JOHN Q. HAMMONS HOTEL CLASSIC

September 9, 2006

Annika Sorenstam

THE MODERATOR: Annika, thank you for coming in here and joining us today. A great steady round; just one shot off the lead. Christie had a great round. Just talk about your day.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I'm quite happy with my round. As you said I played very steady, a lot of fairways, a lot of greens, a lot of chances all day long. Pretty much down the fairway all day long. I'm very happy with that. I think Christie obviously had a fantastic round and made my round not look so great. But I'm happy with 68.

THE MODERATOR: Go over the scorecard.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: The second hole I birdied; I hit a 7 iron to 22 feet.

No. 10, pitching wedge to 7 feet.

No. 14, sand wedge to 8 feet.

Then I bogeyed 17. I hit my tee shot in the bunker on the right and then just layed out and two putted from about fifteen feet.

On the 19th hit 7 iron to 14 feet.

THE MODERATOR: Questions?

Q. How have you been as a Sunday player this year?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: It's been pretty much good. I'm not really sure. It's been a little mixed. But overall I was a good Sunday player. I love to be in the hunt and that's what I get geared up for. Whatever I've done in the past really is not going to matter. Tomorrow is a big day and I definitely want to go low. Like we talked about earlier in the year. A lot of things at stake this week. So I give it all. So I look forward to it.

Q. Couple times this week you talked about keeping an eye on the leaderboard. Did you monitor what Christie was doing at all?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Oh, yeah. I started to, you know, the 7th or 8th hole I started to see Christie's name up there and then I saw she was 8 under when I was 9 and I thought I made a birdied on a Par 5, and then I get to the Par 3 and all of a sudden she's at 11.

I thought I played well today. I thought the pins were quite tough, difficult pin placement and I'm happy with my round.

Q. What do you respect about Christie's game?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: She's a very aggressive player. I would say her strength is her putting. She kind of did what I did yesterday, made everything. I would say that would be her strength.

Q. How much did it affect you playing later in the afternoon today than you did yesterday, course wise?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I thought the weather was pretty good today again. A little warm, but not too bad, really nice. Didn't really have a breeze to deal with today. I would say the greens got bumpier. That's the way it goes in the afternoon. Yesterday morning they were perfectly smooth. Other than that I thought it was playing similar.

Q. Speaking of the course, it has surrendered a course record two days in a row. What does that say?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: It says that we're getting better out here. There's no doubt about it. It's true. It really is true. It's fun to see. I really think so. It's fun to see that we can make some birdies out here.

I mean, this is not an easy golf course. It's an old traditional with small greens and today was tough pins. Christie's round today is a very, very good round. I hope she gets acknowledged for that, because it was tough. It outs a lot of premium on your driving and approach shots. Like I said these pins it was just a fantastic round.

Q. Other than you two at the top, there's not really anybody else that close. Does that surprise you at all that there's not more people bunched up, or does the fact that you have the course record and she has the course record?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Yeah, we've seen this in the past , haven't we? Like I said, it really puts a premium on driving. You can't get away with shots on this course. You have to drive it straight.

If you don't hit fairways you can't score here. But on the other hand, if you're hitting it well, the greens are so soft and so receptive to shots you can fire at the pins, which makes it easier to score.

But then you have to be up there in the fairway and quite long to have shorter iron in. It's really we have to play well to do good here. It's a fair golf course. No doubt about it. Even good shots you get rewarded.

Q. Someone asked you the other day if you enjoy wining by a lot or by a little. As opposed to entering this Sunday with a big lead and you're one shot off do you enjoy just the thrill of the chase knowing that, you know, game on?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I do. I mean, I enjoy and I think I said that when I was asked that question. I love the competition. That's why I'm here. It's tough to have a big lead. I think I've struggled a few times because I look behind too many times and play conservative. Tomorrow I'll be paired with Christie and she'll be right there. It's going to be pretty much head to head.

There are other players behind, and they're obviously going need a low score. It's possible. We've seen that the last two days. But I'll be keeping a very close eye on Christie. I love that it's going to be it's going to be fun.

It's a little bit head to head. You can play aggressive but then you also have to deal with it. I'm going to go out and enjoy it tomorrow and hopefully make some birdies. Today I played well enough, just didn't roll them in.

Q. When you're playing in a group and someone's on a roll like that, does that kind of poke the other golfers in the group along, too?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I think so, yeah. I think everyone likes to see good shots, putts, birdies. Get the momentum going, and that normally feeds off into the whole group.

Q. I think the golfers in her group were all had good rounds today, too.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Okay. I guess that proves it. Yeah, it's tough to see. It's tough to play with someone who is struggling. Nobody enjoys that.

THE MODERATOR: Any other questions?

Q. How big is it for the LPGA as a whole, to have this type of a shootout going into tomorrow?

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Well, I think anybody would enjoy a good competition. Excitement down the stretch. The last 18 on a golf course. That's what sports in general is all about. You can't really predict who is going to win, and hopefully the player that plays the best wins tomorrow. I think the weather is going to hold and it's going to be a great Sunday here in Tulsa.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you very much, Annika.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Yeah.

End of FastScripts.