier, which I probably shouldn't have had to, because the week before I 3 putted the last hole to finish out of the top 10 in that tournament.

I've been playing good coming into Cedar Ridge. But coming into this year, you know, usually when you play well on a golf course sometimes I think your expectations are too high.

I've been working on trying to hit one shot at a time and not really worrying where I am. You know, what state, where we are, just playing golf.

Q. You know who is on top right now.

DIANA D'ALESSIO: Of course. There's no doubt. She's unbelievable. She's a fantastic player. Can't take anything away from Annika. She's awesome. And now that Tiger has won five in a row, you know she's gunning for that.

Q. She said she was able to read the greens very, very well today. Is that something that you were able to do?

DIANA D'ALESSIO: I think coming down the stretch I had lots of long putts, and so you're just trying to really gauge the speed, not necessarily the exact line.

So usually you're just trying to get it up there, make your par, and move on. If they go in, fantastic. The shorter putts I had today I had quite a few shorter 15 footers for birdie. The pins are cut kind of on crests and you're like, Oh, it's going to break left; it's going to break right. So I thought they were difficult from where I was putting from.

Q. You made a couple of 30 footers.

DIANA D'ALESSIO: I know. Those are just lucky though.

Q. Do you think the course is going to toughen up the next couple days?

DIANA D'ALESSIO: Probably. I think it'll only get drier. I don't know if there's any rain in the forecast, but these greens can get hard and crusty, and therefore your second shots are difficult coming in.

If you hit it in this rough it's extremely penalizing, even around the greens. I find chipping out of Bermuda very tough. It's probably my least favorite grass. Because you almost have to play like little explosion shots now and then. Usually when the ball bounces in there it buries right to the bottom.

So I'm sure if it will toughen up. It did last year.

Q. Did you have any bogeys on your round?

DIANA D'ALESSIO: No. I did have some good saving of pars, but that was it.

Q. Did you feel like there was a point midway through the round that you did you have one of those saving pars that held the round together?

DIANA D'ALESSIO: Probably on 12. I had hit it over the green there, but just off the back fringe. I made about a probably about a 5 footer for par. I thought that was good. Helps keep the momentum going.

Q. You were 2 under at that time.

DIANA D'ALESSIO: Yeah. That is correct.

Q. What is it about Cedar Ridge that distinguishes itself from other stops on the Tour? It's not the birdie fest that some stops are. Is there a certain characteristic that stands out to you that makes it different?

DIANA D'ALESSIO: It's just overall it's a great layout. The golf course is just difficult. There's some really good holes. I mean, 16, 17, and 18 coming in are not easy, nor is 15, the Par 3 when they put it in the back left.

So I think it's a tough layout all the way around, and it plays pretty long, I think. Some holes are fairly long. I played a little shorter today because it dried out and I played in the afternoon.

But overall it's just a very solid golf course. Great practice facility to get you prepared for the golf course. I enjoy coming here because of the pitching area where you can practice your 80 to a 100 yard shots, which is just great.

Q. They have Bermuda around there?

DIANA D'ALESSIO: Everywhere. There's no shortage of Bermuda here. They've got to find a grass that grows well in the hot, humid weather.

Q. It was 105 the other day.

THE MODERATOR: Anything else? Thank you very much.

DIANA D'ALESSIO: Thanks.

End of FastScripts.