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SYBASE CLASSIC PRESENTED BY SHOPRITE

May 13, 2009

Cristie Kerr

CLIFTON, NEW JERSEY

MIKE SCANLAN: Cristie, welcome to the media center and congratulations on your victory last week at the Michelob Ultra Open, your 12th career victory. If you would just talk a little bit about getting another win, how important it is for you especially in a Solheim Cup here and what it's like to be here in New York.
CRISTIE KERR: Sure. Well, first off, I'm very excited. These two weeks, Michelob and here, are some of my favorite tournaments on Tour, and to be able to get a win last week coming into another great week like the Sybase, it's pretty exciting, very similar golf course, very old-school. This course is great. It's got a lot of rough, similar to last week, and I'm excited to get my 12th win on Tour.
Like you said, it's a Solheim year. You want to see the Americans playing well collectively going into the Solheim, and I think we're starting to do that, and I'm looking forward to this week.

Q. They made a big deal on the Kingsmill broadcast last week, and I'm not sure if they asked you about this, but I got the sense that eventually being No. 1 in the world matters to you. Is that accurate, and if so, why? Is that a big quest of yours?
CRISTIE KERR: Well, I think it's something that I've always dreamed about having the ability to do. I think I'm just playing great, and you know what's funny is where I am right now is kind of just a collective -- what's the word I'm looking for? It's an accumulation of all the things I've been doing well this year. You know, what's amazing is it's always been a goal of mine to try and do that, and it's sort of just happening on its own with all the things that I've been doing well, my mental stuff, my golf stuff, I'm getting more into my fitness again. I mean, it's a great goal, and it's fun, go get it and try and do it.
But it's something that I'm going to just have to keep trying to focus on the things that I've been doing well every week to try and have a chance to do that. I've never been really one to do well when I put pressure on myself or to say this is my goal. I have to be more process oriented, and to be able to get to that point, and I think I'm starting to do that.
If I continue to play well and I end up finishing second, so be it. I mean, I just have to try and do the best that I can, and it's really fun to have the opportunity to try and do that.

Q. It's not what drives you, though? Lorena said before it was very important for her to get there and it's very important for her to keep it.
CRISTIE KERR: I've always said I wanted to get there once in my career. Who knows? If you look at Annika, she got there once and they stayed there for like ten years. Lorena, as well. Who knows what the future holds? I just want to be focused on my process-oriented goals and let the results take care of themselves, and when I've done that, I've done really well.

Q. You live in Manhattan, right?
CRISTIE KERR: I spend time there part-time. I am a member of Liberty National Golf Club and represent the Firemen's and the club and spend some time in the off weeks in the summer there. It's too hot in Arizona. I spend time in Arizona and Florida so I've kind of got all three parts of the country covered.

Q. I was going to ask you, how many weeks a year do you spend in New York?
CRISTIE KERR: I probably spend the off weeks in the summertime. I don't know how many weeks that is, but probably from May until September or October, maybe like eight weeks or so in the New York area.

Q. Are you driving yourself through the Tunnel this week?
CRISTIE KERR: No, I'm not. My husband has an apartment there, and we spend time there a little bit, and we're maybe looking at one of the places out at Liberty National. They're doing some new real estate projects. I like being at the course, and if you want to go into the city for dinner, that's one thing, but having to fight the traffic, and then you're like this and then you've got to hit balls, so that doesn't quite work.

Q. I just want to ask you about Michelle. Is there a different perspective on Michelle Wie now among the players that she's a full-time member of the LPGA Tour and she kind of earned her way on through Q-school than before when she was almost kind of an independent contractor and getting sponsor's exemptions?
CRISTIE KERR: Well, sure. There's no doubt she's incredibly talented. I think from my perspective, I think it's great that she earned her way on and she wants to be a full playing member of the LPGA Tour now and wants to support us. She's an incredible asset to the Tour, very talented, a huge media draw, and we need that. So I think having her earn her way on and going through qualifying school is a testament to the LPGA that to make it onto the Tour you have to be one of the best and go through the process, and I think she did that.

Q. Lorena has won this event the last three years. When you guys come here, are you going, this is her event to lose, or is it simply focusing on your own game and saying I've got to do what I can do?
CRISTIE KERR: I think for me I focus -- I can't speak for anybody else, but I focus on my own game and what I have coming into the week. I think that nothing is a given anymore. Our Tour is so deep as far as talent, and you've just got to kind of -- nothing is a given. She was playing great in the beginning of the week last week and ended up obviously not winning. You know, nothing is a given anymore. You have to be on the top of your game every single day. She's done that for a very long time.

Q. I know you said you're process oriented in your goals, but as your lifetime total of victories creeps up impressively well into the double digits, do you sit back and either reappraise career goals or set new goals or look at the year as impressively as you're playing this year and look at goals for the year, whether it's money list, ranking? Do you reassess those goals, bearing in mind I know you said you were process oriented? And to what extent are you comfortable sharing those, or is there a private matter?
CRISTIE KERR: I typically don't share my goals for the year or whatever, but I mean, I've always dreamt, even as a little girl watching Juli Inkster -- she's still playing, but Juli, she makes fun of herself all the time. She's a great lady. Watching the Nancy Lopezes, the Patty Sheehans, Pat Bradleys, Juli Inkster, Beth Daniel, growing up I had always dreamt of playing on the LPGA Tour and making it to the Hall of Fame and doing what they did. I've always dreamt of getting in the Hall of Fame. I've just got to keep the track. I'm only 31 years old and I envision playing for as long as I can. I love the game.
Obviously I had said I wanted to try to get to No. 1 in the world at some point in my career, and it seems like some things are lining up for that. But you never know how it's going to go. There's so many talented people out there, Lorena, obviously she wins six, seven tournaments a year, and to be able to try and contend for No. 1, you're going to have to do that.
For me I've got to stick to what I do best, and that is, again, being process oriented. This is where I have my mini-goals for the course of the day, this is where I have my mini-goals for the course of the week, and that goes into my chunks of time in the season and how you end up. You're always reassessing and setting new goals. You have to, to move forward.

Q. (Inaudible.)
CRISTIE KERR: I really do. I feel like my best golf is ahead of me. I feel like I'm maturing as a person. I'm a lot more at peace with myself, and I'm having more fun than ever. I've got a great, amazing caddie now, so I feel like we're going to be a team for a very long time. His name is John Killeen, and he's caddied for everybody from Juli Inkster to Meg Mallon to you name it. He's won probably 35 golf tournaments and various majors with a lot of different golfers. He's got a great sense of history and a great sense of knowledge about golf and intuition, and we work pretty well as a team.

Q. I just happened to catch the other day your playing lesson with Joe Pesci over at Trump National. It seemed like you were having a great time on the course. Do you have fun when you play in a pro-am? How important is that to the future of the LPGA that the players do that? And how do you separate that from your preparation for the golf tournament?
CRISTIE KERR: Well, I think -- that's a pretty good question. You know, I've always had fun in the pro-ams. I've met a lot of really nice people. I used to teach a little bit when I was in high school as an assistant under Jim McLean, and to try to give them tips -- you have to make the game fun, and that's something that my parents have always stressed to me. I think it's very important for the future of the LPGA, and I think honestly we do it almost better than anybody. You ask anybody in the pro-ams that plays with us, we do a great job.
You know, you've just got to keep doing the small things right, all the stuff outside the ropes. That's our mantra for the year. You know, take an extra picture, sign extra autographs, do the extra interviews. These are all things that -- we're celebrities and people are starting to realize that.

Q. How do you separate the fun part from your preparation?
CRISTIE KERR: Well, you know, I mean, pro-ams are a different animal altogether. I think that I focus when I have the shot in front of me, but then I kind of talk to my amateurs, I joke with them, I have fun, and it's really an art. You have to kind of be comfortable doing that.
You know, that's just something that I thought I've always been pretty good at.

Q. You talked about going the extra mile with the people that are here. With the loss of, I guess, Corning is not going to be around and Ginn is gone, how concerned are you that this Tour builds itself back up?
CRISTIE KERR: Yeah, I'm pretty concerned, but at the same time, I have numerous friends that have lost their jobs in New York and can't find jobs. So I don't think that the LPGA Tour is immune to what's going on in the world.
But I think that the players are committed, the organization is committed to building our brand and showcasing the best in women's golf every week. I think that we have a very compelling sport.
I think that we're very competitive. The golf has never been better. And all the players are working on themselves. So I think you do that, and we're -- I mean, in the marketplace we're a pretty incredible value as far as the amount of dollars you can spend for what you get. I think we're going to be okay, but we can't rest on our laurels and we can't be content that, hey, we're going to lose eight tournaments or however many tournaments from last year and are eventually going to end up not renewing or whatever. We just kind of have to focus on the tournaments that we do have and make sure that the sponsors are happy, make sure we as players are doing everything that we can, that the organization is more organized than it's been, and they're looking at how they can get better and nobody can rest. We just have to all keep getting better.
MIKE SCANLAN: Cristie, thanks so much.

End of FastScripts

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