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USGA SENIOR WOMEN'S AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIPSeptember 25, 2008Diane LangTULSA, OKLAHOMA THE MODERATOR: First thing, congratulations on winning the USGA Senior Women's Amateur title three times in four years. Diane Lang, that sounds pretty good. Even though you won it before, to hear it again has a nice ring. DIANE LANG: I tell you, every time I hear it or think about it, it's more unbelievable to me. So I am a happy camper at this moment. Three firsts in four years, I think that's pretty good. Q. You are 22-1 in match play since you've turned 50 in this championship. But this one wasn't textbook. Tell me about the match? DIANE LANG: Today the match, well, I know that Toni's a very strong competitor. And I know that she's a very good putter, and I know that she's very accurate. My big bugaboo all week and all year and last year has been my driver. So I figured if I could just keep it on the short grass with my length I should be fine. So that was my game plan. I started out executing the game plan until we got to, I think it was number 5 hole when, you know, I hooked the ball. From there, the confidence went out the window for sure with my driver, so it became a little bit of a steering job for the rest of the way in. Q. Yet, where you won this, were five wins in a row 6 through 10. Very ironic. DIANE LANG: Very ironic, right. Well, she had a little bit of bad luck, and I had a little bit of good luck. I think that par 5 number 8 looked for sure like that was her hole. For me to halve that hole was huge. Q. You won that hole. DIANE LANG: Oh, I won it. I won it. I didn't even realize it. Okay, thank you very much. All right. So that was huge for me. Then on number 9, you know, we were both in the rough, but her shot was horrible. Downhill to the sand trap, she had no chance. Whereas I was just through the green and I had basically a much easier shot, as easy as you can have on to that rough because it's very difficult to get out. Q. A lot of it out there is where you miss it, isn't it? Because some of those lies on the sides of the green can be impossible? DIANE LANG: A lot, a lot. The ball, I'm very good around the greens. I'm excellent around the greens. I just found with the chipping around the green that either the club would slide under the ball or you would hit the shot and the ball would just fly. So it was very difficult to gauge how you wanted to hit the ball. Q. Talk to me about the emotions that you feel. Just, body language, you know, what are you feeling? Like, wow, I finally did it? DIANE LANG: Right now I'm just a little bit in disbelief; but just so happy that it's over. That I can go back home and, you know, just see my family again. Even though they don't play golf, I know that my husband was watching on the computer. I think he watched yesterday. He didn't know about the afternoon match, I think. But at least it kept him involved. I know he'll be proud of me, and that's very special to me. Q. You said to me something on the way up, That ain't bad for a little girl from Jamaica? DIANE LANG: Exactly right. You know, Jamaica's not a very big golfing community as you can tell. Our specialty is fast runners. So coming from Jamaica with no real training as far as golf pros go. Only two golf courses in Kingston where I'm from. And having my dad teach me from what he learned reading books. I think that my chances of ever doing something like this are probably 1 in a billion, really. You know, everything I've done in golf, people have always said no, it's impossible, you can't do it. When I tried for the tour: You're too old. You haven't played collegiate golf. You haven't had any golf pros. You haven't played any top amateur tournaments. You cannot do it. You know, I think if you put your mind to something and just really believe, all things are possible. Q. What year did you come over? DIANE LANG: I came over in 1975 to FAU. I graduated in '79. And then I got married in '82, and I tried out for the tour in '83. Q. And you made it? DIANE LANG: And I made it on the first try, and I played for a year. Then I lost my card, and I went back to the Mini Tour where I've been in 1983. Played Mini Tour in '84 and '85, and also in '86. In '86 I went to Europe and played nine weeks on the European Tour, which is a lot of fun. Then I ended up getting pregnant, and that was the end of my golf for 16 years. So I'm back. I couldn't stay away from the game any longer. Q. That was the end of your golf for 16 years? You put it away? DIANE LANG: I put it away. I figured if I wasn't going to be a professional golfer, it wasn't worth playing. That was very wrong. Q. What brought you back out? DIANE LANG: Just my love of the game. I wanted to experience that wonderful feeling of nerves and happiness, and everything else that goes along with playing women who are really good. One of my friends told me about the Florida State Women's Golf Association. So I got involved with them and started playing, and winning some tournaments and having such a ball. Then they told me about this Senior Amateur which, I didn't really know about it. As soon as I turned 50, I decided to give it a try. Q. So you never competed in the mid-ams or anything? DIANE LANG: No, the only thing I competed in in 1985 I did play in the U.S. Open at Baltusrol. And I did fairly well there because I made the cut. And after the first day, I never looked at the scoreboard until it was all over, my husband wouldn't let me look. But I was actually in second place after the first day, so that was kind of nice. But I went steadily downhill after that. Q. Was that your biggest payday as a professional golfer that Women's Open in '85? DIANE LANG: I don't think so. Because I was at the end of the list. I think I made a decent check in Orlando at a tournament where I was actually he under par for all three days. I was like 3 under par. Q. Tell me about the long putter? You didn't always have that, did you? DIANE LANG: I have not. I've had the long putter now for about two years. It actually had been parked in my garage in timeout for a few months this last year. But I realized that there was just no way I can ever use a short putter. I do have the yips very badly with a short putter, and the long putter just totally eliminates it because you can grab on to a long pole and swing it. Q. So you won in 2005 and 2006 with the conventional and traditional putter? DIANE LANG: No, with the long putter. Q. But you gave the putter a timeout? DIANE LANG: Yes, between that. I wanted to look like a real golfer. I figured that's how real golfers look, and I did try it for some pretty big tournaments. It did not work out whatsoever. Q. How about if you tell us a little about your Jamaican connection with athletics? DIANE LANG: Well, I go back just on holiday. My husband's American, and his favorite place in the world to vacation is Jamaica. That's it. No matter where I take him, Europe, doesn't matter. Let's go to Jamaica. So when I go back, I don't really go to Kingston. But after I won the first one, I got invited by the Jamaican Athletic Federation -- I don't know what their name is -- to come down and they were going to give me an award. I didn't know what it was all about. So I did go down, and to my surprise they actually had people from every category of sports. So they had a bus that took us over from the hotel where we were going to have this awards dinner. And on the bus it was just a bus full of Olympians. So here I was sitting with all these 20-year-olds, 21. Their main thing was whose mother was I (laughing). I had to explain that I played golf. I didn't run; I played golf. It was a very nice awards ceremony that we had. But looking at those athletes, oh, my gosh. Q. They've had you back three times as a national championship? DIANE LANG: You never know. I might have to email them and let them know. Q. If you had to race against all the other competitors this week, would you have won that, too? DIANE LANG: I think so. I think so. As long as it's short. I don't do long distances. Just the 100-yard dash. Q. One thing we don't have is your husband's name, and is dad still living and his name? DIANE LANG: My husband's name is Jeff. And, unfortunately, it will be three years now in October my dad passed away. He had a heart attack and never came out of the hospital after multiple bypass. So I know he's up there watching because he was my mentor, best friend the person that I called after every round of golf that I've ever played in my entire life and told him shot by shot. He sat on the other end of the phone and listened to everything. So I know he's watching. I'm sure he's happy. Q. What was his name? DIANE LANG: Edie, or Edward was his real name. And Aris is his last name. Now my mom is still alive. I did talk to her yesterday. And she reaffirmed that I could do it, and I was not to give up until the last hole. So I promised her that I would try my hardest. Q. You were not here to be a party girl or a social girl, were you? DIANE LANG: No, I don't. When I'm at golf, there is no partying. I am from the golf. I travel to all these places and they'll say well, what is Tulsa like? I don't know. I know where the hotel is, and I know where the golf course is. That's typically how I go. If I'm there to play, I'm there to play. The partying is for afterwards. Q. You told me before, but compare your golf today in 2008 as opposed to your first two victories 5 and 6, the type of golfer you are? DIANE LANG: Ball striking in 2005. I think I hit my driver really well every day. I did not worry about it. I could just lean back and rip it. When I do hit it, it goes pretty far, so that's usually my advantage in a senior amateur. Not in the amateur with the 13-year-olds, but at this level. But I think that now in 2008, I'm a much more patient golfer. I think my short game skills are 100% improved. Q. Did you have lessons? When did golf become a bug for you that you had to answer, and without golf, what athletics were you involved in? DIANE LANG: The first time I swung a golf club, I was hooked. My dad was an athlete. He was one of the top tennis players in the Caribbean. He played Davis Cup tennis, he was really good. He grew up with his own tennis court and won just about every trophy there was to win in Jamaica in tennis. But once he got to his 30's, he was too old for tennis, and he took up golf. His thing was always that as long as it had to do with sports, you could do it. You could have it, you could do it. So I was captain of my net ball team. We don't have basketball in Jamaica, because we're a British country. So I was captain of that. I was on the swim team. I tried diving. I got a horse. I rode for many years. If it was a sport, I played it. But once I tried golf at 13, I sold the horse. Stopped doing everything else but golf, because golf you can play by yourself. You don't need anybody else. I enjoy that oh, so much. I rarely play golf with anybody at home. I usually just practice. Q. A lot of people look at it as a social event. DIANE LANG: No. Opposite for me. Q. When you came over here did you play in college? DIANE LANG: I played in college. I was the first year they ever had a woman's golf team at FAU. So I knew with the coach, I brought my clubs. He asked me what I shot and I said well high 70s, low 80s, and he said, fine, you're on the team. I knew that something was amiss. Maybe this wasn't the greatest team. But we had such a blast. We really had a fun time. Q. What brought you to Florida from Jamaica? I know it was school that you ended up with, but what was the allure? DIANE LANG: The allure was one day I was already at university in Jamaica, and I got a phone call from a friend of mine who had moved to Florida when she was about 13. She said, Diane, why don't you come over here to college with me? You actually can get a golf scholarship. In Jamaica, there are no athletics. School is school, and that's it. University in Jamaica is so, so difficult. It's really hard, academically. So I thought, gosh, I could play golf and go to school in America? Had that sounds like a plan. So I call out to my mom who was close by and I said, Can I go to Florida to school? And she said, yes, if you want. I was on a plane, took the test, got in, and I was there in probably three or four months. That's how I got here. With rarely a plan. Just coincidence. Q. Is next year going to be another 120% effort? DIANE LANG: Oh, it's going to be big. Next year I really, I don't know if it's going to work out. I have no idea. But I would love if my husband could be there for at least the speech. He's missed out on all the speeches. And I hope, I hope we can financially and with the kids in school and everything else figure out a way for him to just be there. Not for the tournament, but just they usually do it on a Friday, the speech, and then Saturday and Sunday we qualify. So that part's okay. Hopefully, I can qualify. Q. Mean the speech at the dinner? DIANE LANG: Yeah. Q. How many kids do you have? DIANE LANG: I have two, and the youngest is 15. So she's just in high school. So maybe if they could come for the weekend, maybe she could miss school that day Friday and come Saturday and then they can go back Sunday. That's going to be my plan. Q. Husband, Jeff, children's names? DIANE LANG: Amy is 15, and she has a swing like Tiger Woods, but she hates golf because it always takes mom away from her. And my son, Steven, is 21, and he is not the athlete. He is the wants to be a music producer. So he is a computer guru. Totally unlike his mom. Q. Do you have a goal in mind as far as how many of these you'd like to win? DIANE LANG: I'm going to play until they dig a hole and bury me. I hope I die on the golf course. It is my real hope. Please, lord, take me that way. A big bolt of lightning or something. End of FastScripts |
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