U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 1, 1998

Lisolette Neumann

LISELOTTE NEUMANN: Yeah, definitely the best start I have ever had in a season, that is for sure.

LISELOTTE NEUMANN: I do like the golf course. I think it sets up pretty good for my game. It looks like it is going to be a putter's golf course. Might play a little bit on the long side for me. I am not known for being the longest ball hitter on Tour, but the fairways are pretty wide. The greens are so big that it doesn't really matter if you have to hit woods into some of them. You have some tricky putts. Obviously, this year, my putting has been extremely good, so I don't mind it at all.

LISELOTTE NEUMANN: Yeah, I will definitely add some distance. I just -- thanks to better ball-striking, I think I am striking the ball probably the best this year than I have ever had. Obviously playing good this year. I am coming into this tournament with probably the best confidence that I have ever had coming into a US Open. So I feel good about it. I do like the golf course. I think it is a great course. It is very challenging. I came in Monday, I got to play a couple of holes; then I get two good rounds of 18 holes Tuesday and today, I think what is good, too, the golf course played very different yesterday. It was really windy and played a lot longer than what it did today. So get to see two different views. But, it is kind of growing on me. I think it is a course that the more you play, you get to know it, a little bit better. You get to know the greens better. It is just a really fun course to play.

LISELOTTE NEUMANN: Juli Inkster and Betsy King.

LISELOTTE NEUMANN: I think it is a very good pairing. Actually I got paired with Julie. I had a couple of times, if I remember right, in the U.S. Open, and actually was up in Salt Lake City, we played a little partner tournament last week Tuesday, so I got to watch her play a little bit too. It is a great pairing. Obviously playing with Betsy that won the tournament, won the U.S. Open a couple of times, so it couldn't be better for me.

LISELOTTE NEUMANN: I think it is probably a lot of reasons for it. One reason is a great junior program that I am sure you have heard enough of. I think, (2): Golf is sort of just getting accepted as a sport. I think over in Sweden, it is just getting very, very popular. Just looking back like about, whatever, 20 years ago when I started, I mean no one played golf. I mean, all the kids sort of made fun of you for playing golf. They were like: That is not a sport. And all of a sudden today, everybody wants to play. Just great kids programs. Maybe it is not that expensive. I think a lot of golf courses are sort of very convenient, easy to get to them by bike, so you get a lot of kids out there and I think that way, you just you get a lot of children out there playing and obviously that has got to produce a lot of good players in the long run.

LISELOTTE NEUMANN: It is hard to say, I think. I think one thing that was just for me growing up personally was I grew up on a nine-hole golf course and basically no one was out there was playing, so I had the whole golf course to myself basically during the summer. So I just took my bag and I am out hitting shots into the greens which obviously today I don't even -- you can't do that in Sweden today. It is busy. So it has really changed and obviously that would be difficult at a lot of courses here. On the other hand, I think here in the States you have probably better practice facilities maybe than some of the courses in Sweden. Obviously a little longer season here than what we have. It was quite short because but in a way, maybe it was good, because in the wintertime we did a lot of other sports and I always think it is good in golf if you are a good athlete, if you can do any other sport, I think it helps your golf game a lot.

LISELOTTE NEUMANN: I think because like if you can do anything with a ball, you want to have fun playing golf, unless you obviously are like some players who are very technical. I like to do it more with feel and if you are good at whatever, shooting a basketball, playing tennis, soccer, whatever, I think it helps your game, just being creative, creating different shots.

LISELOTTE NEUMANN: I mean, sometimes you are standing and you have like 150 to the front, but then the pin is back 42 or something, so you end up with 192 to your shot, but the greens are pretty hard. A lot of times they are rolling out. A lot of times you might just want to carry it maybe 10, 15 steps on and just let it roll to the back. The greens are not -- it is not like you have to fly it if you have 192, you don't have to fly it 90 yards. A lot of time you can roll it out unless you are going to get some rain - I think then obviously the course is going to play a lot longer.

LISELOTTE NEUMANN: I think these greens are a lot different, though. Those were more sloping from the back to front. So it was more sort of, you know, you always wanted to leave yourself an uphill putt. These are so undulated that some holes you might want to be a little short; some holes you might want to be long to get an uphill putt. So I think you really have to know what kind of shot you want to hit, you know, where is the best putt going to be from. Especially, obviously, if you are coming 180, 170 yards into the hole, it is going to be hard to just go at the stick. Sometimes you might want to just hit it on the right side, just to end up with a straight uphill putt. If you come with a shot that is 110 yards or something, I think you can be more aggressive and go right at it.

LISELOTTE NEUMANN: Put it this way: Probably not, but it was definitely easier today than it was for me yesterday seeing the golf course for the first time and seeing it today, definitely helped. And, I am just like out in the fairway, I am just going to take my time and really discuss with my caddie. And, obviously, he has the book with all the little notes; he can see exactly every little bump in there, so, just really be patient and take your time out there.

LISELOTTE NEUMANN: Thank you.