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LPGA STATE FARM CLASSIC

September 1, 2007

Sherri Steinhauer

SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS

ASHLEY CUSHMAN: Sherri, thanks for coming in and joining us for the third day in a row. You shot a 71, you're at 12-under and you have a one-stroke lead heading into Sunday's final round. Can you talk about today?
SHERRI STEINHAUER: Yeah, I feel real fortunate with the finish. I got off to a very slow start today. Actually I feel like I hit the ball as well as the first two days, but through the first ten holes, nothing -- I didn't have any putts fall and just wasn't feeling quite as comfortable.
Just feel really fortunate that I made three birdies on the back nine to come back and shoot 1-under today.
ASHLEY CUSHMAN: Can we go over your scorecard starting with your bogey on hole two?
SHERRI STEINHAUER: No. 2, the par 3, I hit an 8-iron, just came up short about 40 feet and actually hit a very good putt and it rolled by about five feet and I missed that. So I 3-putted for bogey.
No. 10, I hit a driver, 5-iron just over the green, chipped it by about eight feet and I missed that and made bogey.
And then on 13, the par 5, I hit a real good drive, 3-wood, right in front. So I was probably about 50 feet from the hole and pitched it to about eight feet and made that for birdie.
No. 14, the par 3, I had 183 to the hole and hit a 9-wood about 12 feet and made that for birdie.
No. 16, hit a driver, 7-wood, decided to take a different route today with where the pin was and hit a very good shot right at the pin and just ran it up there in between. There's a little tongue where there's grass in between the bunker and it hit that and rolled up to about 30 feet and 2-putted for birdie.

Q. On 16, I think you said you decided to take a different route. When you were in the fairway, were you debating about clubs?
SHERRI STEINHAUER: Well, I think with the wind condition today, the wind condition was more hard left-to-right wind. It would have been really difficult to get it to the spot that I have been trying to play to the last couple of days.
So I just decided to take it right at the pin. There was a little grassy area there just over the bunker and in between the bunker, and I caught that. You know, there's a little luck involved with the kick there. So was fortunate with that.

Q. How much do you think your finish will help you tomorrow?
SHERRI STEINHAUER: I just wasn't comfortable over the putts in the beginning. I was having trouble with my setup and that's what I've been doing so well the first couple of days.
I had a talk with my caddie, Joe, on the 11th hole and I said, "Joe, I know it's right there. We're so close and they are going to start dropping." And they did. So that was a real confidence-builder at the end, but I've got some work to do this afternoon on the putting.

Q. You're in the lead, but is that your normal routine regardless of your round that you're going to go putt? Or just based on what happened today, do you feel like you need to work? Do you have a certain routine?
SHERRI STEINHAUER: Yeah, I generally go and work on my putting when I finish playing on tournament days. If I -- you know, if there's something I want to work on on the swing, I'll go out and hit some balls. But, you know, it windy out there and I would rather just spend time on the putting today.

Q. Is it still anyone's tournament; will you need a low round?
SHERRI STEINHAUER: Absolutely. Oh, yeah, you know, I'm going to have to shoot a low round tomorrow, depending on the wind conditions, and I'm assuming it's going to blow but it's not going to howl or anything. I would assume that the scores are going to be low, and so it's -- there's a lot of players up there. It's up for grabs tomorrow.

Q. Michele shot a 64 today. She's a veteran like yourself. I'm sure you've played with her over the years. She said today specifically she just started making putts. She said the rest of her game was right there. I don't know how often you've played with her, just any thoughts about the type of player she is and are you -- do you think she is maybe due for a round like this?
SHERRI STEINHAUER: Absolutely. Well, I don't think Michelle is real happy with how she's played so far this year. She's a great player and she definitely has the capability of shooting low rounds day-in and day-out, and I'm sure that this round is long overdue for her.

Q. Everybody has talked about the wind all three days, and today was more -- I guess more kind of out of the east or whatever; it's kind of turned a little bit. Just a lot of maybe more crosswind today.
SHERRI STEINHAUER: Yeah, there was. There's a lot more -- I think the last couple of days, Thursday and Friday, it seemed to be more downwind maybe quartering a little but today we had a lot more crosswinds that made it more difficult.

Q. Not to jinx you or anything, but have any of your career wins been wire-to-wire; can you recall?
SHERRI STEINHAUER: I believe my first one was in '92. I'm pretty sure it was wire-to-wire at the du Maurier.

Q. And your parents were there, weren't they?
SHERRI STEINHAUER: Yes.
ASHLEY CUSHMAN: And that was the last win they saw?
SHERRI STEINHAUER: Yes.

Q. Today I don't think they were out there today, just the crowd being so big?
SHERRI STEINHAUER: They went around on the front nine.

Q. Oh, did they? Okay.
SHERRI STEINHAUER: And then the tournament director was nice enough to give us passes inside, so they went inside to the champion's room and watched the back nine on the TV. Yeah, the crowd were a little much for them out there.

Q. Christina said in terms of Springfield crowds, so to speak, today was third round, but you had a very good final group there; pretty good crowd, wouldn't you say?
SHERRI STEINHAUER: Great crowds, yeah. It's a lot of fun. I just could sense -- I can feel the Midwestern, I don't know what the word is, but I can feel the Midwestern and the feel out there following. So it feels good, close to home.

Q. Do you like playing with a big crowd?
SHERRI STEINHAUER: I enjoy it. You know, we all travel every week, and we play with one another, and Annika is just such a professional, great person, great player, just a lot of fun to play with. And Christina Kim is a hoot, telling jokes; I can't repeat the jokes that I heard today. But we had more fun out there, and she's, you know, fiery and she's got two different personalities and wonderful people. I enjoyed the pairing.

Q. Would you prefer to have a larger lead?
SHERRI STEINHAUER: Absolutely. It would be nice to be sitting at 20-under if I would have had a little 9-under today, but you know, tomorrow is another day and it's -- you know, we all just shot 1-under today. None of us fired it up, burned it up out there. So we'll see what happens tomorrow.

Q. The pin placements, there were a number of tough ones, I know they say the formula is six easy, six whatever, average, and then six difficult; overall, did that still seem to be the formula today or were there --
SHERRI STEINHAUER: I just think because of the wind direction, when they had some of them tucked up in the corners and the wind was blowing off, it made it much more difficult than if you were to have another type of wind.
So maybe it felt like a lot more of them were tougher today because of the wind direction.

Q. You talked about your mom yesterday and that she has a vision problem; when she is out there on the course, can she see you playing?
SHERRI STEINHAUER: No.

Q. So your dad just kind of keeps her abreast?
SHERRI STEINHAUER: She has a macular degeneration (ph) disease and it's getting progressively much, much worse. So she basically, even when we sit at home at the kitchen table, she just sees an image. She doesn't see my face.
So, you know, obviously she can't see the ball or anything, but she just enjoys being out there and Dad let's her know what's going on.
ASHLEY CUSHMAN: Thank you, Sherri. Good luck tomorrow.

End of FastScripts

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