U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

May 31, 1996

Jane Geddes

JANE GEDDES: Well, I felt good today. I played some really good golf yesterday. It was a long day yesterday, as everybody knows, and I felt like yesterday was the day to survive. And today was the day to really start playing some good golf. I hit the ball, like I said, very well yesterday. I went out and started today and hit the ball well today, as well. I was fortunate to get on a roll on the middle of my round and make some birdies. The golf course jumped up and got me on a couple of holes on the backside, but otherwise I played pretty solid today.

JANE GEDDES: I really cannot complain. I've been in very little rough, which is the key to this golf course. I feel like I've been striking the ball very well. I got a couple unfortunate bounces and some tough lies on the bunkers on the incorrect sides of the holes. But that's the way the U.S. Open is.

JANE GEDDES: The second hole I 3-putted from about 40 feet or so. The 4th hole I hit a 9-iron to about 12, 15 feet or so, made that for birdie. 7, I hit a 7-iron in to about 20 feet or so, made that for birdie. 8, I hit a sand wedge about 25 feet and made a long putt there, a real good putt for birdie. 10, I hit my second shot right at the green, chipped it up to only a foot or so and made that for birdie. 11, I hit a pitching wedge to very close, a foot, made that for birdie. And then 12 -- 12 and 13 the wind really started swirling. So I had a sand wedge yardage in on 12 and hit, what I thought, was a real good shot and the ball landed pin high and went over the back into the bunker, and then that was a bad place to miss it, and hit a fairly good bunker shot but didn't make the putt, made bogey there. And then I got fooled on the wind on 13, and hit a good 6-iron, but it drifted way right in the air. It was actually going right at the pin starting out and hit the side of the green and rolled into the bunker as well and didn't hit as good a bunker shot. 2-putted there for bogey, so that was two bogeys in a row there. 14, I parred. 15, I parred. 16, I hit it right into the bunker. I had a poor shot there. And made about an 8 to 10-footer for par. That was key there, because that was a good amount of putt. 17, I pulled my drive just a little bit into the rough and just did not pull a good lie. And that's really the first bad lie I've actually had in the rough. Hit a 5-iron in front of the green, didn't hit a good chip, and missed the putt. And that's about it, two putt par on 18.

JANE GEDDES: 12 was 8 feet, 6 to 8 feet, really, 7, 8 feet. And 13 was about 18 feet.

JANE GEDDES: I think this golf course is a great golf course. It has really grown on me as the week has gone on. Tuesday when I played the course, I felt this was a nice golf course, it's in great condition, it's probably not the toughest Open course I've played. And now as the week has gone on, the greens have gotten faster, all of a sudden you know where the trouble is, and it makes it more difficult. And I think the scores are showing that. I think it's a great golf course, it's in great condition. It's difficult to judge the wind out there. And I think it's just a terrific, terrific Open golf course. The best player will win this week, definitely.

JANE GEDDES: Well, Annika is a very good player, and she doesn't miss very many shots. She can play pretty much any golf course with that golf game. Her golf game is just down the middle on the green; down the middle, on the green. And unless the conditions are difficult enough that she can't judge the wind or whatnot, she'll be there at the end of the week. I think everybody knows that. And right now the position she's in, she's the player to beat. But this is the U.S. Open, and this is the U.S. Open golf course, and strange things happen to people. She knows what it means to win this tournament now. Last year she didn't know. Now she knows how important it is. And sometimes when you know how important it is, it makes it even that much tougher.

JANE GEDDES: Well, we had an earthquake. We had a train wreck. We had a plane crash. What else did we have?

JANE GEDDES: So we were busy.

JANE GEDDES: We were evacuating everybody, we didn't have time for golf that week.

JANE GEDDES: That was survival of the person that didn't have to get evacuated the most.