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LPGA STATE FARM CLASSIC

August 31, 2007

Rachel Hetherington

SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS

ASHLEY CUSHMAN: Rachel, thanks for coming in and joining us today. You shot your second straight 69 out there, you're 138, 6-under and tied for the lead in the clubhouse. Can you talk about your round today?
RACHEL HETHERINGTON: Yeah, sure. I hit the ball okay today. I probably hit the ball a little bit better in yesterday's round. But I putted really well and got up-and-down on the par 5s really well. I've been working on that part of my game over the last year or so. So that's probably a positive thing for me to see that coming out.
I missed a few fairways, missed a few greens kind of all day, but I putted really solid, so very happy.
ASHLEY CUSHMAN: Can we go over your birdies and bogey, starting with the bogey on hole three?
RACHEL HETHERINGTON: Sure. I missed the green with a 7-iron and 2-putted from six feet.
No. 4 I bogeyed. I missed the green left with a 6-iron and 2-putted from six feet again.
No. 6 I birdied. It was a par 5 and I chipped to five feet and made the putt.
No. 7, I hit a 7-iron just past the pin about 30 feet and made that putt for birdie.
On No. 8, I hit a 9-iron to six feet. I thought it was a pretty good shot, and then Janice holed hers and then I made the putt for six feet for birdie.
9, I missed the green from the right and had two putts from 15 feet for bogey.
No. 11, I hit a 9-iron to ten feet for birdie, one putt for birdie.
No. 13, I hit a sand wedge 65 yards to 15 feet and one putted for birdie.
16, I chipped from just off the fringe of the green to about three feet and made the putt for birdie there, as well.

Q. I know some of the earliest groups said that the wind was down a little bit, at least this morning. As your round went on, was the wind not as much of a factor today maybe compared to yesterday?
RACHEL HETHERINGTON: Yeah, it was certainly lighter today than it was yesterday for the front nine but the second nine it picked up again. So it's kind of long irons into 9 and 18, back into the wind. So by the time we had made the turn, it had come back up again.

Q. I know you said on No. 8, you described your shot and Janice holed one there. I'm sure you've had experience a lot of times, but when both players are going well in a group, do you kind of -- you're doing your own game, but do you kind of feed off each other a little bit?
RACHEL HETHERINGTON: I think so. When groups are playing well -- when someone is playing well, it kind of helps your momentum, too. I enjoy playing with Janice. She's a good player and it's good to see her play well.
Certainly today when I wasn't hitting the ball all that great, but, you know, I kept working hard on the holes I could take advantage of and did that. So, it was neat.

Q. Were you surprised that the scores are not a little lower than they are right now?
RACHEL HETHERINGTON: Well, I mean, the beginning of the week, I thought that the course would really be, you know, kind of lit up, a lot of birdies. But the wind that came in yesterday and today has really changed that around. We are hitting pretty long irons and woods, even into 9 and 18.
The greens are fairly small, so, you know, when you've got those long irons, and even off the tees the wind has been across a couple of times. And with this particular wind, you know, the par 5s are not as reachable as they are without it. The par 5s play into the wind except for one of them I think, as well.
So you know, with this wind, you've got to play well to score well. It's just kind of nice. And the other tough thing is when you miss the green, it's so firm around the green that the ball really does kick away.
So you know, for the majority of the year when you miss the green by a few feet, you're just looking at a little chip-and-run. And here, you could be 10, 15, 20 yards away from the green with just the way it bounces. That also, you have to factor in a little before difficulty that way, too.

Q. You talk about small greens here, and of course at The Rail, it's a wide-open course and the greens were pretty big out there. When you look back at playing at The Rail, was that another aspect of that course where maybe you were not penalized quite so much compared to here? I mean, the greens are smaller here.
RACHEL HETHERINGTON: Yeah, you've got to work hard around here for sure. Not only are they smaller, but they are shaped a little differently.
You know, for me, that helps me a little bit. When I look at a big, open paddock, I tend to not concentrate as well as I should. So when I've got to think about where I'm landing the ball, where the ball may bounce to and factor in the actual shape of the green, it helps a little bit, and it does create a bit more difficulty for sure.

Q. Annika is making a charge early; what does that mean for the field?
RACHEL HETHERINGTON: I would expect her to make a charge. So, that's good. (Laughing) You know, there's still two days left, so I'm sure she's happy to be playing, back playing again and playing well. You know, we expect her to do well. So it helps us all and it makes us all play better.

Q. There's several big names who are not here this week, like Lorena and a few others. But as a Tour player, the depth of the Tour -- I don't know if you ever really -- in a given week, do you look at the field and say, such and such, somebody is not here, oh, it's going to be -- I mean, do you look at it like that at all, like who is going to be here this week?
RACHEL HETHERINGTON: No, I don't. You know, because every week is a little bit different and players take off events for different reasons.
You know, this time of year, it's a little tough because we have the Solheim Cup coming up in a couple of weeks. We've just had Evian and the British and Canada and Safeway in Portland, so there's been a lot of travel, as well. You can understand the Solheim Cup girls need a little bit of a break because they have some big weeks coming up.
You know, the depth on Tour is just improving every year, and, you know, really, there's so many girls on Tour that can win. When I first came out on Tour, it was probably the Top 20 or 30, and now anybody in the Top 50, 60, 70 can win. And there are young girls coming out that are great ball-strikers, they are great girls, they have great personalities and they play very well.
I mean, Angela Park has been -- has done that, as well. She's first year out I think, young, and is playing great. She's been in contention a bunch of times.

Q. Is it hard to define what young is anymore?
RACHEL HETHERINGTON: I thought I was young, too, but, you know, Angela is half my age. (Laughing).

Q. As it applied to the Tour where you have so many girls coming out that skip college or whatever.
RACHEL HETHERINGTON: Yeah, I think it just adds to the depth and the diversity of our tour, which is really a strength that we have.
There's really not too many other sports that have women that can play great golf and world-class golf in such a broad range of ages, and also have such a broad range of lifestyles. There's no written rule as to when you should start and when you should turn pro and have children and all the rest of it. We have such a great mixture and diversity on Tour, having the young girls out creates a lot of excitement and a lot of competition.

Q. (How does it feel being in contention)?
RACHEL HETHERINGTON: Obviously, you know, I've been working very hard at my game and the last two years I've changed coaches and I'm very excited to see some improvement coming through on my game. My swing, I've got to continue to trust it a lot. I've lost a lot of confidence obviously, since, 2003, 2004 and not winning. So it's just a matter of trusting it and it would, you know, give me a lot of confidence and a great deal of satisfaction for the work I've been putting in.
ASHLEY CUSHMAN: Thank you.

End of FastScripts

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