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MCDONALD'S LPGA CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY COCA-COLAJune 3, 2008Suzann PettersenHAVRE DE GRACE, MARYLAND MIKE SCANLAN: All right, Suzann, thanks for coming in. Welcome back to Bulle Rock. You're defending your first major title this week. If you would just describe the feelings that you have coming back here. SUZANN PETTERSEN: It's of course a great feeling coming back here. I had a really nice win here last year, and it's just one of those courses where you feel good always coming back to. I haven't been on the course yet. I'm going out later today, and just going to take a look. Q. A lot has been made about Annika retiring and the rivalry between she and Ochoa; do other players feel left out of things a little bit or not mentioned as much? SUZANN PETTERSEN: I don't really pay attention to that. Let Annika and Lorena take all the hard work and let us do our business on the side, that's fine with me. (Smiling). Q. Do you see that as sort of a rivalry between Annika wanting to go out on a high note and Lorena wanting to go maintain No. 1; is that something that you have an opinion on? SUZANN PETTERSEN: Well, Annika, she's done everything she can do for women's golf. She's had a fantastic career. There's nothing more for her to prove. What she's done for women's golf is unreal and she's a great ambassador even off the golf course. So like she said, there's a time for everything. She has decided to stop playing competitive after this year; not that she's not going to put a good effort into trying to win all of the rest of the tournaments she's playing in. She's going to try to do well in everything she's in now. Lorena is very steady, very competitive again, and there's a bunch of us trying to chase her. Q. Is that rivalry this year great for the LPGA; should it be something that the LPGA should try to capitalize on? SUZANN PETTERSEN: You mean Lorena and Annika? Yeah, but I think, I mean, they both had a great start to the year. We're only in the beginning of June, and I think there's a lot of other players starting to really get warm and ready to kind of take it to the next level. Q. I think a lot of people look at going forward, you and Lorena as the two strongest players, especially the way you played the majors last year; how much do you pay attention to that, compared with how much you pay attention to just what you're doing? SUZANN PETTERSEN: I mean, I'm just trying to do whatever I can control. What Lorena does, I cannot control. And that's what I did really well last year. I just tried to do whatever I could to do my best, and whatever the others did, you can't do anything. If you shoot 65 and someone shoots 64 and beats you by one and you play your heart out; if you shoot 65 and someone shoots 64, you can't do anything about that. You know you can't leave too many shots out there every round because you need every shot. Q. Did it motivate you outside the ropes when the round is over? SUZANN PETTERSEN: Yeah, I think it's great, this tour is so strong now, so many profiles and so many good players. Everyone is getting better each year. No, I love it. Q. Where do you think you're lacking? If you could improve one thing about your game without saying everything, what would it be? SUZANN PETTERSEN: If I could be a little more consistent on the greens, that would help me a lot. Like when I putt well, I can win. Those weeks I don't win, I leave too many putts out there. So that's just my feel and I know the stats, and I'm working on it. I'm much more consistent this year than I was last year, so just be patient. Q. I know you haven't been on the golf course yet but can you talk in general terms what you think about this golf course, whether it's difficult, favors any player? SUZANN PETTERSEN: I think this is a golf course that favors ball-strikers. They can tuck some pins out here and you have to be able to work the ball to get close. I think that's good knowledge, if you can kind of shape the ball both ways. The fairways are fairly wide, so I mean, yeah, the par 5s, some of the par 5s are reachable. It depends. I mean, if the course is dry, pretty much all of the par 5s are reachable and then you have to take advantage of that if you're a long hitter. Other than that, if you play good with your irons this week, you're in good shape. Q. There seems to be either a movement or at least a discussion about having a drivable par 4 at different golf courses. Would you like to see more of that? 16, out here, for example, would you like to see the tee moved up another 30 yards? SUZANN PETTERSEN: Sure, I don't see why not. I mean, even if it's a drivable par 4, you still have to pull off the perfect shot to get it on the green, and if you miss it, you're going to be in trouble. Like on 16, I think there's water on the right and there's quite thick rough on the left. So it's not like you leave yourself an easy up-and-down. So I would probably make it more fun for the crowds, but anyway, it's such a short hole; you can hit a 3-wood, wedge. That's a good birdie hole, anyhow. Q. You've had a new caddie for five tournaments, six tournaments? SUZANN PETTERSEN: Yeah, I started working with Greg Johnson in Orlando. Orlando was the first tournament. It's nice to have a guy like him on the bag, very calm. He knows his stuff. He knows his business. He's always there; if you pop the question, he will be there. He's always prepared. We've played pretty good. We have one win and got a couple of two or three Top-10s and so not too bad. Just trying to be really patient and get the work done on the golf course. Q. What do you mean pop the question? SUZANN PETTERSEN: No, sometimes you might be on the golf course and you might be in between and you might be okay, what do you think, and he will always have -- there's always a thought behind what he says. He said, "Well, if you go practice on the par 5s, chip from here and you're going to be over there." He's kind of been through the golf course and his course management is very good. He's very helpful. Q. Looking ahead a little bit, how much do you look forward to going back to Interlachen? You had a nice finish there last time you played I think. SUZANN PETTERSEN: I almost remember every hole. I almost remember every hole. I think it's going to be a great U.S. Open course, because they can make that really tough. I just remember the greens in the U.S. Open how they kind of slope away like you have typical -- it's a Robert Trent Jones course, yeah. The USGA, putting up the rough, that's going to be a tough golf course. Yeah, I have some good memories from there. (Laughing). Q. Why are you laughing? SUZANN PETTERSEN: No, it's like the Solheim, those are our key -- I think you can ask anyone. For me, the Solheims, they are so special. You have so many special memories. I mean, I'm so happy that I've been able to play with Annika those times we've played, and undefeated. So that's what I said to Annika, "Who is going to be my new favorite partner? You're not going to play with me anymore." So what you achieve together and how you work together as a team during those things, those are memories you're going to have for life. I mean, winning here was great but I think even those Solheim moments, they stand out even stronger. Q. After Interlachen did you get more comments for the last five holes or the interview? SUZANN PETTERSEN: Yeah. But I also learned my lesson not to answer on national TV. (Laughter) I learned the tough way. No, I think that's going to be a great U.S. Open course. Q. Do you ever run into Arnold when you're at Bay Hill? SUZANN PETTERSEN: Yeah, all the time. Q. What's that like? SUZANN PETTERSEN: Like what I've said before, I'm so glad I've been around good players out here like Juli Inkster, Meg Mallon, Beth Daniel. But to be able to get to know and kind of try to dig into Mr. Palmer's head, I mean, that's fun. He's like a grandpa out there. He's so nice, always friendly, always smiles, always signs autographs. He's always on the range, he's there every morning. Any time I go play and he's unhappy with his game, he will go get a few drivers from his garage and go hit some and he's like, all of a sudden, "I've got it!" He's like 79 years old. (Laughter) We're like, okay, that's great. But being around him and actually getting to know him a little bit the last couple of years, great, great guy. I mean, what a character. Q. Have you ever played with him? SUZANN PETTERSEN: I've actually never played with him. They have tried to set us up a couple of times. That's one thing I would like to try to do within the next year, because he's usually there all winter, and I mean, you bump into him every day, every day. Q. Has he ever given you any advice or said anything? SUZANN PETTERSEN: I remember one time we were standing there, Daniel Chopra was out there practicing and we were putting. I was talking with him for a couple minutes and Mr. Palmer drives by and we go, "We're practicing." "Doesn't look like you're practicing. You're just talking." I said, "Yeah, we're just having a break." He was such a great putter, he said, "Oh, I have so many secret keys." We're like, "Come on, give us something." He's like, "No." He was saying, "No, I can't give them out. We're like, "Come on, you're never going to use them again; come on, tell us. (Laughter). And all of a sudden, the thing popped and everything is like -- he came out with the greatest stories and he's just talking and talking for hours and we're like two school kids admiring this guy. One thing he's always said, "You've got to believe in what you do." When I got home from this tournament last year, I had a personal letter from him which was quite good. So I mean, he's following and he's proud to be where he is. I'm very proud to know him. Q. What's the funniest story he ever told you? SUZANN PETTERSEN: There's so many. I mean, I always -- one thing I never forget. I said, "What made you such a good putter?" And he said, "My caddie always told me, no matter if I missed ten putts in a row, before I was going to tee up on the first hole, I always had my caddie telling me, 'You're the best putter in the world.'" So he said, "I always walked off the golf course being told I was the best putter in the world, so where's the problem?" See what I mean? I said, yeah, that's good, you need to believe it. If they tell you that over and over and over, you've got to believe it. And that's just -- Q. So is Greg doing that now? SUZANN PETTERSEN: Who knows. I'm not going to tell you my secrets. (Laughter). The thing is, I've been able to meet Gary Player, which also is a great, great guy. Arnold Palmer, there's so much personality. You just love to be around them all day long. I remember I was standing next to Mr. Player, we were doing a corporate day together, and he went to the other side to warm up. And everybody was standing on the other side and he came with his car and he pulled over and didn't like the angle he was hitting from. So he drove all the way up and so they took me up to the other side and all of a sudden everybody had moved from one side to the other to be around him and he stands, hits balls, tells this one story after another. He's having the biggest show and he's just being himself. It's just unbelievable. Q. Any other LPGA players at Bay Hill? SUZANN PETTERSEN: Probably, yeah. Sure. Q. Do you see anyone out there? SUZANN PETTERSEN: Helen Alfredsson is a member there. I know Se Ri is a member there. I don't see her much there. There are a couple of guys, Nationwide guys and some of those Champions Tour players come by. Q. Do you live in the neighborhood? SUZANN PETTERSEN: Yeah, two minutes. Really nice place. Q. How do you play 16? Is it a 5 or a 4? SUZANN PETTERSEN: Defends what my score would be. If it's a 4, it's a birdie and if it's 5, it's a par. (Laughter). MIKE SCANLAN: All right, Suzann, thanks for coming in. Good luck this week. End of FastScripts |
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