U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 26, 2008

Paula Creamer

FULL AUDIO INTERVIEW

Q. You had it to 4, which probably looked really good but then you had a tough ninth hole. But overall a very good group and a very good round?

PAULA CREAMER: Of course when you get to play with and Annika and Suzann, both who have won Majors, it's a good pairing. You play with a great galley out there, a lot of people watching. I played well. It's unfortunate I bogeyed the last hole and obviously you would have liked to have made that 6-footer especially from where I was. But I made some good ones, and now that's just how it works.

Q. Talk about the choices you faced on that third shot on nine.

PAULA CREAMER: Oh, I had six things going on. You can go either way. I was even looking 25 yards right and laying it up on to the hill.

I practiced that shot in the practice round. But it's -- you can almost hold it and I was thinking if you can almost hold it there you can almost hold it here. It's going to end up in the same place either way. But it was a good putt, I wouldn't want to do it again, that's for sure.

Q. Are these typical USGA greens for a U.S. Open like this? Are they any easier, any different?

PAULA CREAMER: I never putted on a golf course with so much break consistently. Sometimes you have holes out there that will break like this (Indicating) and it will be five out of the greens -- five greens or so.

But this is every hole. There's no flat green. And it's great though. It's what you want. It's an Open Championship. The rough isn't real thick, it's all a matter of putting it in position and being below the hole.

Q. Talk about the putting working you've done recently.

PAULA CREAMER: I've done -- my putter kind of has been missing for the last couple of weeks. But it's starting to come around. I've been working a lot on my stroke, my feel. I think putting is all confidence. And once a couple putts go in then the hole feels like it's a basket.

Right now I just see the breaks and it's almost better for me to see the curves going in instead of straight putts all the time.

Q. (Inaudible.)

PAULA CREAMER: Didn't change the grip. I practiced and practiced and practiced, result oriented on the putting green. And I don't look around the hole, I look from two sides, because my putting routine is, obviously I just need to step up and putt, that first instinct. And I'm trying to do what I do on the putting green on the course.

Q. What did you think of Annika's play today?

PAULA CREAMER: She isn't very happy with how she played, obviously, she started off really well, but she never really got any momentum going. But I'm sure tomorrow she's going to go as low as she can.

Q. The two, three, and four players in the world go out in the same pairing, do you feel like you had to play any more aggressively than usual because of that situation?

PAULA CREAMER: No, not really. I love the pairing that I had. It was great. Get another day of it. Which is good. Just your game rises when you play with good players and especially when you're at a U.S. Open. This is a U.S. Open, you want to play well, you want to put yourself in position, and the first three days that's all it is, is just putting yourself in position for Sunday.

Q. Did you change your mental approach heading into this Major as opposed to prior Majors? Anything different?

PAULA CREAMER: Not really. I've just learned so much from the past Majors and the past Opens and things, big events that I've played. And I've really just looked at it as patience and I've looked at it as, it's four days, pars are not going to kill you, you're going to make some birdies out there, but just keep parring holes and even if you have an 8-footer and you miss it you still par it it's not going to hurt you.

Q. Were you more relaxed?

PAULA CREAMER: I am. I'm trying to just put it as any other event. There's no reason why I cannot win a Major. It's just a matter of time. And there's -- I think people make it a bigger deal, which makes me think it's a bigger deal than what it is. So I'm just trying to go out and enjoy myself.

Q. You must have been pretty pumped up when you were able to save par on 16. Which was your 7, I think?

PAULA CREAMER: Definitely.

Q. (Inaudible.)

PAULA CREAMER: That was huge.

Q. That was a good hole for you?

PAULA CREAMER: That was. I was kind of struggling all over the place there, hit some good shots through the trees there, bunker shot hit the pin, luckily.

But once again making the putt is what counts. And that was confidence in two ways, for my putting and also saving par. But I was, I got my driver back on track on the back nine. On the front nine I kind of struggled a little bit, didn't hit many fairways.

Q. How long was the putt at 8?

PAULA CREAMER: Maybe 35 feet I would say.

Q. Putt on 17. You left maybe five six feet short. You saved it, you were quite happy with that. But after I saw the other putts and how slick it was past the hole, you really didn't want to do that, did you?

PAULA CREAMER: No. The greens out here, the hardest part is going from downhill to uphill. Uphill they're so slow and going downhill they're so fast. And if you don't get the speed right, and it's just -- you're struggling. I think that's the hardest part is the bumps and things like that. But 17 was, I was happy I made that short one.

Q. Would you do your birdies. Start on your back side there.

PAULA CREAMER: No. 11, I went driver into the left rough, had a good lie, hit a wedge to about four and a half feet.

Birdie on 14, I hit a 5-iron. I was 175. I had about made about a 35-footer.

No bogeys. You want me to do bogeys? No. Okay.

Birdie on 2. Driver, three rescue to the back of the green and I 2-putted.

Birdie on 3. Driver, three rescue, and then 54 degree wedge to about 12 feet.

Birdie on 8. Hit four rescue to about 35 feet.

Q. Nine?

PAULA CREAMER: Nine, I hit a driver and a little 5-iron. I hit a three quarter shot, probably should have hit a little one, and it went long and then I putted it down to about six feet and I missed the 6-footer.