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LPGA CORNING CLASSIC

May 24, 2009

Paula Creamer

CORNING, NEW YORK

MIKE SCANLAN: All right, Paula. Thanks for coming in. Obviously some late heroics there on that 60-foot putt on 18. Really a crowd pleaser. If you would, just talk about the emotion going from that to kind of waiting it out for a playoff and how do you feel right now?
PAULA CREAMER: Well, I did everything I could to give myself a chance to win, and that's all you can really ask for.
It's unfortunate I didn't make some more birdie putts early on in my round. I kind of saved it to the Back 9, but you know, a charge is better late than never. That's for sure.
But the putt on 18 was something. Even the putts on 16 and 17, those weren't easy putts. I mean they were obviously a lot shorter than that, but it was special, quite the way you'd want to end up in your last tournament here in Corning with a putt like that.
MIKE SCANLAN: Questions?

Q. Just going back to the putt on 18, did you say it was one of the longer putts you can ever remember making, especially did it feel like kind of a pressure putt?
PAULA CREAMER: In this situation, you know, being somewhat in contention, yes, it was the longest putt made.
There was one time where I made another putt in Portland for our Safeway event. I was on the front and the pin was way back left, and it was just as long, but I was nowhere near the top of the leaderboard. So it was a little bit different.
But this was unbelievable. The crowd was so loud. It reminded me of Solheim Cup.

Q. Of course you talked to us afterwards and then you signed some autographs. What goes on from there? Do you monitor play?
PAULA CREAMER: It's hard. I just sat there, kind of played with my phones, you know, just kind of -- what can you do? I can't get out there and play.
My caddie came down about -- when they were on hole 17, just in case if I needed to go hit some balls or -- you don't want to be too much wrapped up about it just in case you have to go back out, and you're already kind of mentally exhausted from it just waiting, but the hardest part is you're not in control anymore. You can't do anything about it.

Q. Yani had a tough time on the green and it was going to be at least par. Is that pretty much when you said --
PAULA CREAMER: Yeah. That's when I kind of packed it in. I took my orange book out, unfortunately, and put it back in the bag. But when she birdied 17 also, 16, 17, I knew, Yani's feeling pretty good and she's going to win this.
But I thought there was going to be a playoff between Soo-Yun Kang and her, but that's golf.

Q. Talk about calling your caddie on the 18th hole, and reading that putt. I happened to say to him, "good reading," and he goes by and kind of looked at me. What were you talking about as you looked at that putt? And think about now.
PAULA CREAMER: I'm sorry. My mom just walked in and I'm wondering what she's doing. Are you going to interview me? (Laughs).

Q. Maybe we should have mom sit next to you and ask her a few questions.
PAULA CREAMER: No, we always pick a spot with long putts and short putts to roll over and we picked the right one there. It was left-to-right overall, and it kind of went right-to-left at the end.
There was so many little hills, but the biggest thing of that putt was pace, speed, and that's all I thought about was just kind of just putt it on up there. Give yourself a good chance. But when you're 60 feet away, the last thing you're really truly thinking is making it. But I thought about it. I mean what's there to lose? I needed to do something.

Q. Going around and catching about five or six holes of the last round with you, I noticed the crowd getting bigger and bigger following you. Did you notice that and are you conscious of that as you go through as you get closer and closer?
PAULA CREAMER: I love playing in front of galleries. I think it's the coolest part about being a professional golfer is having people come out and watch you and truly just enjoy watching women's golf and supporting my golf as well, but they were.
It's kind of when we made the Back 9 around that turn, you know, I birdied 10, which was a big birdie for me, and then you know, around 13, 14, after the par-5, then the crowds really started getting bigger and bigger, and then coming down 17 and 18, it was like, whoa, all right. Now you have to perform.

Q. Paula, talk about the fact that you had such a good weekend here, and the two majors coming up. How much is this a boost for the next several weeks important play?
PAULA CREAMER: Definitely my confidence is much better now, I guess you could say. I have a lot of confidence with my putting. A couple of swing things were going on out there, but I fought really hard, grinded it out.
This will be a good week off, go home, kind of just relax the next couple days and then get back to work. There are a lot more tournaments that I need to play and especially the majors that I want to play well in. And for confidence wise, this tournament is big. I mean I feel like I won the tournament, even though I didn't. It was just such an emotional feeling on the last hole.

Q. Paula, knowing how close you came, is there a hole or even a shot that you wish you could have back --
PAULA CREAMER: There's a lot.

Q. And like have a do-over?
PAULA CREAMER: Yes. There's a lot. Gees, I think one of the biggest -- well, I missed about an eight-footer on 3 for birdie, which was, you know, if I made that, who knows what would have happened? But I birdied the next hole.
But the killer was 5. I hit my drive way left and I had to punch out, and then it takes kind of -- I had an 8-iron in for my third shot, and I hit it to about 10 feet, 12 feet. I almost made it, but par on that hole was just -- that's like giving two shots back to the field kind of thing.
I would have liked to have hit that drive again. But even on the back, I did miss a couple putts, but those holes, you know, 10, 11, 12, 13, those holes you just kind of want to go around 1 or 2-under, nothing crazy because it can get you in trouble.
But I would have liked to have made 15, that par-3. I had about a 9-footer there where it was one of the worst putts I think I've ever hit. I mean it had no chance.

Q. Given the crowd and the field and the weather and everything together, do you think if we had this kind of tournament two years ago, we'd still be talking about this being the final one?
PAULA CREAMER: No. I don't think so. I think that this was -- I think that we wouldn't be having this discussion about it being the last tournament. It shocks me, and I still am -- I don't know how we lost this tournament. It's a great event. It brings so many people to it. Got a great field this year.
I think that, you know, with the schedule the way that they've been going, I think this field would have gotten stronger and stronger as years went on. But it is so unfortunate, and as a player, I will miss this event just as much as the volunteers are going to miss coming because it really does mean a lot to me.

Q. I was looking up Yani's performances over the past couple years. It's kind of shocking how well she's done. You're looked upon as a possible star of the Tour, and maybe the top player. Do you see where Yani could be the next Sorenstam or someone that's going to be out there?
PAULA CREAMER: I played a lot of junior golf with Yani. She's a great player. When she gets hot out there, there's no stopping her.
What's great about Yani is she's a really good person as well. She's so fun to be around, and you know, she has that great attitude. You can tell she loves golf, and that's what I like to see people who are good at what they enjoy doing. And with Yani, she's going to be out here just as long as I am. There's going to be some fun times, and like I said, she's a wonderful person.
MIKE SCANLAN: Paula, thank you so much for coming in.
PAULA CREAMER: Thank you, guys. We will miss you.

End of FastScripts

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