CURTIS CUP MATCH

July 29, 2006

Taylor Leon

Paige MacKenzie

Jane Park

Carol Semple Thompson

CRAIG SMITH: Okay. Just to introduce players, Jane Park, Taylor Leon, Paige Mackenzie, Carol Semple Thompson. How about if I just open this one for you Carol, this is an awful lot more fun when you're winning.

CAROL SEMPLE THOMPSON: This is a lot more fun when we're winning. I am just in awe of my team. I think that they played great golf today and I am shocked that we're ahead 7 2. But thrilled. So congratulations, team.

(All said thanks.)

CRAIG SMITH: How about if we go couldn't down the line and Paige, pick up a microphone and go. Each of you were 2 0 today. And just some of your thoughts having played and having been so successful.

PAIGE MACKENZIE: Well, it was good to get off to a nice start with Amanda, she was playing really solid in the morning.

In fact I think she carried the twosome. I played well, but she was on her game.

And this afternoon I just played really well. I hit a lot of fairways and greens. And honestly, it was good to be back in competition. I hadn't been in any competition since the U.S. Open, so it was kind of nice to get back at it.

TAYLOR LEON: I had the privilege of playing with Jane this morning and we all had a lot of fun. I think our games compliment each other. She's a good putter and hits it up there close for me. And then this afternoon I just kind of went with that momentum from the morning and I also hit a lot of fairways and greens and I putted well, I putted well though this afternoon. I'll mix it up. So it was a lot of fun.

JANE PARK: I, of course, had fun playing with my playing with my partner, Taylor. I think that, like she said, our games compliment each other very well. We hit it about the same distance, so we were neck and neck going into every shot. So and this afternoon I was tired, to tell you the truth. And my legs were killing me. But I scarfed down a banana and then I kind of drudged through the last couple holes. But I pulled off a win, so.

CRAIG SMITH: Open it up for some questions.

Q. Considering the way you guys dominated today, how difficult, seriously, is it to get up for tomorrow? I mean the talent gap looks to be pretty wide.

PAIGE MACKENZIE: Well, I can easily say that my match was a lot closer than it seemed. I think that when we started out she got up and down for a great par on the first hole and I had a, I put myself in a really good position for birdie, but I knew that I was going to have to continue to stay on my game to beat her. And so I think that the fact that I felt the pressure coming from them, even though it doesn't look that way, it's very true. I feel as though even though the scores weren't like that, we're going to have to continue to go out and be on our game to compete.

Q. Jane, at Formby obviously there were a lot more people there, there was a lot of buzz, did it feel less intense to you out there today than your last Curtis Cup?

JANE PARK: No. Definitely not. It's obviously great playing in the United States this time. And that just makes it just as intense as it was in Formby. The crowds here are great. Like I said before, I love playing in front of people. And I think that just the atmosphere here is great. Every one is supporting the U. S. Team, and it's just great to play this tournament here in the United States.

CRAIG SMITH: Let me ask one that sort of is just general. You've been getting up to somewhat of an early lead. Do you like a lot of the opening holes? Do they suit your eye? Have you played them well in practice?

TAYLOR LEON: Well, it's funny you said that because this morning or this afternoon I was down after the first couple holes, so I, but when I get down, it usually gives me kind of a kick and then I kind of get started. So it was fun to be down and then come back and rally.

PAIGE MACKENZIE: In my matches, I think that they were just making mistakes. I didn't feel like it was like a huge advantage. I was playing solid golf, but they might have struggled more with the first holes than it was that we were doing so well.

Q. Jane, I understand that last night you spoke to the team a little bit, just mentioned some of the experience that you had at Formby and what happened that first day and I think that described to them a little bit of, hey, that you want to make sure you got off to a good start. But even if you don't, you got to stay in it. Can you explain a little bit what you said and why you felt it was important to say that to the team?

JANE PARK: Well, I said that two years ago at Formby we got off to a very, very slow start. It was just the total opposite of today in the morning. They had three points, we had zero. So it really rattled us and it kind of gave us a kick in the butt and we had to go out there and fire or hit good shots and really try to get those points back on our side. And we ended up in the lead after the first day. So I told them that even if we're down in the afternoon or after the morning matches, just don't give up. And a win's always out there, you just got to execute the shot well. And just believe in yourself. And that's pretty much what I told them.

Q. Why do you feel like you had to, did you feel like you had to say something like that or what was the reason behind it?

JANE PARK: Well, I said that just in case we get off to a slow start, it's not over until it's over. And that's the point that I wanted to get across.

Q. Jane, you look like you kind of particularly went around this course, at least this afternoon in the singles, I just wanted to know how you approached your singles match and if it was something where the time you had here you had an opportunity to kind of find the places that you wanted to be or was it just me being crazy?

JANE PARK: Well, we have always obviously spent a lot of time here and my caddie, Casey, knows where to put me and we both have a very good judgment of the wind and the clubs to hit and where to hit the ball.

I was just playing well. So I was pretty confident in my game and I was able to execute the shots the way I wanted to. And I just had fun out there. I had fun with my caddie and that really helped me.

Q. Do you think that where Paige said that her match was closer than the numbers indicated, do you think your match shouldn't have been as close as it was?

JANE PARK: Yeah, coming down the stretch I made a couple mistakes, like on the hole that I closed it out on, I hit into the bunker and that's a bunker you don't want to go to. On this entire golf course, that's one bunker you don't want to go in. But, yeah, I gave away a couple shots coming in, but I was pretty confident that I would pull off a win with my match. So I wasn't too worried.

Q. The winds today weren't as strong as they had been earlier in the week, did that help you at all, do you think? Carol, I'm curious to get your opinion on that, but the players too, obviously. Was that at all an advantage to you or did it help you at all today?

CAROL SEMPLE THOMPSON: Well, I've been hearing for weeks now that these players enjoy the wind, love the wind, it doesn't matter if it's blowing, but I personally feel it was a huge advantage to us that the wind didn't blow today.

CRAIG SMITH: Carol, take it a little bit further. Are you totally shocked, surprised that you have this big a lead?

CAROL SEMPLE THOMPSON: I'm surprised. I thought we would be ahead at the end of the day, but I did not think we would have a 7 2 lead. So I think shocked is maybe a little strong, but surprised, yes, definitely.

Q. Can I ask you why? Because yesterday you talked about the extreme confidence you had in your players and historically how you thought the American teams had more depth than the GB&I teams. And if you kind of take that and extrapolate it out, 7 2 would certainly be in that realm of possibility.

CAROL SEMPLE THOMPSON: Well, I can have confidence in my players as much as I want, but the fact is the matches in recent years have been very, very close. With very talented American teams. So it would be it's unusual that we would come out with that much of a lead. But, again, I think we have a strong team and I was confident in their abilities. I just was surprised that they are that good.

Q. Do you think, I mean if you had to gauge how good your team played today, would you say it played close to as good as it could play?

CAROL SEMPLE THOMPSON: No, I don't think anybody's played as well as they could play. But I think that they played very well. Most, a lot of the rounds were right around par or under par. Paige was under par this afternoon. But I think we can play better. I'm sure that GB&I team can play better. And they probably will come out stronger tomorrow.

Q. Going ahead 3 0 in foursomes, how much of a psychological shot was that to you, to the GB&I team, that's something they have traditionally done well and obviously dominated at Formby, do you think that they kind of were rattled by that?

CAROL SEMPLE THOMPSON: I would have to think that they were rattled by that. Because I don't remember that happening before. I'm sure that maybe it has, but I don't remember it happening in for the teams that I played on. Because we have almost always been thrilled if we were one and a half to one and a half after the morning foursomes. So today was just a very unusual day.

CRAIG SMITH: Carol, I think that winning breeds a lot of relaxed atmosphere among your players, but I see an awful lot of that and I'm just wondering, is it talent and how much of it lends itself to the change in structure with the practice and things, some of the things that you never had a chance to get, the camaraderie built.

CAROL SEMPLE THOMPSON: Well, I think it's a combination. I think there's a tremendous amount of talent on this team. But I do think we have also done very good preparation. And to have a practice here at this venue was huge for us, for several reasons. We came to know some of our caddies. And the caddies by the way this week have been tremendous. And the players have been have felt like they were real teams with their caddies. But we got to know some of the caddies, we got to know the golf course. We figured out all the combinations. I mean, we were just so much more comfortable coming back here for this week. And I think that that has helped a lot.

CRAIG SMITH: Paige, how much more do you know about Bandon than the others on your team having lived in the Pacific Northwest?

PAIGE MACKENZIE: Well, I definitely had heard a lot more about it. I had played Bandon Dunes, the other golf course, one of the other golf courses, last April. But that's my only like sneak peak at it before I came here with the team to play Pacific Dunes.

Q. Given the links character of this golf course, I wanted to kind of go down the line. Could you describe maybe your best links shot that you pulled off today or something that you were most proud of and when I get to Carol, maybe the best shot that you saw from your team out there today.

TAYLOR LEON: I'm not used to like playing in the wind, even though I'm from Texas. But so I practiced a lot of wind shots before I came out. And I stuck a 7 iron on hole number I guess 11.

Q. This afternoon?

TAYLOR LEON: Yeah, the wind was blowing off the ocean. So it was kind of a simple shot it was really good for me because I'm just not used to the wind as much as some of the other players.

PAIGE MACKENZIE: That was going to be my shot too.

Q. How far did you have?

TAYLOR LEON: I think the tee marker is like 120. And I played it about 145.

Q. How far was your putt?

TAYLOR LEON: My putt? I don't know, five feet.

JANE PARK: I have two that I hit today. The first one is a putt that I had on 11 I putted left handed out of the rough. Okay. I don't know if that's like that classifies as like a links type shot or whatever, but, yeah, that. I hit pretty good speed on that. I was in the bushes, but I putted left handed. So that and hole 10, the par 3, long par 3 downhill. I hit a really good the wind was blowing probably about 15 miles per hour and I hit a very good knock down 5 iron to three feet.

PAIGE MACKENZIE: Well, my No. 11 shot was similar. I don't think in all of my practice sessions that I have actually landed the ball on the green more than once. Just because I have a very tough time dealing with the left to right wind into me, because I tend to hit a fade with my irons. So today I landed it very close to the pin and it ended up about two feet away. And so that was like such a mental good thing for me. And then it wasn't totally dealing with the wind or anything, but on number, is it five, what's the par 3? Five. Five with the pin up front in the afternoon you don't land the ball on the green, you aim, well I aimed about 15 yards left of the green. And then it just will kick and roll on. And both my opponent and myself hit very good shots into the green and neither one of us landed it on the green.

CAROL SEMPLE THOMPSON: Well, I would flip it around and say that the four best shots that I saw today were on number six by the GB&I team. While I was standing there there were four birdies. And I got very depressed and left as quickly as I could.

(Laughter.) Because we were doing well, we were 2 up in so many matches and the GB&I players came along and they hit a lot of close shots there. And they were just eating away at our lead. And I didn't like that at all. But they hit wonderful shots in. They were all like four feet, three feet, five feet. And they made them.

Q. Overall, Carol, what did you see as the difference between the five points? What was the difference between the GB&I team and the U. S. Team?

CAROL SEMPLE THOMPSON: I think that our team played more to their potential than the GB&I team. I think that the GB&I team would be disappointed in the level of their play. And I'm sure that they have the talent and the ability to play a lot better tomorrow. So we just have to keep our play up at a high level and we'll do fine.

CRAIG SMITH: Paige, I have one more for you. I was wondering since your brother Brock did so well at Ganton, if that's on your mind or if he had called you or offered any advice, because it's obviously turning out very well for you.

PAIGE MACKENZIE: Right. I don't have cell phone service here, so I haven't talked to him in the last couple days, but it's definitely on my mind. He was 3 0 at Ganton. And I've been thinking about it. I've been thinking about it.

CRAIG SMITH: Well, let's save it and we'll pick it up tomorrow.

PAIGE MACKENZIE: Yeah, I'll let you know tomorrow how it goes.

CRAIG SMITH: Thank you very much.

End of FastScripts.