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MICHELOB ULTRA OPEN AT KINGSMILL

May 7, 2008

Annika Sorenstam

WILLIAMSBURG, VIRGINIA

DANA GROSSRHODE: Annika, thank you for joining us. So you're having a great year so far this year. Two wins, number of Top-10 finishes.
You missed this event last year so how does it feel to be back to the Kingsmill Resort?
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: It feels great. I love this place. I've always enjoyed coming here. I mean it's a fabulous place in so many ways, great golf course, great resort and, you know, pretty good friends with the an Anheuser-Busch people.
So it's nice to catch-up. I really missed being here last year. It's such a top notch event and so hopefully I make up for it this year and just absorb everything and enjoy it.
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DANA GROSSRHODE: Questions for Annika?

Q. This course has not been kind to your game in your previous trips here. In the last couple practices rounds and today, did you feel that it's going to be kind to you this time?
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Well, I mean I hope so. You know, I think the key is really to play well and I've always had a good feeling coming in here but I've not played as well as you need to do here.
I feel good about my game. I'm hitting it very well and putting well. So I'm going to go out there and do the best I can and not think about the previous years.
You know, you put a premium on the driving, greens, a lot of times they've gotten firm and you have to hit good iron shots. I feel good about my chances. That's how I'm playing right now. So we'll see.

Q. How about the rough, everybody keeps saying that it's high and wiry and it's thick. How much of a premium is it going to be to drive the ball?
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I haven't looked in the rough yet. I'm going the try to stay out of it. You know, I'm sure it's like any big championship that we have that it puts a premium on your driving.
If you do end up in the rough you don't have a good lie, you have to play smart out of it. It's not much you can do.
So, again, I mean if you look at this course, it's quite generous in certain places. You stay focused and drive well, I think it will be no problem.

Q. How would you characterize the state of your game now compared to what it was when you were dominating the Tour?
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: It feels pretty good. It's not really there. I lost a little bit of distance but I mean I feel really good about the way I'm striking it now, my irons.
I felt like my distance control was back. It's tough to measure but, you know, I remember when I was playing at my peak it just seemed very simple. It seemed very easy. Bounces will go my way, the ball would hit the lip and go in. That's kind of what I'm looking for.
I don't think that my game is that far off, just putting it altogether, starting to score again.

Q. How hard was it to get back to this point and was it as much a mental thing as a physical thing?
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I think mentally it helped in a way because it kind of put a perspective on the things and how much I appreciate being out here and how much I enjoy competing.
So I think the motivation was -- came back therefore it was easier to grind, you know, and when the injury struck me, starting from scratch. It was hitting wedges, 20 balls a day from a tee.
It took weeks before I could hit a wood. It really felt it was like from the start and working back, building up to strength.
So I would not have had the motivation -- I don't know if I would have been able to do it or want to do it. But, you know, sitting outside the ropes watching is not really what I had in mind. So that's what kept me working hard and trying to get back.

Q. Did winning the first tournament last fall sort of get you back, jump started a little bit?
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: It definitely helped. I was playing really well. I believe I had several Top-10s before that. Just at that time British Open out of it, it was Alabama and several other tournaments, State Farm, I was up there.
I just didn't finish it and, you know, to walk away with a victory the last tournament of the year kind of set the momentum or the tone for the year to come and, you know, just thinking, continue to work during the off-season and it could turn around.
Obviously the win in Hawaii made it even more special knowing the hard work I put in the winter paid off. So, good results is something that you need to keep you going.

Q. You mentioned that the course is generous in places. Are there any specific -- the obvious are the par 5s. Are there other areas that you think --
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I think you need to have course management here. If you look at the course and look at each hole, there's some areas that are wider than others.
You don't necessarily need to hit driver on every hole. If you do you might get in a narrow area even and might put a bunker or rough into the play.
You play smart off the tee. My case I have a 4-wood or 3-wood. You go for the big area. It's going to be easier to score that way because the rough is thick and helps to hit greens from the short grass.

Q. What are some of your swing keys for the week that you've been working on?
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Swing keys? I'm always working on something. Right now, it's forward press with my hands and tells me to turn better and not move laterally.

Q. Can you remember playing with Ochoa and Pettersen in a three-some?
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: In the same group? Haven't done it this year. Last year I don't think I did that, either. Something I have to look up. I'm not sure.

Q. It is an interesting pairing at this point right now with you guys 1, 2, 3.
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Seems like it's random but I'm happy about it.

Q. Just a remark or two about the streak that Lorena is on, how she's playing.
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: She's playing great. She has been playing great, very consistent. I think she's matured a lot as a player, driving it well, putting well. She's playing outstanding.

Q. Do you see some similarities in sort of the way she's playing, her demeanor on the course to when you started to getting the streak going in terms of No. 1?
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I think we have certain similarities, yes, but then also I think golfwise we're different. You know, I'm more of a strategic player, more thinking my way around.
She plays a lot more with feel, little bit more with her heart. I would say those are the differences in the game but confidence-wise and the way we go about things, I think are very similar.
DANA GROSSRHODE: Questions?

Q. In terms of last year, where you had been with your career and going through what you did, did you take it as, okay, this is just a momentary situation or was there a concern that physically and maybe from a golf standpoint you were not going to get back to where you were?
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Well, I think you know, at the moment, you know, when the doctor told me I had an injury and I couldn't play the next day, I mean it just took me awhile to, first of all, accept that and then I didn't understand why, what's happening and what do I do and I think that was just not knowing, you know. That's always a little scary.
When I started working on things and seeing the progress, just within weeks the pain was gone, I was getting back my mobility in my neck and just certain things, and then you see how I can do this, and I've never been a player that has doubted myself or I always felt like if I work hard it will eventually come.
So, you know, it was obviously different from always being in charge, always going and always knowing what to do to just starting from scratch and just work on the basics, getting the strength back and -- but I kind of enjoyed that, too, because I saw the progress so quickly. Week would go by and I improved. Another week would go and I improved there.
Before that it took months to get better. I reached such a point where you spend hours and hours and you couldn't really see the difference. It was just maybe half a shot every other tournament. That's enough to tell.
But you know I went from lifting Coca-Cola cans to 3-pounders. That was big strength-wise. That kept me going.
But then I thought, you know, this is my 14th year on the Tour, I've pushed myself very, very hard. You know, to be the best you sacrifice certain things.
That was my first injury in all these years. I didn't feel like I was unlucky or didn't feel like it was a weird thing.
I kind of embraced it. This is what happens to pro athletes. I don't regret it at all. It's been worth every step of the way and to be the best, you got to push and sometimes I pushed too hard.

Q. How much different is it going to be trying to get back to No. 1 than it was trying to get to No. 1 when you were trying to get by Karrie a few years ago?
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I would say it's very different today than around 2000. I mean I know what it's like to be up there, I know what it takes and Lorena is playing fabulous golf.
The ranking is based on two years. It's going to be very hard for me to catch. I am focused on this year, I'm focused on coming back to playing my golf, what I know I'm capable of and if I can do that -- I know I can win tournaments and we'll see what happens. But I got to stay focused on my progress and not being too much on what other players are doing.

Q. Do you think it will be as fulfilling, more fulfilling to do it or is it too far -- or is it not an immediate goal that you're even thinking about along those lines?
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: If I play good golf winning will take care of itself and rankings will take care of themselves. I can't control that. Lorena has already won five times. Does that make my season worse? No.
I mean I played 7 times, I won twice. I'm very happy about that. I have to put things in my perspective and look where I'm coming from and the amount of time I put into my golf and what's important to me.
I mean, of course, I care about rankings, I care about money list. I'm as competitive as it gets. So I certainly pay attention to that.
But I try to be realistic and kind to myself as well and not just keep on pushing and pushing because it makes it very hard to wake up every morning and to say I got to chase somebody. That's just very hard.
I want to enjoy what I'm doing. I'm happy with the season and I have probably 15 or 16 tournaments left so it's a lot of golf and we'll see what happens.

Q. Given the injury last year and all the other outside interests that you have right now, bunch of businesses and other things, did that cause you to think about kind of the end or what kind of a timetable you put on how long, how much longer you're going to keep doing this?
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I've always said as long as I'm motivated, as long as I enjoy it, if I enjoy the daily grind, I'll continue.
I must say, though, that with the injury that forced me to step away, I picked up other things. I mean I got a lot more involved in my academy. I spent a lot more time with my foundation. The golf course design projects. I mean you name it.
I have a lot of stuff going on and I love that part and I think that things happen for a reason and, you know, injury gave me motivation back but I also spent time on all these other things. It's fun to see that part of golf and not always grind and grind.
Like I said, I enjoyed that. One of these days I want to pursue that more. It's being active in the game, it's giving back to the game in another angle and it's rewarding as well.
DANA GROSSRHODE: Any other questions? Annika, thank you very much. Good luck this week.
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Sure. Thank you.

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