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KRAFT NABISCO CHAMPIONSHIP

April 1, 2010

Suzann Pettersen

RANCHO MIRAGE, CALIFORNIA

THE MODERATOR: We are here with Suzann Pettersen a bogey-free round. 5-under par today, leader in the clubhouse. Can you take us through your round a little bit?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: It was a very good solid round of golf. I could not ask for a better start. A very good warmup today. I felt better than I did yesterday, and had a few good bounces out there. But obviously feeling very good with my driver, which helps around this place, and making a few putts, very stress-free golf today.
THE MODERATOR: How's surprised were you with the weather today?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: It got really cold as we warmed up. I thought I was going to ski, the way I was dressed during my warm up, but I mean once the sun got, out it was beautiful, and the wind actually stayed down.
The course is in such a good shape, very, very good shape, so it's a pleasure to be out there and play.
THE MODERATOR: Do we have questions?

Q. Not an unaccustomed position for you here near the top of the leaderboard. What is it about this course that fits your game so well?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: I don't know. I've played good here before in the past, and I'm always looking forward to coming back and playing this course.
It's quite demanding off the tees, and there's just certain tee shots you just gotta take on. And I think if you can place it off the tee, I think you're in a very good position.
Obviously the wind stayed down today, so a lot of short irons into the greens on the par 4s and the par-5s. Did I get to any of them. I got to No. 11. I was fairly close on No. 2.
But you just gotta play what this course gives you. I've learned that over the years. And patience, obviously, and I would take a bogey-free round any day around this place.

Q. Not that you know this after a bogey-free round, but do the rough or the greens look more difficult this year or just similar to what it's been in the past?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: I can't really answer you about the rough.

Q. That's good.
SUZANN PETTERSEN: But the greens (laughs) -- the greens were at -- I don't know if I just had a little shorter irons into the greens today, so I had a little bit more control, but they're definitely firmer than in the past, which is nice. Kind of gives us a little bit different challenge.
I know the rough is brutal. You get in there, you're looking at just hacking it out and hopefully get somewhere around the green or on the green if you're lucky. So it's quite important to keep the ball in play and give yourself a lot of good looks at the pins.

Q. So you hit 14 fairways and 18 greens?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: I probably hit 16 greens, but I mean the two I missed was a foot off the green, and yeah, I think I hit all fairways.

Q. Suzann, do you think you might have got even more out of your round today especially on your Back 9?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: I had a lot of good looks on a few putts. I mean on my front nine, which was the Back 9, I missed a good birdie putt on 11, a good birdie putt on 12. 16 I had a very good putt for birdie. So I had my fair chances out there. It feels like I left a few, but I would still take a 5-under.

Q. 16 greens on the fairways, you're not supposed to do that in a major. Is this one of your best ball-striking rounds?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: I'm finding back the fine tune I had before I went to Asia. Obviously I had a little bit of a break after Asia. Unfortunately there was nothing I could do with it. I just had to let the body heal, and three weeks with no golf that feels pretty brutal. And once you pick those clubs back up, it's not nice when a 7-iron feels like a 2-iron and your hands start to get sore again from all the practice.
But we've done some great work this week. Lead's been here since Monday, so it's been long days. So it's getting there. It's coming back and I'm starting to feel really good about how it's looking and feeling.

Q. Can you take us through the injury, how it occurred and just what happened?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: You know, as we played in Thailand, I just had a few swings where it kind of -- I felt it, but it didn't really bother me.
In Singapore it was actually bothering me a little bit. I think it was the reason I didn't feel as good with some of the shots that I hit. I was trying to prevent it from hurting even more, and I iced it every day after the round, and flew down to Australia, withdrew and flew back home and got it checked out, and it was really painful. So -- and they didn't really find much. It was a little flare on the bone, but like I said, it just had to heal, and it healed just in time to come back here.

Q. What did they officially call it, the doctors?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: They thought it was a bursitis, because the symptoms were very, very similar. It was right on the hip, pelvic bone, and I took an MRI, and they didn't find much, which was kind of a good sign, but the pain was still there.
I got a Cortisone shot, which helped a little bit. Didn't quite take all of it out, but I'm pain free now, so that's the most important thing, and it was a little bit more work to try to come back to this field than I thought it would be, but that's the benefit if you've done good work over the winter, it shouldn't take you a long time to find the feel back.

Q. How long did you go without swinging a club then?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: Well, it was -- well, my first round of golf since Singapore was the Pro Am last week, so it was literally three weeks. I thought I was going to have two solid weeks of practice. It turned out to be two solid weeks on the couch.
THE MODERATOR: Any more questions? Thank you, Suzann.
SUZANN PETTERSEN: Thanks.

End of FastScripts

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