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MCDONALD'S LPGA CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY COCA-COLA


June 8, 2007


Suzann Pettersen


HAVRE DE GRACE, MARYLAND

DANA GROSS-RHODE: Thank you all for coming in. Suzann, you are in the lead right now. You had a fantastic round out there. You kind of got in before the heat started. Can you talk about your round?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: I think I was lucky being on this side of the draw. Already on the front I was heating up pretty bad, pretty good, and on the back nine there are some places around this golf course just seem to be sheltered from the breeze. So it's boiling.
But you just drink enough and stay in the shade and you'll be fine.
DANA GROSS-RHODE: Can we go over your scorecard real fast?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: Birdie on 1 was a wedge from 80 yards to tap-in.
I bogeyed on 2. I was in the bunker in three. I missed a 15-footer for par.
8, I hit my four rescue from about 215 to 25 feet and 2-putted.
10, I hit a little wedge from about 77. I hit it quite a bit past. I made a 16, 17 footer coming back.
The next one, the par 5, I hit a wedge from about 116 yards for a tap-in.
3-putted 13. Missed a short putt.
DANA GROSS-RHODE: How far out were you?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: I was about 11 yards.
Then I had wedge from 120 on the 15th to about tap-in.
16 I hit a little wedge to about 15 feet and made that putt.
17 I hit a little 6-iron to about two feet.

Q. The fact that you won in Williamsburg, did that help you get over what happened at the Kraft or are you still thinking about that?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: Well, I forgot about that a long time ago. Kraft was well evaluated and I had a lot of good putts and I picked up some stuff that I kind of wasn't aware of like a few things in my routine that changed on the last couple of holes. For me it was more like what can I do different. I didn't look at it as a collapse. I looked at it as what I can do different so what I can do stronger when I get to the next tournament and I'm in the same situation. For me that's kind of how I took it.
To win, yes, I felt really calm and I felt good about myself and I felt like I was ready to win when I won.
Now I'm just shoulders down, I'm pretty relaxed and just try to hit good golf shots.

Q. Is this the best golf you've ever played at the moment?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: No, I don't think so, but it's solid. You should never say you're in control because then the game will get you the next day.
I hit some good shots. I hit some half-decent shots. There's room for improvement. It feels like what I'm working on is pretty good.

Q. This is a big golf course, how much of an advantage do you feel that your length is out here this week? You seem to be hitting a lot wedges into greens.
SUZANN PETTERSEN: Yeah, I also think that if this heat is going to stay for the weekend, this course is going to be playing a bit harder than it's usually played. We usually play it soaking wet, so I don't think it's going to be playing that easy for anybody. If you hit the fairways, you should be in a good position to attack the pins.

Q. Do you feel the situation with the players has changed on the Tour; are you recognized by the audience?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: Maybe they know my name and they know what I can do, so that's probably the only thing. But I don't know, the crowds and the fans are great. I just think it's great to have so many young winners this year. I mean, it's been a great stretch for the LPGA.

Q. You talked about doing things differently; what have you done differently; what did you do differently in Williamsburg that you weren't doing in California?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: I mean, it's all about your attitude and how you use your energy and how your state of mind is; is it ready to perform, or is one bad shot going to drag you down when you hit hundreds of good shots. It's all the attitude.
This week, starting in the practice round trying to find the calmness where I know I feel I can perform my best. And whatever happens, just let it bounce off you, don't let it get to you. That's been my attitude this week.
I've hit some bad shots, I've hit some bad putts, but I'm trying not to take it in, because the more you take in bad stuff, the more it's going to influence you and you get frustrated instead of just letting it bounce off you. Take the shot as a challenge. That's been my attitude and it's been working pretty good.

Q. Going back to what you just said about reviewing your play at Kraft, did you actually go back and study the tape; and if you did, what were you looking for specifically, and what did you see?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: Well, I didn't do it, but I have people that I work with who couldn't watch it when I was playing. So they taped it and recorded.
They looked at it and it's so detailed what it is. It could be like if you're standing over a shot and you're two seconds longer than usually are. They are like, was there any doubt before you hit the shot and I'm like, "Yeah, I wasn't sure if that was the right club."
So you try to find what you can do different coming into the golf, and it's very detailed, should you react to bad shots, do you react and you let it go or you react and you bring it with you. I can easily feel how I felt the last couple of holes coming down the stretch; it was very tense.
As long as you have stuff to work on, that way you keep your focus.

Q. Do they give you like a written report, shot by shot? Do they write it down?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: They send me the shots that didn't come out as I want it, they are like, okay, this was like, okay, maybe the drive or on, I don't know, 16 or whatever, maybe you were standing over the ball too long, you were standing two seconds longer than you usually do; why. And I get the questions and I have to answer it South Africa to face it and by doing that I got over it really quick.

Q. When you say they?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: It's Pia Nilsson and Lynn Marriott, my mental coaches. So you don't try to find the weakness. You try to find your strong skills and how to use them as often as you possibly can and take whatever happens as a challenge.

Q. How much is Vision 54 still a part of your whole process?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: Oh, it's huge. They and Gary, I mean, I have Gary here, and Pia and Lynn is in Sweden. I'll be on the phone with them later today. I talked to them Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and yesterday was too late to call after I was done. But I felt in control.
So it's like daily contact, at least four, five times a week. I mean, it's just you analyze, you've gone through what you've done that day and the next day you start off with blank cards, blank papers.

Q. What's Gary's last name?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: Gary Gilchrist.

Q. You and Lorena are about the same age. I'm just wondering if you pay attention at all to her game and if you've noticed any differences to what would take you to the next level; anything about her in particular?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: Sure, you always look at the best player in the world and see what you pick up. I mean, Lorena is so consistent. I mean, her skill that I can see is she doesn't let anything get to her. I mean, she can hit a good shot and then she approaches the next one with kind of nothing bad happened on the bad shots. She's really good at just playing the game and it won't let her down too often. I would say that's one of the best skills except for being a great player.
If you look at her, she hits a bad shot, I mean, you would hardly see it on the next shot. That's what I'm trying to do. I mean, whatever happens, if it's a good thing or it's a bad thing, just take it in, whatever's good and if it's not good, just let it bounce off; don't take it in with a feel because that's going to build and all of a sudden you're in a bad circle.

Q. How important was it for you to win so soon after Kraft?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: I mean, I felt like I played great all year and I've been in contention enough that when I finally was there, I was calm enough and I felt like I could pull it off.
So for me, it wasn't a big surprise. I had been close and I had been kind of facing the situation a couple of times. It just felt like I was ready. So it was good.
DANA GROSS-RHODE: Thank you all very much for coming in. Suzann, great round and good luck tomorrow.

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