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THE SOLHEIM CUP

September 13, 2007

HALMSTAD, SWEDEN

DANA GROSS-RHODE: Okay. Can we have everyone please take a seat. We're going to get started. Thank you all for coming in. Obviously we're very excited. We have Betsy King, the captain of the U.S. team, who is in here. She is going to talk about her pairings, kind of I guess your thinking behind putting the pairings together that you have.
And please remember that these pairings are not to be released until 6:00 tonight.
BETSY KING: Thank you. My thoughts in putting together our team in the pairings tomorrow in the order they're in, I wanted to start off with what I feel is a strong team with Pat Hurst and Cristie Kerr. They have actually requested to play together, so I'm honoring that request.
Sherri and Laura, the same way. We've gone out and had them practice together. They feel they make a good team. Of course, Juli and Paula I think have played together before, and both want to go out and compete again. And we finish, you know, with Natalie and Morgan. And Natalie is the one player that says she loves to play foursomes, so we're making sure she goes out. And of course Morgan will be full of little bit of energy when she goes out there tomorrow. And so I think that was my thinking when I put together these teams and particularly in the order that they're in as well.
DANA GROSS-RHODE: We'll take questions for Betsy. Any questions for Betsy? This is your chance? Thank you.
BETSY KING: I couldn't believe that.

Q. Betsy, on Christy, she's got a fabulous four-ball record, not a very good foursomes record. Did you bear that in mind?
BETSY KING: I was aware of that. But I think Christy has played very well this year. And I guess she said that she would like to play with Pat, and I think they get along well, so I think they'll do fine.

Q. I know everybody has to play before the singles, but do you play all your players tomorrow?
BETSY KING: Well, no. This is just the morning pairing that you're looking at. I'm not going to reveal what the afternoon looks like at this time.

Q. Betsy, can I just ask what you think of some of the match-ups with the Europeans?
BETSY KING: I think it's interesting. I know we kind of -- in the past Juli has gone off first a lot and we decided to switch her to the third shot. I know Laura sometimes has gone off first in matches, and yet they still are playing against one another.
So -- and, you know, that's what's fun about this format is that, you know, you just put your team in, and you have no idea what's going the happen from the other side. But I think there's a lot of interesting matches out there tomorrow.
Obviously I hope we do well, and we'll have to wait and see what happens.

Q. Betsy, if you were a spectator other than in your role you're in, which match would you go out and watch?
BETSY KING: I probably would try to watch all of them. I would be out here early and try to watch everybody warm up on the range. Particularly as a Junior Golfer, I know growing up when I went to a couple -- I had the opportunity to go to a couple LPGA events. I don't think I would pick one match over the other. I would probably go out and try to watch all of them, maybe. Maybe as a kid growing up I had a favorite player that I would watch, you know. I'm sure that's probably the case for a lot of the fans that will be coming tomorrow, but I probably would try to watch a little bit of all the matches.

Q. Betsy, American Walker Cup captain last week admitted before the match, he was concerned about the possibility of bad weather. He got lucky on that front, but are you concerned because there is a bad forecast?
BETSY KING: I don't even watch the Walker Cup, Ryder Cup. The way I look at it, it's the same for everybody. I know, you know, maybe in Europe you feel like you get more bad weather than we do in the States, but I've played in plenty of bad weather, and I've actually had a couple players tell me this week that they want to go out and play in the bad weather. You know, if there's someone else that would prefer not to do that, they would really like to go out and do that. It will be the same for everyone.
Obviously, you know, everybody would like to have four days of sun, but, you know, we take what we can get, and we'll go out and handle it.
DANA GROSS-RHODE: Any other questions for Betsy? Thank you all very much for coming in.
Betsy, thank you, too.

BETHAN CUTLER: We'd like to welcome Helen Alfredsson, the European team captain. Obviously has seen the pairings now. We would like to know what your strategy was in putting your pairings together.
HELEN ALFREDSSON: Strong, stronger, and strongest. I think we went out strong, obviously with Suzann and Sophie is playing unbelievably well, and obviously to put Annika in the second is not bad because it's just very hard for me right now because they are playing so well. The whole team is just amazing, but I think we did match them up very well.
It's nice to see Becky Brewerton obviously a rookie, out the first match, very eager, very excited to be here and playing very, very well. I think she's starting to realize her potential. She's played with the best players up this point and done an absolutely wonderful job.
Mimi, the same. Mimi is playing very well. It sounds like I'm repeating myself, but that's just how it is. Annika is, you know, really coming back to being herself, which is not a bad thing, is it?
Catriona, the same. I don't know. Good, good, good, as I said yesterday. Catriona up there.
I think it looks very good with the pairings for us, actually. Suzann and Sophie with Pat and Christy, probably some of the longest hitters on the Women's Tour at this moment. Annika and Catriona hasn't missed a fairway. Laura and Becky, two strong hitters, and obviously Gladys and Mimi. They have played really well. I'm quite happy the way it turned out, I have to say.
BETHAN CUTLER: We open for some questions, please. This is your chance. Okay. Back there.

Q. Were there any -- I mean, Betsy said that Pat Hurst and Cristie Kerr had asked to play with each other. Any pairings on your team where the players said "We want to play together" and you just went with it?
HELEN ALFREDSSON: You know, to be honest, I didn't really have -- I knew they liked each other and they played together. Of course I asked a few players, you know. It wasn't really like anybody didn't want to play with anybody particular. Of course, there were groups that seemed comfortable with each other. Suzann and Sophie are playing the games. Obviously in foursomes, you're getting off the first group the first day, it's kind of nice you don't have to adjust very much. Annika and Katrina has been very successful in the past.
I think they feed off each other very well playing the same kind of game as well.
Obviously Becky was, you know, is a rookie. She comes out and, you know, she's very good friends, very comfortable with Laura. And Laura is playing good right now. It's nice to get some of the rookies out -- you know, they get a feel for it, and Becky has played really, really well, and I put her in tough pairings this week, with all the top players, you know, like Annika and Suzann and Sophie, and she has really risen to the occasion, which is really wonderful to see.
I get goose bumps because it's nice to see these young kids that really step up to the plate.
I think Gladys sort of expressed a little bit awhile ago that she liked Mimi and she would like to play with Mimi. I think it's very good, especially the first match the first day, you know that you're coming out with somebody that you feel really comfortable with.

Q. Laura often likes to go off first, but you put her off third. Any reason for that? Is she quite happy?
HELEN ALFREDSSON: It is a little bit of reason for that. I think it's nice for Becky to maybe take a little bit easy, and obviously we're hoping for the top two groups to get off on a good start, which hopefully brings some confidence into Becky. And I talked to Laura and I think she was fine with it. Or I know she was fine with it.
BETHAN CUTLER: Any more questions? Thank you for coming in, Helen.

End of FastScripts

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