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EVIAN MASTERS

July 25, 2007

Annika Sorenstam

EVIAN-LES-BAINS, FRANCE

PAM WARNER: Annika, thank you for joining us today. You've had a lot of success here at the Masters, including two wins. Talk about being back here this week.
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I'm happy to be back. This is a beautiful place to be, and, like you said, I've had some great wins, and it's great to be back. This is an amazing place, and it seems to get better every year as well, so I'm happy to be here.

Q. Do you feel you're back to full fitness now?
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: No, I'm not back to 100%, but I'm a lot better than I was just a few weeks ago, and I would say I'm a lot better than I was two months ago, so I'm making, I think, great progress. It's going to take some time.
It was quite a severe injury, unfortunately, but I have no pain, and right now I'm able to practice at full schedule, and I'm able to work out full schedules, too, not as hard and heavy, maybe, but I can go to the gym regularly and I'm trying to get my strength back.
I would say I'm 85% physically, and my game is probably close to that. It's going to take a little while and, you know, certain things are going to help. I've not been playing too much the last few months, and I'm still rusty; I have to get some runs under my belt and get in the a competitive mode again.

Q. Is that an injury that to you is a concern for the future or is it you just now need to recover from that?
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I hope it's just a one-time thing. The doctor has given me the thumb's up to practice as much as I want. Obviously I've still got to be careful about a few things, for example, going on a jet ski or riding a horse or walking and falling in a hole, which can happen, but golf stuff should not be a problem, and we're being looking for 100% recovery.

Q. I can only assume once you recover you would like to have that No. 1 spot back in your sights again?
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I would love to do that, but right now it's just getting back to 100%. Long term, yes, it is, but I have to take baby steps and focus on each tournament and start swinging well again.
It's been a disappointing year. It's been a different year where I have not been able to play as much, and sitting out in the middle of the year where we have some great tournaments is the last thing you want to do. I think this year has tested my patience on the golf course.

Q. What's going to be the key out there this week, given that it's wet and may continue to rain? What's going to be the key to good scoring out there?
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Well, I think the course is playing longer than any other year, just because of the rain. It seems like every year we come here they lengthen some of the tees, so you've got to hit it far. I think in the past the winners have been long hitters, and you've got to hit it straight, and there are holes here that are quite narrow, and the further back you go the more narrow it looks.
You've got to play well here. It's a course where the different elevation changes means you have to have control of your -- it's one thing to hit it 136, and it's one thing to hit it 136 when it changes yard, you've got to hit the spots.
It's a good golf course, and I'm going to continue to grind. I'm hitting some really good shots, and last week I felt very good about my gain, so I'm going it take the positive from that and keep on going, and hopefully that will be good this week.

Q. How do you feel about your putting?
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: About my putting? I feel good.

Q. How many events will you play in Europe this year? Of course this one, but it's an LPGA event, and you play next week, and then Sweden and then Solheim Cup. Will you be playing anywhere else?
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I'm defending in Dubai, so I'll be going there, and that's five events, but that's it for this year. Almost as many as the LPGA events.

Q. Apart from the course being wet, so it's playing longer, have there been any changes made to the golf course? Any tees -- any holes lengthened or anything?
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Oh, yes, the 16th hole has been lengthened quite a bit, about 30 yards. I would say the second hole has been lengthened 20 maybe, and those are the two I can think of. There are always changes here and there. It seems like the seventh hole they might have -- now we're all the way back. It's just a little here and a little there. Especially when it's wet here, it seems like a lot more.

Q. I was on the seventh when you hit your interesting shot. Is it a long time since you've hit a shot that went so far left when you looked as though you were going over to visit Natalie?
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Yeah, that was a long time ago, five hours ago, too. I like to put those behind me and move on. I hit a branch, and it ricocheted 50 yards left; I wouldn't say the shot ended up there. It was just one of those shots.

Q. On a better note, when did you hit for your second at the 18th?
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I had hit a 4-wood, yeah.

Q. How far?
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: About 197 I think to the pin, and I hit it about 8 feet or so. It was a good shot. That shot I remember. (Chuckles.)

Q. What are the compensations, if there are any, of having had to take this time off?
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: You mean compensations in my golf game?

Q. No, just in general, have you done things or thought about things that maybe you would normally have had time to think about?
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Yeah, I mean, things happen for a reason. You would think that what would a professional player do for two months. Funny enough my time has gone by really quickly. I've spent some time working on golf course design. I had the grand opening of my academy. I've been very, very busy, actually. I just launched my website last week which we've been working on for seven months. You name it, it's been -- it's been fun. I really have put my mind toward those things, knowing that I wouldn't play and practice for a while, and I'm just getting a chance to really continue my vision of building the Annika brand, and two months, it's helped me to come closer to where I want to be.

Q. Could you talk about -- I know you have Mission Hills, but do you have other plans for designs?
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I do. As a matter of fact, I'm in construction with a golf course in South Africa and working on a course in Canada, as well, on the west coast. I'm redesigning a golf course in Charleston, so right now we have three in the works.

Q. What do you think about designing?
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: There's a lot of things I like about design. One of the things that comes to mind is the creativity. It's great for me to start thinking about golf in a different way and starting to see shots and holes rather than just being on the tee where it's created.
I get to use my imagination, and I've been fortunate to play so many courses around the world, and I have a lot of favorites, and I try to learn a little bit from all those places and put those thoughts together at one golf course. It's a lot of fun. I'm learning a lot about grass types, I'm learning a lot about drainage, and I have a long ways to go but it's fun to see another part of golf.

Q. It's been a male-dominated world for so long; in many ways you're setting a bit of a trend being a first woman to design courses.
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I feel honored to be able to do that, to get that opportunity. Like you said, there are not so many women that have had the chance. It's funny, because every time people ask me, they ask, "Are you designing courses for women?" And maybe that's an obvious question, but for me it's not obvious, because I want to design courses for golfers; courses for different levels of golfers, whether you're a man or a woman or 50 years old or a 10 year old.
So that's my philosophy a little bit, and, like I said, I'm fortunate to have been asked. We have a few contracts in the works, so it's something that is taking a lot of my time and I'm enjoying it.

Q. You have achieved so much as a player, and obviously now you're enjoying other aspects of golf. I can see your face light up when you start talking about golf course design, and there are so many aspects of what you do. Have you given yourself a time limit on playing or are you just going to play that by ear and see where it goes?
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I think right now I'm just kind of playing and taking it as it goes. Right now, again, my mission is to get healthy. I want to be 100% and really kind of get back to the level that I know how to play at. It's been a weird year and a half where I just haven't felt like I've played my game.
It's frustrating at times, because I know what I'm capable of, so once I get back there, which I'm determined to do, you know, I want to give that a run and then we'll go from there.

Q. What is your website address?
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: annikasorenstam.com.

Q. And can you talk about the golf course designers you admire most, courses you've played?
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I love all traditional golf courses. Donald Ross is somebody that I think has done a good job, and maybe it helps when you win tournaments there, maybe that's why I like him, but smaller courses, strategy, smaller greens, you have to work the ball a little bit. I think that summarizes the type of courses I like.
I like the links courses, where you use nature rather than a lot of "fake" things, if you know what I mean.

Q. Natural courses are what you like?
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Yeah, the contour of the ground, and they use the trees and so forth. It's tough to summarize just in a few words, but I would say, again, links courses, and if you go up northeast in America those are beautiful courses. Pine Valley is one of my favorites, and Marion is another one.
There are a lot of golf courses that I haven't played that I'm sure I would love to, and I hope to see a lot more the next few years. That's how I'm going to learn is by seeing courses out there.

Q. You said you are pleased to be here and you enjoy playing this tournament. The Evian Masters has a new format this year with 90 players on the cut. What do you feel about that? Do you feel it adds to the dimension of the Evian Masters as the first major tournament?
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I think so. It seems like every year there are changes to the tournament, and I think they're toward the better. Today we had the Pro-Am, and normally we have it at the end of the week, and this helps a lot of players, especially because -- I'm one of them that's had trouble in the past getting here and getting all your luggage, and when you have such a big event, you want to make sure that you're 100% prepared. So I definitely think there have been good changes.
And by increasing the field, it's still exclusive because it's not a full field, but still it's got more players here and probably the standard of golf is higher. So when you have an event like that you should have the top players here.

Q. Are you in favor to introducing drug testing into golf competition?
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Well I am on the committee on the LPGA for drug testing, so I'm aware of what's going on and, you know, right now we're at a time of sports where it's probably needed, unfortunately. But it's a tough process, you know, to make sure it's right.
I know the LPGA is very much for it, and we're one of the first organizations in golf that's doing something about it, so I support it.
PAM WARNER: Thank you very much.

End of FastScripts

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