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CN CANADIAN WOMEN'S OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

September 1, 2009

Alena Sharp

CALGARY, ALBERTA

DANA GROSS-RHODE: Thank you, Alena, for joining us. We're going to kick off the 2009 CN Canadian Women's Open with one of Canada's own, Alena Sharp. Thank you for coming in. Can you talk about your season this year? It's been exciting, and you've played some strong golf and also picked up a couple of new sponsors as well.
ALENA SHARP: Yeah. It's amazing that it's already September today. To think when the year starts and we're in Hawaii in February, it's gone by so fast.
I started the year off really well. I'm really happy with the way I was playing. My putter wasn't really hot, and now it's working again, and feel like my swing's come along.
Everything is coming together, and I'm glad that it's coming together for this week. It's a huge week for me to be out here. Canadian Open is always the most important tournament in my heart when we play on the '09 Money LPGA, even when I was an amateur.
So I'm really happy to be here in Calgary. My aunt and uncle live here and my parents are here, so I have some family support behind me. It's a lovely golf course. I played yesterday, and the weather is great. So what else can you ask for?

Q. Can you elaborate a little bit? I believe the CN Canadian Women's Open was your first Top 10 finish in 2007. What did that mean to get that?
ALENA SHARP: Well, the first one I played was in Niagara Falls, and I hadn't made a cut from Niagara Falls till Edmonton and then I made the cut and I had a great weekend and had my first Top 10 on the LPGA. And that's something I'll never forget walking down the 18th fairway was the people lined up along the ropes and in the grandstands, and they were all cheering for me, and it was just something -- I have a great visual of it and I'll never forget it.
DANA GROSS-RHODE: We'll take questions for Alena.

Q. Do you feel any extra pressure at this point?
ALENA SHARP: I think there's always pressure in the Canadian Open for every Canadian that plays. You know, the marshalls and the volunteers, they're always saying, yeah, we want you to win, like you walk down each hole out here, and last year the same thing.
And there's always extra pressure for us when we're here, but I'm trying to take it in stride and just trying to relax, take a deep breath and not think of it as such a big deal, because it is, but really, just mentally try and unwind a little bit out there and just let it happen.

Q. Alena, what's it like for a young woman from Hamilton to make a living playing the game you love, and you've probably been playing it for nothing. What's it like to be a pro golfer?
ALENA SHARP: Well, you know, when you're a kid and you start playing golf, I know I was into other sports, so it wasn't really so serious for me at the beginning. I played soccer, I played hockey. I played high school volleyball. I did a lot of different things, and when I started to see some progress in my game, I started winning some tournaments, like the Ontario Junior and Ontario Amateur, and I thought, well, if I can get a scholarship, that would be great.
And I got a scholarship, and I told myself when I was a freshman that I want to work hard for four years and bring my game up to the top level it can be in college golf and then I want to turn pro, and I'm going to give myself five years to make it on the LPGA. And looking back now, when I was 12, I never thought that I would be in the position that I am in today.
And it's been an amazing ride, and I know that I still have a lot of years left out here, and I'm really looking forward to it. I feel like I've matured and grown as a person and a golfer out on the LPGA, and I'm ready to break through.

Q. Don't want you to look too far ahead, but come Sunday if you were to hoist that trophy, what would it mean to you? What would it mean to your career?
ALENA SHARP: It would mean the world to me. I think winning the Canadian Open is probably one of my top goals before I retire, and to do it this year would be icing on the cake for, you know, for '09.
But I would love to do it at some point in my career, and I feel like I have -- I like the golf course. I feel like it fits my game, and we'll have to see how the shots fall this week.

Q. Kind of like this week for women's golf?
ALENA SHARP: CN has really done amazing things for women's golf in Canada, and they keep on raising the bar every year. They brought this tournament up in status, and we didn't even have a sponsor after BMO left us, and I'm really grateful that they're so involved with women's golf.
They're involved with the developmental Tour as well, and that helps our future Canadian pros that are going to be out on this Tour. This event is a huge event to every player out here. It's our last biggest purse event of the year. It feels like a major the way we're treated every year out here. The golf courses are always challenging.

Q. Alena, here's one kind of bouncing off the wall, but golf in the Olympic games, what do you think?
ALENA SHARP: Well, I think I'm going to be 35 when that comes around, so I hope that I'm still one of the top players in Canada. I would love to play.
I think that it's -- you know, I played in the World Cup two years ago with Lorie, and great team camaraderie, and I think it's going to be great for golf to have in the Olympics.
Look at last week, the Solheim Cup, how great that was for the LPGA Tour. The play was unbelievable, and like the fans were so into it, and I know that a lot of people were watching it on TV, and it was just a great show of golf.
And I think the Olympics is going to help our Tour raise our brand awareness. There's so many great players out here, and I'm really hoping that it goes through. I don't think it's official yet that the Olympics are in, but I'm hoping that it does go through.
DANA GROSS-RHODE: Anything else for Alena? Thank you all very much. Alena, good luck this week. Hopefully we'll talk to you later.
ALENA SHARP: Thank you.

End of FastScripts

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