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RICOH WOMEN'S BRITISH OPEN

July 29, 2010

Juli Inkster

SOUTHPORT, ENGLAND

THE MODERATOR: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, we have Juli Inkster here, 1-under par 71 in pretty tough conditions. It must have been rough out there this morning, was it?
JULI INKSTER: Yeah, it was. Starting off No. 1, it was kind of a completely different wind than we played yesterday. It was dead into us. I got off to kind of a rough start. I bogeyed 1 and 2 from the middle of the fairway. I three-putted No. 2. But I made a good birdie on 3 and that kind of just settled me down, and I hit a lot of good shots out there. I drove the ball pretty good out there. A few mis-clubs but that's going to happen out here. And I putted reasonably good.
I was bitching about the 6:40 tee time, but I'm loving it now. No, I was very happy when I saw the 6:40 tee time. I wasn't happy with the alarm setting, but I was very happy.

Q. What was the hardest part of conditions, and how much did you have to control ball flight?
JULI INKSTER: Well, it's into-the-wind shots, across shots, it's spitting rain, trying to keep everything -- I played in the Pro-Am on Tuesday with some members here, and it was blowing sideways, and it was raining. They were just so calm, like they just did it every day, and I'm like cleaning my grips and running around. So when it started to really rain out there, to the right, to the left, I stayed calm because they just seemed to have it down.
The sideways wind and trying to pull the right club is tough. You've got 130 and you're thinking about 6-iron, it's hard to get yourself to really commit and swing at it.

Q. Who did you play with in the Pro-Am?
JULI INKSTER: I played with a couple members here and they had the rain gloves and the Gore-Tex hat and the umbrella with their clubs. It's not even a worry to them. Over here I'm trying to find a dry towel, and my clubs are all wet. They just have it down to a science here.

Q. These conditions they encounter quite a lot I would think.
JULI INKSTER: I kind of knew starting out, the scores aren't going to be that low. It's hard to get the ball in the fairway and play from there. You try to manage your bad shots, and that's what I did today.

Q. When you suffer from jet lag when you come over in a week like this and then you have to get up at 4:00 in the morning or whatever, how do you cope with all that?
JULI INKSTER: Well, with four kids, they could sleep in forever. I don't really sleep in that much anymore anyway. It's really only an hour, hour and a half earlier than I usually get up. I'll definitely take a nap this afternoon. For me jet lag is a lot more mental. You've just got to get into the time zone and go. You just can't think about it. That's kind of what I do.

Q. Laura was in here yesterday and we were asking about how she keeps going, and she expressed the view that if she practiced as hard as some of these kids now, she wouldn't still be going. Would you talk about whether you have any views on this?
JULI INKSTER: Yeah, she never practiced, but that's Laura. She was Laura, I want to say 10, 15 years ago. She'd play 40, 45 tournaments a year, between playing over here and playing in Asia and playing our Tour. So you can't practice and you can't put the time in if you're going to play that many tournaments.
I probably never played -- I probably played 25 to 28 a year. You know, I practice, I practice a lot, but I like to practice. And I don't think Laura likes to practice. She's more of a just get up there and hit it, feel player, and I've got to kind of have a map what I'm trying to do.

Q. Do these kids now hit more balls on the range than you do?
JULI INKSTER: Oh, yeah. They have a teacher every week. I didn't even have a teacher probably for the first four years of my golfing. I just got out there and played. All the young kids now, they just have great swings. Everything is on plane, and they're strong, and they're athletic. It's just different, equipment, video equipment, everything. It's different when you're starting. It's definitely more of a business now than it was when we -- even though it was our job, it wasn't as high-tech mano-a-mano as it is now.

Q. How do you see the longevity for their careers?
JULI INKSTER: I mean, I would be very surprised if someone like a Paula Creamer or Morgan Pressel played until they're 50. They're going to make so much money that they're not going to need to. I never really played for the money. I played because I loved the game. You've got to find -- you've got to keep finding ways to have the desire to play, and I've always had that. I've never had to try to find it.
I think a lot of these kids growing up, they have started -- I didn't start until I was 15. All these kids started when they were six, seven, eight, and they've been to the academies and the U.S. Juniors, and it's just a lot of pressure on them. I never had that at all. It's different eras. I would be shocked if any of those girls played past 30, 35. I mean, look at Lorena, look at Annika.

Q. It must be difficult because you've got your heroin's and they're there and then they go?
JULI INKSTER: Well, I think a lot of it is there's really no place for us to go after we're doing playing. The men have the Senior Tour, and they all seem to can't wait to get out there. They have three days, no cut, you've got a cart, you have a Pro-Am here and there. And so they keep playing because they want to get there.
Here it's like there's really nothing else to do. Once you quit here, where do you go, where are you going to play? I like to play, so that's why I'm still out here. It's hard.
But again, most of the kids that play on the PGA TOUR, they all go to college. Here, a lot of them aren't going to college, and so that's four more years out here than the kids that go to college. Plus I think it's easier to get out on our Tour than it is the men's Tour. So a lot of them don't even get out there until they're 30. And then they have their careers and stuff and then they're 42, and they say, I've got eight more years until the Senior Tour, so they keep playing.
Here you've got a 15-year-old that finished second last week. It's just different, different tours. I don't know how to change that; it's just the way it is.

Q. Do you have a certain time period you're going to play for?
JULI INKSTER: No, I just take it as it goes. I've told Brian about ten times I'm retiring next year, so I don't even say anything anymore. And you've written it ten times, too. Like I said, if there was another place to play, I would probably play there. But I love the game, and I just don't want to quit. So this is where I play.

Q. Laura said yesterday she thinks that what Tom Watson did last year at Turnberry at 59, Laura seemed to suggest that she could see herself doing the same at 59.
JULI INKSTER: Yeah, Watson doesn't play because he has to play, Watson plays because he enjoys the game and he enjoys competing. It's not the end of the world if he plays good and it's not the end of the world if he plays bad, he just enjoys being out there. And that's how I look at it. I mean, I enjoy being out there. I enjoy being with the young kids and giving them grief.
Yeah, I mean, I don't see why there should be a time limit on what we can play and when we can't play.

Q. Would you like to get an invite to play among the men's seniors?
JULI INKSTER: Whoa. Dangerous topic. No, I don't want to go there. No.

Q. You could actually play mixed with them.
JULI INKSTER: Yeah, I'd love to play mixed with them. That would be great. I'll take Freddie. It would be great, yeah.

Q. Do you think as you get older it's actually not the physical stamina but the mental stamina that's harder?
JULI INKSTER: Yeah, I definitely think so. I think you've got a lot more demons in your head than you do at 22, shots that you missed, shots that you think about. But I also think at 46 or 50, whatever I'm at, I appreciate it more. I really enjoy what I do. I enjoy shooting 1-under the first round of a British Open. It's fun. It's great. Probably ten years ago I wouldn't have even thought about it. But now I appreciate good rounds and I appreciate things that I get to do now that probably I didn't get to do ten years ago.

Q. Can you give us the details of your birdies and bogeys, please.
JULI INKSTER: Yeah, well, I hit it in that left bunker on 1 and hit it out and missed about an 18-footer for par.
2, I three-putted and missed about a five-footer for par.
3, I chipped off the green and putted it in, probably about a 25-footer.
5 was a tap-in, six inches.

Q. What did you hit in there?
JULI INKSTER: 9-iron, a punch 9-iron.
6 I hit in two, two-putted from about 20 feet.
8, I hit a knock-down 5-iron -- no, I hit 8-iron, a punchy 8-iron to about 15 feet, made that for birdie.
10 I hit short and chipped that and missed about a six-footer.
11, I hit a good 5-iron in there to about four feet, made that for birdie.
And 13, I drove it in one of those bunkers off the tee and had to hit out, made about a six-footer for bogey. So that was good.
And 18, I hit a really good putt, but I didn't make it.

Q. I was just wondering because the older folks are doing well at links golf, and I wonder if there's an element that your generation was more self-taught in a way that you're more able to adapt than the younger players.
JULI INKSTER: Yeah, I don't know. I kind of feel like you -- I mean, I kind of feel like you've got to play well -- you've got to hit the ball well to play well. It doesn't matter your experience. I could have all the experience in the world and drive it all over the lot and shoot 80, it doesn't matter. I think what you're trying to say is that maybe things don't get to us as much as they do to the younger players. I was more coached by feel, and it's like when my swing gets off, I'm not real technical, I've just got to find a swing, a feel, and once I get that feel, I'm off. But sometimes it takes me a while to get that.
These girls are taught by numbers, the one position, the two position, the three position, and it's different. It would be interesting if we had videotape 20 years ago what it would have been like, but we didn't, and we just kind of went out and played. That's how I learned to play. I just played every day.

Q. Can you put that feel into words?
JULI INKSTER: The feel of my swing?

Q. When you've got the feeling of your swing, if you had to write a sentence about it, would you describe it?
JULI INKSTER: Butter. (Laughter.) When I hit a good shot, it feels like butter. I don't know. It's just a feeling I have. It's similar to, well, it might not be going in too far from the inside, but I kind of feel that. It's kind of a swing feel. I can't put it into words. But when it goes well, it's really nice.

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