U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 21, 1994

Dale Eggeling

LES UNGER: Dale, would you just review your non-par holes for us, if you would.

DALE EGGELING: Okay.

LES UNGER: Unless you have got a good save that you would like to talk about.

DALE EGGELING: Actually, the second hole was a very good save. I hit my drive down the right side and I left it on the up-slope, in the bunker, in the grass. And then I had thought I had no shot. I had to get it out down the fairway, left myself 66 yards from the pin. I knocked a sand wedge up there about ten feet, kind of a little right to left of the pin, almost pin high, and made that for par. So that was like, woosh, thank God. Then I got -- that was the only really saving par on the front side. Then I bogeyed number six which was not a hard shot at all, whatsoever. I had a 4-iron in my hand from the middle of the fairway, hit a really good drive and just chunked it about, oh, ten yards short of the green, and chipped it about three feet past the hole. Lisa Kiggens had the same putt as I did past the hole. I watched her putt. It looked like she hit hers dead in straight, so I did the same thing and I made bogey there. And then, so, that was my first bogey there and then I bogeyed number 8. Again, I don't think I missed a fairway today. Did I miss a fairway? I only missed one fairway; didn't I? I think I missed one on number 2. I think that was it. I drove the ball real well today. On number 8 I killed the drive down the middle of the fairway; only got 165 yards left to the pin. So I thought, well, I am just going to take a 6-iron and let it head up on the green and roll off. Well, I fanned it right into the bunker and blasted it out about eight feet. I had one of those putts where if you miss the hole, you are dead. So I just kind of lagged it down there and said if it goes in, fine; if it doesn't, I am just going to make sure that I have no worse than a bogey. That is the important thing here on these greens - if you have to make a putt, you want to make sure that you don't leave it above the hole because it is scary. Then 9 was an easy par, but then I got on the backside and I ended up four under on the backside and I didn't even know I was four under on the backside.

LES UNGER: If these records are correct, you have just shot ten shots better than the first round in 1989.

DALE EGGELING: I shot 77? Wow!

LES UNGER: That is what it says.

DALE EGGELING: I'd say that is a nice improvement. So, basically, on the backside I just kept my composure and on ten I hit a good drive down the middle. I hit an 8-iron up on the green from 126 yards, a little uphill against the wind, knocked it about 15 feet pin high to the right. And that is one of those putts that if my putt didn't hit the hole, I probably would have been about eight feet by. I was just trying to lag the ball down there. The hole got in the way so I was very fortunate for that one. Then, my next birdie came on number 12 which was the par 5, I hit a driver 5-wood just in the little fringe right in front of the green, and chipped it up, stinky chip about eight feet short of the pin, with my 9-iron, and rolled that putt in. So that made me feel real good too. My next birdie came on number 14, par 4. Let me think, 14 -- okay. 14, I hit a good drive down the middle. I had 147 yards uphill a little bit against the wind, so I just -- I elected to hit a hard 6-iron so if I hit it good, I knew there was no way it could go passed the pin, and if I didn't hit it that good, it would still be a little bit short of the pin. I knocked that about 16 feet; made that for birdie. Then on 15 par 5, I hit a good driver and a 5-wood, then sand wedged 81 yards uphill, a little downwind; hit that about five feet; made that for birdie. I kept that a little bit short of the pin so it was a little bit easier to be able to rest with that. 17, actually, I did make -- I would say I made a-- well, I made two good 2-putts on 17 and 18. 17 I was just a little bit past pin high in the edge of the fringe and had to putt the ball down and I almost putted it back down and into the little swell there. So it was about this far from going back down in the swell. So I kept that up from the level part and made about a four and a half footer to save par there. And 18 I hit a good drive down the left-hand side of the fairway and had a stinky lie. I don't know what had happened. It was kind of like a little indention and somebody had been there couple of times before because then there were a couple of divots there also. So it was like I wasn't sure how my ball was going to come out of that shot. So I just had to make sure that I stayed with the shot and I ended up about 70 feet right of the pin, which is very easy to do on that green because it is so large. Left my putt about seven feet short of the hole and I just got over the putt and said, okay, you have worked too hard to give it away; just keep your head down and stroke it in the back and I did. So--

LES UNGER: Somebody told us this morning as you were getting preparing to play, you weren't happy with the way you were practicing.

DALE EGGELING: No, I got on the driving range this morning and I just -- I did not feel good with my irons. I just -- my alignment didn't feel good and then as I was walk -- as I was walking to the putting green I was thinking about it. I told my husband; I said, I think I know what is wrong; I think my hips were a little bit too open when I was out on the range and so I just thought about squaring them up when I was out on the golf course and all of a sudden everything started clicking and I started hitting the irons better. I only really hit two bad irons today and that is only because I got wet. I figured out the reason I was hitting it bad, after the fact. But if you would have told me after coming off of the range, do you think you are going to shoot 4 under par today, I would have gone "ha-ha-ha, you must be nuts."

Q. This is the first time the Open has been played at the same site within a reasonable amount of time?

DALE EGGELING: Yeah, I think it is great.

Q. How much did that help you from playing in 1989 and then coming back this year here?

DALE EGGELING: Well, I was really familiar with the greens. That was the big key because I remembered a lot from the greens from when we were here before. The course played longer today; not only because of the weather making the course wet and playing a little bit longer, but also the USGA pushed us back on a couple of the tees, where we were able to drive it a couple of corners before when we were here. Now, it is like you can't get over the corners; you don't want it to be in the rough, so you have to play it further out to the left. It is playing tougher now.

Q. How about the two birdies on the front 3 and 5.

DALE EGGELING: Number 3, oh, I hit a great 3-iron on number 3, the par 3. I knocked it about a foot and a half from the hole and made that for birdie. And then on number -- oh, yeah, birdied both the par threes on the front side. Yeah. How about that? And then on number 5-- excuse me. Excuse me. Let me retract that. First birdie was on number 3. I hit a 7-iron about, oh, 15 feet right of the pin downhill putt and made that. That is another one of those putts if it doesn't hit the hole, I am probably about five or six feet by. Then on number 5, the par 3, it was playing 178 yards against the wind and I just blistered a 3-iron about a foot and a half and made that for birdie: All of a sudden I am thinking, "oh, here we go." Then after I made the two bogeys, I am thinking "well, here we don't go." Just keep your composure.

Q. How unusual is it for you to figure something out like that between the range and the first tee and having it go through your mind?

DALE EGGELING: Actually it is pretty easy for me because basically all my life I have grown up playing feel. Everything is basically feel. I don't think about mechanics when I am out on the golf course. So making a little adjustment here and there is really easy for me. It doesn't bother me at all. I mean, any time I change a thing so slight, it is not going to affect you for the rest of the day; whereas a lot of players get into trouble because they have got-- you know, they start thinking mechanics; then they forget about where they want to hit the ball; how they want to hit the shot; they are thinking about how to get, you know, their swing into that position. I never think about that. I just line it up and hit it.

Q. Dale, could you comment on how the overnight rains and the general softness of the course affected the scoring?

DALE EGGELING: I think it is going to make -- it played so entirely different because I played two practice rounds and the course did play a lot shorter. Now, there are some of the greens out there too where you think, well, maybe because of the rain, they are going to be a little bit softer. They are a little bit but they are not soft enough to where you can fly it right at the stick. So you are still have to be careful. You have to be cautious.

Q. Dale, you are 0 for 19 in Opens. What would make the 20th different?

DALE EGGELING: A win. (laughter).

Q. Are you playing well enough after last week and now today?

DALE EGGELING: I am not going to say -- well, how can I word it? I am just going to play the way I am playing and see what happens. You never know.

Q. Dale, did you ever play with Carol Semple Thompson during your amateur days?

DALE EGGELING: I sure did.

Q. What are your impressions of her?

DALE EGGELING: She can flat out play. I mean, I am very surprised that she never turned pro. I really am. She could have made it out on Tour. But I guess she doesn't -- I mean, she loves to travel and everything, but I guess she just didn't want to play week after week after week. She loves the game and she just enjoys playing in all the amateur tournaments and -- but yes, we did, I mean, I have been playing golf now for 36 years. I started when I was 4.

LES UNGER: 4?

DALE EGGELING: Yeah. So yes, I did play a lot of amateur golf with Carol as a teenager and then collegiate golf as far as the amateur circuit, you know, like the North South and the Trans and tournaments like that, the amateur.

Q. Did you ever analyze why you haven't won an Open or kick yourself and say, "I should have won by now I am good enough?"

DALE EGGELING: You know, I think it is-- I don't -- I think it is because I really haven't wanted it bad enough up until a couple of years ago. I am very -- I think I know myself more now. I want to play golf now. Before it was like I was out there playing, but yet now I want -- I-- myself, I want to play. You have to believe in yourself and I think I am really starting to believe in myself a little bit better. My husband has really been working hard on that with me. So, you know, it takes some of us longer to grow up.

LES UNGER: Continued good luck. Thank you.

DALE EGGELING: Thank you.

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