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GINN CLUBS & RESORTS OPEN

April 27, 2006

Cristie Kerr

ORLANDO, FLORIDA

PAM WARNER: Cristie, thanks for joining us. You currently have a two shot lead at 7 under. You just want to talk about your day?

CRISTIE KERR: Well, I played very, very well today. Hit it well, thought my way around the golf course well. You know, took the size of the golf course out of play that you could not hit it in. And putted very well. So, you know, seven birdies, no bogeys, it kind of speaks for itself.

Q. Do you have an unfair home field advantage here?

CRISTIE KERR: No, I don't think so. I have my charity outing here on December 3rd for raising money for breast cancer, Birdies For Breast Cancer, and we only played nine holes on the Tournament Course.

So Monday when I played on the member Pro Am here, I had not seen the whole golf course here, so I don't think I have. Maybe being from the area gives me some sort of an advantage, but I would tend to think that most people would doubt that, so I don't know if it does or not.

Q. You switched to a new putter last week and now you've had five consecutive rounds how is that going, still giving you the same feeling?

CRISTIE KERR: Oh, yeah, I love that putter, Never Compromise Voodoo model. It's real easy to line up, and the weight of it is really good for the way I stroke at it. I just have a great feel with it, and started making putts last week. As everybody knows, putting is half confidence, and half reads and speed and stuff. I putted very well with it.

Q. Are you feeling a lot more relaxed because of that?

CRISTIE KERR: I think so, yeah, because I've worked pretty hard all year to try and shoot low and it just never seemed like I would get the momentum going. You know, shooting low rounds are all about momentum and keeping the putts going in. You know, it's nice to see, finally. I spent four hours on the putting green on Monday in Atlanta just determined to figure it out, whatever it was, and it turned out that I couldn't really lineup my other putter very well and so I picked this one and it suited me. So I'm pretty excited to go out and play golf every day now.

Q. Speaking of Atlanta, you had a close call last week, one bad hole on the last day, as a pro, how quickly do you get over that to putt it out of your minds?

CRISTIE KERR: I was six back going into the last round and Annika was leading and you never really think maybe it's changing, but in the past, you would never be able to catch her.

So, yeah, I made a bad swing, not even really a bad swing on 15, because I had a downhill lie in the first cut of the rough and it was kind of sitting down, so I'm thinking the ball is going to squirt to the right. So I just aimed five or six yards to the right of the pin to be right in the middle of green and I kind of hung back and hooked it a little bit and caught the slope and got in the hazard. I was really just trying to get a putt at it, any putt at it for par, and got it across the green and it was just kind of a bad timing for the whole thing. I played very, very well last week and, you know, just wasn't my week.

Q. Were you even aware that when you had that double, that you had just taken the lead, were you aware of that on the course?

CRISTIE KERR: I really wasn't. I think my caddie knew. But again, I wasn't trying to be aggressive and go at this pin on 15. I just sort of double crossed myself thinking it was going to go right out of that lie. It was a pretty bad lie. I caught it solid and it turned over and I'm like, where did that come from. I was trying to do the smart thing, and you know, sometimes it just doesn't matter.

Q. Was the wind a factor for you today?

CRISTIE KERR: Absolutely. It was very windy.

Q. How did you handle that? What did you do?

CRISTIE KERR: I grew up in Florida. It's very windy all the time, and you just have to manage your game. When it's very windy, I find that I'm almost more patient than when it's not windy and you feel like you can shoot at every pin. So I grew up in the wind and I learned how to play golf in the wind, so it really doesn't faze me. You just have to think your way around the golf course.

Q. Is there any one hole, do you think will be a problem for all of you for this whole tournament, any one that's tougher than, say, all of the others?

CRISTIE KERR: They are all pretty good holes out here. I think 13 is a really good hole because if you overturn it and get it kind of going left, you can hit it through the fairway and be on an uphill right to left lie with a right to left sloping green. But you have to play well to be able to shoot under par on this golf course.

Q. This is a new event with a lot of money, and then you have Michelob coming up, is this a stage of the season that's becoming very important; and you've got McDonald's?

CRISTIE KERR: Yeah, absolutely. This being one of the largest purses on Tour, and kind of being in my backyard, I kind of like that. But, yeah, this is a stage of the game where if you can get some momentum and play well and have some good weeks, it will kind of set you up for rest of the year. Absolutely, there are some big tournaments coming up. This is one of them.

Q. The building story early in the week has been the Dakoda Dowd appearance and with her mother being ill. You can probably relate to that somewhat, do you have any thoughts on the impact of her playing here for the Tour and for the tournament?

CRISTIE KERR: I think it's great for the tournament, first of all, and great for the Tour. I mean, I feel for them. I don't think I can really relate to what they are going through. Her mother is terminal, and she is, you know, having a great fight at it.

I played with Dakoda, actually, in our charity outing that we had here on December 3rd, and I really, really like that little girl. She's got a good heart. I don't think until much later in her life she's going to realize how difficult this period of time in her life was.

You know, that's why we're all here. We're all here behind her to support her. That's why we all rallied to get her an exemption to get her into the tournament because we thought it was really important for us.

Q. In light of your Ginn deal, do you get bonus points for that if you win this thing, top billing on the poster next year or something? Have you seen the billboards around town, by the way?

CRISTIE KERR: I've seen them around here but I really haven't left. They are a great company and they do enough for me. I'm very proud to be associated with them, you know, since the middle of last year. They give me a lot of perks. I don't need this tournament to get extra bonus points with them. (Laughing).

End of FastScripts.

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