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GINN OPEN

April 12, 2007

Sherri Turner

REUNION, FLORIDA

DAN GROSS-RHODE: Thanks for joining us today. 4-under today. Great first round. Talk about how you played today.
SHERRI TURNER: I'm really proud of myself because I don't know how much you guys are following our Tour but the last couple tournaments I've really struggled. I was really glad we had a week between Palm Springs and here.
I was thinking way too much about my game. I was going to come out this week and have one thought: Just play. Basically I was able to do that today, so I was very proud of myself. Started out really solid. Made par, par, par, just a bunch of pars. And then I'm trying to think where my first birdie was.
DAN GROSS-RHODE: On 6.
SHERRI TURNER: On 6, yeah. I made about a ten-foot putt there for birdie. I had hit a good drive and I had 8-iron to that hole. It was funny, because in the practice round we were playing that hole and in the down-pouring rain, and I remember I had to hit a 3-wood into that hole.
So I was like, Wow, this is a little different. 3-wood to 8-iron, so, you know. So then I birdied 6, and then I think I birdied 7.
Yeah, I hit it about 5 feet on 7. Made that putt. And then 9, I hit it just up short of the green. It's a par 5. Chipped up pretty close and made that putt.

Q. What did you hit off of the green on 9?
SHERRI TURNER: I hit my 3-wood, and I was just about ten yards short of the green. So then made the turn, and then 10 is another par 5. I hit my 3-wood onto the green, so I 2-putted for birdie this.
11 I birdie. I hit a wedge about three feet from the hole. I was hitting a lot solid shots, and the good thing was I was making my putts, too. I had a good chance on 12 and 13, and then I think 14 I made a birdie.
Yeah, 14 I had about a ten-footer. 9-iron about ten feet there and made birdie. And then 15, I had another good chance about 12 feet that I just missed.
And then 16 I hit probably my first really poor shot of the day, because I was hitting a lot of fairways and greens prior to that. It's a long Par 3. I don't know how familiar you are this course, but the pin was way back on the back and it was into the wind. It was 198 yards to the hole, and we figured it was probably playing at least 205, maybe 210.
I tried to hit a 7-wood and I did not hit a very good shot. I missed it left. I was in a very difficult spot to get it up and down. I still almost made my putt for par. Hit it probably fifteen or twenty feet past the hole. Almost made my putt for par. So that was my first bogey.
So 17, par 5, I was debating -- I had like 220 to the front downhill and I was trying to decide whether or not to go for the green. I kind of laid back. But I hit a good wedge shot in there for probably ten feet and had a good chance there but totally misread the put putt, so made par there.
And then 18 I hit a bad tee shot and it went into the left bunker. From there I just finished with a bogey. So needless to say I was disappointed to finish bogey, par, bogey, because 17 is a good birdie hole, and you don't like it finish with two bogeys.
But overall I was very happy with my round, very happy.

Q. What was different today than the last couple weeks? Anything you changed in between?
SHERRI TURNER: Yes. I've been kind of working on a swing change. What I've been trying to rotate my hands more and swing to the left. But I had lost a lot of my power doing that, and I was sort of caught in between the change. My hands were kind of like flipping and doing other things.
So during the week off I started trying to keep my angle and hitting down on the ball and started hitting the ball a lot better, a lot more solid shots. Before it was a lot of shots that were going to the right. I think I only hit maybe one of those today. It was a big difference.
Whether or not my swing looked different, it felt a lot different to me. Mentally it made a big difference.

Q. Your last win on Tour was 1989.
SHERRI TURNER: Yep.

Q. What do you remember about that?
SHERRI TURNER: Seems like it was just yesterday in some ways. But when I look around at the kids our there, I realize that it's been a long time. But a lot's happened obviously in all those years. The Tour's gotten quite a bit younger, and a lot of the young players call me Grandma. Okay, that's fine. As long as you recognize I'm still here.
I know I'm the oldest player out here. Sometimes I know it and I really feel it. But some days when I play well or if I just hit one really good shot, you know, I realize why I'm still here: Because I still love to compete, and this is probably going to be my last year. I pretty much told most of my friends that.
And I just -- I'd like to have a few good tournaments this year and go out with a decent finish in my career. But there's been a lot of changes in this Tour. Myself and Julie Inkster and a couple other girls that are 45 and older we certainly keep the age average up because otherwise it would be about twenty out here I think.

Q. What does it mean to have Nancy back?
SHERRI TURNER: I think it's awesome. I personally have not seen her this week to talk to her. But I was really disappointed when she decided to retire. I understood completely with her kids that it was a time to go away, but I think it's exciting for our Tour to have her back.
Nancy Lopez has made 24 tour over the years. I think it's going to be a great thing for the young players to have her out and around the Tour. I know a couple year ago some of the girls got to know her from the Solheim Cup that wouldn't have got to know her before.
So I think it's a really good thing that she's going to be around. I don't think how many events she's going to play in. Somebody told me ten this year. I don't know. But I think it's a great thing.

Q. What about now, has the field opened up a little bit without Annika now for maybe a month or longer?
SHERRI TURNER: What do you mean?
DAN GROSS-RHODE: Annika withdrew.
SHERRI TURNER: I didn't know that.

Q. Yeah, she's got a ruptured disc.
SHERRI TURNER: I did not know that. I'm very, very sorry to hear that. You -- well, you hate to hear that anybody's injured. Sounds like it's serious. Did she do that -- when did that happen?
DAN GROSS-RHODE: It's been going on, some pain, but she couldn't take it anymore.
SHERRI TURNER: Wow. You know, our Tour, we've had a lot different winners so far. Certainly Annika will certainly be missed for sure, and I'm sure she'll miss not playing because we have a lot of good events coming up. I'm sure she's hoping to get back out as soon as she can.
This Tour is wide open now. Obviously Annika is the No. 1 player, no doubt. Lorena has come on obviously in the last year or so. It's good to see that Annika is being challenged in some ways. But I think that's probably making Annika want to work harder, too. I don't have any idea. Maybe that's making her work harder. I think it's good for Annika to have some competition, but I'm really sorry to hear about her injuries.

Q. You hit a couple shots that maybe reminds you why you're still out here. What were some of the shots?
SHERRI TURNER: My second shot on 10, when I hit it onto the green. I hit a couple irons that were just all over the pin the whole way. They looked like they might even have a chance to go in. Gets your heart going a little bit like, Yeah.

Q. Who calls you Grandma?
SHERRI TURNER: Well, a lot of the girls do. It's okay. I'm actually all right with that. But one of the gals, Kristy McPherson, one of the other players, was introducing me to her. They said, We just all call her Grandma. She just looked at me and she said, I can't call her grandma.
Kristy is a real southern girl. Much more than I am, and I'm from South Carolina. She said, I can call her Mama, but I can't call her grandma. A lot of the young girls call me that. But it's okay. I don't mind it at all.

Q. How did you decide this year would be the last year?
SHERRI TURNER: I had sort of thought about making last year my last year at the beginning of last year. I had a good enough year to where I was exempt for Nabisco, exempt for the Open, and you know, I thought, Well, maybe I should just go play one more year.
The last time the Open was on the Pine Needles I played well. So I thought I really want to go back there. I'm not the type of player that's going to go play in the Open and not have made any other events.
So I look around and he see all these young girls and think, maybe it's time for me to move aside and let them take over.

Q. Is there still a chance that you could play well enough that year that you change your mind again?
SHERRI TURNER: I'm not going to say that I'm 100 percent certain that I'm not coming back. I think there's a pretty good chance. Probably the toughest part for me is this is my 24th year on Tour, and it's a lot of travel. Probably more than anything I'm getting tired of the travel and I kind of want to settle down in one spot.
You guys probably know what I'm saying when I say that. Every time I get on the plane I seem to dislike it more and more. I'm like, Ah.

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