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SYBASE CLASSIC PRESENTED BY SHOPRITE

May 15, 2008

Carolina Llano

CLIFTON, NEW JERSEY

ASHLEY CUSHMAN: Carolina, thanks for coming in and joining us today. You're the leader in the clubhouse at 4-under par, 6. Can you just talk about going out early, putting up a round like that and now having everyone chasing you?
CAROLINA LLANO: Hi, everyone. It was a really good round. It started off really well with the breeze. It was cold in the morning, so I was just trying to stay warm and keep it in play, hit as many fairways and greens as I could. And it was fun. It was a challenge out there trying to hit the fairways with one driver, but I was able to stay focused and stay there.
ASHLEY CUSHMAN: And you've been starting out strong this year, too. I was looking at your performance chart. You shot a 68 in the opening round at Michelob last week, too, so it really seems like you're putting things together in the opening round to set yourself up for the weekend.
CAROLINA LLANO: That's right. I've been having good rounds, especially starting off, and my game feels good right now. It's just sometimes there are a couple mistakes that I have on a not-so-good course, but I'm trying to put everything together, and hopefully everything will come?
ASHLEY CUSHMAN: Let's go over your scorecard really quick. If you could just go through your birdies and bogeys starting with the birdie on the first hole.
CAROLINA LLANO: It was a 9-driver putt, pitch and wedge in, hit it about five feet, made the putt.
ASHLEY CUSHMAN: Birdie on 2?
CAROLINA LLANO: Birdie on 2, I hit the fairway and hit an 8-iron, not that hole and it was really close, like about seven feet. I made the putt in two.
ASHLEY CUSHMAN: Bogey on 6. What happened there?
CAROLINA LLANO: Bogey on 6. I missed the fairway and tried to chip it out there, couldn't make the putt.
ASHLEY CUSHMAN: So you two-putted. How far was your two-putt?
CAROLINA LLANO: Like two or three feet?
ASHLEY CUSHMAN: All right. The birdie on 8?
CAROLINA LLANO: The birdie on 8. It was a long putt. It was sideways and it was really long, probably 20 feet.
ASHLEY CUSHMAN: What club did you use to get there?
CAROLINA LLANO: I believe it was a 6-iron.
ASHLEY CUSHMAN: All right. The birdie on 9.
CAROLINA LLANO: The birdie on 9. I hit a good driver, a little bit hit right at the fairway. Hit at 21 degrees a hybrid, and it went probably a 35-footer for birdie.
ASHLEY CUSHMAN: 35-foot putt? Very nice. Okay. The bogey on 10?
CAROLINA LLANO: I pulled it left. I put it up on the green, front right and then three-putted for bogey.
ASHLEY CUSHMAN: How far was the first putt?
CAROLINA LLANO: 60 yards. No. Not that far, but probably 30 yards. I guess 30 yards.
ASHLEY CUSHMAN: All right. The birdie on 14?
CAROLINA LLANO: I pulled the birdie on 14. It was pretty close. I hit a pitching wedge right over the bunker and it was like a foot to the hole.
ASHLEY CUSHMAN: All right. The last birdie on 17.
CAROLINA LLANO: On 17 I hit a really nice drive, and I hit a 6-iron, I believe, and then I made like a 20-footer for birdie.
ASHLEY CUSHMAN: 6-iron to 20 feet?
CAROLINA LLANO: Uh-huh.
ASHLEY CUSHMAN: All right. Questions?

Q. (No microphone).
CAROLINA LLANO: Yeah, it was good to start that way. It was a little bit cold, and I started going with two birdies with really good shots helped me to be confident for the rest of the round.

Q. Give us sort of like an overview of your game. What are the strongest parts of your game? What do you do best and what are your challenges?
CAROLINA LLANO: Well, today the best part of my game was putting, and I was able to come up with some up-and-downs when I missed the green. Driving wasn't that good today. I think I hit like eight fairways, so I was struggling a little bit with that, but I was able to get away with some of the pulls left and was able to put it in play and give myself a chance to save par.

Q. Everybody's talking about Annika this week. Could you talk about -- I mean you're just coming out here. Do you have any sense of -- I mean do you remember the first time you heard of her, where, when, et cetera, et cetera, what you think of her?
CAROLINA LLANO: I remember her since I was growing up. She was always someone that I was looking up to. She's done great things for the game. She's someone that is a great example to follow. And I was surprised with that, but I could probably say that she did it in my kid years, so it's just that she's a great example for me, and she's done so much for the game and it's a huge challenge just to keep following in her footsteps, especially when I'm just starting and it seems that she's stepping away, so it's a huge challenge for me especially coming up.

Q. (No microphone).
CAROLINA LLANO: I've met her a few times in the locker room. I came up to her at the U.S. Open last year and asked if she could sign the book -- it was the second one that she had out. I had it with me, so I wanted her signature right there, but not really spent time with her, just said hi and hello in the locker room. That's about it. No, I haven't played with her.

Q. Sorry, guys. With all the background noise, if we could just use the mic. No worries. Frank, do you have any questions for Carolina?

Q. (Inaudible).
CAROLINA LLANO: I think I did pretty well. I'm really happy with my round, 4-under is a good starting course.

Q. How was the course?
CAROLINA LLANO: The course is in really good shape, especially after all the rain and everything. I think it's in very good shape. The fairways, the greens, everything is -- the setup is perfect. It's in really good shape.

Q. Always perfect when you're 4-under; right?
CAROLINA LLANO: That helps, you know.

Q. When you started playing golf, who did you watch the most on television? Who did you follow the most?
CAROLINA LLANO: On the women's side, probably Annika. She's always the one, and then later on Lorena. She's been doing great things for the game, too, and she's one of the South American -- not South American, but Spanish-speaking, Latin, someone that has been close to South America, been playing -- she's played a couple tournaments in Colombia, so she was closer to my culture and the way I grew up. And the way she was doing in a couple of years, how she started, so she was someone that I started following, too.

Q. Tournaments on television in your home country?
CAROLINA LLANO: Tournaments on television, Internet, everything that I could to try to keep following.

Q. There's been quite a bit of success from players from Latin America in the recent years, Cabrera and Lorena and Camillo Villegas is huge in your country. Do you feel like the game is growing? It seems like every country has got one or two players out here, but do you feel like there are big things ahead?
CAROLINA LLANO: Yeah. It is definitely growing, and I can probably speak for Colombia mainly. I think Communists are doing so well, a lot of our people know what golf is. Before, it was just people that was involved in the sport, and now you can talk to a lot more people that actually kind of have an idea what golf is. So I know it's been huge for us with Camillo coming up, and Marisa's (Baena) been on Tour for ten years now, and she was also huge, but now Camillo coming up, it's been really good for the whole country, the game, the little kids now trying to look up to someone that they actually relate to, growing up in the same city or same country. That helps a lot, and I hope that in some way I'm doing that in the women's side for Colombia and hopefully South America.

Q. Any more questions for Carolina? Thanks for your time. Good luck this week.
CAROLINA LLANO: Thank you.

End of FastScripts

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