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MICHELOB ULTRA OPEN AT KINGSMILL

May 9, 2007

Morgan Pressel

WILLIAMSBURG, VIRGINIA

MIKE SCANLAN: Morgan, this year you became the youngest player to win a major on the LPGA. You have one win and three Top 10's in 2007 and you're the leading Rolex Player of the Year. Aside from that you, also have some business ventures going on, and before we get started would you like to say a little something about your new partnership.
MORGAN PRESSEL: Yeah, I believe today it been announced that I have a new partnership with Anheuser-Busch, more specifically, the Busch Entertainment Corporation, and I'm very excited about that. It's a great opportunity for me, and last year in the Pro-Am, I got to play with Keith Kasen, who is the president of Busch Entertainment, and I played with him again today. But you know, we have a great relationship and I'm very excited to be an ambassador for the theme parks, and I think that they are excited, as well.
MIKE SCANLAN: Right now, your golf game, you're here at Kingsmill, you've had a great year so far, where do you feel you're at this week?
MORGAN PRESSEL: You know, I've been playing okay. I've been working a little bit actually with my driver. Since I lost my clubs, I've been struggling a little bit to find a driver that I like. I put a new shaft in my FT-5 this week, and I think it's working out well, so we'll see how that goes.

Q. Where did you lose your clubs?
MORGAN PRESSEL: They were stolen I believe from the airport in Fort Lauderdale after I got back from the Kraft actually on my way home. So it was a disappointment but got to get over it.

Q. I was going to ask you how your life has changed since winning, and you talked about this new endorsement, I would imagine that's part of it, but that and along with other things?
MORGAN PRESSEL: Absolutely. This new partnership with Busch Entertainment is certainly part of that, as well. I've just been very busy. I've had a lot of media requests and a lot of friends and family calling up and giving their congratulations. It's really exciting. I'd rather be super busy than not do anything, so I'd rather have the attention, definitely.

Q. A lot of young winners on the Tour this year. What's going on?
MORGAN PRESSEL: There have been, and I think it's been very exciting. You can say that but then you look and Juli Inkster was in the playoff last week, so that's pretty cool as well. There's plenty of story lines for the LPGA Tour this year and I think it's making for good TV and good coverage.

Q. So you guys aren't taking over yet?
MORGAN PRESSEL: There's still plenty of good players out there, good young Americans; Mi Hyun Kim winning last week and Juli Inkster playing well.

Q. How long did it take you for you to realize you had won a major, professional major, in terms of really absorbing it and what has it done in terms of pressure, confidence, the whole approach?
MORGAN PRESSEL: I don't know, I guess when you jump in the water it kind of wakes you up when you realize exactly what's happened. But it's been awesome. It's been really cool.
Obviously it's been great for my confidence to know that -- this is my dream to win out here and to know that I really can do it and hopefully I can continue to do it and do it more often. So that's what I'm out here to do this week.

Q. Does it put more pressure on you or does the pressure stay the same because of you putting the pressure on yourself?
MORGAN PRESSEL: I've always put tons of pressure on myself. I'm not going to say that there's not more pressure because I do know that now I can do it. So I'll be even -- I get even more disappointed when I don't.
But still I'm out here grinding, and I've always put plenty of pressure on myself. There's been no lack of that.

Q. Is there more pressure on you as a major winner than there was as a 13-year-old playing in the Open?
MORGAN PRESSEL: I would think. So when I was 13 playing in the Open, I had no expectations for myself and nobody else had any expectations for me either. So there's certainly more pressure out here. There's a lot more on the line. And I was out having fun; not that I'm not having fun now, but it's definitely more of a grind.

Q. What are the biggest challenges to being kind of one of the faces of this new generation of golf and still being 18 and young and trying to stay young?
MORGAN PRESSEL: It's pretty cool to know that I have an opportunity to help the Tour and to really make a difference and to be a great role model. And to only be 18 and be out here, and having the opportunity to do this is a dream come true.

Q. How about being an American player -- being an American player and trying to progress to No. 1 and that kind of thing?
MORGAN PRESSEL: Yeah, I want to be the No. 1 player in the world, no question.
And there's a lot of great, like you said, young American players out here that are all playing well and as well as others. So it's going to be an exciting season and there's going to be exciting seasons to come I guess.

Q. Did you learn something about yourself, your game, your approach, to go from winning a major and your next time out to miss the cut?
MORGAN PRESSEL: It just happens. There's not too much to say other than it's golf. It was probably a blessing in disguise. I was a little overwhelmed and I just had a lot going on.

Q. Was that kind of a surprise to you, just sort of the whirlwind that would follow winning a tournament like that?
MORGAN PRESSEL: I figured it would be pretty crazy. I figured I had, you know, a week off afterwards and I didn't really have much time to work on my game, and there was just a lot going on.
But, you know, it happens, and I'd like to have that opportunity again.

Q. What was more mind-boggling for you, qualifying for the Open at 12 or winning a major?
MORGAN PRESSEL: Oh, winning a major for sure. I was freaking out out there on Sunday after I finished playing. And I went to Bear Lakes when I was 12 and was hoping to break 80. My life has definitely changed.

Q. Was it easier doing it the way it happened, where you posted the score, and then you watched all of those other players come in, or is it easier being on the course and in the middle of it?
MORGAN PRESSEL: Well, it just kind of -- that was just kind of the way it happened. Having the wait, I was a wreck like I said. I was a mess there and everybody told me how calm I looked on television. I was like, well, I was pacing back and forth and my heart was beating a little quick.
Hopefully some day I'll have the opportunity to walk down the 18th fairway with a lead, and either way, however it happens, I'll take it.

Q. You're an example of a player who won at every level and as you grew up you learned how to win; you won at every level. Did you draw on some of those experiences; obviously you knew how to finish a tournament, not of that magnitude but the final day?
MORGAN PRESSEL: Absolutely. Life is all about experiences and I certainly had some great ones to draw on in the past. I played in many AJGA events, the Women's Amateur and a lot of USGA events as well and won my share, and you learn from all of that. So, of course that helped me, absolutely.

Q. Do you sense yourself developing rivalries with some of the younger players on Tour who are kind of coming up with you?
MORGAN PRESSEL: I'm sorry?

Q. Do you sense yourself developing some rivalries with some of the younger players on Tour who are coming up at about the same time as you are?
MORGAN PRESSEL: I think the game is all about competition and it's about the other players, and whoever it is, the media I would say creates the rivalries more than we do, than we see it. But that's not necessarily a bad thing for the Tour and not a bad thing for some good publicity and attention.

Q. How long ago does that Open at Pine Needles seem to you, and what do you remember most about the eye-opening experience that was?
MORGAN PRESSEL: Oh, it seems like it's been ages ago, and it's going to be really cool to go back there this year and see what's changed, especially the golf course.
I remember just about everything. I remember sitting in the clubhouse after -- it was pouring down rain almost all week and I remember standing on the first tee and I don't think I've ever been so nervous in my life. And I felt pretty relieved when I hit it down the middle.
But that was such a great experience for me, something, like you said, an eye-opening experience where I realized that I want to compete against these best players in the world day-in and day-out. That was really when I realized what I wanted to do.

Q. Was there ever a point between that moment of qualifying at such a young age and going through all of the Amateur events and then turning pro that you ever felt burned out or a little -- even questioned yourself as to, you know, how fast you were going, you want to slow down?
MORGAN PRESSEL: I don't want to slow down. There's no reason to slow down. You know that, doesn't mean that you don't take a little bit of time off and you reflect on what's going on, but I've always worked very hard and pushed myself to get better as fast as I can, and it just -- it's all happen pretty quickly like you said, but I like it to happen faster.

Q. Along those lines, prodigies sort of run in your family, have you gotten some good advice along the way from Aaron?
MORGAN PRESSEL: Absolutely, Aaron (Krickstein), we can go back to when I was 12 and qualified for the Open. Aaron caddied for me that day in the qualifier, and he's a pretty good golfer himself. Obviously he's a great competitor, great tennis player, and as well as my grandfather who helped him along the way and he's helped me every step of the way.
So from what whole experience of Aaron and his career, I've certainly got a lot of help from that.

Q. He knows about winning early, too. Was there any new advice after you won a few weeks ago?
MORGAN PRESSEL: We didn't really talk so much about that, other than it's pretty cool that I'm the youngest to win a major out here. And he still holds the record for the youngest to win an ATP Tour event.

Q. What's the best way of describing the highs and lows of standing in the fairway and seeing Birdie Kim hole the bunker shot and then winning a major? Are those opposites about as far away as you possibly can get?
MORGAN PRESSEL: Yeah, they are, probably even more opposite than you would think, finishing in last place and winning. It was just -- it's a huge -- it was a huge disappointment for me, not so much that obviously I played well so, that wasn't the disappointment. Just the way things happened and I was very upset about that, but then you look at it and you say, that's golf and it happens. I got my opportunity.

Q. You've always talked about your emotions being a good thing that pushed you and helped you. Do you have to find yourself as you're getting older balancing those emotions and trying to keep them in check, or do you think you always will be that type of person who will use those emotions in a positive way?
MORGAN PRESSEL: I think that I'll always be somebody who is emotional on the golf course. But in that sense, I do have to control it, not let it affect me. If I hit a bad shot, I can't let my emotions from that shot carry over to the next shot, the next hole, the next few holes.
It is something that I've certainly done in the past and tried to work on and am still trying to work on.
MIKE SCANLAN: Morgan, thanks a lot and good luck.

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