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STANFORD INTERNATIONAL PRO-AM

April 27, 2008

Paula Creamer

AVENTURA, FLORIDA

ASHLEY CUSHMAN: Paula, thanks for coming in and joining us. Your first playoff of your career. I know things didn't quite end up the way you wanted them to, but you have every right to be proud. You've had an incredible week, playing and James Blake and finding yourself atop the leaderboard.
Can you just talk about your emotions right now.
PAULA CREAMER: Yeah, I mean, obviously it's incredibly disappointing. You know, I had the lead for quite a while out there, and then I bogeyed and she had a birdie in there. It's very disappointing.
But at the same time, I'm going against on of the best players in the world that's ever to play golf. There's a lot to learn from that. This is was my first playoff as a professional, and probably the most nervous I've ever been.
Now, looking back on it, I made more mistakes than she did. Obviously I made more birdies than her, and I knew going into it that I could make a lot more birdies out there. It was just the mistakes.
She's always plots herself around the golf course, and that's why she's as good as she is. She doesn't make those bogeys. I just made too many.
ASHLEY CUSHMAN: All right. Let's go over your scorecard, and then we'll do questions.
PAULA CREAMER: Birdie No. 2. Driver, 3 rescue to about 60 yards. I made about a 10-footer.
Birdie on 3. 125 I think it was. I hit a little 9-iron to about three feet.
Bogey on 7. I kind of hit it in the hazard and I had to take my shoe off. I hit it out and then it hit the flag stick and I two-putted from about 40 feet.
Birdie on 9. I went 3-wood about 100 yards. I hit a little wedge to about eight feet, maybe 12 feet.
Birdie on 11. Driver, 5-iron to about 65 yards. I hit a little 58 to about four feet.
Then bogey on 17. I hit I think it was about 125 yards, and I hit a 9-iron short and then kind of chunked my chip and I missed about a 15-footer.
ASHLEY CUSHMAN: All right. Questions for Paula Creamer.

Q. First off, on the regulation, did you have a chance to go for the green in two on 18?
PAULA CREAMER: Yeah. I've always -- you know, I've always been a pretty aggressive player. I hit my drive as straight as anybody can out on tour. It's a huge fairway, and you never know. You might get lucky and get a 6-iron or something into that green. But I did, I had about 180 to the front, but I can't stop it with that wind.

Q. And then could you just take us through the second playoff hole when you hit the shot and you get to where the ball is just above the hole, what kind of lie you had?
PAULA CREAMER: Yeah, I had a little wedge. Well, we were really confused with the wind. I probably -- you know, my gut instinct was telling me that it was more downwind and it wasn't hurting as much as we thought. It was just a cross. I didn't really go with that.
So I went a little long. It was kind of sitting -- it was a really weird lie in the rough. I putted it, but it was a lot faster than I thought it was. Even if I would have hit it where I wanted, it still would have gone probably three and a half feet by the hole, which was -- like I said, just I misjudged it.

Q. If you had 180 to the front the first time on 18, how much more do you think you would have needed? How much closer do you think you needed to be?
PAULA CREAMER: Probably maybe about 15 yards, uh-huh. Because I would have been hitting then 15 yards closer, so maybe 5 or 6-iron.

Q. Just the last putt, were you surprised that it was short?
PAULA CREAMER: Yes.

Q. What was you thinking on that shot, that last putt?
PAULA CREAMER: Well, when we were reading it I kind of went over to Colin and said, God, I wish this was a lot closer than what it is right now. But you know, he just told me confidence. My hands were shaking so much I probably should have gripped it a little harder so I would've actually followed through.
But that was just, you know, caustic nerves and not being in that kind of situation before.

Q. The last time you played in a playoff, do you remember?
PAULA CREAMER: Long time. Hmm, oh, you know, my rookie year in Japan I did. It was a one-hole playoff and I won. I birdied.

Q. You said you had learned something playing with a player like Annika's caliber. What immediately comes to mind about what you learned today?
PAULA CREAMER: Patience. That's the biggest thing.

Q. You obviously won out here a number of times before. Still, in that situation, going head to head with a player like Annika and two holes to go and a one-shot lead, how much do nerves enter the equation?
PAULA CREAMER: I wasn't nervous. I was in control. I mean, I was leading that golf tournament. A careless shot on the Par 3 led to a bogey. That's plain and simple.
Just, you know, getting -- I guess it wasn't sloppy, but you just should never miss that pin right and that's what I did.

Q. Nancy Lopez has been out watching you the last couple days. Can you just kind of talk about your relationship with her and maybe anything she shared with you at all?
PAULA CREAMER: Sorry. No, Nancy has been a very, very good friend to me. She's standing back there so this is really hard.
No, she's always been a role model to me, so when she takes the time and comes out and watches me, it really means a lot. Every since she was my captain we really bonded, you know, and she always tries to help me with what she's gone through out on tour.
I think that, you know, she's not only a mentor to me but one of my very good friends. She tried to tell me to go out there and play my game. I'm one of the best players in the world, and it's all about confidence. You know, she was there through it all, so...

Q. Just to make sure I've got it straight, the careless shot on the Par 3, was that the tee shot or the chip?
PAULA CREAMER: Yeah. No, I mean, it was the tee shot overall, because I hit a 9-iron to that green and you should never miss it. You should go long, if anything. I didn't hit it real solid, which was important.
And then I kind of had another funny lie in that rough. The rough here, you never know what you're going to get. I didn't really accelerate through the chip and kind of chunked it short. I thought I made the putt, but I didn't.

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