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RICOH WOMEN'S BRITISH OPEN

August 2, 2009

Catriona Matthew

LYTHAM ST. ANNES, ENGLAND

COLIN CALLENDER: We have the 2009 RICOH Women's British Open Champion, Catriona Matthew. Congratulations. What does it feel to be the champion?
CATRIONA MATTHEW: Unbelievable. I never imagined coming back and playing here after not playing that I would win. It's just it really has not sunk in yet. Amazing.
COLIN CALLENDER: You believe had in making things difficult for yourself you dropped a couple of shots early today, just like yesterday, but you managed to fight back.
CATRIONA MATTHEW: Yeah, I was definitely nervous this morning and it was pretty shaky start. Hit a good shot through the first, went through the back and missed the putt. I played 6 and 7 pretty badly, the two par 5s. Maybe thought I would get a birdie back there, but just kind of hung in and made a really good bogey, actually, on 10 /and then just a few birdies in a row sealed it.

Q. Can you give us the distances of the putts for the birdies on the back nine?
CATRIONA MATTHEW: 13 was probably about 18 feet.
14 was about 40 feet. It was long.
15 was a 2-putt birdie, and I hit probably the two best shots of the day on that green.

Q. You mentioned yesterday that you hoped the win would bring more girls on in Scotland; can you talk about now that you have done it what you hope will happen?
CATRIONA MATTHEW: Obviously it's fantastic to see the girls' team were out there today. They are playing at the weekend, playing at Fairhaven in the Home Internationals this week coming, and it was great to see them out there.
Obviously there's going to be a lot of coverage with me winning this event, so hopefully we just get some more girls playing. I think the more you get playing, the more chances you're going to get some more good players coming through.

Q. Can you give us some idea of what you think this will mean for 39-year-old mothers who have two children?
CATRIONA MATTHEW: It is absolutely terrific. Well, 39, it sounds old, but I don't feel that old. Hopefully I've still got a few more years in me. I feel as though I'm playing as well as I've ever played.
Yeah, just try and keep going for probably another few years. I think the difficult time will be when they start school, and we'll reassess what we do then, but this has certainly spurred me on to play at least for another few years.

Q. When you go eagle, hole-in-one, did you ever let yourself think that perhaps it might be destiny, or did you just stay focused on one shot at a time?
CATRIONA MATTHEW: No, it was definitely wandering today. I was trying to think one shot at a time but finding it very difficult. I think the two eagles in a row was probably just slightly too early in the tournament to be thinking that.
But yeah, I think when I holed the putt on 14, I really thought, you know, this is mine for the taking now. I kind of let it slip a little bit, and others were kind of pushing at me a little bit. But I holed that putt, and I thought, "Right, come on, I'm never going to have a better chance, so let's take it."

Q. Were you watching leaderboards all day, and I wonder when you finally allowed yourself to think that it's in the bag?
CATRIONA MATTHEW: Once I hit my tee shot on 18, even though I had a three-shot lead coming down there, you never know. Could just get plugged in the bunker or do something silly on on the tee shot. But once I got the tee shot on the fairway, I kind of reckoned even I could get it in the hole from there.

Q. You had been driving pretty steadily all week, but at some stages today, you seemed to be struggling.
CATRIONA MATTHEW: I hit a few bad ones. On 14, I pulled it, lucky I got a nice lie and hit a good second shot. Pushed it a bit on 17. I think it was nerves. That's what it comes down to.

Q. What advice did you take coming back from the doctors?
CATRIONA MATTHEW: I didn't really take any medical advice. I just kind of knew how I was feeling, that kind of thing. They just said start back when you feel able to, and I started practising slowly, and felt pretty much back to normal after about eight or nine weeks.

Q. Your playing partner was a bundle of fun all the way around; was that a distraction for you?
CATRIONA MATTHEW: No. Christina was great. I was happy to play with her. She couldn't be more supportive. She probably kept me relaxed those last few holes. She's a great person to play with. She was supporting me the whole way around and egging me on.

Q. Was that a help?
CATRIONA MATTHEW: I don't know. I don't think that made a whole lot of difference to be honest, no.

Q. Given your inactivity until five weeks ago, what was a reasonable expectation coming here this week?
CATRIONA MATTHEW: Coming to play last week and this week, I was really just hoping to make two cuts.

Q. I think you said after your first child, you had a first and a second in your your first two tournaments? Is that correct?
CATRIONA MATTHEW: Yes.

Q. How many children are you planning to have?
CATRIONA MATTHEW: (Laughter) We have decided two is enough I think. Maybe I should have started sooner.

Q. Did your husband offer you any advice at any stage?
CATRIONA MATTHEW: I was getting a little anxious, maybe a little bit down on myself on the front nine. He just said, "You're still in the lead, keep going," and that kind of really helped.

Q. Another one specifically requested by a woman writing for the front end of the paper here: She wanted to confirm it was natural birth?
CATRIONA MATTHEW: Yes, it was.

Q. And you said it was easier than the first one; can you tell us how long were in labour?
CATRIONA MATTHEW: Four hours. It was very speedy. It was too speedy for an epidural, which is a bad thing.

Q. (Inaudible).
CATRIONA MATTHEW: No, just lucky.

Q. What's your schedule looking like now for the rest of the year? Obviously you're a major champion now. It's a double-edged sword: You have a young family. But you've also got to take advantage of all your opportunities.
CATRIONA MATTHEW: Yeah, obviously I just heard that I'm going to be in the Solheim, so I'll have to look. I'm not sure how the maternity policy works since I was only allowed to be ten, but maybe now I don't need to take it that I've won. I just need to look at the schedule and see. Obviously I'm in events now that I didn't expect to be in. Obviously I would love to play in the Samsung and some of the end of the year ones.
COLIN CALLENDER: Congratulations, well done.

End of FastScripts

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