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LPGA STATE FARM CLASSICJuly 17, 2008Audra BurksSPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS JASON TAYLOR: Audra, great round out there. 6-under, co-leading at this point in the clubhouse. Thoughts on how you played today. AUDRA BURKS: I played really well. I hit it solid all week. It must have been my Monday Pro-Am. We won that, so my ladies helped my shoot my 6-under today. I'll give them credit. No, I hit it solid and made a lot of putts, so... JASON TAYLOR: Questions. Q. You started on the back, I noticed. Looked like you kind of got a little streak going there midway through, well, your second nine. AUDRA BURKS: Yeah. Well, actually my birdies were all in clumps. They were either two or three in a row or there were long gaps between. The back 9, which was my first nine, the first three birdies that I made there were all long putts. I didn't have anything close. And then the front nine almost all of them were inside. Two were kick ins and one of them went inside about eight feet, so... Don't ask me how I did that. Q. With your birdies coming in clumps, talk but the greens a little bit. They seem to be pretty consistent on every green. Seemed to be really rolling well for you. AUDRA BURKS: Yeah, actually maintenance has done a great job. The greens are very consistent. I mean, once you got the speed of the greens it didn't change from green to another. Some weeks it does, so they've done a really good job as far as that's concerned. Q. A lot of people talked coming into this week, you know, some of the big names aren't here, blah, blah, blah. As a player, do you look at the field at all and say, So and so is not here. Hey, this week is maybe even a better opportunity than usual. Do you look at it that way? AUDRA BURKS: No. It really doesn't matter who's here and who's not. If you go out and you're playing well, you're playing the golf course anyway. You're not playing the field or any individual per se. So if you go out and beat the golf course for four rounds you're going to do okay no matter who's here. Q. You played in an early group today. Obviously the greens are in really, really good shape. That afternoon round tomorrow, it's part of the deal... AUDRA BURKS: It's part of it. That's the benefit of having a morning round. Everybody has a morning and an afternoon. The benefit there is to go out and play well in the morning because tomorrow afternoon the greens aren't going to be as smooth or as pure. But if you're rolling the ball well you can't worry but bumps. You're going to hit a bump -- no matter if the greens are smooth you could still hit a bump. Not much you can do about it. Q. As far as the starts you've had this year, is this... AUDRA BURKS: Yeah, I mean, I played well early on there and then kind of had a little streak there in the middle that I haven't -- I hit it well, I just haven't scored. So kind of nice to actually see everything come together and the ball go in the hole for a while. So that's nice. Q. Was there anything that really went well today that you'd like to see carry over to tomorrow? AUDRA BURKS: I hit my driver really well, which struggled the last few weeks with that. That's normally not something I struggle with. Normally I hit my driver fairly consistently straight, so it was nice to see to come back and go where I wanted it to go. Q. Of the birdies you had, any certain highlight out there? Any long putt? Anything that sticks in your mind? AUDRA BURKS: The first three on the back nine were all probably an average of 15 feet if you took all three of them. I mean, there wasn't anything inside 15 feet of the three of them. So I mean, they were all quite long. Probably the longest one was -- I probably had a 20-footer on the Par 5, on 13, because they've got the pin sitting five paces dead in the center on the front and down. So if you spin it off it's coming 30, 40 yards off the front of the green. I kind of was a little protective and hit it back and it didn't come back. I had a 20-footer down the hill with about three feet of break and it went right in there. Kind of got lucky there. Q. Were you here last year? AUDRA BURKS: No, I was not. I was injured last year, so this is the first year in -- this is my ninth year on tour, so it was my first in nine years not to be at State Farm. This is my first look at Panther Creek. Q. What was the nature of your injury? AUDRA BURKS: I ruptured two disks in my lower back. As a matter of fact, I was walking around with a stim machine on my back on Monday. I played almost 16 holes with my TENS unit on my back because I couldn't move. Q. Without going into too much detail, explain that. AUDRA BURKS: I ruptured the L4 and L5 disks in my, and they both ruptured back onto my spinal cord and caused some compression and some nerve problems. I was out pretty much most of the end of last year. Still, so far, I mean, this is the first time he's flared up since I injured it, so I'm thankful that it's feeling a little bit better today. Q. You talk about what do you wear. Is it a brace? AUDRA BURKS: No, it's a muscle stimulation -- it's shocking you basically. Little electronic pulses. Q. Enough where you notice the pulses, but not enough to really... AUDRA BURKS: Yeah, just to keep the muscles loose because they get a little tight. Q. This is your first year at Panther Creek, so just based on what you heard about it and what you seen since you got here -- I mean, last year it was later in the year and it was hot and dry. AUDRA BURKS: It's always hot in Springfield. Q. Well, yeah, if it's July or whatever else. But we're earlier in the summer. AUDRA BURKS: Right. Q. Based on what you've heard and what you've seen... AUDRA BURKS: I think it's a great golf course. It's in great condition. It's an improvement as far as just having a clubhouse too over the Rail. I mean, I enjoyed the Rail. I've had some good finishes over there. I had a top 10 a couple years back over at the Rail. So, I mean, it's an improvement golf course-wise and it's in great shape. I like it so far. Q. Where does this round rank on rounds you've had since coming back from the injury? AUDRA BURKS: Probably the lowest round I've shot since I hurt my back last year. That's nice. Q. Satisfying? AUDRA BURKS: Very satisfying. I like the 66 number. It's a good year. |
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