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THE SOLHEIM CUP

September 16, 2007

HALMSTAD, SWEDEN

BETHAN CUTLER: Okay. Ladies and gentlemen, I think you will know the names by now, but I'd like to welcome, Laura Davies, Helen Alfredsson, Catriona Matthew, and Annika Sorenstam.
You must be quite disappointed. There were a lot of positives to take away from the last three today.
Would you like to begin by making a few comments, Laura?
LAURA DAVIES: Yeah. It's disappointing. This is 7-3 now. Overall. I was hoping to go away this week at 6-4 overall. We've got to win the next four to break even.
It is -- I think we're all very disappointed. None of us feel like losers. We lost to a better team today. They were a very good team. They had some good team spirit out there and beat us. That's the bottom line, basically.
BETHAN CUTLER: Helen, just make a comment. We heard you on the closing ceremony.
HELEN ALFREDSSON: Obviously we were disappointed. We thought we went with a good chance into the singles. Everyone played well. They happened to play a little bit better. I don't think our team played badly. They played really well for the conditions.
BETHAN CUTLER: We'll take some questions. Can you please raise your hands if you want to use the microphone.

Q. The disappointment, Helen, perhaps I can put it the morning started so well. The disappointment must be double because of that.
HELEN ALFREDSSON: Well, of course, it is. I think, you know, being on the other side, it was absolutely an amazing week to see these girls fight so hard on every single shot. And I think we saw the first two days, obviously the second day finished today, but, you know, it was a lot of heart and soul out there, and I think it's always hard when you fight hard and you do everything you can and at that moment it doesn't feel really enough. You don't end up with the trophy, but I think we have to give the Americans credit. They played really, really well.
They did what they had to do, and obviously we didn't.

Q. Annika, can you just talk about, does it feel worse losing on home soil, just kind of what that feels like having all the home fans here?
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Well, I want to agree with the three of them here. I really don't feel like we lost today. I just think that the Americans outplayed us today, and, you know, their week has really been great in so many ways. I can't believe how many fans have been out there despite the weather.
I think just being here is a victory itself. Of course, it would have been nice to bring home the Cup, you know, for the Swedish fans and for all the Europeans and for the team but, you know, we gave it our best. I really feel like we did that.
I mean, I think this particular time we fought really to the end. A lot of matches, as you can see the previous days, were -- we were down coming to the last two holes and were able to turn it around and get a half instead of losing. That shows a lot of spirit that we had this week, and I think that's worth a lot.
You know, one thing that we can give credit is to Helen for her attitude. She's a Captain with a lot of spirit, lot of heart. I've never seen anybody really care so much. So, you know, I think on behalf of all the players, we want to thank Helen for that. It's been great this week.
Sometimes you cannot just look at the scores and decide, you know, if it was a bad week or good week. I thought we had a great week.

Q. Helen, could you explain to us the strategy behind the singles?
HELEN ALFREDSSON: Well, I think we did something different this week that we haven't had before. I always thought it was very strange that the players were the last ones to know who they were playing with and the ones who are playing. We were a little bit more involved. We were going to do -- like I was saying yesterday, we felt that we went out strong with strong players. We finished strong. It's hard when, like Annika just said, they just played better. They did what they had to do.
Obviously, you know, it's funny when we sat, yet I really felt we were all playing well and had a very strong team.
You know, Americans just played better. They made more putts than we did.
BETHAN CUTLER: Any more questions?

Q. Helen, if there's anything could you go back and do differently this week, what would it be? Or would it be anything at all?
HELEN ALFREDSSON: You know, I really don't know. You know, I felt that my goal was to have a good team together that we felt that we can draw energy from all the players, and, you know, I think that from what I heard from the players, they felt that that was the case.
I felt that I was very proud of the ones that everybody was here, and I felt they were playing well. It's just I don't think that, you know, Annika was with us when we helped to put the team together. We really felt that it was a very strong setup that we had done, but it's hard when somebody plays better than we did.
We did as much as we could, and it wasn't enough today.

Q. This isn't a particularly serious question, but I wondered where Annika got her wig from? And is this a sign of future things to come in the future?
HELEN ALFREDSSON: She joined Cirque du Soleil.
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Ralph Lauren.
No. I just thought trying to cheer the situation up even though the team was pretty happy in the locker room, anyway. I thought, you know, give the crowd a little cheer and a little patriotism before I leave. So that's really about it. It keeps my head warm. It's a little chilly out.
HELEN ALFREDSSON: You look good in curls. What was the picture on the locker when were you 12, you had curls then. Still looks good.
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Humidity makes it look curly. (Laughter).

Q. Helen, a little more serious note. There was a situation where Becky was going to stymie against a tree there on 18. I was curious if you were even around there, because there was a thought that maybe she could get some kind of relief because of the stands that were kind of in her way. I don't even know if you were there.
LAURA DAVIES: On 18?
HELEN ALFREDSSON: No, I don't think I was there.

Q. Anybody there? Okay.
HELEN ALFREDSSON: I don't think it really would have made a difference at this moment, do you? I think she knows the rules.

Q. Helen, I'm wondering on an emotional scale how this ranks for you in your career as far as disappointments go or how you're feeling?
HELEN ALFREDSSON: Well, I think sort of when you are the Captain, you want to try to do everything as good as you can to make everybody happy and play their best, and, of course, always some doubts that you feel like maybe you weren't doing enough, if that was the thing that affected.
But I think that everybody was quite happy in the team room. Everybody get along really well and -- I don't know. I really don't know if I could have done things that much different.
It comes down to the golf and the players. You know, I don't know. I mean, I think you would have to ask the players. I feel like I did what I had. I can just judge from the team spirit that we had in the room, and I feel like everybody was -- I think typical is a example was when we are in a team, everybody sits together. Everybody makes room for one another around, and it's not like people are in groups and not sitting together. We are sharing every moment, and that was very special to me.

Q. Do you want to do it again?
HELEN ALFREDSSON: I think it's way too early. I think I've had a great run this week, and I think, you know, I don't know. I think Laura is probably going to play the next time. There's plenty of girls that should be getting a chance to be Captains and enjoy this spirit.
BETHAN CUTLER: Any more questions? Okay. Thank you very much for coming in.

End of FastScripts

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