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WEETABIX WOMEN'S BRITISH OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

August 6, 2006

Sherri Steinhauer

LYTHAM ST. ANNES, ENGLAND

COLIN CALLANDER: We have the 2006 Weetabix Women's British Open Champion here. How do you feel to win this championship?

SHERRI STEINHAUER: I feel like I'm living in a dream. Just I absolutely am stunned. I was extremely nervous at the beginning of the day and it was the worst that I not like I hit it terrible on the driving range, but I didn't hit it very well and I was extremely nervous out there.

Like I said, I'm speechless. This is incredible for me.

COLIN CALLANDER: When you won the other two, they were not majors, and now it is.

SHERRI STEINHAUER: Like I said yesterday, people who thought the two that I won, they thought that they were a major. Now that it really is, now that I've really won it as a major, it makes the other wins that much sweeter, too.

So I think that was the No. 1 thing that when I would think that I was on the golf course, that would make me the most nervous, because I really did want this bad. I wanted it bad. I just couldn't let my mind go there. It just means so much for me to win it as a major.

COLIN CALLANDER: Have you ever played more consistently?

SHERRI STEINHAUER: No. I did think about that out there, I realised, I knew that I didn't make any bogeys yesterday. Yes, I did when my last one was on Friday. I didn't realise that. I think on that last hole, I just wanted to get the tee shot out of the way. And I had not looked at the score board and when I hit the shot, I just watched it go down. I knew it was in the fairway and I was very relieved. I actually thought at that point I had a two shot lead because I did see on the 17th tee that Cristie Kerr was at 6 under.

So when I walked back to the bag, my caddie, Bob Kendall, said, "You have a four shot lead," and I think I just kind of went limp at that point. I was in shock. I was just kind of sweeping it home.

I would have liked to have made a par obviously on the last hole, but I hit a really good bunker shot and just missed the putt.

Q. Will you still lie that the other two wins were majors?

SHERRI STEINHAUER: Yeah, I have three majors, plus the du Maurier, so that's four. (Laughter) No, I won't. Maybe a little white lie here and there.

Q. You said you were nervous, but you didn't appear nervous.

SHERRI STEINHAUER: The hardest part about this golf course for me is 2 and 3. I have a shot that I can lose to the right and obviously the first hole is very difficult and that's a keyhole, too. I made a really good up and down on No. 1 to save par. I was extremely nervous because of 2 and 3 and the shot that I have that goes to the right.

I thought last night to myself, I thought, "If I can just get by those holes, I think I'll relax." And sure enough, I hit really good tee shots, made pars, and at that point I did relax more.

Q. The shot to the right, is that off the tee or to the green?

SHERRI STEINHAUER: Generally from the tee but it can come on the irons, too.

On those two shots, it's the tee shot that can get you in trouble to the right. The irons, then the right is way that's not a problem.

Q. Did you get wet?

SHERRI STEINHAUER: Yes.

Q. Why did you not put on waterproofs?

SHERRI STEINHAUER: I'm very superstitious, yeah. I just wanted to just keep playing. I wasn't cold. The rain seemed to be repelling off my shirt, and I just didn't want to change anything or put anything on.

Q. At what point in the round do you decide, I'm just going to go fairways and greens, fairways and greens, because that's what you seemed to did at a certain point.

SHERRI STEINHAUER: That was the plan from the start. Executing it is another thing. It just felt like it was my turn to win out there. And so I tried to, you know, obviously, just hit fairways and greens and stay out of trouble. I just stayed out of my own way, also.

And sometimes as a player, I get a feeling you get a feeling like I just felt it was my time. There was some times on the tee box where I had to slow down and go, "Now, don't, let's not get carried away and make any ridiculous mistakes or anything."

I had to pay attention, but I did just kind of stay out of my way out there.

Q. When did you start using a long putter?

SHERRI STEINHAUER: About four years ago. I started using it midsummer and I've used the same putter ever since. I've only changed the grip on it once. I just was having some difficulties with my putting. I love the long putter.

Q. What is about this golf course

SHERRI STEINHAUER: The best way I can describe it is that this kind of golf suits my game. Like for instance, at the U.S. Open, I fared okay, but I never had great finishes.

But this course requires low you know, you imagine your shots, and you run the ball a lot into the pin. And I love that kind of golf. Now at a U.S. Open, you have to hit it high and soft. It's not my game. So this course should really suit the way I like to play.

Q. Inaudible?

SHERRI STEINHAUER: Well, I think the conditions were so bad that I remember that I like the golf course. It takes experience to play this golf course, and that's something that has paid off a lot for me.

For instance on 17, they tucked the pin way over to the left side, and I know that you just have to aim so far right and just hit a solid shot with a little draw, the wind gets it and it rolls back. Whereas, you know, maybe when I first came over here, too, I didn't realise a lot of that.

And a lot of the holes, you know, it's like I play the same way every day. I knew yesterday way was going to hit on 12 if the conditions were the same. So I really have a game plan here. That 81 in the first round, that had a lot to do with the conditions and not being comfortable yet.

Q. You said how much you wanted this, did that make it even more difficult to stay in the moment?

SHERRI STEINHAUER: Yeah, it did. It was really difficult. I would start thinking and get ahead of myself. And one tip Dr. Rotella he gave me is that when I get ahead of myself, to push the rewind button on the tape recorder and erase that thought. So I was hitting the rewind button a few times out there.

Q. Were you aware that Cristie was tied with you at one point?

SHERRI STEINHAUER: She got to 7? No, I did not know that, no.

Q. Playing the par 5s inaudible if you already know you had a bit of a cushion?

SHERRI STEINHAUER: No. 11, yeah, I was never going to go for in two. That hole I can't quite go for. I can't reach the green, so it's not worth it to go for. And 15 today, I didn't hit a good enough drive, so I couldn't go for that. That's the game plan, the way that it turned out, no matter what position I'm in, that's how I would have played those two holes anyway.

But when I'm out there playing, I can kind of get a sense from the gallery how things are going. So rather than looking at the leaderboard, I get a feeling and I didn't hear a lot of loud cheers, so I felt like if I just played steady golf, then that was what I needed to do.

Q. Which greens did you miss?

SHERRI STEINHAUER: I missed the first one and I missed 18. I missed No. 5 just short but I could still putt. I think the only two where I had to chip was 1 and 18; otherwise I used a putter.

Q. You were in the bunkers

SHERRI STEINHAUER: The first day when it got me in trouble, I was in three bunkers, and two of them were green side that cost me and I made double bogeys. The other was No. 10, the fairway bunker, I just had to chip out sideways. Then I don't know if I hit in the bunker until 18. The one where I chipped in the bunker on 18, I chipped into another bunker. Oddly enough in '98 when I won, that was my goal not to hit any fairway bunkers. Green side bunkers I hit in, but I never hit in one fairway bunker. And this week, I hit in one and that was on No. 10 on Thursday. So I think that's a big part of the success that I've had here, staying out of there.

Q. Juli Inkster talked about the support

SHERRI STEINHAUER: Yeah, we cheer for each other. Juli gave me a hug before I started and wished me luck and I wished her luck. Us old fogeys have to stick together.

Q. You'll be defending your title next year at St. Andrews.

SHERRI STEINHAUER: Yeah, actually looking forward to it. They actually changed the qualifications for it a couple years ago. If you won the British Open, you had a ten year exemption and they took that away a couple years ago and I fought hard to get it back, just so I could go to St. Andrews and they did reinstate that rule.

COLIN CALLANDER: Have you been there before or played the course?

SHERRI STEINHAUER: Never been there.

Q. What did they put in place?

SHERRI STEINHAUER: I think it might have been five. Well, it took the pressure off. That would have put more pressure on me, too.

COLIN CALLANDER: Congratulations and we'll look forward to seeing you next year.

SHERRI STEINHAUER: Thank you.

End of FastScripts.

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