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MICHELOB ULTRA OPEN AT KINGSMILLMay 10, 2008Annika SorenstamWILLIAMSBURG, VIRGINIA DANA GROSS-RHODE: Annika, thank you for joining us. You carry a three stroke lead into tomorrow. So you got a little bit of room. Can you talk about the tournament and looking forward to tomorrow? ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Yes. I mean I would say to summarize this day was I mean I saved everything today, even the last hole when I needed bogey. I had a lot of great par saves. I hit some good shots overall, too, but, you know, not as well as the previous day so, you know, the last putt feels great to have a little cushion going into tomorrow. I still love this place so I'm looking forward to a great day tomorrow. Q. Can you go over the saves? What was the best save you had today? ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Well, I had a lot -- I chipped very well, you know, and I was in the bunker. I would say, you know, the par save on 8 was key, made a great up and down on 9 and 10. I mean there was a stretch there I was really relying on my short game and it was good saves. It was solid saves all around. That's what kind of kept my round going. You know, I thought the weather was quite weird today, little wind, little mist, temperature dropping. It was quite tough. With all the rain we've had this past evening, maybe the course played a little longer. I had a few 6-irons, I had a 5-wood in on 10. The course was playing longer and therefore up and downs were key today for me. Q. Do you ever put yourself in your playing partners' heads? When you keep making saves like that and they're thinking, "Wow, she's got to stumble" and you just keep going, keep making the putts and just mistake-free golf for three days. I mean, you know, Lorena has seen that for three days in a row. Do you ever think I've got to be getting in their head? ANNIKA SORENSTAM: No, but I've seen her do it for weeks and years. I know what it's like. You just have to -- I'm thankful. It's going in now. You know, the past few months has not gone in and that's the difference from shooting 2-under to 2-over and you just have to keep on grinding. By the end of the day it's not about, you know, how you did it, it's about the score, what you finished. So I think the momentum is obviously key, just to keep you positive and keep you going. It puts less pressure on the approach shots knowing you can save it and I think that's been the key for me just confidence when I'm around the greens, when I'm chipping or just having a 4-footer, I feel great. As you all know, golf is such a mental game. You need to be positive over those crucial putts. Q. Had you missed a fairway before you hit it in the water on 18? ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I missed a few fairways. Today, I'm not really sure but throughout the week I had, yes. Q. Did you just snap hook it at 18? ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Yeah, I would say that's what happened (laughter). Q. Getting back to No. 1, does that matter to you? ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I would love to get to No. 1, yeah. But, you know, it's a long road. Lorena has played some fantastic golf. You know, she's got five wins this year. She has so many more wins than me last year. I have -- it's a big ground to make up so I'm just focusing on one week at a time, you know. I feel very good the way I'm playing this week, I felt great how the season is shaping up so we'll see what happens. I would love to continue to play some great golf to even have a chance. Q. When did you commit to the cross-handed stroke? ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Well, I changed in -- I've been mixing a little bit, to be honest. The Kraft Nabisco I did some short ones, and I did a little longer ones in Miami, about 90 percent of them. This week is a hundred percent. More comfortable and, you know, the beginning it was tougher to do longer ones, left hand, I felt like I was restricted. Now, I've done this for a month and I feel really good about it. Q. What made you -- so you switched to the cross-handed at the Nabisco? ANNIKA SORENSTAM: For short ones, yes. Q. What was the telling tale that made do you that? ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I didn't make enough putts. Plain and simple. I just needed something new. I changed putter as well. I just -- I needed a different feel, different look and it's working. Q. Have you gained distance as the season has gone along, do you think? ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I would say that I have on my iron shots but still my woods I'm not really there yet. Yeah. That's about -- I'm about ten yards shorter with a driver, maybe five yards shorter with my 4-wood. I have changed from a 7-wood to a 5-wood to get the distance. Q. How far was your approach on 18? ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I had 162. Q. Sound foolish, did you think, I don't know, that you had a chance to possibly hole it? ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Well, I hit the tee shot was the worse one I hit all week, pretty much all year. I wasn't going to let that bother me. I had a great day, lot of great saves. I thought a new drive, start over. I was in between a 5 and 6 and just hit low, little drawing 6-iron, beautiful, and I thought let's get close try to save, make 5 instead of -- then the damage is not that bad. I think just having a positive attitude helped me because it's really easy to walk away from the tee box being grumpy and edgy but I felt so cool and so calm. It wasn't going to bother me. Q. You actually had the 5 in your hand, didn't you? ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I started with 6 and had a 5 and went back to 6. The wind was kind of swirling a little bit. If. If you land in front of green it's not going to release. It was just the number to the front was borderline but when I hit it low, the wind just didn't take it. Q. With the Rolex World Rankings being a two year commitment, obviously you have to have a commitment of two years to get back to where you were. ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Yeah. I've been playing for years. I've been in the game and I just keep on trying to get some wins. I still have almost 15 tournaments left this year so, I'm going to keep on going and we'll see. No. 1 is not what determines my season or my final -- determines what I'm going to do. I enjoy the competing part and, you know, winning is just -- I look forward to it. Having to chance to win Sunday is why I practice. Q. Was there a time when you were going through your injuries and stuff when it seemed to you like maybe people had kind of written you off or forgotten what you were capable of doing when you were healthy? ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Maybe a little bit. You know, I've never had an injury before so I didn't really know the extent, you know, what it takes to get back. Obviously depends on what kind injury. In my case it was quite a severe one. It takes time. First you have to heal and then you have to -- still is the practice and be up to strength and have to get in the game again. Now it's been over a year and I'm finally starting to feel good again. You know, I played very good in the end of the season. It was good golf but it wasn't that little extra, it wasn't that distance control that I used to have. Now I'm feeling it and working the ball and that's what it takes to be -- get to the top, I should say. You know, 12 months and different winters and change of the No. 1 ranking of course you start wondering -- I never wondered but I know other people would wonder, "Is she ever going to get back?" You know, maybe people are passing and so forth. I know what I'm capable of. You have to be patient and keep on working. Q. You have any recollection, much recollection of playing with JJ on Sunday a couple years ago at the British when she won? ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I don't remember playing with her but I played with her several times but not this year so, you know, she's a great player. Obviously she's been very solid today and she's battling an injury so she knows what it's like to pace yourself and makes you also appreciate when things go well. DANA GROSSRHODE: Thank you, Annika, for coming in. Good luck. ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Thank you. End of FastScripts |
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