CURTIS CUP MATCH

July 30, 2006

Jennie Lee

Taylor Leon

Jane Park

Carol Semple Thompson

CRAIG SMITH: We have got Jane, Taylor, Jennie, and Carol. Okay. Captain, let's start with you, it wasn't quite as easy as Saturday, but probably tastes just as sweet.

CAROL SEMPLE THOMPSON: It definitely wasn't as easy as Saturday. The foursomes this morning were a challenge. I guess the result of two and a half points for them one half for us was more the norm, I might say, for American teams, in the foursomes.

But we came out strong in the afternoon and the matches were very strong and they went back and forth a lot. So I had a lot of tense moments out there. But fortunately we were able to prevail in the last four matches. And I'm just so proud of my players.

JANE PARK: We're proud of you too.

CRAIG SMITH: As it turned out your point, Jennie, was the winning point. Did you know what was going on when you were at a certain point on that green and then tell us about your emotions.

JENNIE LEE: I think there was a leaderboard on 15 or so, 14 or 15. And I saw the scores and I knew there was three matches up in the air, and I actually knew that we were really, really close, we were at eight and a half and I was like, okay, we're still going. And then I forgot after we finished 16 and then I was going, wait, eight and a half plus my match is nine and a half.

(Laughter.)

So it just hit me. I had to double check with Jenny Suh and I was like, wow, we won. So I was shocked. I couldn't believe it. And it was exciting. Very exciting.

CRAIG SMITH: And Jane and Taylor, undefeated. How does that feel to put such a contribution into your winning squad?

TAYLOR LEON: It's awesome. I hadn't really thought about it until I finished and then I realized that we had both won all of our matches or that we tied one too. And then it's awesome that I got to play with Jane and we had a lot of fun together and knowing that we were such a big part of winning the cup and that's awesome.

JANE PARK: Definitely it's great to know that we were a contribution to the team. And that we both played well. And I could tell you we both played our hearts out there this week.

I'm just proud of our little team and our whole entire team.

Q. Taylor, what were you thinking in the singles match today?

TAYLOR LEON: Well, I got off to kind of a slow start and I didn't play very well this morning. Jane played really good.

But then she started, she mishit a couple shots and I just was playing consistently and the momentum kind of went my way. And the putts started to drop and I was just getting on a roll I was excited that I was up as much as I was to help contribute. I was a little nervous at the beginning.

CRAIG SMITH: Jane, when he saw you at lunch time even though you halved, your face told me that you were really disappointed like you had lost. You didn't take any consolation from halving.

JANE PARK: Well, you know, that's just the way the cookie crumbles sometimes. So, hey, I'm just happy that our team won and that's all that matters in the end. So I'm not too disappointed.

Q. Did any of you feel like there was a momentum shift at all after what happened though in the morning? And only pulling out the half point.

CAROL SEMPLE THOMPSON: I can say that I thought there was a slight momentum shift, but I don't think it was enough to worry me a great deal.

Because I knew that the quality of the players that I had and I was quite confident that we would be able to win enough singles to at least tie and certainly we were going for a lot more than that, but lunch was a little bit quiet, but we did sit in our motor home and watched a movie, actually. I got them to turn the movie off for about two minutes while I told them what the parings were. And then we went straight back to watch it.

But we had a good lunch and it was, I think everybody was just being very business like. Getting ready for the afternoon, knowing what we had to do.

Q. What was the movie?

CAROL SEMPLE THOMPSON: Mr. and Mrs. Smith.

Q. Oh. Nice.

CAROL SEMPLE THOMPSON: Which I haven't seen. I guess some of you have seen. But those motor homes are quite, quite, quite luxurious. So it was fun.

Q. Were you ever worried?

CAROL SEMPLE THOMPSON: I can't really say that I was terribly worried, no. I mean even after the morning foursomes we still had a pretty good lead. And as the afternoon singles progressed, we were up in half the matches most of the time, so I figured that we had enough points somewhere to at least get to nine and a half.

Q. I guess my question is, were you ever worried even before the matches started.

CAROL SEMPLE THOMPSON: Well, before the matches started I wasn't worried at all. I was, I knew I had a good team. And I was confident of my parings, of the foursomes parings.

So, no, I really wasn't at all concerned.

Q. If you had a player that won a singles match yesterday, would you have Saturday them today for any reason?

CAROL SEMPLE THOMPSON: It's possible. My philosophy was that I wanted everybody to play at least twice and I wanted a lot of people to play three times. I wanted everyone to play foursomes ones and singles ones. So it's, it could have possibly worked out that someone might have won a singles match yesterday and I might not have played them in singles. I probably would have played them in foursomes, but I guess I don't really, I didn't approach my lineups thinking in terms of how well people had played the day before. Because I know how changeable the game is, and you can play so well one day and you can play less well the next day or vice versa. So I think based on one match, I probably wouldn't have made a decision either way. I was looking for an overall philosophy, if you will.

Q. (By Paige Mackenzie) Jane, this question is for you. Can you talk a little bit about how this Curtis Cup was similar or different from your previous experience?

JANE PARK: Why are you doing this to me? Well, that's a tough question. Well, both were just as exciting. And it was definitely better to get off to a good start the first day.

Let's see, I was surprised to see that there weren't as many American supporters as there were GB&I supporters. I can see a lot more Ireland flags and great Britain flags out there. But I would say the overall experience both were just as exciting. Two years ago it was a bit of a nail biter because it was a close one. But two wins, that's, what more can you ask for.

Q. (By Paige Mackenzie) And you had a great team this time, right?

JANE PARK: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

(Laughter.)

JANE PARK: I'm so sorry.

(Laughter.)

I had an excellent team, obviously. Both times we had a great team. And, yeah, you guys are awesome. I love you guys.

Q. Carol, we asked this question of Ada, the overall record is fairly lopsided towards the Americans. Do you think that the option of opening up to like the, a European team, Ryder Cup style, might make it a little bit more interesting?

CAROL SEMPLE THOMPSON: Well, I think the tradition of great Britain and Ireland is, has become pretty well set at this point.

And even though it is lopsided for us in the '80s and the '90s, the GB&I teams were winning a lot. And it became quite nerve wracking for us.

So I can't imagine that that wouldn't happen again. So I think it would be an awfully big step to open it up to all of Europe. And I don't see that happening.

CRAIG SMITH: From an overall it looked a little bit like depth was on your side, so the change in format might even be more beneficial to the USA squads.

CAROL SEMPLE THOMPSON: I hadn't really thought of it in those terms. But we did, you're right that we did have a lot of depth on this particular team. As I said earlier in the week, I thought every player had talent and I felt very comfortable playing every player. It's hard for me to judge how the format would affect the outcome. Of course I guess the format that they're talking about is foursomes and four balls for two days and then everybody playing the singles. Well, I can tell you from a captain's point of view, it's nice to, it would be nice to play every player the last day in the singles, because it's very difficult to sit anybody out. I did not enjoy that part of the job at all.

But I just, since it's an unknown format, I don't know how it's going to come out in the wash.

Q. Did the winning trend put any added pressure on this year's team?

CAROL SEMPLE THOMPSON: The winning trend?

Q. The winning streak, yeah.

CAROL SEMPLE THOMPSON: Well, I think that there's a little bit of extra pressure. We had won four times and to be going for a fifth always adds a little more pressure. But I have to go back to my feeling of confidence about my team. And I don't know that they felt extra pressure necessarily.

CRAIG SMITH: Jane, I'll ask this of you and then you can share with Taylor and Jennie. You've had a lot of options over the last year or whenever, tell me about now having made the decision to stay and hopefully play for the Curtis Cup, what it means, was it worth it, all the emotions that you've gone through to play for your country.

JANE PARK: Just so basically my whole experience playing for the Curtis Cup? Well, it's definitely, whenever you represent your country it's a great opportunity to show what you're made of and be prideful in your country and play your heart out for your country. And it's been really, really, really enjoyable and I hope to some day play on the Solheim Cup. That would be great. Just to keep the routine going.

But, yeah, I definitely enjoyed playing all the Junior events and the Curtis Cup just representing my country in general is just greats, doing anything, I'm sure every one feels that way.

Q. Carol, would you have interest in captaining, being captain again in 2008?

CAROL SEMPLE THOMPSON: I would have huge interest in being captain again in 2008. Especially at St. Andrews. But it remains to be seen whether the women's committee has interest in me. So, but, sure, I mean it would be fun. I would love it. But there are a lot of people who deserve that honor and I certainly wouldn't expect, I mean I don't think that's a given at all. But I would enjoy it very much.

CRAIG SMITH: It's time for a fun question. What's on tap for the rest of the evening for a celebration?

JANE PARK: You don't want to know.

(Laughter.)

CAROL SEMPLE THOMPSON: Well, I think we have to go, we have to do this formal dinner and then we might have a little more fun.

JANE PARK: Um hum.

(Laughter.)

CAROL SEMPLE THOMPSON: After dinner when everybody is packing. I don't know that we have anything specifically planned.

CRAIG SMITH: How many are playing the women's amateur? Everyone.

CAROL SEMPLE THOMPSON: I believe seven of us are going. Amanda McCurdy is not. Little Bit is going home.

CRAIG SMITH: Congratulations.

(All said thank you.)

End of FastScripts.