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CN CANADIAN WOMEN'S OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

August 16, 2007

Laura Diaz

EDMONTON, ALBERTA

THE MODERATOR: We had a little bit of a backup there, but you had a great round. You are 6-under, which is a season low for you. So it's got to be pretty exciting.
LAURA DIAZ: I don't know (laughing). I had a lot of opportunities. I had a lot of putts that were about 15 feet, and I managed to make the majority of them.
And then I had a couple six-footers that I was able to make, as well.
THE MODERATOR: Can we go over your scorecard and talk about some of those that you made? No. 10 is where you started.
LAURA DIAZ: I started on 10, I had about a 12-footer, hit sand wedge into the green and made it.
And then 16, I hit it to about nine feet with a 6-iron. I think I had like 158 yards to the pin, and that was into the wind.
I made a very long putt on 1 for birdie. I hit 9-iron in, but it hit the ridge and it was 11 paces, so that was 33 feet. That's nice.
6, I hit it nine feet on 6 with a pitching wedge from 113 yards.
And I hit it about 15 feet on 7 with an 8-iron from 158.
And I hit it six feet on 8 with a 4-iron, 177 yards.

Q. Can you talk a little bit about that picture you do carry around because if I'm not mistaken, if you were to go on and win, this would be your first win after becoming a mom, would it not?
LAURA DIAZ: It would be. That's way ahead of the game, though (laughter). You know, being a mom has been the best thing that's ever happened to me. My little guy Cooper, he's a great little guy. We've had some problems with his health throughout the last 19 months. I think that was kind of the reason for the slow start at the beginning of the year.
And also my husband is back caddying for me, and he's been caddying the last six weeks. So just stability on the golf course, and Cooper has been well, going on his sixth week now. He got pneumonia.
I think it's just another thing that I think about. He's become my priority instead of my golf game. It's not the same playing golf now as it used to be, but I'm learning to make it work.

Q. (No microphone.)
LAURA DIAZ: I don't know because I really love being a mom, so it's really hard to leave him, and I never imagined it would be that way. Not that I didn't think I would enjoy being a mother, but I never thought that I'd be the person who just wanted to be a stay-at-home mom. And this winter I really struggled with that when it came time to start the season because I had three months where I could be with him every day and live a normal life, and it was a lot of fun.
I don't know if it makes golf easier or harder, but it's just a challenge that I face.

Q. I wanted to ask you about how long did you play golf up until? And that's kind of a two-parter, both the emotions that women go through during pregnancy and dealing with those on the golf course, and what is it like being a mom on the LPGA because from what I understand they have a really great program.
LAURA DIAZ: They do.

Q. And a great fraternity of moms out there.
LAURA DIAZ: I'll start with the latter. Smuckers does an incredible job of sponsoring the child care program that we have. We have four fantastic people who come out and help us with our kids. It's not a day care program, it's more of a learning center program. They really do a lot to help the kids further their education. Even though they're toddlers you're still teaching them something every day, and that's a great system.
I think it's very comforting as a mother to know that you're putting your child in with four women who can take care of them almost like you do. I think that's comforting for us.
As far as how long did I play, I technically played until seven and a half months. I played Tournament of Champions in Mobile, Alabama. I got injured at about -- right after Solheim, so about five and a half months. And I took the West Coast Swing off.
I really wasn't in competitive form at seven and a half months (laughing), or any form for that matter, but I did play at that point.
And the emotional aspect, I think we're just emotional, period, as women. But I could feel that around like five months, it was starting where I was having highs and lows. Right around, I guess, a week, two weeks before Solheim Cup two years ago, I let my caddie go, and I just said, this just isn't fair to you because I don't know how I'm going to be from day-to-day. And I think the best person to be out here with me is my husband because he understands what I'm going through, and no matter what happens he still has to love me (laughter). He doesn't have a choice.
So I think that that was -- as women we're always up and down, but definitely it affected me more than I thought it would.

Q. Do you have like 156 other mothers out here? Does it work that way with all the other players?
LAURA DIAZ: Well, yes, to an extent. Everyone is always asking me about Cooper. They love to play with him. I think the moms definitely stick together in that when something happens to one of the kids, everyone is there asking, is he okay, is she okay. But all the players are interested in the kids.
I think that everybody thinks probably that someday they'll be a mom, and that motherly instinct comes out.

Q. I'll ask you a question about your round now. You mentioned the 33-footer that you made. Obviously you were going pretty good before that, but that had to pump you up, and then three in a row coming down the stretch. Do you leaderboard watch at all on the first day, or what does that do for you when you're cruising along and you make a 33-footer, and do you think the three in a row was a credit to that because you're pumped up and you have the confidence going?
LAURA DIAZ: I don't think so. I think as far as the leaderboard, I don't watch it. My philosophy on that is I can't control anything that any other player is doing out there. I think the only time that it really matters is if you're standing on the last hole the last day of the tournament and in order to win the event you've got to make an eagle or you've got -- I think that's when it's kind of an important situation.
It was just really fun for me to sink the 33-footer. I haven't made a lot of putts this year. It's been what I've struggled with. So it was nice to see that go in.
The three down the road in a row were nice to make, as well, and puts me into a good frame of mind going into tomorrow.
The girl I was playing with today, the first couple holes I wasn't getting the ball to the hole, so she kept talking to my ball saying, go, hit it, go. And on the last hole, I left it short again, and she was like, okay, you're not going to do that tomorrow, are you? It was kind of funny. So I'll go practice getting the ball to the hole, I guess.

Q. Was there any time you were close to making a bogey, that you had to get out of trouble?
LAURA DIAZ: Yeah, I got it up-and-down on 12. I hit it in the bunker off the tee and then I hit it into the bunker by the green and I had to get it up-and-down there.
The par 3 on the back side, my back side, which is the front, I guess 4 maybe, I'm not real sure but I think it was 4, I hit it just over that bunker. I made a good pitch, but I had to make about a seven-footer to save par there.
And then the next hole, I hit it right out in front of the green and the pin was 22 on, and I two-putted for par there.

Q. Could you identify the other girls that have kids on the Tour?
LAURA DIAZ: We have a list of them. There's 28 moms with 40 kids. Every week it's different who brings their kids and who doesn't. During the summer there's more kids out.

Q. The decision to actually go ahead and have a child knowing that it's going to be hard and it's going to disrupt your career, is it a thought process, and is it a deep process, or is it let go and --
LAURA DIAZ: No, it's definitely a deep process. In fact, I'd like to really have another one. It's an ongoing battle with my husband right now.
The way that I actually decided was we had been talking about it, and I started that year off well. I finished like third or fifth at Nabisco, and I came home, and I said, that's it, let's try this year. We got off to a good start, we're in a good place to -- if I should get pregnant, I've got a good -- I'm in a good place, so I wouldn't have any problems keeping my card or getting into other tournaments, that kind of thing. So that was the thinking on my end.
And I also went with, I'm going to play as long as I can. I didn't set a limit to, well, once I get to six months I'm done, or once I get to four months I'm done. But I never thought about the recovery from it, which now I think about that in having another one. It's just really a year and a half process because it is nine months of being pregnant, and probably at your fifth month you're not playing as well as you would want to be playing typically. That's probably about where I thought that I stopped playing well.
And then all a pregnancy does to your body, I didn't realize -- I knew it would stretch out my abs and everything, but I didn't realize how long it would take for me to get that strength back. So in trying to figure out if we're going to have another one, that's the process that we're going through right now, when would be a good time to do that.

Q. What was your intention at the British Open? Your last three starts have been great, so obviously your game is ripe right now.
LAURA DIAZ: I'm happy with how I'm playing right now, yes. I was just in Sweden last week. I played Annika's event and was pleased with how I was playing there. Like you said, I didn't play well at the British, and that was more -- it wasn't my golf game. I mean, I hit the ball great and I hit really good shots, it's just that's not necessarily what made for good golf there. I just didn't know how to -- I didn't learn the golf course well enough.
Even though I didn't play well there, I didn't leave there saying, well, I'm playing awful. I still left there saying, I'm hitting it good, I'm putting it good.

Q. Annika's tournament I think you were leading halfway, right?
LAURA DIAZ: I led after two days.

Q. And you finished where?
LAURA DIAZ: Second.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you all for coming in. Great round. Good luck tomorrow.

End of FastScripts

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