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KAPALUA LPGA CLASSIC

October 19, 2008

Morgan Pressel

MAUI, HAWAII

MIKE SCANLAN: Can we go through your card?
MORGAN PRESSEL: Bogey 5. I was just on the cut of the fringe in the rough and I 3-putted from about 25 feet and missed about a 5-footer.
Birdie 7. I holed out from the bunker, the front bunker.
Birdie 9. I made about a 15-, 20-footer.
13, again about a 15-footer.
14, I pulled my 7-wood left and I missed about an 8-footer for par.
16, I hit 7-iron to about six feet.
18, I made a putt from the front fringe, 18 or 20 feet maybe.
MIKE SCANLAN: Thanks for coming in and I know you have a flight to catch, so we'll make this reasonably quick for you. If you would, talk about being the Kapalua touring pro, winning the Kapalua LPGA Classic and holing that awesome putt on 18 for the victory.
MORGAN PRESSEL: It's exciting. I'm excited, first to be a part of the Kapalua family, and it was a dream that we had to bring the LPGA Tour here. To be here and to win on top of it is just that much more exciting because I have my Kapalua family, as I'm now calling them, they just cheered me on all week. And I had a lot of obligations in terms of going to all of the events and functions and dinners, and I still managed to be in bed by about nine o'clock every day, so that was good.
You know, it's a great place to win. I always enjoy my time here. I wish I could spend more time. I'm looking forward to coming back in February for some vacation time.

Q. Could you talk about how much Adam and Martin have helped with your swing changes and your putting changes and how much that helped you for this tournament?
MORGAN PRESSEL: It's been great. We've worked hard for last couple of months.
And I had a couple of good rounds in Alabama. It was hit and miss. Signs of good play, but nothing that would hold for too long. And it just -- one of my favourite spots on this whole piece of property is the top of the teaching academy, and I was up there just about every day just hitting balls. And the more repetition, the more you become comfortable with your swing, and that's really all it is.
I'm not even close to being there yet, and I still made some mental errors and made things a little more difficult on myself. We worked really hard to simplify the swing so we could make it more powerful and more reliable.
And on my putting, it's still not there, but I putted very well, and Ron Stockton and I have worked a lot on that, and on my mental game, as well.
So it's all kind of coming together, and I have a few more events left this season, and I'm hoping that this gets me closer to ADT where I can play at home -- well, this is my second home; home in South Florida, and end the season nicely.

Q. Could you just talk about finally getting that win this season? Your win last season came kind of early and this season, you got it pretty late, but on your home course.
MORGAN PRESSEL: Yeah, I've certainly had my struggles and my troubles since my first win at the Kraft. That was more of a surprise than anything, I guess you could say, coming from behind the last three or four holes. That came a little bit quicker. I mean, here I am, sleeping on the lead I didn't sleep too well last night.
Like I was talking about with my swing changes, I've worked really hard on my swing changes. I've worked in the gym and worked on trying to get a little more distance; and it's a little bit further, but it not where I'd like to be. And I've also spent quite a bit of time tinkering with my equipment and Callaway golf and trying to put the best system together. And I haven't even seen the two new drivers they have, FT-9 and FT-iQ. So I can't wait to hit those and maybe they will go even further and then it will be even better.

Q. Can you talk about that sand save at 17 and how big that was?
MORGAN PRESSEL: Okay. I stood on the tee and it's the same thing I did on, what, 14. I just -- knucklehead play. Pull-hook when the pin is left, and left is no good, and there's the whole green to the right.
So that was a bit frustrating, on 14 to begin with, and I just know, that hole fits my eye perfectly and I just came over it a little bit, but I actually saw it that it was buried like on the lip of the bunker. And so I thought I was done, dead. I thought it was over.
And it was quite a relief when I got up there and saw that it was not buried and it was fine in the flat of the bunker. But it's hard to see from that tee. You know, that was a big putt and a big five-footer, and those are those knee knockers that you practice and practice, and I guess they make up for the putt I missed yesterday on 18.

Q. It seems like you're very emotional on the last hole, and could you please explain a little bit about your emotions and feeling when you made the putt and everything?
MORGAN PRESSEL: Well, I was nervous. I was nervous out there. I knew what I had to do. I knew that those couple of putts when I missed on 14 and 15 could have been important. But then I knew that that birdie on 16 was just what I needed at the right time.
On 18, I didn't want to go extra holes, and I've hit it tight there every day. And I had what I thought was a perfect little pitch shot there and I just -- it was almost sitting too perfectly up in the rough and I got a little under it, didn't quite get there.
From there, you just really hope to 2-putt; if it goes in, great, and it went dead center I didn't really know what to do. You know, just get a little lucky sometimes and then get the right bounces.

Q. How did you feel yesterday when you knew you were in the final group?
MORGAN PRESSEL: Well, I had a good feeling last night, I did. I just kind of said, go through the same routine. I had a nice dinner and went to bed early, got up early, went for a little run, kind of relaxed -- and I got up very early, about two o'clock. (Laughter).
And then you know, just tried to pack and get ready, so that was a little hectic. You know, it was a long night and a long morning, but like I said, I knew that if I focused on my routine and preparation, that was really my key today. Stick to my plan and stick to my routine because it's worked the past few days and that's really what I tried to do.
Like when I made a bogey on 5, I knew that it wasn't the end of the world and I could come back from it and just wanted to give myself a chance little bit more work.

Q. I think Suzann is being tired of finishing second to you. She opened a three-stroke lead at the turn. What was your thoughts then?
MORGAN PRESSEL: Well, that was the first leaderboard I saw was on 9. It was right after or right before I think I made the birdie putt, and I said to my caddie, wow, Suzann is on a tear this morning and she's really come up strong.
But I knew that the wind was picking up. The wind was a little bit left early, and it was picking up. And then I saw that that putt on 13 actually gave me the lead.
So it was a quick turn of events. I don't really know what she did in terms of -- I saw, because I was on 14 tee, I saw that she missed her chip on 15. I didn't really know exactly where she -- like how she had accomplished it, but she obviously made a couple bogeys there, and maybe the birdie on 18, I'm not sure where she hit it, probably hit the green. And I knew that par would put me in a playoff and that birdie would win it.
I went with the same plan I had had all week, which is play smart, which I didn't accomplish very well. You know, I tried to just stay in the moment, not get ahead of myself, know that birdie are out there, and that if I rolled it well, that I could make them.

Q. A little more about the swing change, you said about your take away, but did you change your grip?
MORGAN PRESSEL: No, I worked on my grip a little bit on the off-season. That's really not what I've been focusing on. I've been focusing on getting a little bit earlier wrist hinge and getting it more on plane going back.
MIKE SCANLAN: Morgan, congratulations.

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