NEW ALBANY GOLF CLASSIC

September 30, 2000

Beth Daniel

BETH DANIEL: Bogey on the 4th hole. 3-putted from 40 feet. Came back and birdied 6. Was pin-high to the right of the green in two and hit a real good flop shot about five feet from the hole. Made that. No. 8, I made birdie. I hit 9-iron. Made about a 25-footer there. 13, the par 5, I hit L-wedge in about six feet above the hole and made that putt. 16, hit L-wedge in again, but six feet below the hole. Made that. And 18, I hit pitching wedge eight feet above the hole and made it. So one bogey. Five birdies. Pretty solid round.

BETH DANIEL: I don't think really that is in my mindset at all this week. I was always planning on playing this event regardless what happened as far as the picks. Obviously, it's a relief and a thrill for me to be on the team. But I'm really trying not to think about next week, and when my mind wanders in that direction, I try to draw myself back to where I am. You know, basically, I want to play as well as I can in this golf tournament.

BETH DANIEL: I hope she's resting, because I don't think she's had much rest lately.

BETH DANIEL: Well, I'm happy that Brandie and I are both playing well. I'm happy that if we're making her look like a genius. I'm happy we're doing that. I think it's great. I am enjoying seeing Brandie's name up on the leaderboard. She got off to a fast start today, and that kind of inspired me to get it in gear there, because I was -- I had it in reverse for a while. But, I don't know if you can look at one tournament and say, "Gosh, look those two are playing well. Pat has really made a good choice." But certainly, you know it is going to help Brandie and myself to gain some confidence going into next week by playing well this week.

BETH DANIEL: I don't know if there's any reason. Like I said yesterday, I've been putting up some good scores this year, and that doesn't surprise me. The thing that's been missing this year is the consistency. Just like the first round when I shot 1-over, I really felt like I've played better than that, and it is just kind of a momentum swing, goes the opposite direction and I end up shooting 1-over, instead of shooting, say, 1-under. And that's the thing; I've got to turn the days where I don't hit the ball as well, I've got to turn those into better rounds, and that's something that I've been doing better lately.

BETH DANIEL: I just think I've been working very, very hard on my game and in particular, my short game is better. I mean, for instance, today, I only hit, I hit 13 greens. I actually hit 15, if you count fringe putts. But those three greens that I missed, I got the ball up-and-down for par, and you know, that's something that you've got to do. So, sometimes you have to break your game down and you just have to look at all aspects of it and say, okay, why am I not shooting the low round, why am I not -- on my bad ball-striking days, why am I not scoring as well as I think I should be scoring; and then you have to break that down and then go work on those things. And I think all of us constantly work on our weaknesses, and we also work on our strengths, and you have to work on both, and that's something that I've really been trying to do in recent months.

BETH DANIEL: Thank you.

BETH DANIEL: I don't really look at it that way. I think that when you play the game of golf, you have to take advantage when you can. And if a hole is wide open off the tee, then you can go ahead and bust your driver. And if it's not, then you have to really try and focus in and hit the ball straight and get it in the fairway somehow. But it is a strange golf course in that respect, because there are a few holes where you really, really have to hit it -- like, 6, 9, 11 and 12 and 13, you've got to hit the ball very straight. And then there are other holes where, yes, you can spray it and get away with it. So it is kind of a funny golf course that way.

BETH DANIEL: Depends on the conditions, as always. But I really thought the course in particular on the front side was set up very difficult today. And then I look up at the leaderboard and Shani is going crazy on the front side, and Brandie, both of them shot way under on the front, and I think the pins were as tough as they could probably get them on that side. So it looks like we may have to go low tomorrow. You know, how low? I don't know. I mean, I don't know if you go out there with a particular score in mind. I mean, I know that, yeah, you will, but it's hard to pinpoint, "Okay, I need to shoot 65 tomorrow." I think that you just go out there knowing that you need to make some birdies and you need to be aggressive, and just see how low you can go.

BETH DANIEL: I think most of all, I enjoy match play. I enjoy the concept of match play. It is very, very different from what we do day-in and day-out out here. But I really like the fact that your opponent dictates how you play a shot, and it's kind of fun to play it. So win or lose, I've always enjoyed match play, and I think that's the first hurdle right there. A lot of people are intimidated by match play, and I'm not; I enjoy it. As far as my success goes, I think that's maybe the only thing that I can attribute to my success is that I do enjoy it, and I enjoy the challenge of someone stuffing a shot in there, and then I've got to try and stuff it in there on top of them. I enjoy that challenge.

BETH DANIEL: You're absolutely right. I wanted to win again. Dr. Jim Andrews did my surgery, and if you had the opportunity to meet him, you would understand why when you go in to surgery, you think that you're going to come back and win again, because he's a very positive Doctor, and he's a very motivating doctor. To this point right now, when I see him and when I talk to him, he's still like, "Come on, now, you can do it." He's just that kind of guy, and he wants the people that he does surgery on to do well. So he assured me that if I had this surgery that things were going to be fine, and that I would be able to play golf again. But I think any time you have surgery, there is always a doubt in your mind as to whether you will come back, and a lot of people that have, in particular, left shoulder rotator cuff surgery do not come back from that. We have three people that -- who have it had, Nancy Scranton, who is by far the worst and she had reconstructive surgery. Very few people come back from that to play championship golf. And Brandie had surgery, also. Mine was simple compared to Nancy's.

BETH DANIEL: No, Brandie did not. Brandie went to -- I think Dr. Jobe did hers.