	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

FIELDS OPEN IN HAWAII

February 21, 2007

Julieta Granada

KAPOLEI, HAWAII

PAM WARNER: Thanks for coming in and joining us again today. You played very well here last year. I think you had a tie for fourth here at the Fields Open. Just talk about being back here at Ko Olina.
JULIETA GRANADA: Well, I enjoy coming to Hawaii. Ko Olina is a great course. It suits my game very well. The greens are small and you have to putt well.
So, I'm looking forward to this week. Hopefully the wind doesn't blow, but other than that, I'm looking forward to a good week.
PAM WARNER: You've had such success since you won the ADT Championship and won your million dollar paycheck, and you came back to win the women's World Cup of Golf for Paraguay, and last week you finished second.
JULIETA GRANADA: Yeah, after my ADT win, it seems like my game stepped to another level, and I'm just enjoying the ride, working on my game. And I worked really hard this off-season. So you know, I was just ready to start another year and I've had a good start so far.

Q. (How significant was the win at ADT for your confidence)?
JULIETA GRANADA: Huge. You know, you all believe you can win, but it's different when you actually do it. And, you know, closing the deal is a big step for me, especially at this level where it's so hard to win. That just gave me a lot of confidence and it seemed like, you know, my goals are so far ahead this year than last year. Last year I was just trying to make Top 10's, and now it's like try to win it.

Q. (About winning ADT again this year).
JULIETA GRANADA: Yeah, it was definitely the right one. If I go through the year, I don't mind if I can win that one again.

Q. (Anything special that you did with the prize money)?
JULIETA GRANADA: Yes, I only got myself a new car and other than that I saved my money, invest it.

Q. How are you feeling? Did you take any medicine?
JULIETA GRANADA: Yeah, I actually got the flu this week. Yesterday I couldn't play a practice round. I was feeling pretty bad. Hopefully I'll feel better by tomorrow. I've got a late tee time so that will help me to recover just a little bit. I'm taking some medicine, so I'm hoping to get some good sleep and get ready to go tomorrow.

Q. What's it like having your mother as a caddie?
JULIETA GRANADA: Oh, it's huge. We're really good friends and we get along great.
You know, she gives me something that maybe some of the other caddies won't be able to because she knows me so well, as a daughter, as a friend and as a golfer. So she knows my game inside and out and she knows -- obviously she knows me inside and out.

Q. How heavy is that bag? It seems pretty heavy.
JULIETA GRANADA: Yeah, it's pretty heavy, but we don't carry the umbrella. We don't carry rain gear, only six balls. I try to make it light for her.

Q. Did you ever think about getting a different caddie?
JULIETA GRANADA: No, not even crossed my mind. You know, winning gives you, you know, just makes you believe in what you're doing even more. You know, with my mom on my bag, it worked last year, so why change it? It's working fine.

Q. How did you come to have her work your bag?
JULIETA GRANADA: Well, I turned pro and I played the FUTURES tour for nine events. The FUTURES Tour, it's kind of hard to have a caddie, really expensive. So I said, "Mom, you want to hop in and carry the bag?" She started and we got along great and I went to Q-School. You know, she was on the bag, and it just seemed a perfect fit for us. She really enjoys it and I really appreciate her being there with me.

Q. Did she get you into golf originally?
JULIETA GRANADA: Yes, she was a golfer. My grandparents from my mom side taught her and she has a great love for the game. She doesn't play the game anymore but she enjoys being out there with me. It's almost like playing for her.

Q. Can you just talk a little on what you worked on with Leadbetter in the off-season and how you tweaked your game?
JULIETA GRANADA: I wouldn't say I tweaked my game, but obviously we looked at the stats from last year. I hit a lot of fairways but I was missing lots of greens. So we really work on my iron play, good ball-striking, really did some good work on that.
Last week I hit a lot of greens, so it's coming around. It's a tough thing to do which is -- I'm not used to hitting so many greens and having so many birdie chances. But I'm liking it so far.
You know, it was just mainly my iron game.

Q. Do you think you've added distance?
JULIETA GRANADA: Yeah, definitely added distance. I worked out really hard the first month of my off-season, and after that, it was hard because I was traveling all the time.
But yeah, I gained some distance and I'm feeling stronger, so I'm ready to go.

Q. Your mom is probably the only caddie -- inaudible?
JULIETA GRANADA: She doesn't get more, are you kidding me? No bonus. We were doing our tax thing last week and she got plenty of money, trust me. (Laughter) I pay her good enough.

Q. So for goals this season with your new winning mentality, do you have a goal that you want to win, do you want to win majors, do you have a number of tournaments you want to win, and how much money?
JULIETA GRANADA: Well, this year I'm going to put no expectations on my game. I'm just going to enjoy every week, have fun, play golf. Obviously I want to prepare a little bit better for the majors. Last year I didn't do such a good job on it.
You know, I really just enjoy the opportunity that I have in front of me and don't put so much pressure or expectations because that always turns into a negative.
You know, I just go out there and make birdies.

Q. How has life changed since that ADT, besides driving the new car, how is life back at home and are people treating you differently?
JULIETA GRANADA: Yeah, actually life is pretty cool right now. I got to meet Greg Norman, Nick Price, you know, people just that I look at as my role models. Now I get to talk to them and spend time with them which is pretty cool. I'm still the same but obviously my golf game evolved a little bit.

Q. Do you think your performance will help encourage people from Paraguay to play more golf?
JULIETA GRANADA: I'm hoping. You know, the media is starting to pay more attention to what I'm doing, and even the people, you know, they are really rooting for me and they want me to do well. I just want to give them an open opportunity for them that it could be done; it's a tough road but it could be done. Hopefully in the next ten years, they will have plenty of players from Paraguay on Tour.

Q. This is Michelle Wie's home course, do you wish at all that you had a chance to play against her here again?
JULIETA GRANADA: Yeah, of course, I want to compete against the best and she always has a great game. It would have been fun. But since she's not here, we can't really say much about it.

Q. What was the hardest thing about moving from Paraguay to Florida and playing golf?
JULIETA GRANADA: The hardest thing is obviously it's a big culture change. I didn't speak any English, so that was another big factor.
You know, it's just -- it's just so different here from there that it was a really huge change for me going to school, and really practicing a lot. I wasn't used to that. So it was a big change but I managed to get through it. And now, you know, I really enjoy -- I really enjoy the state and the people and the culture. I'm pretty much Americanized a little bit.

Q. When people see your flag on the bag, do they ask you with a country you're from or do they recognize the flag at all?
JULIETA GRANADA: No, they probably don't recognize the flag. When they ask where I'm from, I say Paraguay and they look at me funny and I have to describe on the map where it is and who is our neighbor and all the details.

Q. What country do they think it is when they see the flag?
JULIETA GRANADA: I've heard everything from, "is that in Africa," India, people just sometimes they don't -- geography doesn't ...

Q. As far as your mother caddying, when is the last time you played against somebody whose mother was caddying?
JULIETA GRANADA: Actually Q-School, I don't remember her name but there was a Korean player that had her mother on the bag. I was playing with Charlotta Sorenstam and she said, I should have had my mom on the bag, we could have had a mom group.

Q. Are people surprised? Do they ask who she is?
JULIETA GRANADA: Yeah, people admire her, too. It's a tough job and it's hard for her. The bag sometimes gets heavy. People think I kind of make her do it and it's not that way. She really wants to do it. She really enjoys it. So for me to have her on the bag, it's positive, not negative.

Q. How does it work, does she read the distances for you?
JULIETA GRANADA: Yeah, she gives me all the yardages and from there, you know, I pick the club and on the greens I usually just do it myself. If I have doubts then I'll ask her and she'll give me her opinion. Usually she tries to stay out of the way if I don't need her.

Q. Do you ever have to tell her to calm down? Does she get excited?
JULIETA GRANADA: Yeah, she got excited last week a little bit. Usually she's very aware of the situation and she knows how to handle herself pretty good. So it doesn't happen very often.

Q. How about your father, what does he do in Paraguay?
JULIETA GRANADA: He's a greenskeeper at my home course. He'll come like five or six times this year. So I'll see him a lot.

Q. Which course is that?
JULIETA GRANADA: That's Yasgh -- inaudible -- Golf Club (ph). It's just outside the city.

Q. Did you grow up around golf?
JULIETA GRANADA: He just started working there less than a year ago. He used to have a restaurant before. We live like a hundred yards from the eighth green, so I was always around golf and it's just something that I loved to do since I was four years old. It's kind of a family tradition I guess.

Q. What was your mom's work out schedule?
JULIETA GRANADA: She didn't have one. (Laughter) Take care of the dog, feed me, just a regular mom.

End of FastScripts

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297