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HSBC WOMEN'S CHAMPIONSFebruary 26, 2008Karrie WebbTANAH MERAH, SINGAPORE MIKE SCANLAN: Karrie, thanks for coming in today. Welcome to Singapore. This is your first time playing Singapore, so just talk about being here. KARRIE WEBB: Yeah, well, it's also my first LPGA event of the year, as well, so I'm obviously very excited to be in Singapore. It's the first time I've actually been here and stayed here for any time. I've only ever flown through Singapore either on my way to Europe or on my way back to Australia. So it's a place that I've always wanted to come and see. I've heard a lot about it. I want to play well in the tournament, but I also want to experience good places to go and eat and see a few of the sights. I'm really excited to start my LPGA season off here. MIKE SCANLAN: You won earlier this year, the Australian Open. Talk about how that may have boosted you for your start on the LPGA. KARRIE WEBB: Yeah, well, obviously to get off to a start like that, winning my first tournament of the year, was a great feeling. Kingston Heath is just a world-class golf course, too. So I think that makes it even a little bit more of a special win, when you play on such a world-class golf course. Being the first tournament of the year, too, to play a difficult golf course like that, to have my game in good enough shape to win, I was very happy about that. Q. (Indiscernible.) KARRIE WEBB: Well, we play that sort of caliber field every week, so it never gets boring. The Tour, this is my 13th year on Tour, and -- 13th or 14th. Yeah, the 13th. And the standard of golf has just increased dramatically in that time period, probably more so in the last five years. To have a tournament where HSBC gathers not only the great players on the LPGA but from all the Tours around the world, I think that adds an exciting element to the event. Q. (Indiscernible.) KARRIE WEBB: Yeah, I played a practise round this morning, and the course is in very good condition. And I think the way the greens are designed, I think there's a premium on good ball-striking into the greens because they're quite undulating, and you want to be in the right part of the green to have a decent birdie putt on a lot of the greens. And then also, two-putting from long distances is going to be very crucial, as well. Q. (Indiscernible.) KARRIE WEBB: Well, hopefully to do whatever it takes to have a chance to win is obviously ideal. Obviously never having played this course, it's very hard to predict what the scores are going to be, and I have heard in the afternoons that the wind gets up a little bit here. You know, I think -- I feel like my swing is in pretty good shape, so if I continue swinging it that well and give myself birdie chances, hopefully my game is in good enough shape to give myself a chance. Q. (Indiscernible.) KARRIE WEBB: The last one I played in was the Mizuno Classic in Japan last year. Q. (Indiscernible.) KARRIE WEBB: Yeah, well, I think HSBC has displayed their interest in golf by also taking golf to parts of the world where they don't get premium tournaments all the time. So I think it's very important. When you look at our Tour, like you said, not only do we have a lot of Koreans on Tour, but there's a good percentage of Asian players that make up our weekly fields in the States. I think it's important to building the fan base of the LPGA for us to play around the world, considering there's more foreign players on Tour by far now than there is U.S. players on the LPGA. Q. (Indiscernible.) KARRIE WEBB: Yes and no. I think the LPGA is the United States' Ladies' Professional Golf Association, so my feeling is that the predominant amount of tournaments that we play are played in the United States. But we could get to a point where women's golf is healthy enough where we have world golf events like the men do where we can play several tournaments outside of the United States. Q. (Indiscernible.) KARRIE WEBB: The way it's played? I don't think it's played much differently; I just believe that there's more players that play at that top standard. I think when I first came on Tour, there was probably only 20 players that really could compete at a top level for most of the year. But now I think it's at least half the field have the ability to hang in there week in and week out and play consistently good golf, and that then raises the level of what the top players have to do to stay up with what the 50th player in the world plays at. So I think that's what the difference is. Q. (Indiscernible.) KARRIE WEBB: Yeah, I think it's definitely created an interest, and I think the difference between -- well, there's a lot of differences. As far as why fashion, even the materials that we use to make the clothes now are much -- you can wear tighter fitting clothes because the material is much more flexible than it used to be. But I think just the fact that a lot more girls are in good shape. I'd say three quarters of the players that play on the LPGA look like professional athletes now, so you can wear clothes that show off how fit you are. Q. (Indiscernible.) KARRIE WEBB: Yeah, I don't feel that comfortable about myself, I guess, to wear clothes like that. Q. (Indiscernible.) KARRIE WEBB: I played two tournaments in Australia in the beginning of February, and it was either play the two in Hawai'i or come here, and I had never been to Singapore before, so that was definitely one of the things. And then HSBC puts up a big purse and they're flying us in here and putting us up in a great hotel. It just seemed like more of a fun week that makes you want to be at a place to play golf on it. Q. (Indiscernible.) KARRIE WEBB: I know that I have the ability to do it, and my aim is to be the best that I can be. I just can't control how other people play. And the standard of golf that Annika Sorenstam played in the last eight or nine years and then also the way Lorena has played in the last couple years, I believe I can play at that standard. I could play at that standard and not win the amount of tournaments that they win. You know, there's just a lot of variables that go into that. But I know I do have the ability to do it; it's just a matter of putting it all together and doing it and sort of getting -- being a little bit lucky. You have to be a great player, obviously, but there's got to be a lot of things that go in your favour. Q. (Indiscernible.) KARRIE WEBB: You want me to compare myself to them or -- Q. (Indiscernible.) KARRIE WEBB: Okay. I guess I don't really ever compare myself to other people. I guess similarities is all three of us are very competitive and expect the best out of ourselves and put -- I think all three of us are quite hard on ourselves. In a game where there is no such thing as perfection, you strive to come as close as you possibly can. I think the three of us definitely have that drive in us. But I think the way we go about the game are three completely different ways to play the game of golf. I don't think that -- that's probably the only comparison that I can make between the three of us. I think that at times when we've been at our best I'd say we're all mentally as sharp. Lorena has yet to really have a poor year since she turned pro. Right now she's probably the most confident player in the world, but that generally means you're the best in the world, as well. Q. (Indiscernible.) KARRIE WEBB: The difference? Well, there's probably more differences than there are similarities, I think. Well, like I said, we don't -- all three of us play the game differently but have similar results. Lorena -- I feel like I'm in between the two of them. Annika is very strategic and almost technical, leaning to the technical side. Lorena is very, very much a feel player and doesn't play a lot technically at all, and I feel like I fall right in the middle of the two of them. MIKE SCANLAN: Karrie, thanks for coming in. Good luck this week. End of FastScripts |
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