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SYBASE CLASSIC PRESENTED BY SHOPRITE

May 14, 2009

Suzann Pettersen

CLIFTON, NEW JERSEY

MIKE SCANLAN: We'll do your card quick before we start. Birdie on 1?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: That was a wedge from 105 yards to 15 feet.
3, 4-iron to 15 feet.
5, hit the green in two and my eagle putt was probably 20 feet, tap-in.
6, 8-iron to about ten feet.
8 was another 8-iron to about six feet.
9, that was a bomber. It was like a 30-footer.
Bogeyed 10, just a three-putt from the other side of the green. My par putt was probably 15 feet.
11, 15-footer.
14, I hit a wedge from 125 to 20 feet.
Bogey at 15, hit it in the bunker left, missed a ten-footer for par.
17, I hit a 4-iron to about three feet.
MIKE SCANLAN: Suzann, nice round out there and a nice par save on 18 to keep it at 7-under. If you would just talk about your day out there and what the conditions were like for you.
SUZANN PETTERSEN: It was obviously a great round of golf. I tried to -- my game feels really good, so it's more to go out there and be kind of relaxed and kind of feel the shots and not be so analytic, just kind of take what you get and take it from there. It worked pretty good today. Obviously the greens are very tricky. There's a lot of poa annua on these greens. All you've got to make sure of is that you hit solid putts. Of course you're going to have putts that bump and jump out of the lines, but all you can focus on is trying to hit solid putts. 26 putts on these greens, I'm very happy with it.

Q. Was the course out there for the taking today? Helen had a 62, Brittany had a 64, you with 65; did you just feel it was wide open?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: It was definitely not wide open. If you've been out there, those fairways are fairly narrow. I would say the par-5s, like I would say all of them were reachable today. I mean, 11 was still into the wind, but if you hit it in the fairway you could still go for the green. If you hit good drives, you leave yourself a good possibility to hit the green in two.
There's some short par-4s out there where you only stand with a wedge. You don't have to hit driver off the tee. So most likely you're going to again leave yourself with some makable putts. There's some tough holes, like 10 today is a little bit into the wind. Par is a good score. You've just got to play the course and take your chances when you're in the mix. Certain holes are like pars, and other holes you can be more aggressive.

Q. Would you go through the 18th hole, please?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: Yeah, I hit a driver 300 yards and kind of left myself with a hybrid in my hand. It was actually a perfect number, and I just tried to hit a little draw to make sure the wind -- make sure it got to the green, and I slightly pushed it and it just leaked on me instead of trying to ride on the wind, and it went in the water. I had to give it a shot. I mean, it was like a perfect club for me, really.

Q. What was the yardage there?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: I had like 210 front and 225 pin or something like that.

Q. Does that leave a bad taste in your mouth to make a 5 there from where you were?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: I'm pretty happy with a 5 there knowing my ball was in the water.

Q. Standing in the fairway you're not thinking 5.
SUZANN PETTERSEN: Of course you try to leave yourself a two-putt for a birdie, possibly -- but like I said, you're not going to hit perfect shots every time. I almost chipped in for a birdie, and I'll take that par.

Q. Looking at the three people atop the leaderboard, do you see anything in common that the three of you have? Hitting the ball long?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: I would say so. All of us are fairly aggressive. All of us can rip it down there. Yeah, I mean, if you look at the scores, there are some good scores on the par-5s, as well.

Q. How well do you know Helen? Does it surprise you in any way that she's played this well last year?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: I mean, I know Helen really well. She's had a tough time in the past with a lot of injuries. Last year was the first year she really felt good. Not surprised she got her game together. She hits more greens than a lot of us. She's a streaky player. When she gets hot, she's hot. Obviously she played pretty good today.

Q. I think you have like four Top 10s this year already. How confident are you feeling right now in your game, and I guess do you think about that from week to week, like I'm getting close but I have yet to win and what it's going to take to push over that edge, or is it just a matter of waiting for it to happen?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: For sure, like I said, my game feels really good. It's not as much about going out there and using it. Last week I felt very good with my game, just mentally I wasn't in the tournament. Kind of disappointing when you feel very good with kind of the technique and how you're striking it and not to be able to kind of to execute it when you really want it.
But all I can do is keep grinding, and this week I've had some great practice, and of course, the more often you're in that situation on Sunday, the more likely you're going to pull it off.

Q. When you say you know Helen very well, has she helped you along the way? Because of the age difference, has she shown you the ropes, so to speak?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: I mean, sure. Yeah, obviously she's from Sweden, I'm from Norway. She was there when I grew up. As I came out on Tour, she was a person who kind of took a nice hand with me, took care of me, and obviously we've played a few Solheims together, so there you have memories for life. She lives two minutes down the street from me, so I bump into her almost every day on the golf course.
I try to stay away when I can.

Q. Where do you live now?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: Orlando.

Q. The last three years Lorena has won this event, and today I think she had a 1-under. Do you kind of look at her and say, wow, she's out of the way, let's forget about her, or is she the kind of player you don't write off?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: As far as I know, this is a four-round tournament. That's all I can say.
MIKE SCANLAN: Suzann, thank you.

End of FastScripts

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