U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 4, 1998

Lisolette Neumann

LISELOTTE NEUMANN: I think that ranks right up there. That has got to be one of my best shots ever and at the good time, too, that couldn't have been better timing.

LISELOTTE NEUMANN: I started out with birdie on the 1st hit, pitching wedge to about 35 feet. Made that putt. Another birdie on No. 4, where I hit 7-iron to 9 feet. Now we are coming into all the bogeys here. There was bogey on No. 7, missed my second shot. It was a 5-wood just sort of left short of the green and chipped it up to about ten feet, missed that putt. A bogey on 8, I hit 8-iron kind of short of the green 3-putted, had about 60 feet on my first putt and second putt was five feet. Bogeyed 11, that was an 8-iron and left that short -- kind of short on the green, 3-putted from, I will say, about 45 feet. Second putt was five feet. Coming back that I missed. Bogey on 12, second shot was a 6-iron that I hit down in the bunker on the right side. I hit my bunker shot to five feet and missed the putt. 13, another bogey, that was a 6-iron, just left of the green, chipped it up and 2-putted. The putt was about 18 feet. Another bogey on 14, that was sand wedge to about 18 feet and that was a 3-putt, second putt was three feet. And another bogey on 15, where I missed my drive right, hit my second shot in the bunker and hit a bunker shot up to about 15 feet and missed the putt. And a birdie on 16, had about 60 yards to the pin. I hit a sand wedge up to five feet and made that putt.

LISELOTTE NEUMANN: Just hit a dead solid drive just down the middle. Obviously the hole was playing really long, just a back left pin. The pin was like 35 yards long. My second shot I had like 210 to the hole and I just wanted to hit it up on the right side a little bit sort of left the slope of the green just bring the ball down to the left and decided to hit a 5-wood and I think just got a little quick on it. Put a little kind of -- pulled -- almost like a little draw and obviously just hit it in the water just short of the green, the left side there and definitely not too happy walking up to that shot. Just the chip that I had that I chipped it in, it was about 35 yards away.

LISELOTTE NEUMANN: I think I was pretty disgusted, myself, at that point, actually. I was not very happy. At this point now I am looking at a bogey, maybe a double-bogey at this point, and I was just -- just tried to hit my chip, just tried to get it close. If I could make a bogey, you know, I figured where Se Ri Pak was -- maybe she had a good chance to make a par there, I figured I was just going to come in maybe 'til tomorrow, three shots behind, maybe I was just, you know, just a big turn there for me to chip that in and she ended up actually 3-putting. So I actually walked off with a better score and, you know, looking at the results of today now, we both shot even today, both shot 4.

LISELOTTE NEUMANN: Not really. I mean, I think I was -- I felt like I was playing my game. I think I was playing very good. I mean, the first ten holes I was pretty happy. I mean, 7 is a tough hole. There musn't much to say about a bogey there and the 3-putt on 8 was maybe a little disappointing, but then all the trouble sort of started with the five bogeys, I couldn't get off that bogey-train that I was on. Out of those five bogeys, it is two, 3-putts -- I have been putting so well the first two days that I was very disappointing at that point.

LISELOTTE NEUMANN: I think just a combination of the pin placements and the wind. I think the wind just made some of the pin placements really tough. It is a lot of crosswinds out there. I think that makes it really difficult. But, I mean, I don't know, it is like -- I guess I didn't really think about it. I was like so busy out there just playing, that I don't look at the course being fair or unfair. It is sort of the setup is the same for everyone and,, you know, if we would have had perfect conditions today like it was the first two days, you know, I won't be surprised if you would have seen obviously a lot better scores. But the combination of the pin placements and the wind just made it really, really difficult.

LISELOTTE NEUMANN: In a way, for me, I was quite pleased, actually, that it was windy today. I knew it was going to be tough, but it is the same conditions for everybody. So, I don't hit the ball that high. I can keep it low in the wind, so, I thought, for me, I looked at it that it was an advantage for me to go out in the wind today and, you know, I guess it is just an attitude -- there -- it was a good positive attitude for me to have today when I teed it off just knowing that I think the conditions were favorable to me.

LISELOTTE NEUMANN: Yeah, I was trying to just sort of stay patient. You get a little frustrated, but I think what I was frustrated about was because, to me, those are more actually like the easier holes out there from like 11 played downwind. I mean, it played pretty short. 12 played the shortest it has played all week and 13 and 14 are obviously two short holes anyway. And just walking up with the four bogeys there, it was just very disappointing. But I just kept an eye on the scoreboard. I knew that obviously -- everybody was having trouble out there and I wasn't the only one and I was just trying to be focused and just hoping that maybe I can get a birdie in the last three, four holes coming in.

LISELOTTE NEUMANN: I think she was very, very solid. She doesn't show a lot of emotions. She is very good off the tee. She hits the drive really solid. She hits it long so she never really puts herself in a lot of trouble out there. I think she just made a couple of mistakes hitting a couple of shots into the greens where she ended up in trouble. She got a pretty good short game. I think probably she has been maybe putting a little bit better too the first two days. I think she had a couple of 3-putts today which I am sure she was pretty disappointed with too. But, overall, she didn't really show too much. She seemed very solid and she is really taking her time out there. She wasn't stressing and I think her caddie really -- looked like he was helping her out to sort of making her take her time. They were talking over the shots a lot. So she looked pretty solid.

LISELOTTE NEUMANN: Not surprised. It was -- I think what was more disappointing was that I was -- I almost made the first putt on like on 11, I almost made the first putt and it ran by like five feet. It is one of those where it is -- like touched the hole and it goes five feet by and you miss it coming back instead of walking off with a birdie, you go off with a bogey. Same thing on 14, almost holed the putt, and you are walking off with a bogey. I think those are sort of the killers, you know, when you are so close your heart is beating like -- so close for birdie, then you are walking off with a bogey, it is just -- you are so high up here and then you sink straight down to the ground. You do that a few times, I think it really, you know, I think it got to me on 15. I think I lost a little bit of my concentration there and just hit a poor tee shot; that was sort of the cause for my bogey on 15.

LISELOTTE NEUMANN: I don't really mind being in the second group. Obviously it is always fun to be in the last group, but if you look overall, I think it could be kind of good for me tomorrow to be in the second group. You sort of feel a little less pressure. You kind of get the feeling that you are sort of playing more from behind, I think, instead of sort of being up there in the lead, you are maybe playing a little more aggressive being behind, I think.

LISELOTTE NEUMANN: Oh, I would -- I would obviously love it. Like I said, it is ten years ago since I won it the first time and obviously it would mean a lot for me to win it tomorrow. It will sort of be a dream come true, I think, if that could happen, ten years later that is --

LISELOTTE NEUMANN: It felt like it, yeah. I sort -- my caddy was: Hang in there, you are still in it. I was peeking at the leaderboard the whole time. I knew that obviously no one was really doing too much out there, and I think just the way I started out the round today I was like 2-under after 4 and I get here late, obviously I watched the leaderboard. I know that no one is doing anything, no one shot a score, I think 3-under, I am like it's got to be tough out there somewhere. Obviously, it caught up with me. Started out way too good; all of a sudden, you know, the tough holes kind of jumped on me there, just made way too many bogeys.

LISELOTTE NEUMANN: It is probably a little bit of both, I think. I think, too, just playing in the wind, I think you kind of run out of gas a little bit. You are just concentrating so hard out there and you are trying so hard that sometimes I think it is hard maybe to keep your focus the whole time out there. But I think a lot of players think maybe, you know, like 11 through 15 are sort of the easier holes and I think what made it tough today is sort of a crosswind. It wasn't like straight down or straight into us. It is that crosswind and on both holes it is sort of pushing it towards the water and I think a lot of players have problems on those holes because of that.

LISELOTTE NEUMANN: I mean, if I hit totally straight into the wind, I usually just try to kind of swing easy, maybe almost have a feeling like hitting like 80% instead of just trying to rip at it. Obviously the crosswinds are a little more difficult. I am trying to play the wind. If you have the left-to-right, I try to aim it left and let the wind take the ball back or the same the other way.

LISELOTTE NEUMANN: Yeah, I think so. It's got to be one of the tougher ones, definitely.

LISELOTTE NEUMANN: Yeah, I think I would prefer if it was windy. I think, you know, it makes it very difficult out there and I mean, I think -- I don't mind it being difficult. It is not, like, you know, you don't have to make a lot of birdies out there. The conditions like this, you just got to be patient and try to make your pars out there and a lot of times it is going to come down to putting which I think is still my strength, even though it didn't go my way today, but with tough conditions like this, it is going to come down more to the short game. You have got to have great chipping and putting, and like I said, too, I don't hit the ball that high so I don't -- the wind doesn't affect my shots as much as it probably, you know, does for a lot of players that hit the ball high. So I won't mind the conditions being the same for tomorrow.

LISELOTTE NEUMANN: I think you can tell, you know, pretty early in the round if you -- if you come off -- you are comfortable and strike the ball good, I think you get very comfortable out there and unfortunately today, even though if you look at my score, I was 4-under, or sorry, 2-under after four holes. I still hit a couple of like little thin shots so I knew I was a little tight out there. I didn't quite strike the ball as good in the beginning of the round as I would have liked to.

LISELOTTE NEUMANN: He has been very, very helpful. It is a great support. He is my biggest supporter and my best friend and the best help I can have out there. I think it is just very important that you have someone that you can trust and someone that knows not just your game, but knows your personality and kind of knows when to talk and when not to talk and so on. Just someone that is there for you the whole time. He is a big part.

LISELOTTE NEUMANN: Yeah, and he is still out here.

LISELOTTE NEUMANN: No. Never. We have been working through the tough times and the good times. No, it has been a good relationship. We have been working just working really hard out there. I think both of us, and we are very determined and we both want to be better at what we are doing and I think that is part of the success.

LISELOTTE NEUMANN: Yeah, that is a long time. It is like a marriage.

LISELOTTE NEUMANN: Mark Scott.

LISELOTTE NEUMANN: It is - obviously, I mean, it does make everything tougher, that is for sure. It is hard because all of a sudden you didn't -- you can hit a lot of straight shots. A lot of times you have got to play the wind and maybe sometimes you have to play against the wind too, but I always try to sort of play the shots with the wind and kind of trying to make it as easy as possible. But if you hit the ball high it is obviously going to be a big problem out there. You are going to have to add a lot of clubs if you go into the wind or be really careful going downwind, so, obviously maybe hitting the ball a little lower doesn't affect me as much.

LISELOTTE NEUMANN: I mean, it definitely cheered me up, just, you know, knowing that I didn't lose any ground, you know, pretty much exactly in the same spot as I was starting out today and, you know, walking up knowing that that ball was in the water, I was so disappointed. I just had a feeling that I was going to be at least two or three shots behind at that point. For me, that was one of the biggest moments. I mean, that was the best thing that could have happen just to put a good smile on my face and, you know, it is nice to just come off even shooting 4-over par and feeling like, you know, you are still in the tournament, you still have a great shot at winning, and just knowing that I can go home and sleep good tonight. I am not going to go home and cry or anything.