THE SOLHEIM CUP

September 20, 1998

Laura Davies

Pia Nilsson

Annika Sorenstam

PIA NILSSON: Yeah. A lot of our strong players early got a lot of blue on the leader board and get some early wins and those up there are very good to cheer the other ones on and I like that.

PIA NILSSON: I just -- in the middle of the day, I started getting neat feelings because I really thought we could turn it around and then I kept hoping. I didn't quit myself, either, until it was done.

LAURA DAVIES: I'm fed up with answering that one, to be honest with you. I won't play on an international team ever. I don't think Annika will. I don't think anyone would be interested in playing the rest of the world against America. It's an insult to every single one of us on the team and every time they question us, it's another insult, so I won't answer that one.

PIA NILSSON: I felt our team was -- left to the plan and they were all up there with a lot of courage and giving all they had and wanted to do -- every person wanted to win her match. So I did that and I think early on that -- then we did that and I think the Americans got a little worried there for a while and didn't make as many putts as they had the first two days. But I felt our players really did it all the way and we were just a little bit too far behind going into the day. But it feels good to -- that we can all finish today with our straight backs and giving it our all.

PIA NILSSON: It's been nonstop for me, still. I think in a couple of days I've got to think it over. Every day with the information I've had, I'm happy with the decisions and, obviously, if you knew how players played the following day, it's easy to say a few things. But with the information I've had, I know I've made the best decisions I could have. So far, I can't answer that question.

PIA NILSSON: Well, I haven't considered it yet because I haven't been asked all that.

PIA NILSSON: Well, I think I need some more time for that, but I feel the first two days the Americans played very, very well. They played up to their potential, made the putts at the right time. I feel our players were strong. The long games were good. We didn't hole the putts when we needed to and that was the difference, I feel.

LAURA DAVIES: Yeah, I thought that, realistically, this morning we weren't going to win THE SOLHEIM CUP. I think that was pretty much everyone's understanding. But I did think if we could go out there today and win the singles, we could not only try and win the singles, but if we did get into a good enough position, all of a sudden what we though was going to happen did happen. We even got into a position where I actually thought at one point we were going to win it until Charlotta's match turned around dramatically when she got from 2-down to all squared and Kelly went birdie-birdie and she lost 2-1. At that point, I still thought we could win and, as it turns out, we lost a few matches. But once the Cup's lost -- I've been in that situation before myself. And once you've lost the Cup, you really give up and are not that bothered. But the important thing was we did win the singles and it was nice what Meg did on 18. She is one of the classiest members of their team and, to a young player like Sophie who was really battling hard to get a half -- she didn't win a -- and it was nice what Meg did for us. And I think it meant we did win the singles as well. We've had a good day. We had two bad days and now we've had a good day. At least we can go home and look forward to Sunnydale in two years and, hopefully, I'd like to play with Pia as a captain as well.

LAURA DAVIES: I'll tell you what happened. I saw what happened on the 18th green -- and I've been excited myself in SOLHEIM CUPs. You get wound up when you hole a cup and it's just exciting. When Judy holed the putt on 17 later in the day, that was exciting to watch. She was dancing around the green. That's fine. But when you pick your ball up when it's been conceded and you excite the crowd when your opponent still has to play a very, very difficult chip and we're desperately trying to get a half point out of the match, that's when I took exception to it and that's when Annika and I started beating up that dummy thing in the locker room. That's was just unprofessional, unnecessary and it spurred us on. So it was a big mistake, on top of that. Big mistake.

LAURA DAVIES: I stabbed it. That was it.

LAURA DAVIES: I don't know. It was Annika's.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: It's a bop bag. I think it's called bop bag. One of those where you punch it and it comes back up. We had them on the driving range, trying to hit them.

LAURA DAVIES: It was really fun.

PIA NILSSON: I feel it's totally -- Dottie's thing is nothing I would encourage players I coach. But she takes responsibility for herself. There's nothing that I look up to.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I think it overrides. It's a team event and that's what matters. The only thing you can do is go out and play your best. But we had a meeting in the beginning of the week and Pia said: What do you want to tell yourself when you're done on Sunday? And I think we're all agreed, we wanted to give 100 percent and we all did and I think that's what we've got to be happy about. We got to the end and that was very, very close.

LAURA DAVIES: THE SOLHEIM CUP, again, with the momentum, it was the icing on the cake. For Jack to allow us to come here and loan us the course for the week and look after us -- which we've been looked after this week incredibly well. Every time we've played the SOLHEIM CUP, it's been that way. Any time Jack Nicklaus's name is involved in everything, it just elevates it. I think it helps us, but we're going to a great venue next time in Sunningdale and THE SOLHEIM CUP is worthy of a great venue and worthy of these great crowds we've had. The American galleries have been superb. They've been nice to our team, very, very courteous to us and we couldn't have asked for anything better. This has been a great week, apart from the fact that we lost. That's the only downside, and it's obviously a big downside of it. We're good losers as well. You've got to be a great champion and a great loser and I think everyone on our team -- I can actually say I'm proud of the way we took every loss we had and every win we had, too, which was even more important.

LAURA DAVIES: Very solid. She'll be a SOLHEIM CUP regular for many a year. She gave me everything I could handle today. I was even nervous because I knew how important our four matches were -- the so-called four main names on the European team -- and we had to do a job. I couldn't quite ever get clear of her because it seemed every time I got the match in control, she'd hit one close or she'd hole a putt or something. She was hard to shake off. She is a great player and she's going to do very well. She's already done very well. You don't get on the team unless you've done very well.

LAURA DAVIES: Definitely, yeah. I think it's fine.

PIA NILSSON: Me, too. Definitely.

LAURA DAVIES: More than enough.

PIA NILSSON: We do. They just keep on coming to us. In a couple of years, there are going to be quite a few more who are good enough to be on our SOLHEIM CUP team.

LAURA DAVIES: In a few years time, you'll be asking about the Americans: Are they good enough? Do they need Canada and Japan? (Laughs). I'll look forward to that day. We don't want the Canadians or Japanese or the Australians. We're happy. You'd never guess this issue pisses me off, would you? (Laughs).

LAURA DAVIES: I am mad. I think it's a personal insult. Yeah. Not the format, the actual matches. It's just all this talk of international players required.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: As long as they let the Swedes on, I'm okay. I agree with Laura. I think if you look at the scores, I think it was much closer than the numbers reflect. Every match has been very, very close coming to 18. It's just a matter of luck sometimes whether a putt will drop in or not. Very, very close. To play on American soil is not easy and we fought really, really well. Pia was saying there's a lot of European players coming up. I know we can do it. Just showing we're getting closer and closer. And we have won before, so I think that's a good testament also.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I think they were. Obviously, they cheered a little louder for the Americans. But when you go to Europe, that's what you see over there, too. Very courteous, very nice. Clapping for good shots in general. I think that's what -- what you look at this week. Even though the U.S. won, I think we've done really well and we all can play the game.

LAURA DAVIES: I think if you had America against the rest of the world side, it would really struggle.

LAURA DAVIES: That's what I'm saying. If they wanted to have a match like that, that wouldn't be anything to do with me, so I suppose I really don't care about that one. I do think a team like that would struggle a bit. I think the Europeans -- you ought to look at the world rankings and the Europeans are very heavily involved in that. If they wanted a First Ladies' Cup or anything, it would be a fun event. I'd even come and watch. (Laughs.)

LAURA DAVIES: Very disappointed.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: We fought so hard and we wanted this Cup so badly and we prepared as well as we could. We were as ready as we could be. We wanted it -- when you don't get what you want, it's tough sometimes. I know that we will all bounce back, hopefully. We learned a lot from this.

PIA NILSSON: I feel, of course, disappointed, too. Still kind of calm. Usually, the way I get when things go not the way I want to, I feel this fire inside that, Dammit, I wanted to do this and do it better. That's what I feel, too.

TIM MCNULTY: Thank you, ladies and gentlemen.