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BELL MICRO LPGA CLASSIC

May 14, 2010

Wendy Ward

MOBILE, ALABAMA

WENDY WARD: But today I just -- we talked about it last night before she left. She said, you know, Your rounds of being in contention and not are basically two or three putts a day, two or three drives a day.
And I said well that sounds -- you know, she actually said I think one or two drives a day. I thought, Well, that sounds pretty to make that big of a difference.
So it's fun. I've come here for many years, and I know this course. I've had to learn the changes. But despite the greens being still young and very firm, I still see the same shots. So just had a lot of fun out there today.

Q. What is your coach's name?
WENDY WARD: Lori Brock.
MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Wendy, was there something specifically that made you want to go back to your coach?
WENDY WARD: You know, it's funny. We had -- our first domestic event in was at La Costa in Carlsbad, and she had just moved there six months prior. We had talked off and on for ten years. Nothing about my golf really to amount to much.
She was the one that initiated kind of the contact and said, Hey, I think you're in town. Want to grab a bite to eat? She's one of those people -- she was a very close friend of mine and was in my wedding. It was kind of sad. We both missed the friendship, but we really missed the working relationship, too.
After I missed the cut at the major, um, I couldn't go anywhere for the weekend. It was Easter Sunday and there wasn't a flight to be found. I said, You know what -- I told my caddie, I said, I feel like driving back down to San Diego and giving it another shot.
Meanwhile, my coach had said, I wanted you to make the cut, but just in case, I blocked off about four hours on Saturday afternoon for you. So we were kind of in the same place on the same page.
Like I said, it was really easy to pick up where we left off.

Q. Had you had a coach that you were working with during that time, or were you kind of flying solo?
WENDY WARD: I've had two, two other coaches. They kind of were fives years and five years. I'm not one to really, you know, give somebody one shot at the title and be done with it.
You know, just we got to a point that things weren't improving in each those situations, but I had learned a lot. So those calls are always tough to say, I need to try something else. But my previous coach, Doug Brook was a champ about it and said, I wish you the best of luck.
So that kind of freed me up and made me feel like I was making the right decision.

Q. Just to clarify, what was the first tournament back with Lori?
WENDY WARD: Morelia, which was, yeah, two weeks ago.

Q. Is it familiar to you, this coaching philosophy? I mean, it's one thing to do it on the range, but to come out and actually roll the rock and shooting the scores, what's that leap like? Or is it much of a leap?
WENDY WARD: That's what I'm saying. I mean, there's one word that keeps popping into mind. It's "simple." It was easy. She's bringing me back to simple drills.
We actually kind of broke things down pretty hard over the last three weeks, and I think that's why I didn't quite have it together at Morelia. And just to have that reinforcement with her here this week -- and even on Wednesday I felt like I hit it awful and was out of my tempo.
She got on the range and said, How can I help you? I said, Everything we've talked about is good, but I've got to get into my play mode. Immediately she took me through three things, and it was like that night I was ready to tee it up on Thursday and go.
It's simple again. It's fun and it's simple. That's the way this game needs to be.

Q. So what about today clicked? Was there a certain part that said, Okay, now it's working and I feel comfortable going forward?
WENDY WARD: Um, I would just say we've kind of tried to break the rounds down. Instead of a big five-hour, 18-hole round, we've broken them into little games that I think about out there, you know, whether it's being under par on each nine, or...
Not gonna give all my secrets away. But, you know, it's the one putt this leads to the next putt. You know, trying to make three or four birdies each nine and not really -- I think I've become -- this is my 15th year out here, so most of these kids think I'm pretty old.
I just turned 37 last week. I don't feel that old, but when I see they're, they could be my kids. That's why I can call 'em a kid. No disrespect, because I played Vicky Hurst today, and she's gonna be a heck of a player.
But, yeah, I don't know, just getting back to basics and keeping things fresh. When you've been out here for 15 years, you get complacent. Things can kind of go stale at times.
Lori's brought a lot of my strength back into the forefront of each day. You know, each day I go out and play I'm visualizing things better and getting away from mechanics and technical things, which is not my game at all.

Q. I was talking to Lorie Kane yesterday, who's of a similar vintage as you...
WENDY WARD: She's got a couple years on me.

Q. She does. Just a couple.
WENDY WARD: But you're right.

Q. She talked about being in her late 30s but still feeling like she has a lot of time left. She doesn't feel like a veteran necessarily. Do you find yourself in that same boat where you're saying, Hey, I've got a another eight to ten great years out here?
WENDY WARD: Well, with Lori, we committed to about six or seven, because that would get me to 20, 21, somewhere in there, and then another evaluation. But I've got a lot of inspiration out here. Juli Inkster, I know she hates to be referred to as that, but, I mean, she's the epitome of a career out here. She's done it. She's got one kid out of school and another one in high school on the way out of the house. She loves golf.
You know, doesn't mean it's not challenging. We all face new challenges at every level, whether it's fighting an ailing body. For me, at this stage, I would love to go to the range right now and go hit putts for another hour.
At this stage of the game for me, it's better to go rest. I did that the last two days because my coach was here. Today, I think we're gonna say it was a good day and nothing needs to be fixed.
MODERATOR: Anything else? Good. Thank you.
WENDY WARD: Thank you very much.

End of FastScripts

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