	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

THE SOLHEIM CUP

August 21, 2009

Beth Daniel

SUGAR GROVE, ILLINOIS

MIKE SCANLAN: Beth, thanks for coming in. End of the day, 4.5 to 3.5, a one-point lead over the Europeans. If you would, just talk about the day, some thoughts, how you feel it went.
BETH DANIEL: Well, I mean, I'm pleased. I'm pleased to have a one-point plead. There were some really good matches out there, some tough matches, particularly after the morning when we were behind and we kind of rallied on the back nine and pulled out a couple of those matches. I think that made a big difference for us.
But it's nice to have that one-point lead.

Q. Could you just talk about your decision to play Juli in both matches and also Cristie, to sit Cristie in the afternoon?
BETH DANIEL: Um, yeah. I didn't want to play Cristie five matches. I don't want to play anybody five matches. That's my goal. I'm trying to save their strength for Sunday. This is a very tough golf course to walk. There are a lot of big distances between greens and tees.
I feel like we have enough depth on this team that we don't have to play anybody five matches, and I know Cristie played extremely well this morning, but like I said, she'll still have her golf game tomorrow, too. You will see Cristie Kerr tomorrow.

Q. Can you talk about Michelle Wie's play this morning, and then also, the Euros, who came in as a huge underdog but played pretty well today.
BETH DANIEL: Yeah, according to you guys, the Euros were a huge underdog. I never felt that way from the getgo.
I mean, they have so many good players that are great match players. Suzann Pettersen, Sophie Gustafson, who started out the morning. Catriona Matthew is phenomenal. She played so well in '07, too.
They just have -- Mimi Hjorth seems to always play well in Solheim Cup and match play. They just have a lot of players that their games are made for match play.
You know, I knew they'd come in fired up and Alison would have them ready to go, and she definitely does. You know, my team knew that they had to play their best golf to -- if they expected to win this, and they know that now.
I mean, that was a long, tiring day for everybody with a lot of tough, tough matches, and I expect tomorrow will be much of the same.

Q. And Michelle?
BETH DANIEL: Michelle played great. I was so proud of her. She hit so many good shots under pressure and really hung in there and played very well. You know, I couldn't be more proud of what she did today.

Q. Could you just give us your reaction when Paula made that putt to close out play today and get you out of here with a one-point lead?
BETH DANIEL: Well, she got me out of my golf cart. I ran all the way to the green to give her a hug. I had to wait a while, but I finally gave her a hug.
She lives for those moments. She's one of those players that lives for those moments, and that's why you want her on your team.

Q. Paula has never sat out a match. When did you tell her that she wasn't going to be playing tomorrow morning, and how did she take it?
BETH DANIEL: She knew the other day -- the other night -- I'm trying to think of what night it was. It's all blending in together. But she knew, and she's like, "I want to play five." I just sat her down, and I said, "Paula, I want you to have some legs left on Sunday."
And she understands that. Paula is a team player; she understands that. Hopefully she'll get a little rest tomorrow morning and be ready to go in the afternoon.

Q. Can you just talk about your pairings for tomorrow?
BETH DANIEL: Yeah, if I can remember them. Michelle Wie is going out with Christina Kim. Christina has played very well throughout the practice rounds and had a good foursome match today with Natalie. And you know, they're friends. They're really good friends. Michelle can handle Christina (laughing). Need I say more?
Angela Stanford and Brittany Lang. Brittany makes a lot of birdies; Angela potentially makes a lot of birdies. So that's a really good team, you know. Angela has the experience to be with a rookie.
Cristie Kerr/Nicole Castrale, they played together in Sweden. They really enjoyed playing together. They have the same kind of intensity level, so it's a good match.
Lincicome, McPherson, geez, they played really well this afternoon in the foursomes. Do you guys realize that Nordqvist and -- who was she playing with? They shot 7-under through 16 holes, and they bogeyed the 16th hole. So Lincicome and McPherson played really well today in foursomes and lost to a team that shot 7-under with a bogey. That's just -- I mean, that's awesome golf on this golf course.
But these two are friends. Kristy keeps Brittany loose, and they play well together. They both make a lot of birdies. That's kind of how I came up with those pairings.

Q. It seems like your pairings are set almost well in advance and that you're sticking to them no matter what's happening during the day here. Is that true?
BETH DANIEL: That's not true.

Q. No?
BETH DANIEL: No, I changed the afternoon pairings based on some of the stuff that I saw this morning.
You know, like one of my philosophies in life is over-prepare and then go with the flow. So I'm an over-preparer. I know pretty much every stat and everything on everybody. And then you've got to be able to change if something doesn't happen right. It's not a perfect world, as we know, and in a perfect world, the people who make the most birdies will make the most birdies. That doesn't always happen.
Meg and Kelly and I made a couple changes. As a matter of fact, we were out there, and I'm like, I called them, and I said, we need to discuss something, I want to make a change. Meet me wherever.
So as soon as I called them and they were heading there, a Golf Channel camera comes over and is shadowing me, so I'm like, okay, I'm not going to sit here and pull out my pairings like this so they can get it on camera. So we actually drove off the golf course property in our carts to do it, to have this discussion about whether we should make this change or not.
You know, I ended up making the change, which I think was a good decision. But yeah, you have to be able to kind of change on the fly a little bit.

Q. I just asked that because you're not playing Paula in the morning and you didn't play Cristie this afternoon.
BETH DANIEL: Well, I'm sticking with -- my philosophy is not to play anybody five matches, and there's a perfect rotation that would have to occur to not play everybody five matches. That's why we kind of set this whole thing out, to do that, and hopefully it's going to work out. It may not. It may not. But hopefully it will work out because I want to save everybody for Sunday. It basically boils down to the singles.

Q. Following up on that, the decision to give everybody a rest, was that an easy one, or did you have to think about that knowing the nature of players and that some players just aren't going to want to sit down?
BETH DANIEL: Yeah, I mean, there are players that don't -- they want to play five matches, absolutely. You know, I explained to this team that that's my philosophy, and they're going with it.
So we'll see what happens. I mean, I want them strong for Sunday. I don't want them tired, and we'll see if it works out.
MIKE SCANLAN: We'll end it there. Beth, thank you very much.

End of FastScripts

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297