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U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPJuly 8, 2010Mhairi McKayPITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA MODERATOR: Ladies and gentlemen, we're happy to welcome as the first interview of the day, Mhairi McKay of Scotland who attended Stanford University. She is no stranger to the U.S. Women's Open; she led after the first and second rounds in 2003. She's had three top-10 finishes, including two sixth-place finishes. Today she shot even par, 71. That's considered a very fine round. A lot of people were predicting disaster for a lot of players today. Was the golf course like a beast, or was it just a more mediocre layout for you? MHAIRI McKAY: Um, I would never describe the golf course as mediocre. It was definitely -- it's quite a beast out there. I mean, I played well today. I did make some mistakes, but the strategy was just to take my medicine when those errors came up and just give myself an opportunity to have a putt for par. I did make a couple of really good saves. Just tried to stay really patient out there, and it paid off. MODERATOR: Let's go through your card. You started on the back nine. Finished the back nine at 2 under par. You had a birdie on No. 12, the par-5. MHAIRI McKAY: Yeah, I hit a lob wedge in from 88 yards and just managed to leave it short of the hole there. I didn't want to get past the hole, and made about a 10-foot putt. MODERATOR: Okay, and then you birdied No. 17. How long was that hole playing today? MHAIRI McKAY: It was on the back tee, so I think it was about 250 from the back tee, I believe it plays. So I just decided to hit 5-iron down the right side, and then I hit my lob wedge on past the hole and made about a 30-foot putt. I was glad to see it go in. It had a wee bit of pace on it. MODERATOR: Wow. Was that one of those that hit the hole and you were glad it hit the hole? MHAIRI McKAY: Yeah, I tried not to act too, you know, uncomfortable, anxious while it was approaching the hole. It managed to disappear, so that was nice. MODERATOR: And then on the front nine you had a couple of bogeys on 1 and 2. MHAIRI McKAY: I drove into the right rough on 1 and I had a bad lie, so I just hacked it down there and had about a hundred yards in. Had a run at par and just missed and tapped in for the bogey. You know, I wasn't too upset about it. Tough opening hole. And then I three-putted No. 2. I just missed my shot a little bit. I hit a 4-iron down into sort of the layup area and grip 7-iron in. It just kind of caught the hump on the left side of the green and fed out to the right, and then I had about 45-foot putt to begin with. It wasn't as uphill as I thought, and I ran it about eight feet past and just missed the return. I had a good putt, so, again, that was okay. MODERATOR: Bounced back with a birdie on No. 3. MHAIRI McKAY: Yeah, I hit good drive; hit pitching wedge to about six foot and made putt. MODERATOR: And then a bogey on No. 5. MHAIRI McKAY: Um, I hit a drive out to the right rough and bad spot. So, again, I just hacked back into play. I think I hit a sand wedge into the green and had a run par again. Just missed and took my bogey and happily moved on. MODERATOR: You're an experienced player in the U.S. Women's Open. Certainly this is a very fine round to start out with. When you walked off the course, did you feel a sense of relief? MHAIRI McKAY: Yeah, definitely. I'm delighted to have finished the first round and be at even par. I mean, what a fantastic golf course Oakmont is. It's just a treat to be here and to play well. It's just a real bonus. I've got my husband on the bag, so we're still happily married at this point in time. (Laughing.) My baby was -- Agnes was watching from the ladies locker room in day care. Hopefully saw me par the ninth. MODERATOR: He's a 14 month old little boy, Angus. All right. Questions? Q. You had a five-hour-twenty-five-minute round. I think you stood for ten minutes at No. 9 waiting to hit your second shot. Can you just talk about what it's like to be on the course that long? Mike was saying four hours 34 minutes was their target time. MHAIRI McKAY: Um, we were the lead group. We actually were timed after the third hole, and so we tried to play catchup a little bit for three holes or so. So when you have a course such as this, it's challenging to stay on the clock, on pace. We did make up time, but, you know, we're playing three holes quite quickly and you're -- there's not too many easy shots out there. So that became quite tough. And then when we did hit the turn we caught up to what our time should have been, and then the last group was teeing off as we were walking to the tees. We had a slight wait there. I knew that that back nine -- front nine was going to be a slow one today, and hit into a little bit of troubling. But you just have to slow yourself down, share a couple of jokes with my caddie. Not really get too worked up about what was going on in the golf course and the pace. But just, you know, just take each shot as it comes and then try and switch off a wee bit between shots, because it was a long round out there. You have to focus really hard for that period as you're walking up to the ball and, you know, figure out your strategy. You need to have a light moment out there, as well. Q. I know you're a veteran player and you've played a lot of places around the world. Have you ever played anyplace like this? Could you just discuss the difficulties here and what we're seeing with the slow play, manifested by the difficulty of the course? MHAIRI McKAY: When I saw the course on Monday for the first time, I immediately said it was the hardest course I've ever played. In fact, in the first two holes, my husband, who -- he's still kind of learning the game a little bit and he's on the bag. He's not caddied all that often, although he had gone out and walked the course. I was beginning to question my decision about having him on the bag. Those first two holes, they're just overwhelming, 1, 2, 3 you're trying to plot your way around. You're just thinking, Well, what else can lie ahead? (Laughing.) Yeah, I think it definitely is the hardest course I've ever played. Those greens are just unbelievable. The speeds that we're playing them at, I believe they're a little bit slower than the members tend to have them, but it's just so tricky. You just have to be patient out there and realize that you might hit good shots that will end up quite far away from the hole and par is a great score. Q. What happened in '03 in rounds 3 and 4? Is there anything that you could take from that or learn from that experience? MHAIRI McKAY: Um, I played really well at Pumpkin Ridge, and I actually felt like I played well on the weekend. Sometimes you get that little bit rub of the green when you hit a shot that, you know, it stays close to the pin and you've got a decent look at birdie. Other times, you know, at the weekend at the U.S. Open, you'll hit a good shot and it'll just keep running and you're happy with par. And I felt like I played really well in the weekend at Pumpkin and I made a top 10. Obviously I was hoping things might be a wee bit different, but it was still a great experience for me. Q. Was there anything now that you can apply from that experience to this? MHAIRI McKAY: I just think, you know, taking one step at a time, just being really patient with the golf course, and committing and believing more. I think that's the biggest, committing and believing in what you're doing. Q. Can you talk about the 8th hole, how it played today? Your thoughts on the two-tee format the rest of the way, how it might play out? MHAIRI McKAY: The 8th hole, I think it played 242, one of the longest par-3s I've ever played. The tee was obviously back, but the pin was just ten on. So I was hitting -- I hit 3-wood off the tee, and it came up about a foot short of the green. I was kind of where I hoped it might be, or I didn't quite catch it as well as I hoped. But the line was good, and then you wouldn't be in too much trouble. The two-tee format, I think there's been a couple of holes where they moved tees a wee bit farther forward today. A couple caught me a little bit off guard. You have to just quickly assess everything and make a decision. But I think the way they played 8 today was great; having the tee back and the pin forward was perfect. Q. Was the best play right there in front of the green? Was the best possible play to be right there before the green? MHAIRI McKAY: I thought so. You know, that spot in front of the green is one of the tamer greens on the course; had a little uphill putt. So I'm sure if I was in that spot, you know, if somebody's in that spot for the next three days, they're going to have a really good look at the hole. Whether the pin is up front or the pin is in the back, it's not a bad spot to be. Q. How did you come to choose to have Dave caddie for you this week of all weeks? MHAIRI McKAY: Well, I did my qualifier at the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs and he caddied for me there. Dave is really enthusiastic and he wants to help. You know, he would, you know, do anything he possibly can to help me, but he stays out of the way at the same time and just encourages me. So I figured to have somebody that supportive on the bag would be great. You know, to share an experience like the U.S. Open and at such a special place as Oakmont, it's nice to be able to share that with your husband. You know, he's just been a wonderful influence to me and supportive of my career now that we're married and have a baby. I really appreciate that. I'm just glad we can do this together. Q. What does he do away from the golf course? MHAIRI McKAY: I like to tell everybody he's a rocket scientist, but he's an electrical engineer for Los Alamos National Lab. He works on stuff way beyond what I know or am capable of thinking of. Q. Does he play golf? MHAIRI McKAY: He's still learning. He likes ice hockey. MODERATOR: How did you meet? MHAIRI McKAY: My best friend from college married his best friend from college, so we met at their wedding. MODERATOR: How is it now that you have a 14-month-old baby? Has that made any difference in how you would approach a big championship like this? MHAIRI McKAY: Well, my practice schedule is a lot different. You know, I'm living in New Mexico now too, so that's made it a little bit harder on me practicing. When you have a 14 month old, obviously your priorities change a lot. You know, it's just I'm really excited to get to see him at the end of the day now. You're just better at organizing your practices and doing what needs to be done at the course, taking care of that, and then getting back to him. It's really busy. My days are very full, but I look forward the most to picking up Angus and getting a cuddle. Q. You obviously come from a place that takes golf pretty seriously. They invented it there. Is it more pressure on you? Is there more pressure when you play over there than here? Is there any difference? MHAIRI McKAY: Well, unfortunately we don't have too many tournaments back home in the UK, or Scotland especially. So when you are there, you always want to play well. Then you've got the added pressure of family and friends coming out to support. They just want to see you. They're there to support you, but you obviously want to play the best that you can. Yeah, I would say that there definitely is a bit more pressure. I played at Turnberry and the British Open and my home course. I think all the caddies maybe lost a bit of money on me at the bookies, but... Yeah, you always want to play well in front of the home crowd. Q. A lot of the players talked during the week about getting comfortable on this golf course, if such a thing is possible. You looked or certainly played comfortable for nine holes. Just curious of your mindset approaching it and just how it unfolded for you. MHAIRI McKAY: You know, Dave and I would just -- we talked a lot about the course and we tried to, you know, plot the pins out, be on the right side of the pin. I'm going to miss shots out there and I'm going to get into trouble, but the last thing you can do, especially in a U.S. Open, is get angry and upset, because that just -- you'll compound the error, in all likelihood. I just tried to play smart golf, and then, you know, you take your medicine. You hack out onto the fairways and you leave yourself in a good spot to have a putt at par. When that putt goes in, it does give you a lot of confidence. The next time when you have to take your medicine again, you remember that hole where you saved it. So that was a big confidence builder to me today. Q. You teed off very early today. I have to ask you, since the heat is the ongoing topic here, was it any sort of factor? How much water did you drink? How did you deal with it? MHAIRI McKAY: Um, you know, I'm definitely trying to take water on board before I go out there to start the day off well. I think it's a bit cooler than maybe some of the days in the start of the week. But, you know, Dave did a good job keeping me hydrated, making sure I ate something out there. Um, yeah, the afternoon rounds will be tough. I found out on Monday; I practiced in the afternoon. You definitely feel the effects of the heat later on in the day. So when it gets this hot it's hard to eat something, although your body really needs it, but you're not feeling like it. MODERATOR: Did you eat anything on the course? MHAIRI McKAY: Just a couple little granola bars. Q. Now that you've had a round and survived, better than survived, did you learn anything that you didn't know about this course or anything that you can apply for the next three days? MHAIRI McKAY: It's really, really tough when the gun goes off. I mean, in practice it's nice. You can take a second drive and attempt your shot again. But I was just really glad, you know, when I made a mistake to still make it work. I think it is fair you can get into trouble, but you still have the opportunity to make up for it. The course is tough, but I think it's fair. Q. You were talking about the two-tee format, having to quickly assess the situation. Is it the sight line off the tee? MHAIRI McKAY: Yeah, sometimes it's the sight line that you have to adjust a little bit. They moved the tee up on No. 3, so I was adjusting my target a bit. It just seems when you're under the gun a little bit, maybe find another five yards, ten yards or so, and maybe -- you know, you've got to be careful. They protected some of the tees in the practice rounds, so you're teeing a bit further back. Tried to remember, you know, where you did hit those tee shots from. Do you need to go down a club? Do you need to hit a 3-wood or a 5-wood or a 3-rescue instead of what you were doing in practice? There's just a lot going on, and you just have to really stay focused. MODERATOR: In reference to the time it took to play a round today, when have you played when it's taken you longer to play a round? MHAIRI McKAY: St. Andrews in -- when was, that, 2007? We played the women's British Open at St. Andrews, and they had typical Scottish weather and it was very windy. You have those big double greens, so balls were kind of flying everywhere. Maybe a couple of pins might have been a bit too close to one another, so there was delay -- you know, I have respect for playing on the opposite hole that you're sharing a green with. So those rounds, I think, took over six hours, maybe approaching seven hours. MODERATOR: So this doesn't seem all that long. MHAIRI McKAY: It goes by fast when you're out there, because you're just so intense on this course, and it's what else can this course throw at me and where does that putt break and how hard am I going to hit it? It didn't feel like five hours 35 minutes to me. End of FastScripts |
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