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GINN OPENApril 10, 2007Morgan PresselREUNION, FLORIDA DANA GROSS-RHODE: Thank you for joining us, your first tournament back since winning the Kraft Nabisco Championship. What have you been doing to refocus to get ready for the Ginn and possibly becoming only the second person in history to win the first tournament after the Kraft Nabisco? MORGAN PRESSEL: Well, it's been a really hectic week. It's been crazy with first losing my clubs and getting back and just being home with all of my family and my friends and everybody coming up to say hi, going to couple of the places that I practice at home and people calling me nonstop. It's just been a lot of fun. I've done a lot of interviews and a lot of media and it's been a pretty full week. Q. (About losing golf clubs.) MORGAN PRESSEL: I did not have the bags at the time. My grandfather thinks that they were lost or stolen in Palm Springs. I think they actually made it to Fort Lauderdale and were stolen there. Nobody really knows where we are. Callaway Golf has been unbelievable as far as getting me a new set as fast as possible. I lost them Monday night and I had an almost entirely new set by Thursday, new bag and new everything. I can't thank them enough. It exactly the same as it was. And, you know, they feel great. So I'm really excited about that. I wasn't sure exactly if I would have a smooth transition, but Callaway made it so easy on me, so it was great. Q. (About attention received since winning). MORGAN PRESSEL: Like I just said, I've been really, really busy. I just feel like every moment, I can't walk five feet without somebody saying congratulations. It's so cute to know that so many people actually did watch and it is such a big deal for me. I have gone shopping a couple of times, got a couple purses, shoes. Q. How do you think your game has changed, your attitude right now? MORGAN PRESSEL: Well, yes and no, it's the same game. I'm still playing the same game. I worked with my coach, Martin Hall at home, and actually we figured out that I could coil better off my right side and hopefully get a little more power and more consistency on my backswing. So that's some of a big swing change I've been working on over the last week. It's a great thing thought for me and I hit it pretty well when I think about it. Obviously I have a lot of confident from the last week. I putted very well and I hit the ball well and I was even better mentally and that was huge for me. So hopefully I can take that confidence into this week. Q. Is there anything in the bag that you can't replace? MORGAN PRESSEL: No, I didn't lose anything. Not that I know of yet. In another couple of weeks, I might be like, oh, where is -- but nothing right now that I know of that I lost. There's one key chain that I have to find that ever since I've put it on the bag, I played better. Put it on towards the end of last year and it says, "You'd better make more money than I spend." It's perfect for me and ever since I put it on I started playing better. So I have to see if I can kind it again but that's it. Q. Had you ever gone that period of time, Sunday to Thursday without hitting golf balls? MORGAN PRESSEL: Oh, I hit golf balls Tuesday morning. I pulled out an old set. I didn't waste any time there. I pulled out my X-18 irons that I used last season. Q. (About changing clubs so early in season). MORGAN PRESSEL: Well, I'm trying to look at it as the fact that I change clubs all the time. Technology is always improving. Callaway is always coming out with something new. So it's just kind of a forced change in that sense. But they are not any different than the clubs that I used to use. So there's not -- the club that is were in my bag were not that old anyway, so it's not like, you know, I was used to looking at some dent on my putter that helped me line up. The putter was two weeks old. It's not something that I'm worried too much about. Q. (About being attached to any of lost clubs). MORGAN PRESSEL: No, not yet. I don't like to become too attached to any club. I always like to change just for the fact that, you know, the possibility that you do lose your clubs, I mean, I just always like to be able to adapt and change to what's new. Q. In the moment that you realized that you won the major, it was obviously shock and jubilation and disbelief on some level. Since you have not played since, has the reality of the accomplishment truly set in yet, or is it something that's not going to set in until you get that competitive juice flowing again? MORGAN PRESSEL: I think it's set in. I've got the trophy at home. (Laughing). I don't know. Kind of just -- it was just a wow at the time, and then after -- when I got home and I got all of the phone calls, and you're watching it on TV. We watched the rebroadcast last night and it's just really cool. It's like, wow, it really did happen. And then of course coming to the golf course the next day that was a quick transition to the real world. Q. With the shoes and now the diamond deal today that was announced, have you had any time to reflect on what it meant and how major, no pun intended, how major this was? MORGAN PRESSEL: I try not to think about it that much, just fact that it is just another tournament and it's just one tournament. Hopefully it's the first of many because that's my goal. It's one step. It's one step on the way. Q. (About new set of Callaway clubs). MORGAN PRESSEL: Yes, I know that Roger Cleveland was out in the Callaway trailer out at the Masters and he had personally grinded my wedges beforehand when I was out at the Callaway test center last year or so, so he was able to do them there which was pretty cool. Q. (About new clubs). MORGAN PRESSEL: I don't know, I didn't think about that. I guess I'll let you know how I hit them this week. Q. Advertisers have talked about the importance of players like yourself moving forward for some of the younger American players; can you talk about the importance of carrying on what they started? MORGAN PRESSEL: I think that there's a great generation of young Americans out here on Tour. Four out of the first five events were won by Americans, Paula Creamer, Meaghan Francella, and you know, it's great for the Tour. I think it brings a lot of publicity and hopefully it will continue and inspire more young girls out here to come out and give us a run for our money. Q. Have the players talked to you about your win? MORGAN PRESSEL: You know, Meg is a good friend of mine. I just had lunch with her today and she was very excited. We were talking about it. She called me right away. She was like, "That was so much fun to watch and super congratulations on everything." Q. Last year as you were going through your rookie year, did you expect that you were going to win last year, and when you didn't, what was your feeling? MORGAN PRESSEL: I tried not to put an expectation on myself as far as winning: Win now, win in two weeks, win in a year. But I tried to go out and just play my game, and that being said, I think I could have done a better job of that. I didn't do quite as well last year as I would have hoped as far as playing my game. I guess I didn't play as well as I could have I guess. Coming out this year I was just trying to learn from what I learned last year and pay attention to the mistakes that I made and try not to make them again. Q. For young girls that win early, did you feel expectations? MORGAN PRESSEL: The expectations that other people put on me. Don't get me wrong, I would have loved to win and that was certainly what I was playing for every week. But whether I had said if I don't win, you know, then I'd go into a serious depression, no, I never said that. I knew that it would come eventually. I just needed to play good golf. Q. You missed two cuts last year -- MORGAN PRESSEL: Last year was just a complete nightmare. I just really didn't play well. I had a couple of really, really bad holes and just couldn't put anything together. Didn't putt very well, the greens are extremely difficult, and just couldn't put it together. You know, hopefully this year -- my goal is to improve on my performance last year this week, which hopefully shouldn't be too difficult. Q. You played so well this year in every tournament, can you talk about what you did during the off-season? MORGAN PRESSEL: Yeah, I did a few things this off-season. I mean, I was coming off of last year, I knew that the competition -- one thing that I learned is that the competition is really, really strong out here and you have to play well and you have to prepare yourself. I really tried to prepare myself for a long, grinding season. I spent a lot of time on the range at Ibis in Palm Beach with my coach, Martin Hall working on my swing, tightening things up. I also worked with Callaway Golf as far as the equipment I'm using and switched irons, switched putters and things to make my game that much better, as well as working out for a lot more hours than I had ever worked out in the gym. I think that all three of those pieces, maybe even the gym aspect, weighed pretty heavily in my performance so far this year. Q. Did you grow up watching Nancy Lopez at all? Was she an idol of yours? MORGAN PRESSEL: She's always been an idol of mine and she's a real sweetheart. I certainly look up to her. She's a wonderful competitor and a great player and a great person, and I think that's characteristic of Nancy Lopez and the way she interacted with the fans and the media and everything, along with her golf game, are things that I try to emulate every day. Q. To go back to what happened here last year, when you look back at what didn't go right, was it simply an approach thing? The greens here are extremely difficult; was it a case of balls not being in the right place? MORGAN PRESSEL: It's just something, that's golf. That's what happens. Everybody has their good weeks and everybody that's their bad weeks and you just don't know when they are going to come. I know last year this was really my first tournament, my first big tournament close to home. I knew a lot of people were going to come out on the weekend especially and maybe that was a little bit of extra pressure that I wasn't used to having. It just wasn't my week. Q. Now that you're a grizzled veteran -- MORGAN PRESSEL: That's me. Q. Does that enter the equation anymore when you are playing relatively close to home and you know there will be a lot of people coming out to see you? MORGAN PRESSEL: After playing ADT, a lot of my friends came up there. I really love it when my friends and family can come out to watch and it's nice that we at least have a couple of events in the area or close to the area, still a couple hours away. You know, I just love it when they can come out to watch, and I'm trying not to pay any attention to it, but I just want to go out and play golf this week. Q. Weigh the thought that you could win (at Kraft), or you could have won at (U.S. Women's Open, Cherry Hills), the one you didn't win, and in the end it turned around, what are those emotions? MORGAN PRESSEL: Well, they are flip-flopped. At Kraft, I knew that 3-under was a good score and might have only been good enough for second place. But to come out on top was unexpected right as I had finished. You know, obviously still a great feeling. At Cherry Hills, that was a disappointment that I came so close, and Birdie Kim hit that great shot on the last hole. Just like missing the cut here last year, that's just golf. Some days it will go your way and some days it won't. Q. When you won the Kraft, you jumped into the lake, what was that moment like? Did your grandmother join you? MORGAN PRESSEL: Yes, my grandmother went with me. She wanted to go, and my caddie went as well. That was special. It's such a long-standing tradition at that tournament, and the water was cold which was nice out in the hot desert. All of the fans were like, "Jump! Jump! Jump!" It's turned into a really special, special event. Q. Like Zach Johnson winning a major with his strong Christian faith, and wondering about your Jewish faith, how much does it mean and your career winning the major? MORGAN PRESSEL: Well, obviously I am Jewish and I have been Bar Mitzvahed. I don't think that in that sense that -- oh, that's a hard question. I guess I don't think about it that much. I don't connect it. I've worked very hard for nine years, but I view them as two separate entities I guess. Q. When Meaghan won in Mexico City, she talked about how that win forced her to kind of change her goals and her expectations for the year. Now that you've got the Kraft title, has that made you change or adjust any of your goals or what you might have thought this year would be? MORGAN PRESSEL: Well, I've always had high expectations and I've always demanded a lot of myself as far as my golf game and my career. You know, if it changes anything, it gives me more confidence. I still go out every week hoping to win and trying to play my best to win. And just fact that now I know I can. Q. So in terms of saying, all of a sudden, clarity, it's possible; obviously Solheim Cup is something would you have been thinking about before, none of that has changed? MORGAN PRESSEL: As far as Solheim Cup? Absolutely not. I'm still very much looking forward to hopefully going to Sweden in the fall. Q. Other than the lost golf clubs and the flat tire, what's the craziest thing that's happened to you in the last nine or ten days? MORGAN PRESSEL: Well, it doesn't get much crazier than losing your golf clubs or driving to your lesson with a flat tire. Other than that, my little cousin came to town, she's a riot. That's pretty crazy in itself. Just walking, going to the mall and everybody coming up and saying congratulations. It's just, you know, something that -- not something that never happens, but something that's happening a lot more frequently which is really cool and really special. Q. One other thing, I know you probably haven't stopped smiling since last Sunday but when you go to the first tee on Thursday, how hard will it be to kind of turn the game face back on and be grinding away? MORGAN PRESSEL: It won't be very hard being out here, coming out here a little early. I definitely want to play better here than I did last year, and you know, I'm ready. I'm ready to come out and win again. Q. Amy Alcott sends her congratulations because you not only made history as the youngest player, but you're the first Jewish player since she won three times. How did you spend your Passover Seder and when they were asking the Four Questions, where you saying why -- inaudible? MORGAN PRESSEL: I didn't think about that. (Laughing) Well, I didn't get -- because I was traveling Monday and was dealing with the lost clubs fiasco I didn't get a chance to attend Seder on Monday night, but we had a big Seder on Tuesday, and it was fun because my family came in and it's just great. I love having all of my family in, and spending all my time with them and being home for a big holiday like that. When my cousin asked the Four Questions, that wasn't the first thing that popped in my head but it's an interesting thought. Q. Have you met Amy Alcott? Because she keeps saying that she pulls for you. MORGAN PRESSEL: Absolutely, Amy Alcott is a very good friend. I saw her last week. It was actually quite funny when I was walking up to the 18th green before I made my birdie putt last week, she was standing there at the edge of the bridge saying -- she said to me, I gave her a hug and she said, "One day your name will be on this plaque." It was just funny that it happened that day. Q. Did you spend much time watching the Masters, and how do you think you would have done playing in those conditions? MORGAN PRESSEL: Well, they looked pretty tough. I didn't really watch much the first few days. I was out practicing. But Sunday of the Masters is a very holy day in the golfing world, and that I did watch. I didn't really want to watch, you know, Friday, Saturday, when I saw how tough the conditions were. I don't really like watching the best players in the world not play -- not tear up golf courses. It's not really a confident-builder to watch the course eat up the players. Sunday was very exciting and Zach Johnson played extremely well and that was a great tournament to watch. Q. When was the decision made to come up to Reunion early, and was it more to work on this tournament or simply to get away from the madness that was going on at home? MORGAN PRESSEL: Well, it was to get away from you, Jeff. (Laughter). Q. I haven't been home since then. MORGAN PRESSEL: That was mean. No, you know, I like to get to golf tournaments early, and especially when I can and it's only a couple of hours away. Last year we came up early and I mean, I just like to know my golf courses. I got two less practice rounds, I guess, last year than I would have liked to have. So I got a couple extra this week and it just turned out -- it was planned long in advance but it just turned out nicely that I did get the chance to get away a little bit and come up here and go shopping of course. Q. What do you buy when you've been shopping? MORGAN PRESSEL: I just bought a couple purses and a couple pairs of shoes and a new phone. DANA GROSS-RHODE: Thank you all very much. Morgan, thank you and congratulations on your win and good luck this week. End of FastScripts |
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