WEGMANS LPGA

June 10, 2000

Dale Eggeling

DALE EGGELING: It was an extremely tough day today as far as the wind. Some of the greens had dried out. It was just totally hard to judge today period. This is one of the most taxing days I think I have had in a long, long time. I was hanging in there pretty good. When I got to No. 5 today, I am like thinking: Let's just hit the green. After making a hole-in-one, like -- you don't want to make a bogey or anything like that. So I was able to make a nice par there. I actually had a chance at birdie there, but didn't make it. No. 6 was a key hole coming on back down the hill; wind blowing hard with us. I had 171 yards to the pin and hit a 7-iron about 36 feet past the pin, and luckily I had seen Meg Mallon's chip to show that it really wasn't that fast coming back down, so was able to judge the speed. I am thinking: Okay, let's just coax it down to the hole and see what happens. I made it. I am like going, ahh. No. 7 was a clutch par-putt for me. I missed the green right and then chipped it up about twelve feet past the pin. So I had a really hairy little slick downhill left-to-right putt with the wind blowing left-to-right, which didn't help either. I snuck that one in. I screamed more on that one than did I on my birdie putt.

DALE EGGELING: Twelve feet. 12-foot slider. Then really nothing spectacular, made the turn -- well No. 10 I made a bogey, just misjudged a shot where I was almost pin-high, but in the fringe, and tried to putt it and just didn't hit it hard enough. Ended up making bogey there. I said: That is okay. We still have some holes left to go. Got some birdie opportunities. I putted it from the fringe -- 2-putted. So it was off the green. I had about four feet of fringe to go through. The total putt was only about 26 feet, so it really wasn't that far. I just barely got it on the green. Then I had about an 8-footer to save par and didn't -- I just misjudged it. Then I made another clutch par-saving putt on No. 12. I hit my drive right into the rough, and I had to keep it low and underneath some trees. Punched it out into the front bunker, and then from the bunker, I probably had about, oh, about a 14-yard shot out of the bunker. Knocked it up about six feet and made that to save par. So that was extremely nice. Then from there, pars on in. On 16, that was my first bad judgment as far as the putt. I had about 32 feet to the hole and left it about five feet short because it was all uphill. All my putts, they seemed like they were downhill, sidehill -- just having to coax the ball up to the hole. That was the first putt I really had to hit today other than No. 13. And I just didn't hit it hard enough, and putted there. And then on 17, the par 5, I was right in the front of the green and was in the rough on the left-hand side only about 4 paces off of the green; elected to hit a sand wedge out there. Didn't hit it hard enough. Left myself a 26-footer. I was fortunate enough to make that one for birdie. So that was a real, real key putt there too. 18, I hit, just trying to coax it up on the green somewhere, and hopefully hit it up around the hole, and made par. Physically and mentally, I mean, there were some shots through -- growing up, my uncle and the shots that he had taught me, some of the shots that I had to hit today, wind shots, require some of them. You got to hit them pretty hard, and a lot of strength to keep the ball low and through, and it is taxing. It is not an easy swing, an easy smoothing swing. You really got to attack the ball when you hit the shot. My back is -- I am going to take a nice hot bath tonight.

DALE EGGELING: Yes.

DALE EGGELING: Right. Just don't have any train wrecks and just, you know, par is your friend. If you happen to make a birdie, great. If not, just be somewhere where you have got an opportunity to make an easy par, hopefully.

DALE EGGELING: I really didn't notice it until we got to about the 7th hole, and then I just felt like, well, the wind is not going to die down, and you really, really are going to have to concentrate now. About No. 7 was when I really got to thinking how tough the wind was.

DALE EGGELING: Didn't look.

DALE EGGELING: It was going to be one of those days. And I couldn't concern myself with what everybody else is doing. I have enough trouble concentrating, getting from the car into the restaurant, let alone what everybody else is doing.

DALE EGGELING: Right.

DALE EGGELING: Yeah, because quite a few greens we were trying to play front yardage and let it run up to the pin, and quite a few of the greens, right around the apron of the green is where the greens drain. So if you were to hit it just maybe a foot further on the green, it would have released, gone to the pin. Whereas, if you hit it in the fringe, it is going to hit and stop. Yeah, it was like -- just like a guessing game, total guessing game all day.

DALE EGGELING: Really? I didn't know that.

DALE EGGELING: Yeah, it was definitely playing as tough as a US Open today. I mean, yeah. Nerve-wracking.

DALE EGGELING: I am just real comfortable with my equipment. I got my husband to work with me last week with my putter. I changed the styles of putters that I am using. I went from a mallet to more of an offset putter and more of a blade-looking offset-type putter. And we worked and got the loft and line correct on it. I was able to see the line better. I am more confident with my putting, and went back to my old equipment last week. So between that, I am confident with my equipment and I feel really good with my putter. So that is the whole difference right there.

DALE EGGELING: Yes.

DALE EGGELING: It's a Never Compromise. It is the same model.

DALE EGGELING: Oh, yeah. Also Wendy Doolan had one too. We, all three, used the putter in the last group today.

DALE EGGELING: My Callaway irons.

DALE EGGELING: I went from the Callaways and this year I tried to go back to like a forged iron. That is something that you need to work on in the off-season not during the season so learned a valuable lesson don't tinker during the year. Do it when the year is over with.

DALE EGGELING: Valuable lesson.

DALE EGGELING: Actually I think being tough as it was today, it helped me concentrate a lot better because I really stayed focused on the way I wanted to execute the shots and I just stayed focused a lot better.

DALE EGGELING: Oh, yeah, I will take it. (laughs) Sure.

DALE EGGELING: I don't. I don't.

DALE EGGELING: My uncle Lou Rosenova (Phonetic) who lives out in California taught me a lot of wind shots and how to execute a lot of shot. But he just taught me, he said, you know what, when it is really windy, don't worry about getting it up in the air, keep it down low on the green, hit punch shots. Hitting a punch shot all day long is not going to hurt you. You get it up in the wind and you are at the mercy of the wind. That is pretty much what he taught me how to do. (inaudible).

DALE EGGELING: Yes, definitely.

DALE EGGELING: Off and on, streaky. I would say pretty much throughout -- I never practiced really that hard or put that much mental process into practicing enough -- well, basically, I have been lazy, I will admit it. I have never really wanted to practice, but as I have gotten older I want to practice now.

DALE EGGELING: I have too many other distractions when I go home. I have a husband and a son. I have horses. I have guinea pigs. I have got cars.

DALE EGGELING: I still would have putted it but I forgot to pop it. I stroked it instead of popping it. That is all. I still would have hit the same shot.

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