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CURTIS CUP MATCHJune 1, 2008Krystle CaithnessMary McKennaSally WatsonST. ANDREWS, SCOTLAND STEWART McDOUGALL: Mary, Krystle and Sally, first of all, congratulations on a great Curtis Cup. It was very exciting right until the end. Very well done. Mary, can I just ask you how you feel now that the match is finished and GB & I have lost the match? How do you feel now? MARY McKENNA: Well, I just feel very disappointed for the girls. Obviously we came here very much intent on winning and we were very focused and we did believe we could win, and I think the girls put up a great show. There was very, very little difference. It could have gone either way, certainly for the first two days, which would have given us kind of maybe a better springboard for today. So it was a tough assignment, and I think that we do appreciate that the American girls are good. They're very, very good. But I'm very proud of the girls, and they're going to be names that we're going to see a lot of in the future. Q. We just put this to Carol, but do you think there will ever come a day -- with six defeats, do you think there's a slight possibility that someone might want to make this Europe versus America? MARY McKENNA: No, I don't think it would have the same impact. I think it's very special, it's very important that we keep it, especially for GB & I, because it gives the girls something to focus on, something to strive for. And I think because we have it, and even if the results are going against us, it gives the girls something major to strive for and it's a steppingstone for the future. There's no doubt that the Curtis Cup is the thing to make. It's difficult to get on the team. So personally I would hope it would never change because it is the incentive for all our girls to work for. Q. Can you share your strategy with us today? You had your two top points scorers in the last two matches. You didn't feel that you needed to perhaps get points on the board early this morning? MARY McKENNA: Well, I think right through -- the team is strong right through. I mean, I don't think -- the strategy was Breanne reacts to leading the team, getting out, needs the oomph, and I thought that she would take off that way. Jodi is one of the strong players, Liz is one of our strong players. SALLY WATSON: I think that our whole team just is such that it really would have mattered what order she put us in. We all believed in ourselves. The whole team, we had strength; every player is a quality golfer. I just don't think the order really was going to make a huge difference. Q. Mary, after six defeats in a row, what has to be done to turn this around? MARY McKENNA: I think if you look at the quality of player and the standard of play in this Curtis Cup, it certainly gives huge heart to what we're doing. I think the four home countries are working well. Certainly the strategy is to try and start them younger to get more younger girls in. You look at the age profile at the moment, and the standard is good. We just have to keep going and keep going, and one of these days we will win. Q. On the strategy, again, can I ask why Krystle was left out in the two foursomes sessions? MARY McKENNA: Basically I was trying to get everybody to play, so I mean, that was just the way it worked out and that was the way I thought would work well. I mean, it was nothing against Krystle. That was just the way I thought that the foursome combinations and the fourball combinations would work. Q. Can I ask, Krystle, you're the best golfer of the day, 4-under par. You're kind of a specialist at the Old Course. Can you say what the conditions were like, easier or more difficult than usual? KRYSTLE CAITHNESS: The conditions were tough today, and the wind was blowing more and it started raining. It was playing more like a links course today. The first two days it was playing like a links course, but today especially with the wind and the rain, it was very bouncy, and it was just difficult out there. But I think everyone enjoyed it. Everyone loves this kind of weather, and I think it was great. But it was very tough. Q. Mary, we asked Carol, or rather I asked Carol, what she thought the difference between the two teams was. Can I put the same question to you? MARY McKENNA: I think probably they're just very slightly better players, and I think maybe that the States have so many to choose from, but I think our standard has gotten closer. Quite honestly, the first two days it would have been maybe just a few putts that went their way, and there wasn't a huge difference, really. Q. I'm just wondering in all the functions were the two teams were together for dinners and stuff, now that they're kind of equal age-wise, is it different at all do you think since there weren't a lot of mid-ams? MARY McKENNA: Sorry? Q. The GB & I team is a lot younger than it has been in years past. I'm wondering if when the two teams got together if the atmosphere was any different. MARY McKENNA: The atmosphere was super. We had the first two nights when we arrived, Sunday and Monday, that the teams had dinner together, and some of the girls would have known -- the girls this age would have known some of the Americans, and they just picked up. They're all young girls, they all talk about the music and various things. The atmosphere was very good, and they all enjoyed it. Q. Mary, I was wondering if two years from now you'd expect to see some of the girls stay on the team for next time. MARY McKENNA: Oh, without a doubt, yes. I think anybody who is still in the amateur ranks will be definitely in running for the team. Q. And the girls, do you see yourselves being on the team in two years? SALLY WATSON: Well, I'm still going to be amateur, so hopefully my game will continue to improve over the next two years. I think now that I have been on a Curtis Cup team and I have lost, it's just going to be wanting revenge even more, wanting to win even more. Hopefully having that little bit more experience in the Curtis Cup and knowing a little bit more about what to expect, and hopefully we can all play well next time and come out on top. But I think having this experience has really helped my game and has helped just develop me as a golfer, and I think everyone would just kind of thank the LGU for giving us this opportunity, because it is really a once in a lifetime opportunity. KRYSTLE CAITHNESS: Yeah, I'm going to stay amateur, also, and I hope to make the team in two years' time. Curtis Cup is the biggest team match you'll play. It's such an honour to represent Great Britain and Ireland, and I hope I'm in contention for that selection. Q. Mary, are you staying on as captain? MARY McKENNA: I have to wait until I'm asked. My contract or whatever you want to call it was for Vagliano and for Curtis Cup, so I obviously don't know. Q. If you are asked, would you stay on? MARY McKENNA: I don't know. Q. Can you tell us about your knee problem and what happens next with that? Was there any point where you were a doubt fitness-wise to play this week? SALLY WATSON: About two months ago now, I had a slight hiccup, and I actually had to go in for an arthroscopy because I couldn't straighten my knee, and if I would have had the surgery I wouldn't have been able to play. But with the help of the Scottish Institute of Sport, I was able to come home from America straight away, and I got that dealt with. I worked really hard over the next kind of two months, really, six weeks, to get myself prepared because I knew that if I didn't work hard then I wasn't going to be able to go and play. I'm actually going to have knee surgery this summer, just because I feel like it's just getting to the point where my knee, it's a bit of unreliability, and I don't want to get into a situation later in life where I'm playing in a big tournament and my knee just kind of gives way and then I have to pull out. As I get older and every year that passes, the tournaments do get bigger and bigger and more important for me, so I'm going to get the knee surgery in summer, and then I have one more year in Florida and hopefully I can just make the most of that year. I'll be able to work even harder than I have in the past two years and hopefully come out next summer and just play the best I can. This experience, though, it's just -- you know, it's the pinnacle of amateur golf. I was going to try and do everything I could to play, and I'm just glad that I did play and I had that experience. It is a week and it is a tournament which I will remember forever. Q. Which knee is it? SALLY WATSON: It's my right knee, my cruciate ligament. I used to play basketball. I played for under-16 Scotland basketball when I was 12. I came back -- I lived in California for three years, and basketball was what I wanted to do with my life. Unfortunately God had other plans for me. I injured my knee and I couldn't get to the same level. But if it hadn't have been for that injury, I probably wouldn't be in this Curtis Cup and in this position right now, so I'm kind of glad it did happen. Q. When are you actually going to get the surgery? SALLY WATSON: On Wednesday. STEWART McDOUGALL: Mary, Sally and Krystle, thank you very much. End of FastScripts |
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