U.S. WOMEN'S AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

August 12, 2000

Marcy Newton

MARCY NEWTON: Thank you.

MARCY NEWTON: Well, it actually hasn't sunk in yet. It's just amazing.

MARCY NEWTON: I think it's such an honor to be a USGA champion two times now, to be a part of the ladies, I think short list of maybe five women that have won the Junior and the Women's AM. I just think it's a dream come true actually.

MARCY NEWTON: No. I don't know (laughter). It's pretty much the same. I feel like, obviously, I'm a better player now. They're both just such an honor. I think everybody that plays golf at this level, they dream of winning both of those Championships. I'm so lucky to have won both of them.

MARCY NEWTON: Probably a lot of people because in college I wasn't, you know, the best or even close to being the best in college. You know, I had an okay four years. I was All-American two years, but nothing outstanding. I didn't do anything outstanding. I'm sure I did surprise a lot of people.

MARCY NEWTON: 3.

MARCY NEWTON: We only went twice. Our team went once, I went once, so twice. I think I might have finished Top 25 my sophomore year.

MARCY NEWTON: Well, I talked to Mary just a little while ago. I pretty much decided that, unfortunately, I -- I guess not unfortunately. To be asked to play on the World Amateur Team is a great honor, but at this point I feel like I had already made the decision to go pro. I feel like I'm playing well. I feel like I should go to Q school.

MARCY NEWTON: Although being asked, it was such a tough decision. It really was hard. If I didn't have to wait a whole year to try to get on the LPGA, I would have gone. I feel like I should go while I'm feeling confident.

MARCY NEWTON: (Nodding head.)

MARCY NEWTON: I think probably because school, I mean, North Carolina is a hard school. I mean, you have to keep up, stay on top of your grades. I think that was a big part of it. Also, I mean, golf is important to me, but it's not the most important thing in life, you know. I wanted to go to college and meet friends and have a good time. That's what I did, so.

MARCY NEWTON: No. I think college was such a big adjustment for me, you know, because I'm from a relatively small town, small place. High school grades, wasn't that hard to keep up with your schoolwork. Going to college was a huge adjustment. Carolina is such a hard school. That was hard.

MARCY NEWTON: Well, you know, I had played well all day. She had struggled. I felt like she was struggling all day. She had missed a short one -- two short ones I guess on the 25th hole, No. 7. I don't know. I was 8 up with, what, 10 holes or something like that. I didn't want that to make or break. You know what I'm saying? I didn't want to go just one more up because of that little putt. I just felt like that was the right thing to do.

MARCY NEWTON: Right.

MARCY NEWTON: Well, I was starting to think it, I think, probably after I made birdie on No. 5. I felt like I made a good birdie there. But, you know, she never gave up. She struggled, but she's a player. Her short game is amazing. After that, I felt pretty good about it. But then I was kind of -- I think I made a poor decision, a stupid mistake on No. 8, the par 5 where I hit it over. But, you know, it doesn't matter now.

MARCY NEWTON: I knew after she made birdie on 1, that was a big boost for her. When I hit it in the rough on 2, "I know you can't hit it right and have any chance at all." I just hit a 5-iron absolutely perfect. I mean, I knew I had to cut it, but actually I didn't know it was going to turn out so well. I just kind of opened the club face and tried to hit a cut, and it worked out nicely.

MARCY NEWTON: Yes.

MARCY NEWTON: Definitely. She made the birdie on 1, gone back to five up. Five up with 17 holes to play, anything can happen.

MARCY NEWTON: Definitely today, once I got up, I wanted to keep going up. After yesterday, you know, nothing's safe till it's over.

MARCY NEWTON: There's probably a lot of people who don't care about whether I won or lost this championship. You know, it meant a lot to me, and I was very nervous. I didn't sleep bad last night, but I didn't sleep very, very good. I was very nervous. You know, I wanted to win so bad. I didn't feel a lot of pressure, but I just wanted to come out and do my best, so I was nervous.

MARCY NEWTON: Right. Yeah, that's true. But, you know, even though I had maybe a little bit of an advantage, I didn't want to just rest on that because I knew she's a good player. She makes it to the finals, she's an awesome player. I knew I had to come out and play good. I did.

MARCY NEWTON: No.

MARCY NEWTON: No.

MARCY NEWTON: Never played in those. I did play in the North-South twice.

MARCY NEWTON: I don't know. It's unbelievable. I don't really know.

MARCY NEWTON: I went to summer school every summer, just because I wanted to graduate in four years. I didn't think I could handle taking like 17, 18 hours every semester, and playing golf, traveling. I thought that would be too much. So I went to summer school at least one session every year. Then this summer I had to do an internship.

MARCY NEWTON: It does. I was struggling with my putting coming into this week. I'm not used to these fast greens, because our greens at home are slow because it's so hot. The undulation on these greens is just amazing. It's like no other I've ever seen. My putting was -- I thought was great. You know, I wasn't expecting to putt that well coming in.

MARCY NEWTON: Well, yeah. I know she was a nervous wreck. When I called, she was like, "You're on TV. How can you be talking to me?" I'm glad I got to call and tell her. I'm sure she called everybody.

MARCY NEWTON: She just screamed, right in my ear. I know she's happy.

MARCY NEWTON: No.

MARCY NEWTON: I don't even know. She just told me, "Congratulations, great job, great playing." I don't know if I could even speak at that point.

MARCY NEWTON: I don't know. I don't know if he said anything.

MARCY NEWTON: Uh-huh.

MARCY NEWTON: He's caddied for me every time that I can have a caddie.

MARCY NEWTON: No, he couldn't. But he was there. Both my parents were there.

MARCY NEWTON: Not really my swing. Earlier in the summer, my swing had gotten really flat. People were telling me I just looked terrible. I had been getting some lessons. I see a guy every once in a while. I was working on that. But when I went to Canada, one of my brother's friends, I was out on the range with him, he thought I should work on my setup. I think working on my setup, improving that.

MARCY NEWTON: S-e-t-s-m-a.

MARCY NEWTON: I don't feel like I have time to sleep a lot. I definitely want to get some sleep. I know I'll sleep well. I don't know if I'll sleep well tonight because we're going home. I don't think I'll be sleeping a whole lot. I'll probably get my eight hours and then I'm going to have to practice. I mean, I'll probably take a day off or two. I don't think I can take a week off. I don't think I can afford to.

MARCY NEWTON: Well, I knew after she had putted it, I knew I could 3-putt and still win. Are you talking about the last hole?

MARCY NEWTON: I just didn't want to make her feel bad. I guess she obviously was kind of confused because she thought she still had to putt. Then I think Mary told her that, you know, it was over. I didn't want to just be like, "Okay, it's over."

MARCY NEWTON: We went up there, I think we left like July 15th. We were up there for a week.

MARCY NEWTON: Montreal.

MARCY NEWTON: Yeah. He actually played well all week after he took my irons from me.

MARCY NEWTON: Yes.

MARCY NEWTON: I play with the Ping Eye 3's. I played with them all year. He really liked them because he played with like these blades that I probably couldn't even make contact. He was hitting it bad. He just wanted to try mine. He loved them. Actually Todd has a set of these Eye 3's, too, but he had a different shaft. It's the shaft I just got in mine, a little lighter shaft. I actually hit them about a club further.

MARCY NEWTON: It's like called the cushion. CZ-65.

MARCY NEWTON: Yes, whatever they put in there.

MARCY NEWTON: Plus I've been trying to work out this summer, too. I don't know if that helped. I do think the lighter shaft helped a little, too.

MARCY NEWTON: It was just, JZ stiff.

MARCY NEWTON: Yes. Both steel, just a little bit heavier club.

MARCY NEWTON: Right.

MARCY NEWTON: I'm not real superstitious. On the questionnaire we had to fill out, it said, "Do you have any superstitions?" I really don't. Once I have something for breakfast and it works well, I like to have the same thing.

MARCY NEWTON: Yes. I had Burger King almost every morning.

MARCY NEWTON: Definitely (laughter).

Cros-sandwich?

MARCY NEWTON: The Cros-sandwich is so good. Another thing, I played my practice round with like the Marsh girls. I also played with Martha Leach. I have to tell a story about that. Paige told me I should try to eat something like every three to four holes just to keep my energy up, so I can -- I do like to eat a lot. She told me I should like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in my bag and have them every three or four holes. I did that this week. The family we were staying with, the lady, she made my sandwiches for me every day. The story about Martha Leach, I thought this was interesting. On Monday, first day of the Stroke Play, I triple bogeyed the 1st hole. It was like, oh, gosh.

MARCY NEWTON: I hit driver left into the rough. I tried to hit -- punch a 3-wood out. Didn't work. Went deeper into the rough. Then I hit it short of the green. Then I fatted it short of the bunker. I knocked it on, 2-putted. I'm three over after the 1st hole. "This is not good." Then the 2nd hole, I parred. 3rd hole I bogeyed. I'm four over after three holes. I'm like, "Oh, I'm not sitting pretty right now." Anyway, I played my practice rounds with Martha Leach, too. After I told her I triple bogeyed the 1st hole, she told me every day I saw her, "Greg Norman triple bogeyed the 1st hole when he won the British Open." I thought that was kind of interesting.

MARCY NEWTON: Wow.

MARCY NEWTON: Right. I guess it shows you that you should never give up, pack it in early. You've got to play all the holes.

MARCY NEWTON: I was like 10 or 11.

MARCY NEWTON: I really don't have one. I get very, very few lessons. There is a guy in Winston-Salem that I see maybe once, twice a year.

MARCY NEWTON: I'm actually a big fan of Mia Hamm, she went to Carolina. She's amazing. Actually, my golf coach at Carolina said that me a had been watching me on TV. She called to tell her to tell me good luck.

MARCY NEWTON: I didn't get to talk to her. I think she called my mom, then called and left me a voice mail at my house.

MARCY NEWTON: Mike and Judy Allen.

MARCY NEWTON: I guess it is.

MARCY NEWTON: The year I won the Junior, and I got an exemption into the AM at Brookline. We got up there and it was me and my brother and my parents. There was no hotels. The director of golf at the country club was like, "You can stay with us." My family, we stayed there. He is a friend of Mike and Judy Allen. He just got us to stay with them.

MARCY NEWTON: Yeah, it was so nice. It made us so much nicer. Made us feel right at home, cooked meals for us. It was really nice. We could do laundry.

MARCY NEWTON: I don't know. I mean, obviously when I first started, I was awful. I just remember I would shoot in the hundreds, way over hundreds, 18 holes. My brother, he was so embarrassed because it would be the same Junior tournament. "Oh, my gosh, that's my sister." I think probably the first time I ever broke 80 in a tournament, I thought, "I see a lot of improvement in my game, want to keep it going."

MARCY NEWTON: I don't. I remember the first time I broke 90 in a tournament, I thought I was great. I thought I was so good.

MARCY NEWTON: I feel like -- well, no. Maybe, yeah. Sort of. I don't know.

MARCY NEWTON: I feel like God has given me the ability and talent to play. I feel like sort of.

MARCY NEWTON: I don't know if I'm understanding the question. Sorry.

MARCY NEWTON: When I was growing up, I played softball and basketball and golf. I played basketball all through high school, but softball, in seventh grade, I had to make a decision. Well, I didn't have to. I knew when I got to high school, and softball were in the same season. I knew I couldn't do both. I knew that I wanted to play golf. I saw a future there. That's what I did. I liked it, so.

MARCY NEWTON: It was definitely tough because my high school, when I was there, may have had 700, 800 people in four grades. Going to college, being on my own, living in the dorm, you know, having to wake up and go to class on my own, it was just -- Chapel Hill, it's not a big town itself, but the University itself is huge. It's big.

MARCY NEWTON: I did. I was always a big Carolina fan.

MARCY NEWTON: I just like -- when I was at school, loved hanging out with my friends, my roommates, going out to eat, doing whatever, just being with my friends. I met so many nice people at school. I'm sad because they're actually from all over the United States, so I don't get to see them very often. While I was there, I loved to be with them, just hang out.

MARCY NEWTON: I just think I was immature. I don't know "immature." I had never been there before. It was very new, kind of unexpected. I don't know if I was shy, but I didn't know what to say. But I do remember I was very shy. I don't know if I was nervous, say something wrong. I don't think I've ever been really shy.

MARCY NEWTON: Right.

MARCY NEWTON: I try to be myself. I guess I've been here a few times now so I'm getting kind of used to it.

MARCY NEWTON: I think it starts the 22nd.

MARCY NEWTON: Yeah, I do. I'm going to be nervous, but this was a big test for my nerves. I mean, my nerves were almost shot. I know it's going to be nerve-wracking there, though.