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U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 9, 2010

Cristie Kerr

PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA

MODERATOR: Ladies and gentlemen, Cristie Kerr teed off on the back nine this morning. She went 3-over on the back nine, and then on the front nine she birdied Nos. 4, 5, and 6 and finished 3 under. She was even par for the day.
Cristie, good round. Are you pleased with the way you played today?
CRISTIE KERR: I am. You know, not happy where I missed my tee shot on 15, but, you know, you're going to make some bogeys on this course. Sometimes maybe even on a short hole.
You're going to have some chance to make birds. You just have to take opportunities when you have them for birdie and make them and get some momentum going, and that's what I did on the front.
MODERATOR: Okay. Let's go over the double on 15; what happened?
CRISTIE KERR: I hit it in the right, one of those little frontal areas and had to take a drop. Then actually hit a great -- upon dropping it -- hit a great third shot into the green. It went just over the green, not even in the bunker, on the upslope.
Actually hit a great chip can and it went just on the back fringe, and then the putt lipped out.
MODERATOR: You had four birdies. So your birdie on 13, what club did you hit? How long was the putt?
CRISTIE KERR: Pitching wedge; I hit it to about four feet. And then...
MODERATOR: 4?
CRISTIE KERR: And then -- oh, I didn't know you wanted to go over the bogeys or...
MODERATOR: No, that's all right. The double and then we'll go over the birdies.
CRISTIE KERR: Okay. And then No. 4 I was in the rough on the right side and hit 9-iron to about 20 feet pin high and made that.
Hit a lob wedge into 5 about 23 feet under the hole; made that.
And then I hit 9-iron to about three feet on 6.
Had a really makeable putt on 7.
And then, you know, 9, if I would have two-putt I had would have finished under par for the day, so a great come back on the front nine.
MODERATOR: Yes, it was. She hit the green in two on 9, but didn't have what you would call an easy putt. Questions?

Q. I think you hit 15 greens today, 13 yesterday. You're hitting a lot of fairway and greens. You came back from mistakes two days in a row. You're really doing everything you're supposed to do in the Open. Can you just kind of assess your two days so far?
CRISTIE KERR: Yeah, for sure. I mean, you're going to miss shots out here. There is a lot of trouble on this golf course. You know, I managed to stay out of most of it so far.
You know, I just think that, you know, I've had 32 putts in the first and second rounds. If I can just kind of shave a couple putts off here and there, I think that's about as good as you can do on this golf course under the conditions. It's getting windier; it's getting firmer.
I talked about on 9 hitting it in the bunker, but the last three times I've gone for that green I've been in the bunker I've been under the lip with almost no shot. So I could have tried to hum it in the crowd right of the green, but I didn't think that was a good idea. (Laughing.) I don't think they would have appreciated that.

Q. Whenever you get in a little trouble, could you talk about your ability to always battle back, come back with birdies and answer those, and just how you are you able to do that you will at time?
CRISTIE KERR: Well, you always hope you can, but, you know, you have to have the patience of a saint this week on this golf course.
I told my caddie at the beginning of the week, you know, on the first nine even, the ebb and flow of this course is you're going to give some back; it's going to give you a couple opportunities to get some back.
You have to hopefully get more back than you give away.

Q. You've talked about this some this week, about how mentally tough this golf course is. Could you talk a little bit about what that does to you, how exhausting that is, how it affects you?
CRISTIE KERR: Oh, it's so tired. So tired. For example, I could only have one glass of wine last night instead of two or three. Just kidding. It's a joke. (Laughing.)
No, but I mean, you're just so mentally spent. I mean, I'm less tired today than I was yesterday after the round. I think I conserved a little bit better during the round.
The afternoon tee times, when you're teeing off at 1:00 and it's almost six hours for a round, in that kind of heat yesterday, that was tough. I mean, I was exhausted when I got home.
I think it was a little bit cooler today, and morning helped. I think it's gonna be great for me to get some rest, maybe go catch a movie and get out here tomorrow.

Q. I'm wondering if the pace of play actually is a bit of a negative from the standpoint of it forces you to continually concentrate longer than you might at another venue where you're playing in four-and-a-half or five hours.
CRISTIE KERR: Sure. Any time you're out here for a longer period time -- I've always focused so hard that I get headaches, you know, or my eyes, you know, I strain a lot. You know, I'm experimenting with some sunglasses to maybe see if that will, you know, help my eyes. But I didn't want to -- you know, I didn't really want to start this week experimenting with that.
I think long term that might be good for me just because, you know, I strain and I focus so much that, you know, it is harder when you're spending longer periods of time out here, especially under these conditions. Every shot, every putt, you need to really, really pay attention and not fall asleep.
It's good for me that I'm having the afternoon off.

Q. With all the rain that's supposed to be coming, do you expect this course to get harder or easier for you guys tomorrow?
CRISTIE KERR: Um, I don't know. It depends on how much rain does fall. You know, my caddie, Jason, he goes out and scouts out the conditions. We'll have a pretty good idea before we tee off of, you know, I guess, look at the rain that's coming there. I didn't even know we had an outdoor TV. (Laughing.)
You know, just scout out the conditions. He'll know where the bounceouts are and if some greens are holding better than others. So that's why I trust him. That's why he's on my bag. He does a great job for me.

Q. Is it any easier for you to stay patient this week because you came in here with a lot of confidence, you know you're playing well maybe as opposed to somebody who is still looking for their game? You know you have the ability to make birdies because you know you're playing well?
CRISTIE KERR: Yeah, for me it's not always easy to be patient. I think this golf course kind of forces you to be because you don't really have a choice. If you get impatient, it will jump up and bite you.
I've just kind of accepted the fact that you're going to give some shots away and you're going to get some back and just kind of, you know, sit in the weeds and wait, wait to kind of strike.
That's kind of been my game plan coming into this week, and so far it's working.
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