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P&G BEAUTY NW ARKANSAS CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY JOHN Q. HAMMONS

September 13, 2009

Angela Stanford

ROGERS, ARKANSAS

ANGELA STANFORD: Number 1, bogeyed. Hit it to like 15 feet, 3-putted. Number 2, hit a 9-iron from 138 into the hole. Number 8, hit a 4-iron into the green and then a three-putt.
14, driver, 4-iron to the back of the green and chipped to like three feet, made that for birdie. 15, hit a little 8-iron, and then 18 hit a driver, 7-wood. Was it 20, 25 feet?
THE MODERATOR: How was that shot?
ANGELA STANFORD: That was pretty cool. I told my caddy, they're going to erupt if we eagle 18, so...
THE MODERATOR: All right. Well, congratulations on a great week of golf. Like we were just saying on on the 18. Fought your way into the playoffs. Coming up a little short, but great week of golf for you. If you can kind of just talk about the process?
ANGELA STANFORD: Well, it's almost like I'm upset because I had three three-putts, when you look at it like that, I should have won. At the same time, you know, walking off 15 after that three-putt, to be able for me to pull it together and say, you know, If I can give myself a chance. If I can just get to 18 and if nobody's made it to 10, if I can, you know, just give myself a chance to eagle to get into the playoffs.
So I'm more upset because three-putts are -- they're just like don't have a nice word for them. But then to fight back in the end to get into the playoff and give myself a chance, there is good and bad to it.

Q. Obviously, the two double eagles or the eagles today were a huge part in getting to the playoffs. Can you talk about both of them? Especially the one on 18, kind of going over that. What was going through you before you made the putt and what was your initial reaction? Did you think it was going to go in?
ANGELA STANFORD: Yeah, well, the one on two I was so mad about the three-putt. And I actually got very fortunate, because I pulled my tee shot, hit a tree, and it came back into the fairway. So that was like a double blessing on that hole.
So standing over that ball I thought, you know, it's a long day. I need to just hit the golf shot in front of me and it went in the hole. So that was kind of a weird deal.
But then 18, I knew I needed a good drive. And I hadn't been in the first cut over there yet this week. I had always been to the right. But it was kind of sitting up a little bit, so I asked my caddy. I'm like, well, I can try to hit a low hooking 4-iron and get it to run up there or like a cutting 7-wood to get it back there.
Then we watched -- I can't remember who hit first in our group -- her ball hit the front of the green and came all the way down. And he's like I think we need to get something to the hole. So I was like, okay, so 7-wood.
Actually, at the last minute I thought about taking it over to the bunker, and I moved my target over a little bit. I thought if I can get it to the front right part of the green and give myself a chance, we'll have a roll at it. We both saw the same spot we wanted to roll it over.
You know, I was nervous, and all day I had missed a lot of putts that I should have made. And honestly, I thought, you know, my mom's here, you know, forget being nervous. Be a player and get it in the hole. And it went in. It went right over the spot, so. That was pretty cool.

Q. Going into that 18th hole knowing you had to do that in order to get to the playoffs, what's that like? What's going through your head? Is that something you like? A position you like being in? Do you put a lot of pressure on yourself?
ANGELA STANFORD: No. It actually works the other way. Not all the time, but when I walked off the scene after three putting, I was already thinking about eagle there. And I told myself I've got to get it up-and-down and par 16. You've got to two-putt 17, at least par. You can't make another mistake because you have the chance to make eagle.
So the whole time 35, 40 minutes I'm thinking eagle, eagle, eagle. Get to 18, and that's all you're thinking about. That's all I allowed myself to think about. There was only one goal on that hole.
So in that respect, I never thought about anything else. I never thought about you know, if I make birdie; okay. Tied for second or whatever. But it was just I have to make eagle. That's it.

Q. Talk about the tee shot on 15 in the playoff? You know, is it about where you wanted it? What did you think?
ANGELA STANFORD: Well, the weird part was I was excited to hit it again, because the first time around I other took a little off the 8, and it came off. And it was closer to the pin on that one. And I thought, Oh, perfect. It's just a pure 8-iron, and I thought it was all over it. And for it to come up short was just kind of odd.
But I knew she was going to make that putt. She was too good of a putter to miss that. So that's probably why I sent mine rolling by five feet. Kind of glad I didn't have to spot it.

Q. What makes Jiyai's such a good golfer, and how incredible is it that she's stormed on to the tour the way she has?
ANGELA STANFORD: You know, she's very steady. She's very consistent. We played with her the first day, and she had a ton of lip outs. It's just always there. Always in the middle of the fairway. Always on the green. Always giving herself chances. She'll put you to sleep, but it's good.
Other than that, I know her a little bit. She's a great girl. She's got a great heart. I think she just -- she's got a contentment about her that makes her happy with whatever's going to happen. I think that has a lot to do with great golfers. Is that it?

Q. You have about two hours to go, could you hold up? Did you think you'd get to 10?
ANGELA STANFORD: I thought somebody was going to get to 10. I thought if I could get to 10, we'd birdie 18 to get to 8. I thought, Okay, birdied 18. If I can get to 10, got it. But it didn't surprise me when I saw her name.

Q. How often does your mom come and watch you play, if at all? And, obviously, just having her here was probably something that you really wanted. What was that like?
ANGELA STANFORD: Well, usually you'll come out on a normal year four to five times. This year I don't think she did anything earlier this year. I can't remember. But she did make it to Solheim. Four to five times, but now with the circumstances just it's the bonus to get her out now.
But, you know, I'm not going to get many opportunities to win in front of my parents because they're both still working. I don't have them out every week. So I was kind of thinking about that. I'm like, this is a good chance, because I'm usually not in contention when they're around. So I really wanted to do that. Because every time they've seen me win it's been on TV.

Q. Obviously, we're getting towards the end of the season. It's been a really good year, and this tournament kind of shows why you had a good year. You were being consistent. Talk about this tournament and how that played into the year?
ANGELA STANFORD: Yeah, it has been a great year. There are a couple of goals out there that I'd love to get to. But the problem is if you have goals like player of the year or being on top of the money list, the Bear Trophy, you've got to finish it off and you've got to win more than once. Having a boat load of Top 10s is great. It's a good year. But I needed a win today if I'm going to get to some of those goals.

Q. How tough was it to get back into it today? It was raining, the wind was a big deal. Was that hard for you?
ANGELA STANFORD: I think -- and this is where maybe looking at the scoreboard can be good and bad. Nobody was really running away, so that kind of makes you think. Okay, well, it's tough for everybody. Well, but you've still got to play. So that's the only thing that I thought well, the conditions must be a little bit tougher because nobody made it to 10. That's what surprised me. I thought for sure somebody would make it to 10.

Q. How weird ave round was this for you? The fact that you had so many three putts then you hole one out, then you have an eagle on 18. Have you had a weirder round?
ANGELA STANFORD: I don't think so. I was just frustrated because my speed was so bad on the greens, and I didn't know why.
Even on the par 3 in the playoffs, I said I knew she was going to make that. I needed to make mine, and it was like, oh, no, because he knew I was going to blow it by. It was really odd that my speed was that bad, because it's been okay the whole week.

Q. What's it like to take a putt like that? You heard the crowd on 18, just the adrenaline's going?
ANGELA STANFORD: It's pretty cool. It's only happened one other time. The 2003 Open where I like yelled and couldn't really hear myself. Those are cool moments because you know there is so much anticipation, and you know they want to come out of their seats. So it's pretty cool.
Even when I was getting ready to putt, there was a lot of, Come on, Angela, come on. And you know they're pulling for you. And they want to go crazy because, let's be honest, golf can be boring to watch. So if you get the opportunity to scream and yell, they love it.

Q. It looked like standing next to your mom -- well, the Golf Channel kept showing your mom, and Cristie was there and Brittany. And they were all kind of gathered together. I guess when they're out of contention, are they rooting for you?
ANGELA STANFORD: Yeah, that's what's so great about my friends. I would say we're very fortunate because if one of us is playing well, you know, we're happy for them. That's when you know you've got good friends out here, because if that were any of them, I would be there.
So that's the cool part about those girls. We want each other to do well. Obviously, we want to beat the heck out of each other, but if one of us gets into contention like that, then we're all there for each other.
THE MODERATOR: Thanks, Angela.

End of FastScripts

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