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HSBC WOMEN'S WORLD MATCH PLAY CHAMPIONSHIP

July 1, 2005

Lisolette Neumann

GLADSTONE, NEW JERSEY

PAUL ROVNAK: Liselotte, thank you for coming in and speaking with us. Congratulations, you just knocked off the No. 2 seed in the tournament, and pretty convincingly.

LISELOTTE NEUMANN: Yeah, I played excellent golf today, really, really good. Felt very comfortable out there. Putted great. I think I made about seven birdies in those 15 holes, so it was good golf today.

Q. You birdied the three short holes on the par 3s.

LISELOTTE NEUMANN: Yeah, I had a birdie on No. 3. That was my first birdie, and 7 actually, on 12, I was about five feet and she gave me the putt because she was already out of the hole. So I don't know if I would have made it or not. But it was close, enough to put pressure on her.

Q. After the Solheim, this is a big week to showcase yourself?

LISELOTTE NEUMANN: Yes, actually talked to a friend of mine last night and he said that this is a little preparation for the Solheim. "You know, you get to go and play Cristie Kerr and just to be patient out there and have fun with it."

It's a little extra information for me and just kind of thinking about that, because obviously I haven't been on the team last few years. So maybe just having that somewhere in the back of my mind just kind of helped me get really pumped up this morning and just had a good warm up. Felt really good about my game today.

Q. What do you make of all the trouble that the top seeds are having? Even Annika is out there 1 down and fighting for her life.

LISELOTTE NEUMANN: Match play is always so different from the stroke play events. You know, I think like this week, because of the softness of the golf course, it's sort of anybody's ballgame. It's just whoever is on for the day, and you can so aggressive on the shots into the greens. The fairways are so forgiving, they are so wide that you don't see a lot of players making mistakes off the tees. So it really comes down to good ball striking, and then who is going to make the putts up there. It's kind of like whoever is on for the day and striking the ball the best is probably going to win?

Q. Do you feel there was more pressure on Cristie because she was the No. 2 seed?

LISELOTTE NEUMANN: I guess you have to ask her if she felt the pressure. For me it was, you know, more just going out and, I mean, I just really wanted to win this match against here. I figure she's one of the top American players, and, you know, having that little thought of the Solheim behind of in the back of the mind, you figure she's the person to beat. Got me fired up and just really played well.

Q. Do you think your chances to win this have improved?

LISELOTTE NEUMANN: Well, I think if I play the way I did, it will be hard for anybody to beat me I think. I don't think there's too many players out there making, you know, seven or eight birdies in 15 holes; obviously if I can keep up that. But obviously, it's hard to go out and to do that every round. I played good yesterday but today was definitely a step better.

I feel very comfortable with my game right now, and I started to putt really well today, which putting has sort of been the thing that has not been working for me so well lately. Today I was rolling the ball really well. We'll see what happens, I guess.

Q. What were the lengths of your birdie putts?

LISELOTTE NEUMANN: The one on No. 3 was probably about ten feet.

No. 4 was about nine feet.

Then I birdied No. 5. We tied on the birdie on No. 5 and I was probably six feet.

Then I birdied 7. That was about 12 feet. The one on 9 was about nine, ten feet. 12, I don't know, I had it about six feet and I never got to putt that one.

My birdie on 14 was about six feet.

And then my birdie on 15 was four feet.

Most of them were within 12 feet. The greens are holding so well that you know, I felt like I really was just able to, with the numbers, it was easy for me to pick clubs today and just go right at it. Some days you feel like you're a little bit in between and you might have to hold back a little bit or you get confused what club to hit, but today everything just sort of fell into place for me.

Q. And the speed of the greens was less of an issue because these putts were so close?

LISELOTTE NEUMANN: Yesterday I struggled with some putts and didn't quite get them to the holes. Today I felt like all of my putts were close enough that I never had a problem getting anything to the hole. I don't think I left a putt short all day.

Q. Were you at all encouraged today by all of the upsets yesterday?

LISELOTTE NEUMANN: No. I guess I really didn't think that much about it. I was just really trying to focus on my match and just to go on to the weekend and get to play.

Q. At this level is there really such a thing as an upset in an 18 hole match?

LISELOTTE NEUMANN: You know, it's funny you're saying it because you look at all of the pairings, I would have had such a hard time picking who is going to win the matches, because you feel like everybody, everybody that's here are good players. So it's basically whoever can get it going for those 18 holes. I think that's maybe why you see the No. 1 seed or whatever it is, 2, 3, 4, maybe not up there, but those are players that played probably really well over 72 holes. But when it's 18 holes, anybody can play well. It's more a matter of being able to do it day in and day out. That's why match play is so different.

Q. That said, would you still be shocked if Annika lost?

LISELOTTE NEUMANN: I wouldn't. I think Tina Barrett is a very good player. Obviously she played really well yesterday. I think she won her match 5 & 3, so she has some confidence coming into today. She's a very solid player. She keeps the ball in play and I think with the greens being soft, she can be aggressive. She's a great putter.

Q. With all of the different countries represented, it would be interesting to have three Swedes in the final four.

LISELOTTE NEUMANN: That would be nice (laughing). We like to see our flag up there, of course.

Q. Would you just talk about going into the weekend now where you could face two matches tomorrow and then on Sunday, the tournament really turns into an endurance test partly from here on out.

LISELOTTE NEUMANN: I don't have any problems with going 36. I feel like I'm in good enough shape, and I love the heat. So for me I don't see it as any problem at all.

Q. Do you know what you shot yesterday?

LISELOTTE NEUMANN: Yesterday I was I think I was 5 under yesterday.

End of FastScripts.

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