U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 3, 1999

Beth Daniel

BETH DANIEL: Well, obviously the course was a little softer today due to the heavy rains last night. So I just kept trying to -- I kept telling Carl, my caddie, we need to be aggressive today. We need to try to rely be aggressive today and to start firing at some of these pins. Early in the round, we were more concerned with keep it below the hole, or, you know keep it on this side of the hole, which is normally what you would have to be concerned with in an U.S. Open round of golf. But today with the greens being more receptive, we were able to fire them at the pins a little bit more. And as far as my ball-striking goes, I feel very confident with it right now. I feel like I'm starting to get my swing back, and I hit a lot of good shots today. I gave myself a lot of opportunities for birdies. Had I gotten a feel for the greens a little bit sooner today, I feel like I cover posted a little bit lower number. But, you know, I'm happy to start out this way.

BETH DANIEL: I would not be here if I didn't think I could win. I would not try to be here if I didn't think I could win. I'm the type of person that doesn't tee it up in a golf tournament unless I think I can win it; so I guess the answer to that would be yes.

BETH DANIEL: My progress after the surgery was slower than I thought it would be. But I'm not a very patient person. I guess I thought I would just roll right out of surgery and I would be fixed instantly and it doesn't work that way. It took me a good 11 months before I had full range of motion in my shoulder. And you know, during that time, I was out on TOUR trying to play and not playing very well, and losing a lot of confidence. So it's taken me a while to get the confidence back and it's also taken me a while to find my golf swing again, once I got the full range of motion in my shoulder again. It took me a while to figure out my golf swing again. And I feel like now I'm swinging at it very well, and able to hit golf shots again, which I played for quite a while where I wasn't able to hit golf shots.

BETH DANIEL: I thought about retiring because I was playing so bad. I actually have slowed my schedule down. I'm only playing about 21 events this year out of what, 43, I think on our schedule; so I'm playing about half of our events this year, and that's it. The last few years I haven't played a full schedule and probably will never -- of course, never say never -- but I probably will never play a full schedule again. So about 20 tournaments is about where I'm at right now.

BETH DANIEL: Fun. Right now I'm building a house. It's been fun thus far, but I'm building a house, and then it's probably going to be another full year at least before I finish this project. So, you know, that's going to take up a lot of my time. You know, I like to fish. You know, I can always find things to do. I just like being around the house and tinkering around the house, and that's kind of fun instead of being on the road.

BETH DANIEL: Delray Beach, Florida. The same place that I live now. Just a different spot.

BETH DANIEL: Obviously, because I'm putting up some low numbers now and starting to make some birdies, and I'm making some putts. But I was a little frustrated my putting today. I didn't putt as well today as I have been putting as of late. And I think a little bit of that was due to the fact that because of the moisture on the greens from the rain, the greens were just a little bit slower than what I thought they were going to be and it took me awhile to adjust. You know, I don't sit up here and tell you that I'm -- I have one hundred percent confidence in my putting back, because I don't all the time. There are days when I feel really good over the putter and there are days when I don't feel good over it at all. It's a bit of a struggle for me. But if I can hit the ball well enough to take some pressure off my putter; at least I go out for a round of golf now and I know I'm going to make some putts. There was a point in time where I didn't know if I was going to make any. So I know that I'm going to make some. It's making progress, and it's a lot better.

BETH DANIEL: I've never had to qualify from the open. I've always been exempt. This has been a first for me. A new experience, and I actually thought about not doing it. And, you know, and then my attitude was: I'm not in the Open anyway, so I have two choices. I can either not play, or go to a qualifier and try and get in; so I decided to go to a qualifier and get in. I did get a special exemption last year, and at that time I was told that that would be my first and only. So I was given an exemption to play at Blackwolf Run and made the cut there, and actually played very well. But, you know, I did not qualify off the money list to get in this year.

BETH DANIEL: This is my 23rd Women's Open. And, no, I really am not surprised there's so many red numbers. I think that that rain last night, the amount of rain fall that we got out here last night made the golf course very vulnerable to birdies. You know, you can -- even with 5-irons out there today, I was able to just fire it right at the pin. No worry at all that the ball was going to release. And the practice rounds, a 5-iron for me was releasing eight to ten yards. Today it was releasing about a yard. That's how much softer the rains made the greens. They also were a little bit slower as far as putting goes, and so you could -- you would be able to be a little more aggressive with your putter. And for those two reasons; no, today, it does not surprise me that there are red numbers.

BETH DANIEL: Well, I mean, definitely. Ten years ago there would not have been a question in my mind as to whether or not I would try and qualify or not. I would have gone and not even thought twice about it. So, yeah, I mean, the way I looked at it is: If I don't go, it's a week off. And then I decided that I really wanted to play. So I went ahead and went to the sectional qualifier and actually had a couple of players on TOUR help me with what to do and the course to choose and where to qualify and that sort of thing. I'm very grateful to them that they helped me out, because that's not an easy decision to choose where you're going to try and qualify.

BETH DANIEL: Well, my surgery was August 1997, and I actually had it done by Dr. Andrews in Birmingham. I had what's called an chromioplasty done, and basically what it is is there's a bone on top of the shoulder called the chromium process, and I had bone spurs on the bottom of that chromium process, which every time I moved my left arm were jabbing into the tendon that runs underneath it. They go through and they basically just shave off part of that where the bone spurs are; give the tendon a little more room to run through there without getting any kind of obstruction. And then they clean up the tendon, too. The tendon was pretty bruised up and had some little tears in it. They go in there and clean all that up, too. It just takes you time to heal.

BETH DANIEL: Well, the whole streak started with a 3-putt bogey on the 6th hole in Austin. And, you know, it's kind of a long walk to the 7th tee which was a par 3 and I just said, God, I'm not playing too good. You should not be over par in this golf tournament. Let's just go make some birdies and forget about it. I hit it like six feet on the next hole, and I make it. And then I hit it four feet on the next hole and make it. I hit it a foot on the next hole and make it. So now I'm in the tournament at 2-under par, and I'm just thinking: Okay, let's just keep playing aggressively. And I just -- I kept hitting close. I hit it about five feet on the next hole and a foot on the next hole. 12 was a par 5, which I hit a 3-wood on the green in two and 2-putted for a birdie there. Then I started thinking about it. Really, after kind of the 10th, 11th hole, I started thinking about it, and I thought the streak was 9 birdies; so, when I made the birdie on the 15th hole, which was my 9th in a row, I thought I had tied it there. Went to 16, had about a 20-footer and missed it and kind of walked out, gosh, (shakes head), and for like a split second, and then I was like: You just made 9 birdies in a row. You need to be happy about this. It would have been really cool to make 10 in a row, but I'll take 9 in a row. Put me back in the golf tournament, and I went on to have a good weekend and have a good finish there.

BETH DANIEL: It actually did seem very easy. I hit it so close during the streak of the 9 in a row that I made one 18-footer and I made one 9-footer, and all the rest of them were six feet or in. So I hit the ball very close, and you know, things have to happen for you. You know, on the 14th hole, I hit it -- I kind of necked a drive and it went down the tree line and kind of went under a tree, and it kicked out and was fine. Those are the kind of things that need to happen for you in a streak like that that don't always happen for you. You've got to have a little luck on your side to have something like that happen. You know, I just really enjoyed it. I just tried to enjoy the whole thing, and I tried to stay aggressive and see how many I could make in a row.

BETH DANIEL: Carl is -- Carl is always very prepared. He knows every detail about the golf course. He flew in here on Friday night and spent the whole weekend out here. Carl is a great caddie, and I was lucky to get him this week. When Patty knew that she was not going to play, she gave Carl my number and said, "Call Beth and see if she needs someone for the Open." It's worked out well. He is also going to caddie for me at the LPGA Championship. Maybe look forward to the Open a little bit more knowing that I was going to have Carl on the bag.

BETH DANIEL: I thought it was a crummy story.

BETH DANIEL: No, it's into the my mindset at all. USGA runs this event. They have certain exemptions. There were several ways that I could have earned my way into this golf tournament, and I didn't do it. Because it's an Open, I had the last option, which was to try and qualify through sectional qualifying, and, you know, I did that. I was happy that I did that, and you know, I'm here. But no, there's no thought in my mind at all that, you know, I need to prove that I belong here, because, I mean, I felt all along that you know, that I belonged here. But, you know, I've had a couple of bad years. You know, like I say, I had several ways that I could have qualified, and I didn't do it.

BETH DANIEL: No.

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