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MCDONALD'S LPGA CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY COCA-COLA

June 6, 2006

Morgan Pressel

HAVRE DE GRACE, MARYLAND

PAUL ROVNAK: Morgan, thanks for coming and joining us. You're enjoying a great rookie season, just turned 18 about a week ago as well, coming into second Major of the year. Talk about playing this course and playing in the second Major of the year and then we'll take some questions.

MORGAN PRESSEL: Well, I think that so far this season I've gained a lot of experience and I've played well at certain events and not so great in others. And you learn from everything that happens.

I'm definitely ready for this week and especially playing well the last two week, I think that coming in here with confidence, finally worked on my putting, and gotten that straightened out for the most part. And hopefully it will only get better.

PAUL ROVNAK: We'll go ahead and take questions.

Q. Morgan, can you describe your relationship with Michelle Wie and how you feel her pursuit of the men's Open or men's events in general affects you guys on the LPGA Tour?

MORGAN PRESSEL: You don't waste any time, do you? Well, I think that yesterday was obviously a big day for her. And she played great. You can't take anything away from the way that she played. Her putting cost her a little bit down the stretch probably all day, but I think that obviously when she plays on the LPGA Tour in events like this it helps these events. But it also hurts the events that she doesn't play.

And people say, oh, well, if Michelle's not playing, it's a second class event or a second you know, it's, that's not the way it is. It just, she can only play seven events or how many, however many she can play and those events aren't really going to benefit from it.

Q. So is there frustration among you and some of your peers that she's abandoning you in those other events or, you know, let's fast forward a year or two years and she's a full fledged member and she's still not playing every event on the LPGA Tour. Is there going to be frustration that she's abandoning the LPGA Tour at that point?

MORGAN PRESSEL: Well, I don't know if in two years she will be a member. I mean, she's got it made right now. She can go over to Japan and play for a guaranteed, you know, for just as much money as some of our purses, so why would she want to come play in LPGA events when I mean, she's making lots of money.

The media has created this huge persona that the public is absolutely fascinated with, with this idea of a woman competing in a men's event. And she's a great player; you can't take that away from her. And I'm sure when she comes on the LPGA Tour, you know, she brings all that hype with her.

So we don't feel I mean, I don't feel I said that I wish that she would play more obviously on the LPGA Tour, but she's got it made.

Q. There's been a lot of like under 21 golfers, like a huge youth movement recently. How do you, what's your relationship with some of the older golfers and the more experienced golfers and how do you think they will do this weekend?

MORGAN PRESSEL: And how do you

Q. Think the youth players will play this weekend specifically on this course?

MORGAN PRESSEL: Well, I think that I have a great relationship with some of the older players. I've known Meg Mallon, Beth Daniel, I think, some great players like that for awhile, and they have been so nice to me and everybody, everybody, the young players, the older players, everybody has been really been nice and have been very helpful.

And this week specifically I think that the younger players will do fine. I think that it's a long hitter's golf course and most of the young players aren't afraid to go low. So it's going to be a really tough golf course, but I guess you can't really predict those things ahead of time.

Q. Morgan, back to Michelle. Is that something you had ever contemplated or would ever contemplate occasionally trying to play against men, occasionally trying to qualify for a men's Open? Do you see what she's doing as sort of opening that door for more women?

MORGAN PRESSEL: Not personally, no. I don't see that. I see the LPGA Tour as a great place for me to hopefully help grow the Tour and make it the best that it possibly can be. And I'm not going to say that down the road I'll never do it, but I doubt it.

Q. It's a funny question, because it's something that you would probably ask of us instead of us asking of you, but when you talked about the public fascination of Michelle, why do you think that is? What do you see that has led to the hype that's gone with her for the last two, three years, whatever?

MORGAN PRESSEL: Well, it's the idea that she has this goal of competing against the men. And whether that will ever happen or not is a completely different question. But the idea that she is trying and that is her only goal, it's not I mean, obviously I'm sure she wants to win on the Tour and on the LPGA Tour and that, but she wants to compete with the men, and that's her main focus.

That can only happen in a few sports. You wouldn't see it in football or basketball or any sports where it really takes tremendous physical strength and stamina. Golf is one of the sports where she happens to hit it a very long way. And she can and whether she will actually compete is another story, but she's giving it a shot.

Q. Is that annoying to you at all, not that she's the one doing it, but the idea that you have I mean, it almost makes it sound like you're saying that you have to compete against the men to get attention in a paraphrased version of that. Look at Annika who did all these great things, but it took playing at Colonial for the world to get to know who she was.

Is that a sad state of where we are or is it just where we are?

MORGAN PRESSEL: I think I think it's just where the LPGA Tour is. And hopefully Michelle, Annika, the other young players, we can all help change that and bring the LPGA more into the public eye and something that's more, something in on network television, you know, week in, week out, something that, bring it to something that is more entertaining and more appealing to the fans, to the public.

Q. A lot of people keep trying to sort of make it out like are the younger players jealous of Michelle, other players jealous of Michelle. In a way are some of the younger players like you and Paula, is it better for you that you don't have that sort of crushing burden of hype around you, that you can sort of focus on your own game a little bit? You talked about just the swirl of events always going around Michelle and here you are and somebody being able to focus more on your swing a little bit better without some of the surrounding mayhem?

MORGAN PRESSEL: Exactly. She has a lot of pressure on her. And for, like you said, Paula and myself, the other young players, it's just, there's always pressure, but it's not the tremendous media circus. That doesn't follow us around every day. And that does allow us to really concentrate on our game more and focus. I'm sure she has a lot of appearances, a lot of media requests, and it's been wonderful for her.

It's really made her this huge icon, really, but it's not always the best to come out center stage, I guess. I remember when I was 12 and when I was playing in the U.S. Open and for awhile thereafter I wasn't really focused on my game because there was so much going on around me. And it took awhile for me to really settle down and once the media hype settled down, then I was able to focus.

Q. Karrie spoke about that you guys work out with the same trainer. Do you work out with her and ever play with her or anything, Karrie Webb?

MORGAN PRESSEL: I've played with her, yes. I played with her at the Kraft Nabisco when she, in the final round when she won, actually. And that was really exciting to see a player of her caliber play as well as she did and pull that shot on 18. It was just a thrill. And we work with, I work with Chris Verna in Boca, and so does she. We don't work out together, it's a one on one sort of thing, but I have been working with Chris for a few years now and I know she's worked with him for awhile.

Q. What do you think her reemergence will do for the women's game? She was such a star just a couple years ago and then kind of went through a little bit of a slump.

MORGAN PRESSEL: Well, she's obviously found her game again and found the confidence to compete and the drive to really play well and has fixed her swing just enough and she's having so much fun and I think that I read somewhere where that's one of the biggest differences that she's enjoying it more now, whereas before she said that she really wasn't. She didn't know how to handle it when she lost her game and because she had always had it. And I think that she's really, really playing well now and she's confident. She should be.

Q. Two miraculous shots in recent Majors, Karrie Webb at the Kraft and Birdie Kim. You were an eyewitness to both of them. Can you compare your emotions when you saw both of those shots and did you think the U.S. Open was yours to win last summer?

MORGAN PRESSEL: Well, I think anytime you're standing in the 18th fairway in the last group and you see your opponent up in the bunker with a very tough bunker shot, you think, I've got a great shot at this. And when that bunker shot went in, it was disappointing. I had put myself in a great position and just kind of watched it all disappear quickly. But that's what happens. That happens in sport all the time.

So the same thing with Karrie Webb. I mean, obviously I wasn't in a position to win at that point in time. That was one of the best shots I've ever seen. It was on line from the moment it came off her club face. And it hits the green and I'm like, that's going in. You can just tell. You just watch the ball disappear. And the way that hole was set up with everybody on the right side and it's this huge stadium setting and it was the weirdest feeling. It was just this real excitement, you could feel it. Like even over my birdie putt I was still shaking after having watched that shot. It was really neat.

Q. You ever heard anyone yell that loud on a golf course?

MORGAN PRESSEL: It was

Q. Not the crowd, her.

MORGAN PRESSEL: Her? I wasn't standing next to her. I was standing probably 30, 40 yards ahead of her. I had to hit after she hit. And after when she hit, when it went in, everybody went crazy. And there was about a five minute break. And then they replayed it again on the big screen, and Sam's like wait, don't hit yet. Wait, they're going to go crazy again. And of course they did. And I mean, everybody she was so excited and she played so well. She made every putt she looked at and after that I could tell that she was coming back.

Q. Did you learn anything from her that day? I don't remember exactly where you started. Were you guys even or was she maybe one shot ahead? Were you one and she was two?

MORGAN PRESSEL: I think so. Something like that.

Q. In terms of Lorena had a big day in terms of what you can do no matter how far back you are. Did you take anything away from that watching her?

MORGAN PRESSEL: I mean obviously, anything's possible. I mean, she but it would take a great round like that. And obviously I went out hoping to play like that. It didn't quite happen. But actually, it didn't come close to happening. But you look at how a player of her experience goes out and plays and was confident from the first shot and she obviously knew that she had a chance to win. And you never know what's going to happen to the leader and you got to go out there thinking that you have an opportunity.

Q. Kind of a separate question for someone who's got an, obviously a vested interest in this Tour. Any thoughts on this going from network to the Golf Channel?

MORGAN PRESSEL: Not taking anything away from the Golf Channel, it doesn't reach the same audience that network coverage would. And I think that we should be on network television. The LPGA Championship should certainly be on network television.

Q. Do you ever talk to the commissioner or do you feel like you're too young, too rookie?

MORGAN PRESSEL: I think that it's been brought up many times and in meetings and things like that. And I know that she's working on trying to fix that.

Q. Are you as vocal with her as you are with us?

MORGAN PRESSEL: I've talked to her a couple times, definitely. We have had conversations about network television, about everything, really. And she's she I think needs to hear from the players, needs to hear what the players think and it is our Tour.

PAUL ROVNAK: Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Morgan.

MORGAN PRESSEL: Thank you.

End of FastScripts.

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